The Professors

When I was diagnosed with my brain tumor and knew that I had surgery, radiation, and many other challenges in front of me, I unabashedly sought prayer from all those that knew and loved me. I knew that I had a mighty battle in front of me and I needed all of the strength that I could muster.

I used to work for a woman who was a born-again Christian. She had had a difficult life through her teens and twenties, and she decided to give herself to God to find salvation from all that she had done. She was renowned in the industry that I worked in as being a person who was very difficult to work with – mean and nasty. I have known people of faith like that who are so determined to succeed for God that they lose track of their environment and the people that occupy it with them.

I decided to take a chance and work for her. Her company focused on fundraising for the Christian market, and I knew that was something that would interest me. She and I made a good team when working with clients and helping them with their goals. I came to believe that she was a soldier of God, dutifully working for Him here on earth. When I was diagnosed with my tumor, she and others prayed over me before my surgery. She spread the word of my need for prayer all over the world (literally) and between the people that she contacted and my family, I had a chorus of prayer claiming my victory over my illness.

My surgery was a longer procedure than even the surgeons expected. It took 8 hours for my neurosurgeon to remove as much of the tumor as he could without touching my optic nerve or a major artery running through my brain. All in all, the surgery was a success but my recovery would be long; much longer than I expected.

When I was able to go home, I was not capable of doing much more than sitting and sleeping. I never knew such a feeling of helplessness in my adult life. Soon after I got home, I started to get a bad feeling about my work. Shortly before I became sick my boss and her husband (her business partner at the time) decided to eliminate any short or long-term disability for the employees – to save money. I didn’t think of it at the time and went on with my work, though I was having painful headaches and problems with my vision. I figured that they were migraines from a stressful job. Obviously it was not that.

Shortly after I got home from the hospital, my boss and her husband fired me because they couldn’t afford to keep me on if I wasn’t working. I was left unable to work, or to look for a job, and barely able to move for that matter! Soon she started blaming me for not saving a piece of business that she had ruined before I left, saying that the reclaiming of the business would have saved my job.

I was devastated. Not even so much by being placed in a position of not being able to pay my bills, but more by the betrayal by someone that I thought was a good and decent person. I had been lured into her company and then discarded when I was no longer considered worth keeping. It was a horrible feeling to have someone who professed to be a woman of God be so hollow inside, and bereft of morals and feelings.

I felt this pain of betrayal for years. In my desperation, I ended up going back to work for her after I recovered and she could afford to hire me again. After a year or so another company bought her company and I was promoted to work for the parent company, but I still worked on new business with her. After a while we sold two large accounts. I was thrilled because the commission payments that I got from this new business helped my wife and me to start paying down some of the debt we had accumulated while I was sick and out of work.

Well, these “good times” lasted for only six months. She had mismanaged both of these accounts and they both fired my company. She however refused to take any blame for this. She blamed all of the poor management on the president of my company and me, hoping to convince these companies to stay with her. Long story shot, the companies that used to be my clients both went with her when she started another company, after my company closed her company. Her mismanagement caused five people to lose their jobs, and caused me to lose 60% of my income.

I couldn’t understand why God would allow me to be hurt by her again and again. It wasn’t until I spoke with my mentor that I finally understood His reasoning. God knows that I love and have loved Him through everything that I have gone through in my life. I have always asked Him what He intends for me to do and be in my life, on my journey. My mentor told me that God intentionally placed me with this woman. He wanted me to experience first hand a professor, not a doer of faith. He wanted me to understand everything about what a professor of faith looks like. He wanted me to experience that hollow soul first hand for one reason – so that I could tell this story.

So, beware the professor! If you love God, stay away from people who profess their love of God with their words, and betray this love with their actions. The professors are scattered among us, serving themselves more than the Lord. Keep your wits about you always and stay clear of those who aim to do you harm. Keep close to our God. He will show you who can and can’t be trusted.