Tag Archives: Salary

“Why Do We Pray Before Meals?”

April 22, 2025 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
Matthew 14:19-20 (NIV)

“Why do we pray before meals?” Wendy asked me yesterday morning after I had prayed before breakfast.

It was a simple enough question. There are so many things in life that we do because they are habitual or traditional. We rarely stop to ask “Why?”

The question came back to mind as I read the chapter this morning. Jesus famously feeds a hungry crowd of 5,000 followers with just a handful of bread loaves and a couple of fish. Yet, there is so much more to this story than the surface event. It even addresses Wendy’s question.

We are blessed to live in the most affluent empire in human history during the most affluent age in human history. Never in the history of humanity has the simple human need for food been so abundantly satiated on our planet. I’m not saying that there aren’t places and people in the world who are struggling for their “daily bread,” but never in history has that number been so small. That is just the facts. Not only that, but here in America we have long struggled with the opposite problem. Food is so abundantly available that we have a problem with obesity.

Yet, for the crowds following Jesus to an isolated place to hear Him preach, and for God’s people leaving slavery in Egypt and wandering into the wilderness, the need for food simply to survive was critically real. And, this episode in today’s chapter is connected to the story of the Hebrews in the wilderness. It’s connected to the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught His followers to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

For the Hebrews in the wilderness, God provided a miraculous bread from heaven called “manna.” Every morning when they woke up the manna covered the ground like dew. It was always just enough for that day, and if someone collected more than they needed for themselves and their family that day it would grow horribly rotten.

The spiritual lesson of manna, and of the loaves and fish, is profound in its simplicity: Trust God for what you need each and every day.

When I began work for our company, Intelligentics, back in 1994 it was unlike any job I’d ever held. No one in our company, including the founder and owner, has ever drawn a salary. Every person gets paid by the amount of time we charge clients within projects. Which means if we don’t have any clients or projects then no one gets paid. Our founder set up the business this way to mirror the spiritual principle of daily bread.

For over 30 years I have never had the simple assurance of next month’s paycheck or how much it would be.

God has always provided for our needs despite the fact that across the 30-plus years there have been months of proverbial feast and famine. Nevertheless, like the story of the loaves and fish in today’s chapter, there has always been “leftovers” in the end.

As I meditated on this simple life lesson in the quiet this morning, Holy Spirit raised within my memory one of my favorite verses in the entire Great Story. It comes from the time of the Hebrews in the wilderness as God is instructing them in their new way of life. The hard reality of slavery is that your Master has the responsibility of protecting and providing for his investment with housing and food, meager as it might be. Wandering in the wilderness is a very different reality. Freedom required faith that God would provide. And when God did provide, Moses instructed God’s people:

“When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.”
Deuteronomy 8:10 (NIV)

I love the fact that Jesus not only provided a filet-o-fish feast, but Matthew was careful to record that everyone “ate and was satisfied.” Matthew the Quirk was also careful to record the numbers like the math geek he was. Five loaves and two fish feed 5,000 with twelve baskets full of leftovers (that’s one basket for every one of the twelve tribes of Hebrews wandering in the wilderness back in Deuteronomy.

Matthew was also careful to record that Jesus “broke the bread,” giving us the colloquialism that we still use today for gathering together with friends or loved ones for a meal. Jesus also “gave thanks” in anticipation of God’s provision for the “daily bread” God was about to provide. While Matthew doesn’t say it specifically, I know for certain that everyone was obediently obeying Deuteronomy 8:10 and praising God after the fish feast was over that day.

So, there’s the answer to Wendy’s question. We pray before meals because it’s the spiritual pattern God wove into our daily lives. Trust God each and every day for my daily bread. Thank Him for His provision as I break my bread. Praise Him each time I am satiated and there are leftovers.

When I begin to trust and depend on myself for my daily bread, I’ve completely lost the plot.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!

Chapter-a-Day

Man in the Middle

January 14, 2025 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
1 Corinthians 9:12 (NIV)

I sometimes feel like I live in two different worlds and I don’t always fit perfectly in either of them. I have a career of over 30 years in the business world. I own the business I started working for in 1994. I love what I do, and I love my clients. I also have a unique leadership position among my local gathering of Jesus’ followers in which I lead, teach and provide pastoral presence though I’m not an official member of the staff.

Over the years, I’ve often felt as if people in the business world who know about my pastoral service don’t always know what to make of me. Likewise, people in the church world who find out it’s not actually my vocation aren’t sure what to do with me either. I’m kind of an outlier to individuals in both worlds. I’m a “man in the middle,” but that’s where God has led and it’s worked.

One of the things I’ve observed along my spiritual journey is that modern readers of the Great Story are often so focused on mining spiritual encouragement that the historical context is completely lost. But sometimes there’s spiritual treasure buried in that context for those who are willing to dig.

The Jesus Movement that exploded after the resurrection was an organically structured system. Like any human organization, it was a mix of diverse personalities, temperaments, strengths, and blind spots. The leadership core was, of course, Jesus original twelve disciples. If I put on my business cap and think about the org chart, it would look like the Twelve in executive director positions with the title of Apostles. Peter was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as appointed by Jesus. But, then there are Jesus’ brothers, James in particular, who quickly rise in the organization. James (not to become confused with either of the two members of the original Twelve disciples named James) becomes kind of a Chief Operating Officer (COO) focused on the core Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem.

You kind of have to think about it, but Paul was an outsider to this leadership group. First, he had the baggage of having originally been a competitor. Paul started as enemy numero uno to everyone in the corporation. He was even responsible for having a beloved member of business, assassinated and he had members of the church arrested, imprisoned, beaten, and perhaps even killed. Trust me, it would not have been a comfortable Board Meeting at Jesus, Inc. when it became clear that Jesus’ had hired Paul to help expand global operations.

On top of that, there was grumbling all the way down the org chart about Paul being given the executive director title of Apostle along with The Twelve. The qualifications were that Jesus personally and directly hired them, and that they had seen the resurrected Jesus. Paul technically fit those qualifications, but there were certainly some who felt that Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road years after the resurrection didn’t cut the corporate mustard.

Nevertheless, the Twelve originally stuck close to home in Jerusalem while sending Paul off to share Jesus’ message with people far away and set up locations in towns across Asia Minor and Greece. The distance was probably good for everybody in the organization. It also gave Paul tremendous autonomy to do things the way he felt they should be done while he was operating far from corporate headquarters. He was a maverick, a head-strong leader, as well as being the most brilliant and educated member of the executive team at Jesus, Inc. The rumors, criticism, and doubts about Paul’s pedigree and worthiness within the organization would follow him and dog him for years., no matter where he went.

One of the things Paul did differently was the fact that he had a vocation outside of Jesus, Inc. Paul was raised in a wealthy, accomplished tent-making family business. He knew the trade. He was skilled at it. And no matter where he traveled or stayed, people needed tents made or repaired. It allowed him to meet people he might otherwise not have met. His business interactions gave him local knowledge and information that would help him navigate the establishment of the local chapter of Jesus, Inc. It also meant that Paul provided for himself and his companions by his own means. Jesus, Inc. didn’t have to pay him a salary, travel expenses, or a per diem. He certainly could have expected or demanded this. The corporation certainly provided for and took care of the expenses of the other corporate executives in Jerusalem. Paul chose out, and he did so for a reason.

If you haven’t read today’s chapter, or even if you have, I encourage you to take a few minutes and read it again and think about Paul in his organizational circumstances. I think you might see things you didn’t see before.

In the quiet this morning, I’m meditating on the fact that I have gained a greater appreciation for, and deeper personal connection with, Paul in recent years. He was an outlier, too. His ministry was channeled through and provided for by what appears to be an unconnected vocation, though a disciple of Jesus knows that every vocation is a ministry. Paul was able to share Jesus’ message, shepherd new believers, and establish local chapters of Jesus, Inc. while not needing or expecting financial support from the people he’s spiritually serving. There’s something powerful in that, to give and require nothing in return. There is also, I have discovered, a joy that comes with it.

That would eventually change when Paul was arrested and spent years imprisoned and waiting trial in the Roman legal system. But how beautiful to think of the gratitude of the believers in places like Corinth where Paul gave so much without requiring anything. When it came time that he did need something from them, I can only imagine the joy with which they stepped up to the plate.

Who knows but what maybe I will be in a similar position someday. In the meantime, I’m blessed and overjoyed to be a “man in the middle” like Paul was, even if can occasionally be a unique reality.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Ancient Law; Modern Application

October 22, 2015 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.
Deuteronomy 25:4 (NRSV)

The mission statement of my company contains the phrase, “…by applying the principles of God’s word to our lives and work….” When Mr. Wenger began the company there were certain decisions he consciously made in structuring the way we did business to adhere to specific biblical principles. For example, while incorporated like any other company he chose to call us a “group” not a “company” because he wanted each member to know that, like the body of Christ, we are all in this together and what each one of us does affects the others.

One of the other principles by which our group does business is tied to a verse from today’s chapter. “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” In the days of Moses grain was usually milled by placing it between two huge, round millstones. In the featured photo of this post you can see me pushing an ancient olive press in Nazareth which operated in a similar fashion. In milling grain, an ox was yoked to the stones and walked around and around and around in circles, turning the millstone which milled the grain. The floor of the mill would be covered with grain and farmers found that the ox would naturally bend down and eat grain off the floor as it worked. Farmers began to muzzle the ox so it could not eat the grain as it worked. The law of Moses said that the ox should be allowed to eat grain freely and benefit directly from the work it was doing for the farmer.

So it is with our group that no member, from the owners down to the newest contract employee is paid a salary in which we get paid a lump sum no matter how much or how little work we do each month. Rather, each member is paid directly from the specific tasks we do on each job for each client. We’re not going to muzzle anyone. The more a member wants to work and the more work we have to do, the more opportunity we have to increase our income. If we choose not to work as much, or we don’t have as much work to do, then our income is going to drop accordingly.

Today, I’m thinking about the fact that many of these laws of Moses which were written thousands of years ago for an ancient culture far different than ours still have relevance today. In fact, many of our own modern laws still trace back, in principle, to the laws Moses chiseled out in ancient times.