A Tough Decision

As I studied the Bible, I came across these words of the prophet Isaiah:  "They will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears.  Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4) I asked myself, 'How can a servant of a peace-loving God be employed in the design and production of  destructive weapons?'  (Psalm 46:9) It did not take long for me to conclude that I had to change my employment.

Understandably, this was a major challenge. I had a prestigious job. I had struggled through years of hard work, education, and sacrifices to get to this point. I had climbed the corporate ladder, and here I was faced  with giving up my career. However, my deep love for Jehovah and a keen desire to do his will finally prevailed. -Matthew 7:21.

I decided to pursue employment with a company in Seattle, Washington. to my disappointment, however, I soon found that did not harmonize with Isaiah 2:4.  My efforts  to work on other projects failed, and again my conscience bothered me.  I saw clearly that I could not keep my job and at the same time retain a clear conscience. -1 Peter 3:21.

It became clear that we were going to have to make important changes. In less than six months, we changed our life-style and reduced our family expenses by half.  Then we sold  our luxurious house and bought a small one in Denver Colorado. I was now ready for the final leap-quitting my job. I typed out my resignation, explaining my conscientious position.  That night, after the children had gone to bed, I knelt down with my wife and we prayed to Jehovah, as described in the beginning of this article. 

In less than a month, we moved to Denver, and two weeks later, in July  1975, my wife and I were baptized.  For six months I was unable to find a job, and we were slowly eating up our savings. By the seventh month, our savings account balance  was less than the monthly mortgage on the house. I started looking for any odd job i could find, but immediately thereafter I got an engineering job. The salary was only about half of what I had been making; even  so, it was much more than what I had  asked Jehovah for. How happy I was that I had placed spiritual interests first! -Matthew 6:33. 

Next time: Bringing Up Our Children to Love Jehovah 

From the Watchtower magazine, 2000