Our eldest son was a drummer and music technician. He was travelling the world, particularly in the Far East, and playing drums occasionally in the UK supporting relatively unknown artists. Music gigs were sometimes few and far between and even when work was available, payment for work done was often late or sluggish.
In March 2020, the covid pandemic brought an abrupt end to all this when the live music industry collapsed. For our son, this was devastating. All he had come to know ended overnight, and there was no sign of it re-starting. Family members sent him money to pay the rent. It all looked bleak.
A crisis of identity and confidence fell on him like an ugly monster landing heavily on its next meal. He asked himself, ‘Should I wait for music or do something else? What can I do? I’ve not seen the sort of success I hoped for.’ This was a painful time.
So, as his parents, we prayed. Sometimes we prayed with him and his wife. We sought God, ‘Lord, we thank You that You will make a way. We thank You that You will lead them through this mess’.
A friend had asked Leslie to help at a start-up, furniture-making business. The friend had just launched this enterprise and in lock-down the business took off, as people sat at home and shopped on-line. Leslie hated it, but he was working with good friends and crucially, had some income.
Months passed and because of his wife’s work in London film studios restarting, they came to live with us, nearer London. They left Brighton and Leslie’s forced absence from his friend’s furniture business caused a problem – they missed Leslie. They needed his help, but as a small company didn’t have the capacity to articulate what they wanted. Nevertheless, the owner was adamant he needed Leslie’s help.
To cut the story short, we wrote a job offer. We assembled a job that Leslie felt he could offer the furniture making company, including some marketing and graphic design – and sent it to the owner. Leslie shaped his own job, which was accepted, fully.
So, now, 2 years after his music world collapsed, Leslie works as the Creative Brain for his friend’s furniture company, doing a job that he wrote himself – a job that did not exist and was not advertised. What’s more, living with us, they have saved a deposit, and they’ve bought a house in Reading. They’re due to move in within the next week.
I thank God for His goodness to our eldest son and his wife, in having them jump tracks from the world of music and providing them both with creative work, regular, reliable incomes and shaping a job for Leslie where he can be at home more often. We are so glad that God has gently steered them as a couple onto better, firmer ground.
*Photo Credit: https://www.pexels.com/@readymade