I graduated from South Hills High School, West Covina, California, in 1977, full of energy and enthusiastic about life, and ready to conquer it. But I soon found out that life wasn’t as easy as strolling on a beach; it was more like riding on a great wave of the sea and drowning in it. However, God’s Hands were on my shoulders, lifting me up and guiding me. By God’s grace, as an Americanized Vietnamese orphan, I was blessed to be able to do things my natural ability didn’t allow. And people around me recognized that God’s favor was on me.

After high school, I worked many odd jobs to support myself—dishwasher, custodian, newspaper deliverer—while studying at Electronic Practical Technical School in Anaheim, California. I graduated with an electronic technician diploma in mid-1980 but couldn’t find a job suitable for my training, even though my grades were excellent and electronic technical jobs were in demand. Most graduates from this school got jobs while I didn’t. Those around me started laughing and mocking me, saying that I should have kept my custodial job. They threw all kinds of negative comments at me: “You were destined to do custodial jobs! A technical job is beyond your reach.” The saddest and most disappointing comments came from my fellow churchgoers who didn’t offer me comfort or uplifting words. As a result, I started to have doubts about my ability; I felt unworthy and defeated.

Alone in my room, with my spirit in the bottom pit of life, I began to question God about His promise: “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). Then I began praying: “Dear Lord, thank You for redeeming me from my sins on the cross. I praise your mighty name for You are the living God. As You know, I currently need a job that I was trained for. I need to help my mom and my youngest brother’s family in Vietnam. They will have a hard time surviving without my help. Does your promise to Joshua apply to me too? Lord, I seek You. Would You put a smile on my face…?”

While I was still on my knees, I heard a voice in my head saying, “There is a job with your name on it.” I got up and looked outside my room for the source of the voice, but there was no one around. The next morning, I felt refreshed; my burdens and stress were gone. When my landlord saw me, she said, “Matthew, you look so fresh and serene today. Did you find a job?” I replied, “No, I didn’t, but I’m letting someone else worry about it.” Perplexity was written all over her face. I just smiled and went to work at my custodial job.

That evening while cleaning my room, I found a folded page from a local newspaper stuck between the headboard of my bed and the wall. My eyes caught an advertised item that had been circled—“Computer Technology, Inc., Orange, California.” Not realizing that I had previously responded to this advertisement, the next morning I called the number listed. When I heard the greeting from the other end, I introduced myself and stated the purpose of my call. The lady instantly responded: “Oh, Matthew, I tried to return your call, but the number you left on my answering machine was wrong, and my boss misplaced your resume. I am so glad you called.” After mutually apologizing to each other, she scheduled an interview for me with the owner of the company and the technical team.

The company repaired and provided field service for minicomputers made by Data General, Inc. It had only seven employees, including me. They offered me six months’ training in computer repairing and field servicing, with an hourly pay rate 25% less than the market rate, plus medical insurance and travel expenses, but no vacation or sick leave. After that, I would be on 70% commission of whatever my company charged clients for my service. I accepted the offer, and mentally noted that I had nothing to lose and would gain experience which would help me in seeking another job. On the company’s side, they had nothing to lose in hiring me, for there were no other candidates standing in line to take the position.

After burning a few of their computer parts, I made progress in learning my job well so that at the end of the fourth month of training, the owner put me on commission. At first, I was nervous and uncertain, but they seemed sure that I would make it. The company treated the staff to pizza for lunch to encourage me and gave me two white cotton uniforms with the company logo on the sleeve and two pairs of pants as gifts. I bought my own dress shoes. I was officially a Computer Service Engineer (CSE)!

Before I went to a client’s site, our front desk always had the name, model, year, and make of the defective computer that needed servicing. With this information, I could prepare suitable equipment and parts for the job. By using the equipment and diagnostic program, I could detect the defective part of a computer. If the clients had their own replacement part, I would install it for them. Otherwise, our company would offer them a rental part with a charge per day for five days. After that, they could use it without charge until further settlement. The broken part would be fixed at our shop. I got 30% commission for the equipment rental.

Besides a few negative incidents, I was doing very well in my job. My average month’s commission was equivalent to that of an entry level electrical engineer. I felt I was well-paid with flexible hours and covered medical and dental benefits. I was able to rent my own apartment, bought a new car, and still had some savings for a rainy day. The bookkeeper of the company told me that since I started working there, the profit of the company had increased significantly. Thus, God put a smile on my face as I had asked Him, and blessed the company I was working for. I praised and glorified Him. I no longer felt inferior among my peers. Now, those who previously despised me felt ashamed of themselves and said, “God has blessed you abundantly.” This remark made me the happiest man on earth because people recognized God’s love and grace on me, and I quietly glorified Him.

A few of those who had despised me before now asked me to help them get a job at my company. It was a great opportunity for them to have a second income, flexible hours, and well-rewarded jobs. I referred them to my boss who offered them a flexible training schedule for a few months without pay with the stipulation that if they made progress, he would continue to train them with pay. Through my conversations with them, I learned that they understood the electronic circuitries and binary code very well, but they couldn’t comprehend the computer diagnostic program and the architecture of the computer. The computer diagnostic program was written in binary code, called machine language, accompanied with the acronyms called assembly language—a short explanation of the function of the binary code. Each alphabetic character was composed with multiple digits, one and zero, called bit. The CSE had to understand the diagnostic program to modify the code to test and repair an electronic circuit on the boards, but my referrals couldn’t do it.

The architecture of the computer consisted of a power supply, CPU, memory, peripheral, communication, and control boards. Each of the individual parts was built differently with a different purpose and function. Particularly, the memory board was made up of thousands of magnetic cores and electronic circuits. The cores had the shapes of donuts and were as small as the tip of your little finger with three wires going through the hole. The cores were very fragile, unrepairable, and very expensive. A gentle drop could break them. Today, a computer (cellphone) can be held in your fingers and is a thousand times more powerful than the minicomputer back in1980.

Seeing how difficult the job was, my referrals came to have a different opinion about me. One of them said that though I didn’t have notable talent, he admired me for handling this job, as well as for the way I conducted my life. He could sense that Divine Hands were truly on my shoulders. He said, “Your life is a miracle!” Hearing this confession from others gave me a feeling of being so very blessed and protected. I wanted to jump and shout, “Yes, my life is a miracle! Hallelujah, God has made the fool to become wise, the weak to become strong!” Then, I recalled the night when I knelt and prayed, and the voice that said, “There is a job with your name on it.” It had become a reality. Among my peers and friends, only I got this unique job. I realized that when God blessed, He gave beyond one’s ability to achieve, when one least expected it, and that no one could deny.

For more than 40 years now, I have realized that without God’s Hands on my shoulders, I could not have been able to understand such a complicated computer system. All the skill and knowledge I had were God-given to teach me the reality of life. What really counted was not what I gained or lost, whether fame and riches, success or failure. What really counted was what I received from God. He gave me a special talent at that time in my life to rebuild my faith in Him—not for me to take pride in, or to boast in myself.

Matthew Do (Đỗ Khắc Mẫn ) has a BS degree in electrical engineering from the University of Arizona. He worked 35 years as a software engineer, first for the Department of the Navy and later for the City of Seattle, Washington. In 2010 he earned a Master of Divinity degree from Fuller Seminary. In retirement, Matthew continues to write a weekly column for the Viet Seattle Times and uses his bilingual skills in translation work. He and his wife, AnhDu have two children. (For a fuller story of Matthew’s life, see Challenger vol. 62 no. 2.)