Radical Transformation Part 1

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Radical Transformation: That is where this journey started. Last October, our pastor started a sermon series on radical transformation. It was a series with “Will You?” commitments every week. Paul and I loved the series, but we had no idea what lied ahead, or how much that series was going to impact our lives.  Looking back, I feel that spiritual growth was preparing our family for a new stage in life where we would need to fully commitment everything we have to the Lord. As a family, we would go against the cultural norms and transform!

The “Will You?” sermon series ended with a commitment….a commitment to God and our church to work towards radical transformation. Paul and I knew our home life needed to most drastic transformation of them all. He had been working tirelessly at a start-up company that expected 24/7/365 from him, and it had been 10 months of non-stop work. Our family tank was empty and we were at a crossroads. Our marriage was struggling to stay afloat, and the kids were constantly complaining that they didn’t have time with dad. See, Paul would come home, but he would need to get back on the computer to work so he was never fully here. He strives to be an involved father, but work was forcing him to put his family on the backburner. I could see the struggle within him to persevere to provide for his family, but falling apart at the seams because he wanted to be the husband and father that his heart desired him to be. The sermon series made it abundantly clear that we needed a drastic change in the Otto household.

We began praying and asking God for guidance, and Paul started replying to recruiters about a new job. For us, Paul has such a unique resume that he is contacted about jobs all of the time. He interviewed and took things slowly in hopes of finding the perfect match. 2014 started with a new sermon series for families called, “Home Fitness.” Once again, we were faced with the reality that our home needed a transformation. What we didn’t realize was how radical that transformation would end up being. Paul took an offer to interview at a new start-up that we were excited about a year or so ago. We didn’t expect him to take the job because he was hoping to take a job with 2 larger corporations and possibly relocate. He walked in, nailed the interview, and they offered Paul a job on the spot! It wasn’t the level of income he wanted, so they asked what he needed to leave his current job. He gave them a crazy number that he didn’t expect them to meet. An hour later, they called with that salary, plus a life-changing amount of stock, 100% free healthcare, and a paid-for vacation. It seemed like a blessing from above and we were so very excited about it all. What we didn’t realize was how far Satan had led us away from the real path we were to be on. We excepted the job offer and couldn’t believe the opportunity we were given.

In the past, Paul has always laid out work/life balance needs to each employer so they know upfront that he is a family man first. The first start-up took advantage of that, and Paul was assured the new start-up wouldn’t do that. Two weeks in, and Paul was feeling an extreme amount of pressure to work much longer than 12-hour days. After a very large argument and some Godly wisdom from a trusted mentor, Paul went into work to talk expectations. What he found out was that the new company needed 80+ hours a week for the next 6-9 months. Wow….there is no overtime pay for those extra hours because he works on salary. I asked Paul to talk to the CEO to make sure that was what the company needed from him. The CEO agreed that was the need for the foreseeable future. Paul made the decision that day to leave the job! No job in place, no savings, no idea where he would go….Paul quit his job! It wasn’t on bad terms that he left, and they even paid him 2 weeks severance with benefits to give him time to find something else. I am so glad the CEO and others respected his decision to put family first. 

Paul left that job that day with the confidence that he would have a new job in a week. This was a journey that started with a lot of pride and confidence, and ended with a family fully trusting and relying on God and with very, very humble hearts. I am extremely grateful for this entire process, for the transformation our family has undergone, and continues to go through to come out more Christ-like than ever. Never in my life have I trusted God in the way that I do now. It has made all of us different people, and I am humbled by this experience.