Sacred Work

A few months back, when things were crazy-busy at school, I was thinking about my kids and the life we led just a few years ago and I compared it to our life now.  Back then, we had the luxury of being on pedestals, unfortunately.  We were revered for our choice to go overseas as missionaries, and to serve in a place where no one had served before.  In fact, I wrote about it here.  The reverence placed on our position then as opposed to where we are working now has been concerning to me, because in my mind, the service aspect of our lives have not changed.  Only location.

Back when we lived overseas and I started blogging, I took part in a blog tour with Marcus Goodyear, an editor with the High Calling.  It's a branch organization of H. E. Butts, from H. E. B. grocery stores.  Mr. Butts is a huge believer in the High Calling of the every day worker.  In fact, he runs a camp for those workers called "Laity Lodge."  He uses his work as a nationally known grocer to serve others and to glorify God in his everyday work.  Mr. Butts also has 30 second radio blurbs in which he encourages the everyday laborer to use their work to serve others and to show our love of God through the quality and character of our work. It was then that I started noticing the disparity between those who were professional ministers and those who served but worked regular, secular jobs.  The former had an easier time doing ministry because it was what they were paid to do yet they received the accolades, while the latter had a harder time with ministry because it was done in their extra time, yet they received no recognition for their hard work.  Yet through it all, it is because of the lay worker that any type of ministry actually exists!

See, the thing that bothered me to my core while I was an "overseas missionary,"  (I've never stopped being a missionary) was the sense of entitlement I saw in my fellow missionaries, even when they knew they were living better than most people in the states, let alone the people they were there to reach.  And even in that lifestyle, they would complain, or find loopholes in the system in order to gain financial advantages.  They would present themselves as living worse off than they were or being needier than they were, in order to gain sympathy from those in the States who didn't know any better, so that some giving, hard-working soul would hand over their hardworking dollars to them.  They knew that lay person worked harder than they themselves ever intended to, yet they greedily accepted the money. I believe there will be special consequences for those people. Even now it sickens me.

But I happened upon this book called Mission Critical: 90 Days of Meditations for the Marketplace by Dwight Hill, and it completely affirmed this thought process I've had for awhile now.  The book discusses how we as Christians have placed ministers and missionaries on a pedestal of christian service, but don't see the value in what we as lay persons do on a daily basis.  We see our work as a "necessary drudgery" in order to make money, when we should be seeing it as a way of life in which the nature of man "should find its proper exercise and delight and so fulfill itself, to the glory of God." (p. 11)  Mr. Hill writes that even Paul, one of Christianity's most famous and sold-out missionaries said in his letter to the Thessalonians, "You should follow our example.  We are not idle when we are with you, nor do we eat anyone's food without paying for it.  Rather, we work night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you."

I think back to my mom's grandfather, Reuben Shinn.  He was a minister.  It was what he was called to do.  So in order to minister, he had to work to sustain his ministry.  He worked as a doctor during the week, and on weekends he ministered to four different churches.  He traveled to each church once a month so that the ministry could continue and the people in those communities could have church services on a regular, albeit limited, basis.

My husband and I no longer work in overseas ministry.  But that does not mean we are not missionaries.  We see our daily work as a work of service to those around us, and a way to bring glory to God in the workplace by working hard, and having a work ethic that glorifies Him.  Do I have bad days?  Yes.  But there is always the recognition that my life is a testimony to others.  The work I do is a High Calling.  It is Sacred Work, and I'm thankful that God has allowed me to do it.  I pray our ministers today learn to connect with this part of the people they serve.  I know God will bless them for it.

What the World is Looking For:

Men who are not for sale; Men who are honest, sound from center to circumference, true to the heart's core.
Men with consciences as centered as the needle to the Pole.
Men who will stand for right if the Heaven's totter and the earth reels.
Men who can tell the truth and look the world right in the eye.
Men who neither brag nor run. Men who neither flag nor flinch.
Men who can have courage without shouting it.
Men in whom the courage of everlasting life runs still, deep and strong.
Men who will know their message and tell it.
Men who know their place and fill it.
Men who know their business and attend to it.
Men who will not lie, shirk or dodge.
Men who are not too lazy to work, nor too proud to be poor.
Men who are willing to eat what they have grown and wear what they have paid for.
Men who are not ashamed to say "no" with emphasis and who are not ashamed to say "I can't afford it."
God is looking for men. He wants those who can unite together around common faith - who can join hands in a common task - and who have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. God give us men.
~ Senator Frank Carlson.

Let me get this straight.

Regarding the Casey Anthony trial and the logic (or lack thereof) used:

-If Caylee died as a result of an accidental drowning, why was there duct tape covering her nose and mouth?
-Doesn't the admission of the accidental drowning indicate an acknowledgment of knowledge of the death, and therefore knowledge of where the body was?
-Doesn't that lead to knowledge of who placed the body there, and who put the tape on the nose and mouth?
-If that's the case, why the tape if she had drowned?

I'm just not following the logic here.  Put aside how she died.
She died, and Casey said it was an accidental drowning.  The jury agreed that she misled police regarding where Caylee was and the fact that she had died.  So there is acknowledgment that they were there when the body was disposed.  So why didn't anyone ask why the tape then?  Why was it necessary for them to tape her mouth when they disposed of her?  In a garbage bag.  In the woods.

If there is EVER a reason for teaching thinking skills in the classroom....    ugh.

The best apology against false acusers...

"... is silence and sufferance, and honest deeds set against dishonest words” - John Milton

Man of Mine

I was recently bragging about my husband.  I don't do that often, mainly because he hates it.  But I was was talking with some friends at lunch yesterday, and they were asking me what I was doing this summer.  I indicated my husband and I were building a storage shed in our back yard.  They ended up asking me what my husband can't do, and the only answer I could give them was "stand in a spotlight." 

It's true, though.  Big Dad can do anything.  He has supplied me with two homes. He's a provider.  He fixes our cars so that we don't have to give tons of money to other people for doing it.  He builds things like sheds.  He hunts to provide food for our family.  He fishes.  He has raised bees.  He quilts (yes, my daughter actually has a quilt he made for her, completely by hand.  No sewing machine touched it!).  And before you starting thinking he's not a manly man, just check out the picture below.  He's a mountain conqueror (twice), a language learner (three times), and a major backpacker.  Even with a hurt back, he could out trek men half his age who hired personal trainers in order to get into shape to come trek with him.

More than that, though.  He's loyal.  Extremely so.  To lose his loyalty means a betrayal in a big way.  He's funny.  No, hilarious!  He's a risk taker. He's patriotic. He works hard at whatever he does.  He doesn't do anything halfway.  It's all or nothing.  I believe I mentioned he's hilarious.  You just can't point that out enough.

Finally, though, he's a man of principle.  He will stand for what he believes in.   He can tell just by being with someone for a few minutes if they are genuine or not.  He values genuineness, and does not put up with the personality ethic.  If you say it, you better do it, and be a person of your word.

Yep, Man of Mine is a man among men.  I think I'll keep him.

Three and a Half Muskateers

After visiting my parent's home this weekend and looking through old photo albums, a lot of childhood memories came flooding back.  I mentioned Joey the Crow.  That was an unusual one. 

But another fun memory was with a few twenty somethings that let me hang out with them.  I was in jr. high, but they liked me and let me in on a lot of their hooligan behaviors.  Bonnie, Melanie and Geri enjoyed a bit of mischief every now and then, and I could keep a secret.  I can't remember why they let me come along, but they did.

At first they were the "Three Muskateers" and were known for surprise TP attacks.  I had to be part of it.  I learned the art of TPing from them.  There's a toss and spin that has to happen to keep the streamers long.  You have to use cheap toilet paper.  It makes clean up that much harder.  And if you really want to make things tough, you turn on the sprinklers.

We got caught once.  A police officer saw us running up to a house with rolls of toilet paper in hand, and stopped us.  One of the sweet talkers pleaded with the officer, letting him know that a church staff member had this coming.  "Go ahead," he said.  "And make sure you're quiet about it!"  Yes!

After that night, we became the "Three and a Half Muskateers."  I was a privileged member of an elite TP attack squad.  That's sayin' something.

So apparently...

...I get to present at the State TAG conference next November.  I'd be nervous if I wasn't so passionate about the topic.  Of course, it's not November yet.