I had been working in industry for a company back in 1997 that underwent a change of ownership.  I had enjoyed the job under the original owner but the new owners were just too much of the East coast corporate mentality and I found myself laid off on Tuesday of Holy Week of that year.  Little did I know but that God had a plan in mind for me.  We had owned a vending business that we had sold off the year before and still owed between $15 and $20, 000 on it.  I cashed in a 401k account shortly after being laid off that substantially reduced the debt load but we were carrying a note for one of the buyers and still making payments ourselves to the banks.  Without me working, we were in trouble.  About six weeks after the layoff and totally out of the blue, the buyer called us up and explained that, if it wasn't too inconvenient, he'd like to pay off the entire note right away!  I told him it wasn't a problem at all, of course, and so we were left entirely debt-free (minus the mortgage) with a few thousand dollars in the bank to coast on.

I began to look for work.  Not knowing whether God's will was that I stay in Cincinnati or not, I asked our pastor, Father Peter Scott, what I should do.  "How do I know whether it is God's will that I stay in town or if He wants me to move away?", I asked him.  His reply was one of the wisest pieces of advice and I've never forgotten it to this day.  "Send a resume to every place that you are qualified for and God will give you the job that He wants you to have."  So that's exactly what I did, I sent resumes for any position that I was qualified for.  In addition, I did my usual 54-day Rosary Novena to get the job that God wanted me to have.

The pastor at the chapel, dear Father Scott, had had a rough year with the Church school, St. Pius X Academy.  They had ended the year with only 1 teacher left (my daughter) and 7 students.  He needed someone strong who could run the place firmly but with charity.  Why he thought of me completely escapes me, but he did.  He offered me that job of being the new Assistant Principal.  Now understand that this job paid $20,000 for a ten month contract and I was making $58,000 a year when I got laid off.  Pretty slim on the compensation, eh?  Regardless, I told the good father that I'd at least check our finances out to see if it was possible. 

Since we were now out of debt by virtue of the vending business debt being paid off, we determined that we could make ends meet on $25,000 a year.  Therefore, if my wife, Benita were the kindergarten teacher for the whopping salary of $6,000 per year, we could just eek out a living and she would be home 2 days during the week to take care of her duties of state and I'd have clean underwear.

However, attachment to things of this world kept me from saying "yes".  Fr. Scott, the ever-impatient, needed an answer in May.  I was ending the petition stage (which is when most of my Rosary Novena answers have come) and my engineering search had been fruitless to this point.  I had an upcoming interview at a company near the airport that I had toured with a radio amateur club several years previously so I knew the owner.  Although I hadn't any direct experience in their products, I was at least familiar with their work so I thought I had a pretty fair chance at landing the job.  I told Father Scott that I'd give him his answer after I got a response from this company.  I prayed to God that if He wanted me to teach that the company NOT extend me an offer and if He didn't want me to teach, that I be given the engineering job.  One way or the other, in or out, up or down.  One winner-one loser.

The day of the interview arrived and I "smoked" it.  I thought I had made a great impression and that I was a shoe-in for the job.  A week passed and no answer.  Only Father Scott calling saying, "Mr. Cannane, I need an answer".  "OK, Father, I'll give you an answer after I call the company".   I got right on the phone.  I was told that I had done remarkably well and that they hadn't had any other candidates and were just about ready to extend me an offer when a gentleman from out East who worked for a competitor had called at the last moment looking for work.  He was the ideal candidate and they just HAD to offer him the job!  God had spoken!!  Father Scott had his new Assistant Principal.

I'll continue the story in Assistant Principal Part II.