Today I got one of those trusty dusty green social security statements in the mail..and this time I actually opened it, It is fascinating to look at the sum of your work life on one sheet of paper. The one sheet of paper tells quite a story even though it is only numbers.
According to the nice little sheet I started paying social security tax back in 1990 at the mere age of 16; I remember working at the courts and also at a home for people with CP. Those jobs took me to about 1992; it would appear that about 2,000 over those years. Then it looks like I improved though I really don’t remember where I worked. I averaged just under 3,000 for 3 years. Then the tides were changing in 1996 I started selling cake supplies and was making a whopping 12,000 or so dollars . The numbers started to go up again I was selling garage door openers, helping in a tax office, and selling cake supplies.
In 1999 I started selling computers for a living and I climbed up to 21,000 or so for a few years….about 4. In 2002 I quit the PC biz and went into voice acting; a whopper of year at just a little over 6,000. Keep in mind during this time I am living in Los Angeles and paying LA rents and or mortgages. It looks like on the sheet that age 30 was my banner year at 33,600; I went back to selling computers but became a manager. On paper this looks like the banner year; this is the year I got Cancer the first time. The following year my income went nearly in half. Then in 2006 I made just under 3,000. In 2007 the Cancer reared its ugly head again but I doubled my income somehow…I don’t remember how. Then the Cancer is gone again and we climb back up to the 15,000 plus level.
My point in telling you all of this is to tell you all of this:
In the worlds eyes I would have been very successful at 30 but that is when I became the sickest.
In Los Angeles making 3,000 a year I somehow had a roof over my head and a bed at all times; more than I can say for a good chunk of the world. I have also had the good fortune or should I say God fortune to have traveled to 13 countries and owned 2 homes from 1992 to now.
They say that should I become unable to work right now that I would actually make more than I do working well in numbers any way.
From the state of things it looks like there may be no Social Security 31 years from now when I am able to collect it anyways .
As you can see by the numbers; my security then, and my security now, and my security 31 years from now is not in the numbers on this page before me.
I lift up my eyes to the hills-where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of Heaven and Earth. Ps 121:1-2
