Tag Archives: Work

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Jeremiah 40

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“My job is to stay here in Mizpah and be your advocate before the Chaldeans when they show up. Your job is to take care of the land: Make wine, harvest the summer fruits, press olive oil. Store it all in pottery jugs and settle into the towns that you have taken over.” Jeremiah 40:10 (MSG)

Some days, it’s pretty simple: Everyone has a job to do, and you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.

My job this day, as I write this, is to shovel the snow off the driveway so I can drive to Des Moines and keep my client appointments.

See you for Jeremiah 41 on Monday.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and glennharper
Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Amos 9

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“I’m still giving the orders around here.” Amos 9:9a (MSG)

I’ve spent the last three days on site with a client I’ve served for 16 years. I know many of the employees. I’ve coached many of them since their first days of employment. So, when I go on-site and walk into the lunch room it can be a bit like a reunion.

Yesterday my colleague and I ran into one of the client’s senior managers. He’s a good man and we worked very closely with him for a long time before he was moved to different part of the organization. We’ve rarely seen him in recent years. He informed us that the company had uprooted him and his entire team and were moving them to a different office in a different part of the city to work with a completely different organization. It was a bit of a shock to hear the news. It was a bold and radical move on the part of the corporation, and looking into the man’s eyes we could tell it was even more shocking to him at this stage of his career.

“But,” he said without flinching after he shared the news, “I know God is in charge. It will all work out. I just keep trusting God’s promises.”

To hear his declaration of faith in the midst of upheaval was an inspiration to me in the midst of my own daily journey. I was glad we ran into him. It was a divine appointment yesterday.

It easy in the midst of rapidly changing circumstances to feel like God is distant, but He is not. He is still giving the orders around here. Like the old song says, our part is to trust and obey.

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Amos 8

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[You] who give little and take much, and never do an honest day’s work. Amos 7:5b (MSG)

I ran into an old teacher and asked him how things were going back at my alma mater. He shook his head with incredulity. “It’s not like it was when you were in school,” he told me. “If students put as much work into studying as they did into cheating and trying to get out of work, they’d be fine. It’s just frustrating.”

I spoke to a friend who supervises a team of workers and asked how it was at work. He shook his head with incredulity. “If only people would simply show up on time and do what’s asked of them,” he said. “I have people who work harder at getting out of doing work, than actually just getting the job done. And then, they complain about their pay.”

One of the simplest ways we differentiate ourselves along the journey is in the simple willingness to contentedly put in a hard day’s study or a hard day’s work for an honest return.

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Romans 13

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But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. Romans 13:11 (MSG)

I own several briefcases. I’ve amassed them over time. Several of them were given to me for my work. They are pretty ragged from years of life on the road, but I still keep them. I have a few others that I acquired for one reason or another. I like briefcases. They have all sorts of cool pockets and compartments for keeping (and losing) things.

I now have enough old briefcases that I’ve designated them to serve me in different functions of life. That way, I’m not packing and unpacking one briefcase for different needs each day. I just grab the appropriate briefcase for what I’m doing and go. I have my work briefcase, my theatre briefcase, my music briefcase, my church briefcase, and my on-the-go briefcase for random occasions that don’t fit in the major three categories. You should be impressed, this level of organization for someone as right brained as I am is just short of a miracle.

I noticed, however, that I compartmentalize my life with my briefcases. I finish my work, then put my work briefcase away. I get out my theatre briefcase for rehearsal. When rehearsal is over I put my theatre things away. Like my briefcases, my life seems to have compartments, which is the problem.

I’m noticing my penchant for treating God like a task to be compartmentalized. Read my chapter, write my post, say my prayers, then put the God briefcase away so I can take my work briefcase out.

God is not a task to be completed, and Jesus certainly isn’t an object to be taken out and put away like every other functionary item I use for my own purpose.  He is a person to be present with me in every moment. He is a friend to accompany me through each and every compartment of my day. He is Lord of my life, ever present to direct, protect, correct, and provide.

Lord have mercy on me. Forgive me for trying to shove you in a briefcase.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day 2 Chronicles 29

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“Children, don’t drag your feet in this! God has chosen you to take your place before him to serve in conducting and leading worship—this is your life work; make sure you do it and do it well.” 2 Chronicles 29:11 (MSG)

I was at rehearsal last night for our community theater’s production of Annie. It felt great to be rehearsing. I love it. I’ve been involved on stage most of my life. I was trained in theater all through junior high, high school and college. Then, I didn’t step foot on stage for sixteen years.

There is something inside you that is always out of sorts when you aren’t doing what you’re gifted and called to do.

Photo by Madison Vander Well

The people Hezekiah assembled before him were the men of the tribe of Levi, who were given responsibility for overseeing the temple and leading in worship. Everything in the nation was out of sorts. They hadn’t been doing what they’d been called upon to do, and until the Levites did their appointed work, and did it well, no one was going to experience the blessing of worship.

Do what you are gifted, called and given to do. Do it well.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day 1 Chronicles 28

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David continued to address Solomon: “Take charge! Take heart! Don’t be anxious or get discouraged. God, my God, is with you in this; he won’t walk off and leave you in the lurch.” 1 Chronicles 28:20 (MSG)

I know a person with big dreams. Almost every conversation I’ve had with my friend revolved around their next great idea. The common thread in each conversation is that they will make a lot of money for which they won’t have to work very hard. Content to have faith in the next great brainstorm, this person avoided college altogether. Their life has been an endless string of menial jobs while they dreams up the next get rich quick scheme.

I can’t really point the finger at this person without three fingers pointing back at me. When I think about it, my interaction with this person have always prompted me to examine my own life. I have my own pile of big ideas and great intentions that lack the initiative to get off my butt and accomplish them.

I love David’s final admonishment to Solomon. David could provide Solomon with everything necessary to build the temple, but Solomon would have to have the initiative and perseverance to start it and then see it done. “Be strong and courageous and do the work.”

Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have some work to do.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and asurroca
Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day 1 Chronicles 26

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 From the family of the Izharites, Kenaniah and sons were appointed as officials and judges responsible for affairs outside the work of worship and sanctuary. 1 Chronicles 26:29 (MSG)

For the past five years I’ve helped lead our little town’s community theater. It’s a great group of people and I enjoy doing shows. Audience members, however, have very little idea the sheer number of people and amount of time and energy required to put a show together for our audiences. Audience members see the actors, but they don’t see the people who did props, marketing, production, set, lights, sound, make-up, or any of a number of other tasks required.

As I read through these chapters laying out how the organization and workforce for the temple, I feel like an audience member getting a peek at the sheer breadth of work required to run the temple. As a casual reader, I think there was this big temple but you had a few priests who made the sacrifices. I didn’t think about security, upkeep, music, accounting, grounds, crowd control, and storage. Solomon’s temple was like a city unto itself. It was a major operation and required thousands of workers to keep it in operation.

Today, I’m thinking about the things I experience without ever considering all that is required to produce it. I’m thankful for all those who quietly go about their appointed tasks which ensure that I can enjoy my daily existence.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day 1 Chronicles 20

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That spring, the time when kings usually go off to war, Joab led the army out and ravaged the Ammonites. He then set siege to Rabbah. David meanwhile was back in Jerusalem. 1 Chronicles 20:1 (MSG)

Looking back over the journey, I’ve come to realize that some poor choices are possible because we’re in the wrong place. Instead of being where we should be, doing what we should be doing, we choose to be in a place where a poor choice is much more likely.

As David became King, history records that he increasingly let others go off to war while he hung back in his palace. I’ve noticed that there seems to be a correlation between his choice not to go to war and some increasingly poor – even tragic – choices.

Be in the right place. Do what I’m supposed to be doing. It makes it easier to make good choices.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Isaiah 11

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S7300939_800x600 Each morning he'll pull on sturdy work clothes and boots, and build righteousness and faithfulness in the land. Isaiah 11:5 (MSG)

This past winter we started a construction project that will continue through this coming summer. It's partially finished and the upstairs part looks beautiful. But, there's also a downstairs part that looks really ugly, bare and dirty. Someday it will be beautiful, but for now it's more than a bit unsightly and anyone who ventures down there will get dirt on them.

I remember when I was a young man I felt the expectation and need to be perfect through-and-though. I was really uncomfortable with some of the unsightly parts of my character and my flawed humanity. So, I dressed up the "upstairs" parts of me that looked finished to perfection and tried to hide the door to the basement where others could see the bare, ugly mess that was just as much a part of me as the finished parts.

I'm reminded this morning that Jesus, the Branch of Jesse, came to do a work in me until it's completed. I am still under construction as God builds righteousness, faith and Christ-like-ness in me. There's a lot to be done. A construction site is a messy, muddy, dusty, and chaotic place. You can't dress a construction site up with a nice area rug and pretend that it's a finished room.

Somwhere along the way I gave up trying to pretend I'm a finished project. I decided to let people see the messy part of me that's under construction. They'll just have to pardon the mess. To my amazement, loved ones were not only gracious, but more than willing to get thair hands dirty and help with the work.

 

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Exodus 31

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Just breathe. "Yes, because in six days God made the Heavens and the Earth and on the seventh day he stopped and took a long, deep breath." Exodus 31:17 (MSG)

In my youth I was a competitive swimmer. While swimming in a race, the act of taking a breath slowed you down. If you could keep from breathing on every stroke you could shave precious seconds off of your time and it gave you a competitive edge. The key was to push yourself as long as possible and worry about breathing after the race.

In the "rat race" of life, we get sucked into a similar belief. We push ourselves day-by-day to get as much done as possible, filling our lives with a blur of motion. The idea of "sabbath" has become a forgotten concept. If we stop, even for a moment, we might miss out on something. We might lose our edge. We may not be competitive.

I love the way the Message translates the Sabbath as "a long, deep breath." How often do I feel choked by my schedule? God knows that my spirit requires "a long, deep breath" on a regular basis. The discipline of rest feeds my body, mind and soul with spiritual oxygen. Rest is a holy practice I, too often, ignore.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and chucka_nc