Commitment; temptation.

I think it must have been after my husband earned his MBA, as he was searching for a job, that an opportunity came up that he turned down. It was a job offer to manage a gas station and convenience store, with the opportunity to move into upper management if he did well. The long hours it would require did not daunt him, and he was excited to switch from restaurants to another field of study. He researched in detail. He asked me what I thought, with excitement in his voice.

I took a while to answer. He had worked several years at Au Bon Pain and then Panera Bread, both bakery cafes; he had worked car sales and retail management in the past. I had no doubt of his ability to do the work.

But we met when he was a new member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a recovering alcoholic. He attended Alcoholics Anonymous for a long time, and kept their Blue Book close all his life. He was willing to work at a restaurant that sold coffee, and he was willing to work at all hours as needed. But he refused to work at a restaurant that served alcohol.

Years before this employment opportunity he had told me he felt an urge to drink often, and knew that if he was around alcohol it would be very, very tempting. I reminded him of his commitment never to sell alcohol. Convenience stores sell a lot of it.

He heard me out, saw and felt my concern for him, and did not make an immediate decision. Instead he thought about it some more, and went back to the Lord in prayer. I also prayed earnestly that my husband would make a wise decision.

Some hours later my husband told me he would turn down the convenience store job. He kept looking and presently taught at a junior college. This teaching position led to an entire chain of events; I don't know where the convenience store job would have led, but no doubt it would have been different.

I am most grateful, in that experience, that he chose not to sell alcohol. Knowing how he had struggled with alcohol before, I breathed sighs of relief to be out of that track. He could have turned that way, and didn't. I am glad.