{"id":6392,"date":"2016-12-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/2016\/12\/19\/loving-liberty\/"},"modified":"2016-12-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-19T00:00:00","slug":"loving-liberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/2016\/12\/19\/loving-liberty\/","title":{"rendered":"Loving Liberty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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Wandley Jeune never imagined that a commitment to his faith would result in such life-altering consequences.<\/p>\n

Wandley is a Seventh-day Adventist Christian who observes a weekly Sabbath rest from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. He was a popular barber in a suburb outside Newark, New Jersey, before the shop he worked in told him they couldn\u2019t hold his chair if he wasn\u2019t available to work during the salon\u2019s busiest shifts: Friday after 5:00 p.m. and all day Saturday. <\/p>\n

A friend of Wandley\u2019s told him of a local hotel that was hiring workers in their housekeeping department. He interviewed for a position, and was hired. Cautious after his last employment experience, Wandley was upfront about his inability to work on the Sabbath. The hiring manager was nonchalant, explaining he\u2019d need to do so only occasionally during busy periods. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was adamant that I could never work a Sabbath shift,\u201d recalls Wandley. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to be in the same position again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly didn\u2019t think it would be an issue,\u201d remembers Wandley\u2019s manager Elona Dhima. \u201cWe\u2019d had other employees say they couldn\u2019t work certain shifts, even for religious reasons, but they\u2019d all done it when it had come down to it.\u201d <\/p>\n

A few months into his new job the staff was told by the hotel that the coming weekend would be \u201call hands on deck.\u201d Everyone would be required to work. Wandley reminded his manager of his inability to work during the Sabbath hours. She apologized, but said she couldn\u2019t excuse his absence. All employees would need to report to work. <\/p>\n

\u201cI told my manager that I had to honor my commitment to the Sabbath, and she responded that if I didn\u2019t show up for the Saturday shift, I would no longer have a job,\u201d said Wandley. \u201cI was disappointed, but I never for a minute considered working that shift. It just wasn\u2019t an option.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few weeks later Wandley received a phone call from his former manager, asking if he\u2019d like to come back to work at the hotel. She promised that he would never be asked to work during the Sabbath hours again, assuring him that she\u2019d personally make sure of it. <\/p>\n

Elona recalls the conversation: \u201cI\u2019d never met anyone so committed to their faith. It really made an impression on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wandley returned to his job at the hotel, and began sharing inspirational books with Elona. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter he gave me each book, he would quiz me. \u2018Have you read it yet? What did you think?\u2019\u201d laughs Elona. <\/p>\n

After several months of Elona\u2019s receptive response to the Christian material he shared with her, Wandley asked if she\u2019d be interested in studying the Bible with his pastor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was open to learning more, but hesitant to meet and study with a strange man,\u201d says Elona. \u201cWandley was undeterred. He said, \u2018My pastor\u2019s wife is a pastor too. You can study with her.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Elona began studying with Pastor Paula Olivier of the First Seventh-day Adventist Church in Montclair, New Jersey. The two women immediately connected over the joy and peace found in a relationship with Christ. Within a year Elona was baptized, and she and Wandley were married. Today they have a beautiful baby girl, Paula, named after her godmother, \u201cPastor Paula.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always been a man of faith,\u201d shares Wandley. \u201cGod has always provided for me, and I have never doubted His love for me. But I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined that my commitment to His will would result in Elona\u2019s conversion and our shared life together. I am so proud of my wife and her love for Christ. It\u2019s been an incredible experience watching her grow in her relationship with God, and become an amazing mother to our little girl. I am blessed beyond measure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wandley Jeune never imagined that a commitment to his faith would result in such life-altering consequences. Wandley is a Seventh-day Adventist Christian who observes a weekly Sabbath rest from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. He was a popular barber in a suburb outside Newark, New Jersey, before the shop he worked in told him they<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[131],"class_list":["post-6392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-january-february-2017","tag-january-february-2017"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6392\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}