Pound Foolish (Windy City Neighbors Book 4) by Neta Jackson, Dave Jackson Page B

want a part-time job, let me know. We’re always needing help.” He reached up and pulled a business card out of a packet in the visor and handed to her.
         A part-time job? Nicole’s mind spun as she studied the card. What an opportunity. Perhaps her legal career wasn’t over. Maybe . . .
         Her imagination had taken off.
         And then she’d come home to Greg telling her he’d been fired and talking glibly about the possibility of moving to some other city, away from Beecham Street, away from her mom, and away from such an unbelievable opportunity.
     
    * * * *
       
    The executives Greg needed to talk to in his job search wouldn’t be in their offices on Saturday, so he spent most of the day prioritizing those contacts according to the companies that interested him most, personnel he’d met and liked, and location. He didn’t really want to leave Chicago, so boat dealerships in the area headed his list. He’d go for something like Vice President of Sales or maybe Marketing Director, at the VP level, of course.
         Sunday was Pentecost—fourth Sunday in May—and Greg took his family to church, eager for some encouragement about his job situation. He was not disappointed. Pastor Hanson directed his listeners to Acts 2.
         “The Day of Pentecost is about giving!” he declared in a booming voice and then paused behind his Plexiglas pulpit while he surveyed the congregation as if waiting to see whether his pronouncement generated the surprise he intended. Finally, he continued. “It’s not just our giving to God, but God giving to us. The gift of His Holy Spirit, the gifts given by the Holy Spirit, and the power and abundance to use them for His glory.”
         Greg leaned forward, listening intently.
         “Now, do you think God is glorified by some miserly little token? No! He’s a generous God who pours out His blessings in abundance in response to our own generosity. It was Jesus who said in Luke six, thirty-eight, ‘Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.’ That’s God’s principle of sowing and reaping. And you can be sure He follows that principle in what He gives in return to what we sow in faith. Now, let’s look at our passage in Acts two.”
         The pastor pointed out how amazed the onlookers were by the events surrounding God’s gift of His Holy Spirit. These were sophisticated skeptics who had traveled from many countries and had seen the wonders of the ancient world, but they were utterly astonished with what they saw that day in Jerusalem. “And the church grew by leaps and bounds every day,” Pastor Hanson boomed. “God was blessing their giving!”
         This message was just what Greg needed to lift him out of the pit and chase away the doubts and fears that had nibbled at the fringe of his faith over the last couple of days. God was going to bless him. This was his time of opportunity.
         Nicole leaned over. “Somehow Pastor turns every Bible passage into a sermon on prosperity, but it’s really a message about the Holy Spirit,” she whispered.
         Greg gritted his teeth and gave her a cold stare. What was wrong with her? Of course, this teaching took a new slant, but that’s because in all their years in church, no one had taught them about God’s desire to bless them financially. All she had to do was look around. Other people were prospering. Look at the clothes they wore, the cars they drove. Why not them?
         When the music began to play—the offering always followed the sermon at the Victorious Living Center—Greg pulled out his checkbook. In the back of his mind he knew he was acting in spite of Nicole’s reservations, but he told himself he was just exercising faith . . . boldly. “Give and it will be given to you!” He whispered the