Tag Archives: Work

Chapter-a-Day

Putting the Mission to Work

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John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
Luke 3:11 (NIV)

In over thirty-years of my career with Intelligentics, I have been incredibly blessed. I do, however, have a small number of painful memories. Most of the agony traces back to mistakes we discovered involving client data — mistakes that were consequential. In each case, our company’s modus operandi was to do what our mission states:

“…by applying the principles of God’s Word to our lives and work, we become examples of servant leadership and integrity…”

Go to the client.
Honestly confess.
Agree to make it right.
Refund what they paid for the project.

I am happy to report that I can easily count on one hand the number of times we were required to do this. It was never fun, and the amount of money we refunded was not small.

Today’s chapter is all about setting and preparation. Luke lays out the historical setting for Jesus making his entrance in ministry. He lists seven actual names of people at the top of the org charts of the kingdoms of empire, commerce, and religion — individuals who will conspire to have Jesus executed in just three years. Luke then introduces Jesus’ cousin John, a herald in the wilderness preparing the way for the Messiah.

As I meditated on John’s words, I found it fascinating that Luke specifically notes that tax collectors and soldiers went to hear John’s message. These were both despised groups of people. Tax Collectors were despised because they were seen as working for the enemy (Rome) and they profited by extorting their own people. Soldiers were despised as occupiers, and those who leveraged their power to oppress innocent people.

When they asked John what they should do, John gave specific answers.

“Don’t collect more than you have to.”
“Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

John didn’t tell them to get a different job. He told them to act differently in the job they already had.

When I was a young man, I was convinced that I would spend my life in vocational ministry. God had other plans. I’ve spent my career helping clients measure and improve their customers experience. Along the way, God taught me that my job gave me the opportunity to work with all sorts of people, from all walks of life, whom I would otherwise never meet. He revealed to me the opportunity I’d been given to teach people principles that would not only improve the quality of their work, but the quality of their lives and relationships.

And, I would also be given the opportunity to exemplify what I say I believe…

Honestly confessing a mistake.
Making it right.
Refunding money.

John’s message was the warm-up act for Jesus — but their messages dove-tailed perfectly. John called all people, saints and sinners alike — to take a spiritual heart check. Then turn a changed heart into tangible, specific acts of goodness in every day life.

Repentance, according to John, wasn’t a feeling. It was visible. It showed up in the way people treated others, handled money, and used their authority.

On this Monday morning, entering another work week, that’s a good reminder. It’s one thing for my company to have a mission statement. It’s another thing for me to actually do business like I believe it.

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

Promotional graphic for Tom Vander Well's Wayfarer blog and podcast, featuring icons of various podcast platforms with a photo of Tom Vander Well.
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!
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Chapter-a-Day

God’s QA Program

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/2JOwhFElZee9XvvTzDyTgz?si=8u3fEcyhRH65iF4GqnhB5Q

For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:8 (NIV)

I was up very early this morning working on a report that has to be delivered to the client first thing this morning. It’s the first report for 2026 and there are always a lot of small changes that have to be made when one year shifts to the next.

The report in this case is for three client teams. On an ongoing basis, our team analyzes calls between the client and their customers. There are a set of behavioral service skills we listen for in each call. These are skills we know from research positively impact overall customer satisfaction. We track the behaviors, report on them, and coach team members to incorporate them into every conversation. As consistency increases, satisfaction rises. Satisfied customers become loyal customers. Everyone wins.

One of the life lessons I note in my upcoming book is that what I do at work is really no different than the way God operates with me. God has His own Quality Assessment process — not one of condemnation, but of cultivation. In fact, it’s sitting there in plain sight in today’s chapter. Peter begins his letter by encouraging believers to live “godly lives” that reflect God’s “divine nature” and not the “evil desires” of the corrupt world we live in.

Peter then defines the behavior criteria that are the calling card of godly lives:

Faith
Goodness
Knowledge
Self-control
Perseverance
Godliness
Mutual affection
Love

One of the things I’ve learned in my career is that teams don’t become consistently world-class at customer service overnight. It takes months and years to develop the behavioral habits in which it flows in every interaction. In a similar fashion, Peter encourages me to “possess” God’s QA criteria “in increasing measure.”

God’s not looking for perfection. He’s looking for progress.

Progress doesn’t happen without purposed intention.

At work, my team listens to phone calls and looks for evidence of behavioral criteria. What if I write down the list above and have it on a card for quick reference? At night before I go to bed, or once a week when I have a moment of quiet I walk through the list.

Where has there been tangible evidence of each quality in my life this week?

What words, behaviors, or actions could I consciously attempt to increase in my interactions with others — my relationships with family, friends, and colleagues — that would help each quality “increase”?

One of the reasons that clients hire our company is for the disciplined accountability to track, coach, and encourage the improvement.

Who do I have in my life to help me be accountable to “increasing” the demonstration of God’s QA qualities in my life? Who will help me track it, coach me, encourage me, and celebrate with me?

In the quiet this morning, I’m simply reminded that spiritual growth is no different than physical, mental, or business improvement. The process is the same. God has defined what he wants to see in my life and relationships in increasing measure.

It’s my responsibility to participate in the process.

God has never forced me to do it. He wants it to come from my own heart’s desire. God simply reminds me that there’s a personal reward I’ll experience as I make progress which He calls shalom — a deep wholeness, an inner steadiness that no external chaos can steal. He also reminds me that there is an eternal incentive sitting out there.

And so I enter another day of this earthly journey.

I’m working on increasing my consistency of goodness today.

How about you?

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

Promotional graphic for Tom Vander Well's Wayfarer blog and podcast, featuring icons of various podcast platforms with a photo of Tom Vander Well.
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!
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Chapter-a-Day

Not Our Ways

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Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower.
James 1:9-10 (NIV)

I’m in the final edit of my forthcoming book, which tells the story of how I, as a young man, had the unshakable belief that I was called to pastoral ministry and had zero interest in business. Then, God let me slog through six long years of personal purgatory in pastoral ministry and made it divinely clear that He was calling me to business.

That business? Analyzing phone calls. Over 100,000 of them from companies of all sizes and industries. Receptionists, customer support, inside sales, reservations, outbound sales, accounting, tech support, collections, emergency services, and just about any other function you can think of. I’ve learned about business from the inside out, in tens of thousands of moments of truth when a company interacts with their customers.

I’ve been blessed. I’ve done well. I was hired in 1994 with zero experience or interest. Now I own the company.

God has a sense of humor.

Now let me let you in on a little secret. I don’t really like to talk about business, or economics, or finance that much. I love my clients. I love serving them. I love applying my experience and knowledge to help my clients and their employees succeed in listening to their customers and improving their serve. What I really care about is the people. I care about the flesh-and-blood of business where clients, customers, and colleagues connect, conflict, and communicate.

Life has informed my business. Lessons from my business have fed the Life within me. That’s what my book is about. The career I never wanted — and the one God knew would save me.

His ways are not our ways.

Today our chapter-a-day trek takes a quick pass through the letter of James. This is not James as in one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, but rather James the Just — Jesus’ younger brother. He once thought Jesus was crazy, then he watched and listened. He saw his big brother risen from the dead. He became one of the strongest and most influential leaders of the Jesus Movement and was killed for it.

There has been a crackdown. Both Jewish leaders and Romans are persecuting believers, so followers of Jesus have scattered abroad to escape the threat of imprisonment, seizure of their assets, torture, and potential execution. James writes this letter to be copied, sent out, and passed around to all of those who have fled and are living life on the lam.

As I read through the chapter in the quiet this morning, I couldn’t help but pick up on a strong undercurrent in James’ encouragement.

His ways are not our ways.

The world tells us that comfort and ease are what we should strive for, that they are signs of success in life.

In God’s economy, trials and difficulties are profitable — necessary means of spiritual growth and maturity.

The world tells us that money and wealth is the most important and desirable thing in life.

In God’s economy, worldly wealth is spiritual poverty. Eternal treasure is found in contentment. Spiritual investments compound when I humbly find satisfaction with less.

The world views religion as the repetitive ritual motions around a set of doctrinal beliefs.

In God’s economy, true religion is faith in action on the street and in every day life. Caring for those in need. Tangibly loving others at home, in my community, and even in my business where I serve my flesh-and-blood clients and their team members.

His ways are not my ways. I’ve spent my entire spiritual journey learning this truth. In fact, the further I get in this life the more I come to understand just how pervasively true it is in every way. The more I understand it, the more it changes how I see and perceive everything in life.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get to work. I have a big research presentation I’m working on for a client tomorrow. Not because of the paycheck it affords me, but because of the people I am called to serve.

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

Promotional graphic for Tom Vander Well's Wayfarer blog and podcast, featuring icons of various podcast platforms with a photo of Tom Vander Well.
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

Phase Two

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/4hZXl2VH5Lgr63rw8I3TgP?si=bidUN-tsRV6Bk9UFRy_MQQ

Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem. The rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten of them to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their own towns. The people commended all who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.
Nehemiah 11:1-2 (NIV)

Wendy and I built our house ten years ago. It’s hard to believe it was a decade ago. Not once in my life had I considered it something that I would do. I found the process both fascinating and challenging. Wendy and I have often spoken about the fact that she would absolutely do it again. She’d love to apply all of the things we learned and mistakes we made in creating a new space. I, on the other hand, would be perfectly content never to do it again. Building is a lot of work.

In all of the times I’ve read the story of Nehemiah, I tend to forget that when Nehemiah and the Hebrews rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, they were building a wall around what was essentially a rubble heap. The Babylonians had utterly destroyed the city and Solomon’s Temple. Those who had resettled in the area mostly lived in outlying towns where they could survive raising crops and herds. Rebuilding the wall was the necessary Phase One project. With walls and gates in place, Jerusalem was relatively safe from enemy attack, but now the real work begins. Phase Two is making the city inhabitable and creating a community within the walls.

Today’s chapter begins with people casting lots to determine who would move inside the city walls and take up residence. They cast lots because it wasn’t something most people wanted to do. Living inside the city walls would be inconvenient, even dangerous.

Homes had to be made from the rubble. Not an easy task, nor a comfortable life while it was in process.

You were leaving the safety and security of fields and flocks (in which food was easily grown and raised) for plying a trade inside the city in a market that hadn’t been established and might not be stable.

Inside the city is where the Persian Empire’s officials, soldiers, and emissaries would be stationed (protected by the walls and gates), which meant that anyone living inside the city was under the watchful eye of the Empire, and perhaps its punitive authority.

The main activity inside the city was the Temple. Most of those living inside the City were priests and Levites in charge of the Temple’s system of sacrifices and offerings. Being a resident inside the city also meant you were under the constant religious scrutiny of the priests. There was greater pressure to follow the rules, make prescribed tithes and offerings, and maintain ritual purity than if you lived out in the fields where no one is watching.

And, while the city had walls and gates, it would be the first place that enemies would lay siege and attack. Living inside the City came with the dangers of that constant threat and the responsibility to assist with the city’s defensive needs of watchmen, guards, and gatekeepers.

I find it interesting that Nehemiah’s prescribed draft lottery to determine who would live inside the city was based on one in every ten families. The the Law of Moses, ten percent was always the prescribed amount of tithes God ask to bring as offerings to the Temple. In this case, the tithe being brought inside the city to the Temple were the people themselves. Sometimes what God requires is not my produce, but my presence.

In the early stages of our house being built, right after it was framed, Wendy and I invited our friends to come and bless it. On the concrete foundation, the wood studs and the plywood, we and our friends wrote blessings, prayers, and promises. The were many phases of building yet to be done. It would be months before the house was finished and we would move in.

In the quiet this morning, I’m reminded that Nehemiah and the Hebrews are at a similar place in their project. The walls are just the framing. There’s still a lot of hard work ahead. Sometimes, God needs people who simply have the faith and willingness to show up and do what needs to be done.

A good reminder on a Monday morning. Time to get to work!

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

Promotional graphic for Tom Vander Well's Wayfarer blog and podcast, featuring icons of various podcast platforms with a photo of Tom Vander Well.
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!
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Chapter-a-Day

“Why Do We Pray Before Meals?”

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“Why Do We Pray Before Meals?” (CaD Matt 14) – Wayfarer

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

Best of ’24: #6 When Rest Becomes Work

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For two weeks, while Wendy and I are away enjoying some warm weather, I’ll be counting down the top ten chapter-a-day posts of 2024 (based on total views anIt’ s always interesting which posts resonated with readers and listeners. The chapter for tomorrow’s post will be listed at the bottom.

Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed.
Mark 3:7 (NIV)

Wendy and I are in the process of selling our place at the lake. For those who know us and for those who have followed my blog for any length of time, this may come as a surprise. “The Playhouse” has been a part of my family for over 25 years, and for the past 15 years it has been regular place of retreat, refreshment, and relationship for ourselves, our family, and many, many friends. The featured image on today’s post is our final farewell to the Playhouse as we moved things home.

The truth is that Wendy and I have been praying about the end of this season in our lives for a few years. We’ve talked about it with friends, but circumstances consistently told us that it wasn’t time. This summer, we once again prayed in earnest whether it was time and everything rapidly fell into place in a way that told us the time was right.

One of the themes that God weaves into the Great Story from the very beginning of Genesis is the blessing of rest. God creates everything in six days, and on the seventh day He rests. Then, in the book of Exodus when God through Moses prescribes how His people should live and conduct themselves, He emphasizes rest in multiple ways on multiple levels. This was a radical idea. For 400 years God’s people had been slaves in Egypt without a day off. Now God prescribes that they need a day off every seven days. In fact, whether you’re a believer or not, you can thank God every weekend because the weekend was born when the Roman Emperor, who was a Christian, followed God’s prescription and declared that everyone in the Roman Empire gets Sundays off.

In today’s chapter, Mark’s choice of scenes reveals several things. Jesus’ teaching and miracles are drawing huge crowds from all over. Word has spread and people are traveling from far away places. Between the crowd scenes, Mark shares that Jesus “withdrew” from the crowds. Once He withdrew to a lake. Another time He withdrew up a mountain. What that tells me is that Jesus knew He needed rest from the crowds, the teaching, the miracles, the exorcisms, and the chaos of His Miraculous Mystery Tour.

But Mark plants another seed when he begins by telling the story of Jesus teaching in the synagogue. Jesus challengers, who I wrote/talked about in yesterday’s post/podcast, have now become His outright enemies. No longer simply challenging Jesus, they’re seeking a way to accuse Him, discredit Him, and bring Him down. So, they lie in wait to see if Jesus would perform a miracle on the Sabbath day of rest. Because the good religious fundamentalists had deemed that performing a miracle was work.

Mark says that this “angered” Jesus, and He was “deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts.” Why? Because they had perverted and profaned the plan. The Sabbath, which had been prescribed as a blessing of rest, had been transformed into a burden in which people had to expend time, energy, and resources to track and follow all the rules that had been made around it. What was meant for rest became work.

Which brings me back to our place on the lake. As Wendy and I prayed and discussed it over this past spring and summer, we realized that things had changed. What was meant to be, and used to be, full of retreat, refreshment, and relationships had slowly become a burden on multiple levels. And, the opportunity arose to pass it on as a blessing to others in answer to their prayers

So, in the quiet this morning I’m reminded that the prescription for rest remains. Like Jesus, Wendy and I need to find our new places to withdraw and find retreat, refreshment, and relationship amidst the chaos of work and worry. We are excited for the new season ahead. And, in the wake of a long and wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, I’m also grateful as I think about what a blessing God has woven into the plan of creation in prescribing, and exemplifying, regular periods of rest.

Tomorrow’s Chapter: Romans 9

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

When Rest Becomes Work

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Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed.
Mark 3:7 (NIV)

Wendy and I are in the process of selling our place at the lake. For those who know us and for those who have followed my blog for any length of time, this may come as a surprise. “The Playhouse” has been a part of my family for over 25 years, and for the past 15 years it has been regular place of retreat, refreshment, and relationship for ourselves, our family, and many, many friends. The featured image on today’s post is our final farewell to the Playhouse as we moved things home.

The truth is that Wendy and I have been praying about the end of this season in our lives for a few years. We’ve talked about it with friends, but circumstances consistently told us that it wasn’t time. This summer, we once again prayed in earnest whether it was time and everything rapidly fell into place in a way that told us the time was right.

One of the themes that God weaves into the Great Story from the very beginning of Genesis is the blessing of rest. God creates everything in six days, and on the seventh day He rests. Then, in the book of Exodus when God through Moses prescribes how His people should live and conduct themselves, He emphasizes rest in multiple ways on multiple levels. This was a radical idea. For 400 years God’s people had been slaves in Egypt without a day off. Now God prescribes that they need a day off every seven days. In fact, whether you’re a believer or not, you can thank God every weekend because the weekend was born when the Roman Emperor, who was a Christian, followed God’s prescription and declared that everyone in the Roman Empire gets Sundays off.

In today’s chapter, Mark’s choice of scenes reveals several things. Jesus’ teaching and miracles are drawing huge crowds from all over. Word has spread and people are traveling from far away places. Between the crowd scenes, Mark shares that Jesus “withdrew” from the crowds. Once He withdrew to a lake. Another time He withdrew up a mountain. What that tells me is that Jesus knew He needed rest from the crowds, the teaching, the miracles, the exorcisms, and the chaos of His Miraculous Mystery Tour.

But Mark plants another seed when he begins by telling the story of Jesus teaching in the synagogue. Jesus challengers, who I wrote/talked about in yesterday’s post/podcast, have now become His outright enemies. No longer simply challenging Jesus, they’re seeking a way to accuse Him, discredit Him, and bring Him down. So, they lie in wait to see if Jesus would perform a miracle on the Sabbath day of rest. Because the good religious fundamentalists had deemed that performing a miracle was work.

Mark says that this “angered” Jesus, and He was “deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts.” Why? Because they had perverted and profaned the plan. The Sabbath, which had been prescribed as a blessing of rest, had been transformed into a burden in which people had to expend time, energy, and resources to track and follow all the rules that had been made around it. What was meant for rest became work.

Which brings me back to our place on the lake. As Wendy and I prayed and discussed it over this past spring and summer, we realized that things had changed. What was meant to be, and used to be, full of retreat, refreshment, and relationships had slowly become a burden on multiple levels. And, the opportunity arose to pass it on as a blessing to others in answer to their prayers

So, in the quiet this morning I’m reminded that the prescription for rest remains. Like Jesus, Wendy and I need to find our new places to withdraw and find retreat, refreshment, and relationship amidst the chaos of work and worry. We are excited for the new season ahead. And, in the wake of a long and wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, I’m also grateful as I think about what a blessing God has woven into the plan of creation in prescribing, and exemplifying, regular periods of rest.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Work as Spiritual Discipline

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Work as Spiritual Discipline (CaD 2 Thess 3) – Wayfarer

For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.
2 Thessalonians 3:7-9 (NIV)

Growing up, work was an expectation as soon as I was old enough to do so. I had a newspaper route when I was twelve, which was sort of a brilliant way to learn business at that age. Not only did I have to deliver the newspapers, but I also had to collect the money from my customers and fill out a sales ledger each month. At thirteen I was a bus boy at a local restaurant, and then took advantage of the Iowa caucuses to get hired on with a Presidential campaign. I pollinated corn and mowed lawns in the summer. I shoveled driveways in the winter. I was a babysitter. I was a lifeguard. Basically, I did just about anything to make a buck.

A year or so ago, I was giving the message among my local gathering of Jesus’ followers and was explaining that I wasn’t a staff member of the church. I mentioned that I had a “tent-making” operation during the week. I had more than one person who didn’t get the reference and thought my business was manufacturing tents.

“Tent-making” is a metaphor that comes from Paul. He was raised in his family’s tent-making business in Tarsus. Tarsus was a key post for the Roman army in Greece and Paul’s family was likely a supplier to the Roman legions. While we’ll never know for sure, it’s possible that their tent-making service to Rome may have earned his family their Roman citizenship.

While taking Jesus’ Message to the Roman world, Paul continued to make tents. Wherever he traveled he would hang out his shingle and work. In fact, Paul felt passionately about it, which is abundantly clear in today’s chapter. Paul saw work as a form of spiritual discipline. He didn’t want to be dependent on anyone’s gifts, donations, or financial support. He believed that hard work was part of his daily witness to others, and in today’s chapter writes that he has heard reports of individuals who are “idle” among them. He bluntly admonishes the believers in Thessalonica: “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.”

In the quiet this morning, I am whispering prayers of gratitude for growing up in a time when work was a part of both childhood and adolescence. I have been blessed to have had so many different jobs and had such diverse experiences. I learned a lot along the way.

Along my life journey, I have rarely, if ever, heard anyone teach about Paul’s teaching on work as a witness or the trap that living in financial dependence on others can become. I find it an important lesson in the development of personal and spiritual maturity. Paul repeatedly writes that he was a living example with his tent-making. I pray that my life, and my work, is an example as well.

Note: Tomorrow, our chapter-a-day journey begins Ezekiel!

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

Chapter-a-Day

How the World Works

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Then Pul king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem gave him a thousand talents of silver to gain his support and strengthen his own hold on the kingdom. Menahem exacted this money from Israel. Every wealthy person had to contribute fifty shekels of silver to be given to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria withdrew and stayed in the land no longer.
2 Kings 15:19-20 (NIV)

When I was just out of high school, I took a manual labor job that I knew would only last four months until I went to college. I chose not to join the union, as was my right because I knew it was just four months. I was bullied, coerced, and threatened until I quit. When I complained I received a shrug of the shoulders. “This is how the world works.”

Another job I had as a young man was for a private company working in a government building. By federal law, there was no smoking anywhere in the building, yet two ladies sat at their desks every day smoking like chimneys as I passed by. When I asked about it, my boss told me that they were legacy employees protected by the local political machine that had been in power for decades. They could do whatever they wanted. They were untouchable. “This is how the world works.”

In another department within that same building was another legacy employee who refused to help me when I came in with a records request. I was a bit confused when she told me, “I’m not working today. Go to another window.” When I told my boss and co-workers what had happened I got the same familiar shrug. “This is how the world works.”

I worked for several different churches in different denominations when I was a young man. I learned very quickly that there were the official boards and consistories that were set up to govern the church, and then there were individuals (typically wealthy, prominent, legacy, and generational members) who really called the shots. By this time, I should have learned: “This is how the world works.”

Today’s chapter contains an overview of five successive kings of the northern Kingdom of Israel. Four of them were assassinated by the person who then claimed the throne. One of them, Shallum, assassinated his predecessor and sat on the throne for one month before he, himself, was assassinated in the same manner by a man named Menahem. Whoever has the guts to assassinate the king gets the throne. “This is how the world works.”

Menahem happened to be on the throne when the army of Assyria came raiding. Menahem was a big fish in a small pond compared to the ascendant Assyrian Empire. Menahem didn’t have the army to withstand a takeover, so he had one choice. He extracted money from his wealthy citizens and paid the King of Assyria. It was really no different than the mafia or a local gang extracting money from neighborhood businesses for “protection.” It was just done on a larger scale. “This is how the world works.”

In the quiet this morning I’m reminded that the more things change, the more they stay the same. With the dawn of the technological age, my generation has arguably experienced greater change than any other generation in history. And yet, what has not changed is the human condition. The culture wars being waged online are simply a reboot of tribal warfare. Throughout COVID lockdowns there were endless examples of those in power (on both sides of the political aisle) who made rules for constituents, then flagrantly violated those same rules.

“This is how the world works.”

Into this world, Jesus came to exemplify and prescribe an alternative. Before beginning His ministry Jesus was approached by the Evil One whom Jesus referred to as “The Prince of this World.” The Prince of this World offered Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world” if only Jesus would bow to him. It was quite an offer. Jesus could then change the world as He wished in a top-down power grab. It would surprise no one. That’s how the world works.

Jesus declined the offer.

Instead, Jesus asked me and all of His other followers to live, think, act, speak, and relate to others “not as the world works” but as the Kingdom of God works. It’s one of the things that drew me to Jesus and continues to draw me in.

I learned how the world works.

I don’t want to live that way.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Tragic Retirement

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Tragic Retirement (CaD 2 Sam 11) – Wayfarer

In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. 2 Samuel 11:1 (NIV)

My grandfather studied education at Central College in Pella and at Iowa State University. He was a school teacher and administrator for many years. When the school system told him he had to retire from teaching he took over the school lunch and bus program. When they told him he had to retire from the lunch and bus program he got a job as bailiff of the county courthouse. When he was in his nineties the judge called him into chambers and said, “Herman, I’m tired of having to wake you up to take the jury out. I think it’s time for you to retire.” It was just about that point in life that my grandfather was no longer able to manage on his own. When he moved into the nursing home, however, he promptly gave himself the job of welcoming new residents and giving them a tour of the facility.

My grandfather was fond of saying that “the day I retire will be the day I die.”

David was a warrior. David was a general. David was a natural-born leader. He was still in his prime, and yet now as King, he chose to stay in Jerusalem and send the army out to war without him.

It would prove to be a tragic choice.

Because he was not out with the army doing what he was gifted and called to do, David found himself on the roof of his palace peeping at another man’s wife. Worse yet, it was the wife of one of his own men who was an honorable soldier. David then made the tragic mistake of inviting the woman over for dinner and sleeping with her. She conceived. This led to the tragic mistake of covering up his actions and ultimately conspiring to commit murder. The consequences of this series of tragic and unnecessary mistakes would haunt David, his family, his monarchy, and his kingdom for the rest of his life and beyond.

We are not told why David chose to “retire” from leading the army. A few chapters ago we read that David wanted to build a temple and God clearly responded that building the temple was not what David was called to do. I get the feeling that having finally ascended to the throne, David was feeling a bit of a mid-life crisis. He’s tired of what he’s always been gifted at doing. Leading the army is what he’s done his entire life. Yes, he’s good at it, but it’s boring to him. David wants to retire from all that and build temples and do other things.

I’m quite certain that my grandfather, given the opportunity, would not have been able to help himself in telling David he should have stuck with what he was gifted and called to do. And, in the quiet this morning, I’m thinking that David should have taken my grandfather’s advice and just stuck with the job until “retirement” was forced upon him. Tragic things can happen if I choose to prematurely retire from the path to which God has called me and strike out on my own.

 A Note to Readers
I’m taking a blogging sabbatical and will be re-publishing my chapter-a-day thoughts on David’s continued story in 2 Samuel while I’m take a little time off in order to focus on a few other priorities. Thanks for reading.
Today’s post was originally published in May 2014.

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The featured image of this post was created with Wonder A.I.