Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In the last four episodes, I told about hosting an immigrant family of three. Denied boarding in Amsterdam, they purchased expensive last-minute tickets to Canada, where I hosted them in an Edmonton Airbnb until they rented an apartment. 

Next assignment: find a job. Unfortunately, the father’s dental technician and dental surgery qualifications are no good in Canada. How about a warehouse job?  

His resume, created on an internet website, looked impressive. But it was written in corporate-speak nonsense like, “I liaised with cross-functional teams to facilitate smooth operations and achieve common goals.” 

Oh, yes! Exactly what a warehouse supervisor needs–someone to liaise with his cross-functional teams.Or maybe he just wants someone who’s quick with a pallet jack and handy with a broom! 

After replacing the corporate-speak with plain English, we looked at internet job sites–Indeed.com, the Canada Job Bank, and ALIS Alberta. We tried job searches on Google and job searches at companies with warehouses. 

Uline sent our only response: a computer-generated corporate-speak email telling us we didn’t meet their standards. Perhaps we should have left the corporate-speak in the resume.

Two more days of silence. I checked the resume. Duh! I’d entered the wrong telephone number

We corrected my error and sent out corrected applications. Followed by two more weeks of silence. 

My newcomer friend was concerned. He said,”I can’t afford to spend eight months job hunting like my friend in Calgary did!” 

I sat in my car with him in a Walmart parking lot, listening while he processed his thinking about Canada. He said, “I thought Canada had many opportunities with decent pay.”   

I sympathized. “Yes. Canada can be difficult if you’re poor. Lots of people have two or more minimum wage jobs because they can’t find something better.” 

We went into Walmart. “Look at the shoppers’ faces,” I said. “I see age and tiredness and sadness. What do you see?”

“I see pain,” he said. 

I agreed. “I think many of these are Canadians who live near the minimum wage. Life is not easy for them.” 

We continued job hunting. Every day, search the internet. Every day, wait for that phone call or email. 

Then one Friday he had a phone interview with a logistics company. It went well. “Can you start Monday?” they asked?  

Thirty-two hours a week and no benefits, but starting pay is above minimum wage. Since he doesn’t have a car, the company offered him a transit accessible day shift. 

Job hunt complete. Mission accomplished.

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we pray for those with part time work who need more hours.
  We pray for those with no work and no one to hire them. 
  For those with too much work, and too little time to do it. 
  For those with menial work who want something more fulfilling.
  For those marginalized and demeaned at work who long for respect and justice.
  For those failing at work, attempting tasks beyond their skill. 
  For those with good jobs and reasonable pay, who give you thanks. 

Help us to be wise employers and wise workers. 

And above all, whatever we do, may we do it with all our heart. For it it is you, the Lord Christ, whom we serve (Col 3:23-24). 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube