My Friend John

I asked John to tell all of you a little bit of his story.  This is part of the community that takes care of its own.

John Thorman wrote:

Here’s my recent life’s Story.

In January of 2008, I conducted a business analysis for a firm located in Florida. The president and his partner were impressed with my work, and asked if I would help them implement my recommendations. Instead of a long term consulting relationship, they ended up offering me a full-time position, which I accepted, and it required my wife and me to move from Ohio. We believed that this job offer was an answer to prayer as we had sensed for awhile that we were to move and were looking for God’s direction. Back in Ohio the job and housing markets were bad, and our city had recently been reported as having one of the worst housing markets in the nation.

My wife and I spent a long time in prayer over this decision and we were sure that God wanted us to move to Florida and take this job. But we had a sense that things might not go as smoothly as we hoped. I talked with my wife and asked her, “Do you believe that God wants us to move to Florida and take this job, regardless of the circumstances?” Based on God’s overwhelming confirmation to both of us, we believed God wanted us to go. Then I said, “If I only have this job for 90 days, do you trust God to provide for us?” She said she did. So, our minds were made up. We were going to be obedient and follow God’s direction, take the job and move to Florida. Off we went.

Things were going very well I thought; I had been working at the company for about 9 weeks when to my complete surprise, I lost my job! There we were in a small town 1,000 miles from home with no contacts. To top it all off, the local economy and unemployment rate was worse than what we had just left. The good news was this. God is our provider, not a company. I told my wife that it was God who moved us here and that it would be God who would provide for us. At one point last fall, with no money left, and all the bills coming due, my wife in a state of panic asked me “How are we going to pay our bills?” I told her, “God will provide some money as soon as He figures we need some.” She looked at me like I had two heads. She didn’t know what to say and so, she said nothing. Within 2 days, God provided an unexpected consulting project with a different company that paid all of our bills.

Both of our efforts at finding jobs over the past 15 months have yielded nothing. But God has faithfully provided for us, often at the very last moment.

It has been almost 15 months since I was released from my full-time position. Neither my wife nor I have been able to find jobs. Until a couple of months ago, we were at peace, believing we were right were God wanted us; totally dependent upon Him for our provision, and seeing him provide for us right at the last minute on more than one occasion, and from unexpected sources. Things are very different now. We believe that the time has come for another change but we don’t have any job prospects.

Our experience in Florida is not something we would have chosen to do on our own. There were just too many warning signs, and I had discussed them all with Skip beforehand. But, it was clearly God’s direction in our lives. We acted in obedience and moved here in faith. While the journey so far has been very difficult financially, God has been faithful to meet our needs where there seemed to be no way!

I am very passionate about applying a biblical worldview to economics, owning and operating businesses, investment and finance. I want to put my passion, skills and experience to work in an executive management position and ultimately as CEO of a privately held company.

So, my fellow community members, we are asking for your help. We want and need to find our next working assignments. Do you own a business that needs an executive or V.P. of Sales & Marketing? Could you use the objective advice of a fresh set of eyes on your business from a gifted management consultant? Do you know someone who does? Can you help us in our time of need and help us find the next source of God’s provision in our lives?

So, now you know.  John also wrote an article for us that you can read here.