Job 20:14

Yet turns food in his stomach sour,

   Into the venom of asps within him.

The last two days have revealed some really bad behavior by one of our subcontractors. Their leader confessed and professed they would do everything within their power to minimize the impacts. As one guy summed it up, they lied to your face over and over. Beyond everything else, we trusted them and they failed. Now what?

‘Turns … sour’ was also ‘turns’ and ‘turns bad’. ‘Stomach’ was also some less sensitive words that I will skip.

‘Venom’ was also ‘gall’, ‘poison’, and ‘bile’. ‘Asps’ was also ‘serpents’, ‘cobra’, and ‘viper’.

The worst thing about it all was that they had already broken our trust by failing to uphold the financial terms of the agreements: Five different projects. I would love an alternative, but they are better and cheaper than anyone else by a margin. What does that say about our industry as a whole? We are a small shop trying to do it all right, and that makes us stand out.

After the ‘recovery’ meeting was done, the subcontractor openly tried to hire me away. It was probably just a ploy to stroke my ego, but it did confirm that I would never consider working for any of them. In the end, we might even be able to work with our clients to not be late on anything. I am praying hard for that outcome. Our team will have to work super hard to make that happen, but the overtime cost will pale compared to the cost of being late on two projects.

I have made it my goal in life to work as hard as I can while relying on God to provide the outcome. He has given me skills and talents and all that, but I seek to use them to serve Him and not try to get the big head. Especially since I make so many mistakes. I was not without mistakes in trusting someone I did not know, and there might be negative earthly consequences, but I know that God loves me and protects me much beyond what I deserve.

Written 2/11/26, Posted 4/5/26, Job 472/~1070