Work, work, work!

My devotion this morning from Pastor Rick Warren via YouVersion, was entitled: Your Work as Worship. This is a topic that got a hold of me a while back when Dave Ramsey was laying out his plan, The Great Recovery. In his speech, and I forget the exact quote, he said that God helps us out through jobs. This was something completely new for me to think about. I had never really looked at my job as a blessing. To be honest, before I came on full time at LifePoint, my job was just that. A job. Something to pay the bills. Looking at work as a blessing was an idea that took me a while to process.

There was a musical written and preformed while I was in college and one of the main songs was entitled "Work" (Probably because I attended Hard Work U. . . just guessing). The chorus included these lines: "Work, work work! We work all day! We work, work, work, for little pay." I've never once come across someone that said they were over compensated at their place of employment. Not one!

And it came back up this morning. In the devotion, Rick Warren says:

What I'm saying is that no matter what you do- sweeping the streets, running a corporation or the work of a stay-at-home mom-- your job is more than a job. The Bible says while you are here on earth, you should use your work as an act of worship. This means whatever you do, you are to do it with enthusiasm. If your heart is not in it, you are in the wrong job. 

The idea of your work as an act of worship, like I mentioned, was something that took me a while to process. (Quick plug for an awesome blog about worship here.) It's been something I've struggled with since Dave Ramsey punched me in the face with it. How do I worship God when I'm at work?

The answer to this question was evident to me on my lunch break today. I had to run to the store to pick up a few items. I grabbed those items and made my way to the checkout. Inevitably, my wife and I always pick the lane that takes for-evvvvvver. Today was no exception. As I was patiently waiting, I began to watch the cashier. Typically, cashier's will make small talk with the customer standing less than 3 feet in front of them (I'm sure after about 7 hours, you don't much care to hear about the weather. . .again). But what stood out to me was the lack of any communication by this cashier. Her body was present. She was "working". But her mind, and facial expressions were in a completely different place. In the 4-5 minutes I stood there waiting and checking out, I heard the cashier say exactly four sentences. 4!! And two of them were exactly the same! "Your total is $XX.XX" and "Thank you and have a nice day." Don't get me wrong I appreciate that she wished me a good rest of the afternoon, (I of course reciprocated the well wishes) but I don't feel she meant it. And to be completely honest, she may have been having a horrible day. Occasionally, we all get those.

My prayer is that everyone I come in contact with will be able to tell that I'm worshiping while I'm at work. For me, that looks a little different that it might for you. But my question to you is, how do YOU worship while you're at work?

God Is Faithful

WOW! 


It certainly has been a while since I've posted here. . . There have been a few changes in my life since the last post in 2010. I became a father, which is awesome by the way. I began a new ministry position at LifePoint. Other than that, pretty quiet on the home front. Alright, I'll get to the point of this post.


I never cease to be amazed at the faithfulness of God. Last night on my way home I needed to stop and get some dog food. This was after I had paid two bills and almost entirely wiped out my most recent paycheck. I was frustrated, and not understanding why this was happening. So, I prayed on my way to the store. I prayed over our finances. We are not in the position some families are, but things can get tight. 


I sent Liz an email earlier in the day explaining what an expensive lunch break I had, and had shot her a ball park figure on the cost of the dog food we needed. The last time we bought a bag, it was around $32 for the food plus Uncle Sam's cut totaling $35ish. I believe God heard my prayer and calmed my spirit in the 45 seconds before I walked into the store. As I grabbed the food and headed to the register, I was a bit uneasy about the purchase. Low and behold, when the cashier scanned the bag and gave me the total, I nearly fell to the floor. The total was just over $32 with Uncle Sam's cut. Granted, it wasn't a drastic savings, but God knew exactly what I needed in that very moment. Enough to calm me down and let me know that he is in control of everything. What a feeling, to know that the God that created the entire universe cares for you and has your best interest at the forefront of his mind, even if it is something as simple as dog food. Wow!


I'm going to try to leave you with a question with every post from here on out. These will be intended to provoke thought and conversation. We'll see how this goes ;)


In what ways has God provided for you and shown himself in a tough situation? 

Father's Day

Well, it certainly has been a while since I've been able to post. Not something I'm proud of, but sometimes life just gets in the way.

Any who, as everyone knows, today is the day we celebrate Father's Day. While I am not a father, nor is there a plan for that in the foreseeable future, I have been thinking about my dad this morning and our relationship.

Anybody that knows my dad, knows that he, how should I say it, is consistent. He doesn't show much emotion, good or bad, he keeps a pretty level head, and doesn't really communicate very well. The good thing about that is he has never blown up in anger that I can recall. The bad thing, he passed his characteristic of not communicating emotion down to me. I like to think I got a good mix from both my mom and dad as far as showing emotion, but I'm horrible at communicating. An example of Dad's lack of communication skills: my "talk" consisted of him asking, "You know what married people do right? Ok, don't do it until then." Nice Dad. . .nice.

Our relationship didn't really begin to blossom if you will, until I was almost done with high school. It was the summer before my senior year. I was needing a source of income, and the radio station where Dad worked needed someone to work Saturday and Sunday mornings. (Strange how he talks all day on the radio all day and doesn't communicate when he gets home very well. Alas, that's a whole other topic) So, after some thinking, I decided I would take the job. And so began my radio carreer, and a bond of sorts. We finally had something to talk about. All of the sudden, we were communicating. We had something that tied us together. It was something I had questions about, and he definiately had answers for.

Growing up, I would describe our relationship as cordial. I tried to stay out of his space, and he didn't really have a clue as to how to get into mine. I didn't understand why he didn't want to go outside and play catch, or go to the park and play basketball. But when those times did happen, I was exstatic. See, it turns out, my dad didn't have much of a fatherly role model to look up to when he was growing up. His dad left when he was 16, and for many of those years, it wasn't pretty. So, he did what I would grow up to do, and learn to just stay out of the way. The less he was noticed, the better. He had a little easier time blending in being one of 10 kids. I, on the other hand, am the oldest of 2. Kinda hard to slide into the background.

I remember trying my best in school and in whatever I was doing just to hear him tell me he was proud. Those times, just like playing catch or shooting hoops, were few and far between. But one thing I knew made him proud, was when I started working at the radio station. I was following in his footsteps, and had found a passion for my life. He may not have said it much, but when we would talk about station stuff, I could tell he was proud.

That feeling has carried through to today. He may not say it much, but I know he's proud of me. Now that I'm out of college, married, and have become a somewhat productive member of society, I know he's proud. He didn't have a good role model to show him what it meant to be a father. That's ok, he learned on the fly. One thing I will always remember him saying was how he wanted so much better for my sister and I. He's done that. He's equiped us with everything we need to succeed.

As I continue to grow and mature as a person, one day, I want to be a better father than my dad was. Not because he was a bad father, but because I know that's what he'd want.

Love you Dad!

Happy Father's Day!

Welcome

My goal with this blog is to be transparent. I want to be real. I'm not one who usually opens up in any way, but with God's help, I'm learning how.

Hope you will find some enjoyable content in my posts and some will even challenge you. I'm learning how to be the man God wants me to be, and maybe that will help some of you through your situations.

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