I praise God that He constantly journeyed with my family and I while I was living a good life but, in His eyes, a lukewarm life! The worldly culture focusses on performance, position and wealth, to list a few criteria. As long as you are caught up in chasing qualifications, promotions and salary increases and belong to a church where you quickly use your talents to serve on every committee, you become complacent with living a good life!
I had only one employer during my working life, Anglo American Platinum. I started with them in June 1979 and got promoted frequently, every time with a bigger house and company car. I married my school girlfriend Hettie (a pharmacist) and in 1981. We were blessed with a son in 1983 and a daughter in 1985. We never experienced serious trials or tribulations in our life, until I received a letter at my office in April 2009 that read “Your position has become redundant”.
They treated me well and offered me a contract that ended in December 2009, 8 years before I planned to retire. I experienced all the phases following a traumatic event but it was the words of my then Human Resources Director that change the direction of my life forever. “There is a book you must read” he said and gave me the details. On my way home that day I purchased the book and tried to think how I was going to explain to my wife that the letter was not another promotion…
Between April and October 2009 we had more questions than answers but the Holy Spirit revealed to us that we needed to move on from the church in which we were raised. On a sunny Saturday morning, 10 October 2009, I was baptised by my friend, I baptised my wife and then everything changed! We lost most of our friends and were heavily criticised for our decisions to join an alternative church but the Holy Spirit had more than we could imagine in stall for us!
This was the beginning of my journey through the desert. During this journey I learnt that my life was not about me, my career was not to serve a large company and be remunerated handsomely for it, Human Resources management was not about policies and procedures, my marriage was not based on my love for my wife, my children were not mine and the church was not a building… to name a few…
God brought new friends into our lives who quickly became family in the Body of Christ. We laughed and cried with our children when we discovered how we were all simultaneously wondering how we were going the share the news of having been baptised, with the baptism of the believer and in the Holy Spirit, only weeks apart!
It took me a few years to cut the umbilical cord with my previous employer while I was trying to discover my new calling in life. One day a new friend invited me to address a group of young inmates at the Rustenburg Prison during their graduation ceremony, having completed a program he presented to them as part of his ministry in prisons. I could not use the notes I have prepared for the day. I first cried because I had to confess to them that I have never given them and their futures a second thought as I often drove past that prison facility. I am now a member of Jacobs Cross foundation who ministers to inmates at the Mogwase and Rustenburg Prisons.
I have discovered that there are many business leaders and owners who struggle with how to surrender their businesses to God and fulfil the Godly calling on their lives in the business world. I have crossed paths and taken hands with organisations such as Unashamedly Ethical, Employers for Christ, Call42, Jedidiah, Crossover Transformation and Paramount Coaching and enjoy coaching business owners how to do “Business by the Book”.
The book “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan had a strong impact on the theme of my testimony and my spiritual journey. One of the chapters is called “The profile of the lukewarm” and convicted me of how close I got to be spit out of His mouth! John 13:34 and 35 is the scriptural base of the “Second half” of my life. Jesus tells the disciples that He gives them a “new commandment”, to live love. Hence my message and slogan “Live love”
Live love!
Deon Farmer
If and when this Testimony has spoken into your heart, please go to the Commitment page.