Hey John,
Happy Birthday, indeed! Speaking of
"indeed," the Baptist church, of which Trish and I are members, has
two traditions. One is fried chicken, and the other is on Easter Sunday
we greet one another by saying "The Lord is risen!" to which the
responder says, "He is risen indeed!" Somewhere down through
the millennia there just had to be an Episcopalian in the Baptist’s
woodpile, I suspect. But it's nice, albeit I wish we would use it as a greeting
all 365 days of the year.
Well John, I hope today is filled with
many blessings for you. Trish sends her love. While sitting with
Mom, I've had many instances where I could reflect on days gone by.
A goodly part of that reflection includes (fondly) our many adventures and
mis-adventures at VFCC and on. God blessed me when He directed
(pre-destined even) our paths to cross and gave me the gift of you as a Brother
and Foxhole Buddy. Reckon there will be tonic water and lime in Heaven?
Coffee perhaps?
Happy Birthday Brother!
Love you, John
**********************
John
responded, but this was written several years ago
Hey Dana
That's a very interesting thought,
tonic water and/or coffee in heaven. Probably not in heaven, although there
will be the river of the water of life. So if there is that river, there ought
to be coffee, right? At least, I'm sure during the millennial reign there will
be; maybe....right?
++++++++
John Now Adds Background
Back when we wrote this, while not mentioned
above, the topic of bosses came up. This got Dana thinking way back to some he
had worked for. I don’t know how much Righteous conversation is given to this
topic—the boss, the person for whom you work. But other than our spouses, who
do we spend the most time with—our boss.
God has a few things to say about this. We’ll look at a couple this
week.
++++++++++++++++++
Hey
John,
Once upon a time I used to think that Christianity would be a great religion if
it weren't for the Christians. Still I'm not certain that I was wrong,
however God has a way of mellowing us...perhaps that is why we grow old down
here, and will not age in Heaven.
Since you brought up the subject of employment and bosses, let me tell you a
tale regarding a previous work experience of mine. I once had a job which I really liked, and I
really needed. There were two co-supervisors over me, one who I liked and got
along with just fine, and another, who, well, let’s leave it at…”If I had
possession over judgment day….”
It really didn’t matter what I did, for
the one boss, I did it wrong. If I
didn’t do it wrong, then I did it too slow.
When this boss (hereby referred to as the Anti-boss) was on duty, my
life was pure misery. Thankfully labor laws in this country prohibited the
horse whipping of employees, otherwise I would have gotten the lash every day
whether it was my fault or not. It got
to the place where to avoid conflict (and because there were/are no other jobs
open in my area,) I would set up my day in such a way as to keep as much
distance between the Anti-boss and me as possible. The peace was
kept, in that there ensued no disastrous confrontations ending in violence, but
it was kind of like always knowing that the commies are just on the other side
of the big wall.
All that I had appreciated and loved about my work turned to a pile of rubbish,
and I (for the first time in years) dreaded the alarm clock more than the
flu. I prayed, and I got everyone around me to pray. Nothing
happened. God had neither changed the Anti-boss’s heart, nor opened the
ground and swallowed them whole. I really believed God had sent me there, and I
had no clear indication as to my time there being finished, because God was
surely not opening any doors to anywhere else.
I remember hearing a message by
Alistair Begg once, which was on the subject of being like Christ. He
asked the question, "What do you think God was doing in Stephen's life the
day he got stoned to death by the Jews?"
Ooooooweeee, hmmmm, wow, didn't see that one coming. Great sermon; everything
was going so good, I thought, why did he have to go there? But the
question just dogged me, just what was God redemptively doing in Stephen's
life?
From there Rev. Begg got into Romans 8, and showed how everything that
comes into our lives is for our good and for God's glory. Then he gave the
punchline to his question as to "What was God doing in the life of Stephen
when he was stoned to death…?"
"He was making him look more like Jesus."
Oh...!
Ouch...point
taken.
All other arguments aside, and not trying
to descend into the Calvinism/Arminian quagmire, the one area concerning
pre-destination upon which all Christians should agree, is that all
Christians are pre-destined to be conformed into the image of Christ (Romans
8). Which means, if I understand it correctly, that day after day I get
up, I go into the bathroom and when I turn on the light and look in the mirror,
I see me looking back at me. But, if the Lord tarries, then
according to the Word of God, one day (maybe even at my death, but one day) I
am going to look into the mirror and it won't be my face staring back at
me. What a glorious thought! I know, I use that illustration a lot, but
as of yet, I haven’t found a better one.
And while none of the negative (even dire)
things Paul mentioned in Romans 8:28 and following can separate us from the
love of God in Christ Jesus, he did not say that said bad happenings would not
befall us. And, Paul also didn’t say
that it won't hurt or leave a mark if or when they do befall us.
The overwhelming contextual truth from
that passage is that all these things are not “designed” to hurt us
(ultimately) as it were. If God allows
such events into our lives, then they will serve as the agents to make us look
increasingly more like Jesus, and from such, God will
receive glory. Win-win, although the game may be rough.
There are no magic bullets to fire which will end our present woes on this
earth, and perhaps the people who do us wrong or hurt us or antagonize us or
worry us to death, are, in fact, tools in God's hands to conform us into the
image of His Son.
In closing, I am reminded
of an old Brother Beutler story from when VFCC was at Green Lane--I actually
heard this on a tape of Brother B’s, which was a message given in chapel
"back in the day" prior to VFCC. I can still hear his Scandinavian
accent, but I digress.
Once when Brother Beutler was pastoring a church, there was a lady in his
congregation who made it her mission to worry the living daylights out of
him. No matter what he did, it was always wrong. His
sermons were either too long, or not long enough. If he preached
from Psalms, he should have preached from Proverbs. If they purchased
blue covered hymn books, they should have been red. On and on and on it
went, never ceasing.
One particular day she stopped by the
church, and gave him down the country over something she didn't like, and after
it was over Brother B., went home for lunch.
His wife noticed how perplexed he was, and asked what had happened, to which
Brother B., said, "That woman just gets my goat!"
His wife replied, "If you didn't have a goat, she couldn't get it."
Ouch....
My employment situation then, and my life down through the years until now has not
been what I'd call easy going, but slowly, day by day, year by year, God has
helped and is still helping me to kill my goat. It’s one tough goat,
Brother—not one that goes down easy on the first shot.
While several of my life situations have generally
proved challenging, and on top of that, it seems God just delights in sending those persons across my
path, who my Dad used to call “grace growers.” Thankfully via God first, and through
Alistair Begg’s sermon, I have seen, and am seeing things differently. Here’s hoping it won't take being dragged out
of the city and stoned to death to make me look more like Jesus.
If God the Father didn't pre-destine
anything else, the Bible says He did pre-destine that one day I look like His
Son. Perhaps (most likely) everything that has happened in my life and is
happening to me is to that end. I have to believe so.
Anyway, to bring this to a close, let me
say that after much prayer and wrestling with God, I found that my attitude
changed regarding that boss with whom I was at cross purposes. It was one of those lightning strike
instantaneous changes too.
One bitter cold night, we closed shop at
9:00 PM, the Anti-boss and yours truly.
It was late and there wasn’t much traffic about as it was like the
Arctic outside.
My car was near the workplace entrance,
and my drive home was a short one, as at the time I lived only a few blocks
away. Once we had armed the security
system, it required calling in corporate level upper management, and also required
law enforcement participation to disarm it before 9:00 AM the next morning—so
there was no going back in.
The Anti-boss’s ride was a no show, and
calls made to said ride revealed that car trouble had caused significant delay,
adding at least and hour’s wait. Nothing
was open, and there was no shelter anywhere.
The wind was howling, and sharp enough to cut right through the heaviest
of coats; the Anti-boss only had a jacket.
To my shame and discredit, I tried to hide
my wicked grin at the thoughts of the Anti-boss slowly, agonizingly turning
into a Popsicle as I bid a not so fond “bon voyage” and drove out of the
parking lot towards my nice, warm house.
Judgment day on the Anti-boss. Wooohooo! “Sew the wind, reap the
whirlwind.” God is good.
Then, like the coyote in the cartoon show,
the anvil (of God) just dropped right on my head. I didn’t look too much like Jesus then. The Holy Spirit knew just where I was, and
His conviction zeroed in on me like a heat seeking missile. Target
acquired…target destroyed. “Boom!”
Lights out.
By the grace of God, and with no credit to
me whatsoever, I went home, poured a big Thermos full of hot coffee, grabbed a
few heavy wool blankets, extra gloves, and a spare coat, and then headed right
back to the work parking lot.
Had I pulled out a pistol and shot the
kneecap off of the Anti-boss, there could have not been a more shocked expression
staring back at me, when I gave said person my coat and a couple of blankets,
and offered a seat in my nice, warm car, with hot coffee to drink until their
ride got there an hour or so later.
Strangely, all my anger and animosity had
simply vanished. The Anti-boss wasn’t a
Christian, but knew I was, and God’s using me to show kindness to the one I
felt so undeserving, made an impression.
Long story short, my work situation
changed drastically. After that night
the Anti-boss lost the title of “Anti-boss” and hence forth was referred to as
just my “other boss,” who, as a matter of fact, treated me better than family.
Life there was better than good. For years after I left that place of
employment, when I would occasionally run into this person, I was greeted with
warm fondness. I don’t know if the
person subsequently came to the Lord or not, but I feel certain a seed was
planted.
The entire situation just as easily could
have not gone down that way, but God is faithful in doing what it takes, and
setting up life scenarios designed to conform us to that image.
For what it's worth, Brother. For what it's worth.
I'll remember this situation of yours in my prayers.
Dana
+++++++++++++++++++
John Remembers Way Back
When
Dana
Thanks for the prompt to keep after
this. Do you remember Harold Stefan, Facilities Director at Valley Forge
Christian College? He came to the college at God’s prompting after a career in
heavy industry. He was a big man. I think from the Midwest. He had an unusual
snack appetite; he liked to eat raw onions. His hands were huge. But, whether
God gave it to him or worked it into him, he had a kind and gentle spirit.
There was no job that he would ask his employees to do that he either hadn’t
done himself or wouldn’t pitch in and do with you. It didn’t matter if it were
cleaning students’ bathrooms and numerous toilets or vacuuming an office or the
chapel or running a piece of equipment outside or moving furniture. It just didn’t
matter.
Of course, sometimes time rounds the
corners of a person’s memories, but I don’t ever remember him in a foul mood.
He was always in a good spirit. Once the sewer system to campus got blocked, or
stopped up. Unfortunately, the big pump that moved the sewage was at the bottom
of a 15 to 20 foot pit in the pump house. That entire pit was filled with
sewage. He helped empty that pit so an on staff electrician could go down there
and fix the pump. We were forever short of money and somehow he was able to get
the supplies we really needed. (I wouldn’t be surprised if he was sometimes
using his own retirement money to buy them—but I don’t know that for a fact.)
However, I did see him get
righteously angry several times. It always had to do with employee waste. There
were employees sleeping in the steam tunnels. That did not sit well. When I was
in charge of the tool room and we got new tools and tool boxes for the trades’
people, they would purposely break tools so they wouldn’t have to work. Well it
worked, because he finally let them go so they wouldn’t have to work.
Harold was an example for any boss,
following Jesus example:
5 Then He poured water into the basin and began washing the
disciples’ feet and wiping them with the towel which was tied around His waist.
6 When He came to Simon Peter, he said to Him, “Lord, are You
going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied to him, “You do not
realize now what I am doing, but you will [fully] understand it later.” 8 Peter
said to Him, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you,
you have no part with Me [we can have nothing to do with each other].” .... So when He had washed their feet and put on His
[outer] robe and reclined at the table
again... John 13:5-12 AMP
Sometimes a boss has to take off his
leadership garments and put on a laborer’s garments.
There
was a Broadway actress whose theme song was titled “Everything’s Coming Up
Roses.” I guess, that concerning our bosses and Jesus, that even when
everything isn’t coming up roses, the roses are still coming up.
Yours
for the Harvest
John
No comments:
Post a Comment