A little about me, my name is Junior Timotheus. I come from an average, coloured family home in Cloetesville Stellenbosch. I went to Calling Academy High School, a Christian school, and matriculated in 2022. I was part of the first class to leave the school while also being in the school’s first IT team. I have been attending Shofar Cloetesville since 2010 and joined the worship team at the end of 2017, which was the end of my grade 7 year. I started on percussion and played that until 2022 when I switched to playing guitar. Since then, I have fallen in love with worshiping the Lord.
In grade 12, I applied to study at CPUT for ICT in application development and multimedia. I was convinced that I would get in because I met the criteria. However, the problem was that my parents couldn’t afford to send me to university because I still had two sisters in primary school who needed to go to high school. Applying for NSFAS (National Student Financial Aid Scheme) was also out of the question because they denied my application, stating that my household earned over the income bracket, which was not by much. So, going to study for me seemed out of the question, even though I wanted it so badly because my peers were doing it.
A few weeks before we received our grade 12 reports in January, my friend’s father asked me about my plans for the year. I explained my situation, and then he proposed a deal. He asked why I didn’t want to work at his company, Sinapi Biomedical, helping with IT. He offered to support me in finding something I wanted to study part-time, and they would pay for it. So, I worked and studied for them for 6 months until I received a job offer to intern for the government under the PAY program, which was only for 10 months. I wasn’t sure about it because it wasn’t permanent, but I knew I had to trust and go for it.
As the end of the year approached, I was still upset with my parents for not being able to send me to university, as that would have provided some stability. With my contract ending and still not having any funds to go study, I panicked and cried for days, wondering what would happen to this boy who worships God with everything he has. I asked, “What now God, what am I going to do?” As the days went on, I applied for IT jobs, throwing my CV into different opportunities and taking chances, only to face rejection multiple times from multiple companies. I even applied to Amazon Cape Town for a customer service job and got rejected again, but that didn’t deter me.
While facing these rejections, I saw an advertisement for an IT Support Specialist position at Amazon. I submitted my CV and answered a few questions, not thinking much about it afterward. A few weeks later, on November 30th, I received an email saying, “You have been invited to the interview.” Immediately, I started crying and saying thank you because I knew the Lord had put me in the proper direction, even through the rejections I faced. Since that day, I have taken every rejection and turned it into a moment of worship. I am currently doing my dream job at my dream company.
Every day when I go into the office, I stand and look outside, thanking God because what I have now, no man could have made possible. Every rejection from the start of my high school career was a step in the right direction for my future career. That’s why I can tell you that even in your worrying, God is there. It might not be in the time you want it, but it will come at the time you need it the most.