By Johnnie C. Godwin
Contributing columnist, B&R
In one person’s life and career, he was an author, a publisher, and a speaker. But he got downsized at age 55. His wife thought that was tragic and the end of his career. But the “downsizee” thought just the opposite.
After a generation of contacts, he continued to write, preach and teach and conduct seminars as an adjunct professor. He began to see downsizing as an opening to what would be the best chapter of life. And now, after 30 years of “retirement,” it has worked out that way. Let me share the downsizee’s story in case you are like him — along with millions of others.
When downsizing became personal. I happen to be the “downsizee” you’ve just read about. But rather than feeling that I was fired and a has been, I felt what old preachers used to call “the expulsive power of a new affection.”
In other words, I got excited all over again about God’s calling. Earlier, God had called me to receive His grace and obey His calling for all of life. So, I had prepared to do that calling to the best of my understanding and ability. What I didn’t know or understand was that God’s calling wasn’t a vocation that might involve many changes and enrich my life and service at each God-directed turn. But God began to clue me in. I learned that anybody can take your job away from you, but no one can take God’s calling away from you. I would add that no one can downsize you from God’s calling. Say yes to God’s every turn in the amazing maze of life, and you’ll find yourself “right-sized” and enriched — even if you have to discover that truth looking backward instead of looking forward — which is what happened to me.
Johnnie Godwin
Understanding God’s calling. The apostle Paul wrote, “I call you alongside me to walk in a manner worthy of the calling wherein you have been called” (Godwin paraphrase of Ephesians 4:1). The word “call” appears three times in Ephesians 4:1.
At age 55, I got downsized from my sense of being a lifetime pastor through six other jobs of God’s amazing maze in His calling for me to then become a downsizee.
My wife, Phyllis, was at a mission meeting just after my downsizing. While there, a missionary friend of ours asked her, “Now that Johnnie’s downsized, what is he going to do next?” Phyllis replied with what I had told her: “Johnnie said that we’ll just ask God what He wants us to write in life’s next chapter.” The missionary gave her this message: “That’s good. But when you get home, tell Johnnie to just not let that chapter go unwritten!”
I got the message. And since then, I’ve written more than a million published words. I’ve been interim pastor of numerous churches. God opened doors for me to consult other Christian publishers and to head up international Christian publishing in Russia, Asia, and Europe — as well as in the United States.
I don’t share this to brag; rather I share it to say God has called and continues to call every Christian child of His — both at the entrance into His amazing maze of grace and all along each step and turn in it. I believe that’s true even if a person lives to be as old as Methuselah. From the lowliest job to the highest in man’s sight, each job is sacred in God’s sight when the worker is faithful to God’s calling. And God always has something designed for every Christian to do!
Your worth is in God’s calling, not in your job. God gives gifts to all of us, and the gifts may be many or few. People and circumstances may take away our job, but no one can take away God’s calling. The person who is always faithful to God’s calling may not understand in this life all that God has called the person to be or do. But the person who faithfully answers yes to each calling of God can live in faith and know that God’s epitaph for him will read, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
Matthew 25:14-30 is a parable of the talents. Two servants were entrusted with 5 and 2 talents, while the third was entrusted with only one talent. The servants who got more than one talent were faithful to use what they were entrusted with. They prospered, and the Master doubled their reward with more talents. But the servant entrusted with just one talent was fearful and committed the sin of doing nothing with what he had been entrusted with. Jesus condemned that servant as being wicked and slothful.
Not all failures are equal! Failure to be faithful or to even try to be faithful is complete failure. On the other hand, the person who chooses to be a good steward until the end of his days will learn that his faithfulness is his measure of success in God’s eyes. It is the faithfulness that pleases God and which God honors — not the human viewpoints that might be otherwise.
Downsized or God-sized? Millions of you or your relatives and friends have gotten downsized from a job. My faith and experience would say that this interruption in your own sense of your calling isn’t an interruption in God’s calling. Rather it is a turn in God’s amazing maze of grace. Keep saying yes to God and His calling! He will be pleased and reward you! B&R — Copyright by Johnnie C Godwin, 2022.
