Burst Into Flames: A Parable

Blake watched the clock move, with agonizing slowness, toward 5 o'clock. Blake was immensely happy that it was Friday and that it was only 11...no 10 minutes until the weekend. This had been a tough day, topping off a hard week. He found it hard to believe that he had been working for Oliver for only 2 weeks.

  He was thinking that perhaps the old saying of “time flies when you are having fun” should have a corollary of “time crawls when you work for Oliver.” He would never have imagined how his job had changed. He would never have imagined how his attitude about his job had changed. Blake had gone from enjoying his job to dreading going to work each morning.

  He saw several people leave for new jobs. He knew of at least one person that just walked out without any new job lined up. He suspected that he was the only person in the office that didn't have his resume out on the street, except maybe Oliver. Although Blake had prayed and prayed about it, God hadn't given him any indication that he was supposed to leave. God also hadn't given him any special purpose to serve. So Blake kept doing his best to keep his head down and his spirits up.

  He wondered what Elaine would say about his current situation. While he felt closer to the Lord than he had ever been before, he also felt like God was ignoring his job situation. He was trying hard to walk with the Lord, but he knew that his job was challenging his faith and joy. Elaine was always so upbeat and optimistic. As he thought of her, a sense of missing her terribly flooded over him, like a water main had just burst next to him.

  Perhaps this weekend he would find comfort and answers.