Letter: ‘How will we react?‘

Being a college graduate and still in graduate school has kept me personally “out of the storm” of the job market crisis. I have, however, spent many hours witnessing my best friends’ struggles.

The first year after graduation is the “honeymoon phase,” where getting a paycheck is equivalent to finding the golden ticket. Then, after an amount of time, the second year consists of sayings like, “What was I thinking when I took this job?”

Watching the transition is heart-wrenching. The common theme is: “How am I affecting the world for God in what I am doing? What is my purpose?”

After seeing so many people struggle with this inner turmoil, I thought and prayed. My conclusion is this: We can’t all be Billy Graham or Mother Theresa. Period.

However, we might be the only piece of Jesus that people see. In terms of affecting the kingdom, it does not matter what our job is, or what our current financial situation is; what matters is what we do with our situations. Whether one is unemployed or CEO of a Fortune 500 company, how we react in those situations is how we affect the kingdom.

God has placed each of us in our current situations for a reason, and we have the privilege to carry Jesus’ name and affect people with love, friendship, loyalty, integrity, character.

Charles Swindoll said it best when he said that our life is 10 percent action and 90 percent reaction. How will we react?

Justin Palmore
Birmingham