Life's way of Diverging & Converging

Life has a way of diverging and converging at the most unexpected points. I'm witnessing one of those points today and marveling at the colorful tapestry that must certainly be taking shape on the other side of this mysterious cloth.

Over the course of my lifetime I've been drawn to certain things without knowing why. I had a desire to learn to speak Russian when the iron curtain was still strong and intact. I was drawn to study the Middle East and the Arabic language when only a handful of people cared about that region of the world. I've always had a sense of adventure and a desire to visit remote corners of the earth. I'm sitting in a hotel room in Panama City, Florida tonight staring into the face of another convergence of my life's areas of focus.

I was flown here last week to be in-briefed as a truck driver in Kuwait, in support of the U. S. military working in the Iraqi theater of operations. I was cleared to fly out on Monday morning, having succeeded in getting past the first barrier for a man my age—passing my physical. But Sunday brought a piece of news that halted my journey cold. The director of Human Resources called me at the hotel with the message. “Mr. Clark, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but the Kuwaiti embassy has notified us that no driver over the age of 59 will be issued a permit to drive in Kuwait.” I felt the air rush out of my chest as my gut caved in from her sentence. “I'd like you to come into the office in the morning to discuss some options. If we can find you a position in one of our other areas we'd like to keep you with our company.”

I spent a sleepless night, thinking about my life's experiences and my lack of education and wondering where they would ever be able to find me a job. I thought about my age and how it's become a factor in the kinds of work that I can be considered for. I spent time on my knees, asking for guidance and help.

There were three of us at the office on Monday morning, all over the Kuwaiti age limit and all wondering the same thing. “Mr. Clark, I'm going to send you in with one of our assistants to go over your skills and see if we can find a good fit for you.” I was escorted into an office down the hall where I met with another woman.

“Now then, Mr. Clark, tell me a little about your life experience and about your skills.” I took a breath to give myself another second to gather my thoughts. “I guess I've done a little bit of a lot of things over the years, but my greatest experience has come from being a corporate manager and a photographer.” Her eyes widened. “How much management experience do you have?” I suddenly felt hopeful for the first time since the night before. “I managed a corporate photo department for 17 years. We produced work for more than 30 magazines each month.

There was a brief pause in the conversation as she shuffled through a few papers on her desk and then pulled a sheet from the stack. “I have a position open for a 'Services Specialist' in Kyrgyzstan at Manas.” I know that my look was blank as I struggled with what she'd just said. “A 'Services Specialist'? Where?” I'd be managing one of the many services on the Manas Air Base near Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan for the military. I'd be living off base and traveling through the city each day to go to work.

“May I take a few minutes to call my wife and get her input?”

Candace and I talked. “This is not random", she said. "There's a reason that things have come together this way.”

Candace's faith was reassuring and I thanked her. But it wasn't until Candace called me a few minutes later after doing a google search that I began to glimpse the convergence. “Do you know that Kyrgyzstan borders Khazakhstan and China? And do you know that one of the three official languages in Kyrgyzstan is Russian?”

So I'm sitting in the hotel room, contemplating one of those mysterious convergences in life while I wait for a flight to another far-off place where, if all goes according to the plan... God seems to have another mission just for me.