The Path We Walk

When I published my first novel, Cutting Edge, I was the vice president of a high tech company that made cool little creatures that flapped, crawled, or swung around your computer screen, waiting for you to play a game with them, ask them for information, or give them a task to perform. If you’ve read my book, you’ll see lots of inside peeks at the wonderful world of the high-tech boom. I had a lot of fun working there and putting it down on paper.

Roughly a year later, I was the CEO of a 200 person Internet company and was writing my second book, Into the Fire . This time I was experiencing what people since have called the bursting of the Internet bubble. People lost millions of dollars. Companies worth billions on paper disappeared. I won’t bore you with all the details of fighting to keep a company alive and having to fire people right and left, but suffice it to say that I often woke in the morning with my fists balled so tightly I could barely uncurl them in the morning.

In addition to the stress of trying to explain to investors why the company which I had been asked to run was drowning in red ink, I was almost never home. My job was demanding hours that left no time for my family, and I felt like I wasn’t doing an adequate job at work or home. Perhaps it isn’t surprising that I spent a lot of time considering the book of Job.

In my opinion, most people misunderstand the story of Job. If you ask them, they’ll tell you that God and Satan made a bet and Job was the pawn. Satan made bad things happen to Job, but he was faithful, and eventually got everything back. It seems to me that Job is actually a much different story.

Job was a man who had everything going for him. He was one of the wealthiest men in one of the wealthiest areas of the world at that time. Kings and princes asked his advice and always took it. He was a good father and husband, devout in his religion, kind to others, and well liked by all.

He was also, in my opinion, a man who liked to be in control of his life. He not only did his own sacrifices, he did them for his children just in case they forgot. Nothing wrong with that at all. I think if you talked to most people, you would find they are want to feel in control of things.

Then, in an instant, he lost control of everything. Think about it. He lost control of his business, his family, his health, his reputation, his friends. Even his wife asked him why he didn’t just curse god and die.

Obviously my trials weren’t as bad as Job’s. Whose are? But I was fascinated by how Job spent so much time trying to understand WHY these were happening to him. Regardless of our trials in life, don’t we all try to figure why they happen? If only I had done this instead. Maybe I didn’t listen. I guess we just weren’t obedient enough. Why is God punishing us?

But the truth of the matter is that—like Job—Heavenly Father doesn’t tell us why we are facing a particular trial. Only that we must endure to the end. He has set a path for us. We don’t know when the path will suddenly head uphill, when the smooth forest floor will change to sharp stones and thorns. We don’t know when we will unexpectedly come upon a shimmering blue lake or a breathtaking vista. Often the most amazing opportunities hide behind a seemingly unscalable climb. All we know for sure is that Heavenly Father loves us, and if we do our best to follow the path, it will eventually lead us home.

I don’t know if there is a divine purpose for everything that happens to us. At a senior FHE I taught, a man told him of how a group of bombers he was a part of took a last flight over North Korea after the day after the war had ended. Entering a fog bank, they flew too low and most of the planes crashed into the side of a mountain, killing the crews. He asked me if I could tell him why that happened. Much as I would liked to have, I couldn’t.

All I could tell him was what Heavenly Father told Job. As mortals it is not for us to understand why it rains one day and shines another. We don't know why trouble befalls some and not others. But we can be grateful for the moisture and enjoy the rainbow. And even when the skies are dark and the lightning strikes, we can know that the path we are walking was walked by another before us. He suffered every bruise and fall that we will suffer on our journey and He is waiting to take us into his arms and comfort us if we will let him.

A couple of my good friends have suffered very difficult days today. Pains that I would never wish upon them. I want them to know that I love them and they are in my prayers.