In mid February, Tim, got a call from his local union with the news every laid off worker longs to hear — a job offer.The rest at The Catholic Spirit
It couldn’t have come at a better time. Tim’s unemployment benefits were about to run out. He could hardly believe what the voice on the other end was presenting to him — an offer to be a job foreman for at least 11 months, with a salary of $65,000 to $70,000 a year.
Perfect, Tim thought. Then came the bad news — he would be working on construction of a new Planned Parenthood Clinic in St. Paul on University Avenue. The highest of highs became the lowest of lows as he quickly turned down the offer.
“The roller coaster started going downhill,” said Tim, 38. “He [union rep] wasn’t really sure if there were going to be abortions there. He kind of sidestepped that, I think, to try to entice me to say yes. But, I said, ‘Wait a minute. It’s a Planned Parenthood.’”
And, just like that, Tim went back to being unemployed with no immediate prospects — and his unemployment benefits set to run out sometime this month. Fortunately, his wife, Nicole, 37, has a full-time job as a media specialist for Akin Road Elementary School in Farmington. Still, things are tight financially for the family, which also includes 11-year-old Adeline.
Though Tim was quick to turn down the offer — the phone conversation lasted only about a minute — Nicole was slower to embrace his decision, mainly because she works with the family budget and has dealt with the financial stress of Tim’s lengthy unemployment.
“The first thing I wanted to do was justify [taking the job],” she said, when Tim called her moments after he turned it down. “It’s just a clinic. No, it isn’t.
“Through this whole process, our faith has deepened,” she said. “We feel like it was a test of our faith. We chose to stand by our faith.”
HT American Papist
No comments:
Post a Comment