Christians are told in scripture that whatever we find to do we should do it with all our might as unto the Lord. Our culture tends to compartmentalize work by regarding work done in the context of a church ministry as ministry and the same task done either as a help to a fiend or someone in need or even something we are paid to do as not ministry.
I have driven the church van for many years and when I first took the job I was asked to do it and offered pay for the work. I regarded it as a job like driving for a limousine company which is something else I have done. After driving for a number of months, my pastor said to me one Sunday as I was heading to the office to return the keys "The Lord appreciates your ministry". I never regarded the work the same way again and have often thought about this subject.
I get paid now to tune pianos and I have on occasion had the opportunity to share the gospel with a customer but I believe all of my work is ministry as I do it all for the Lord. I have been given a job that I really like which is a blessing so it is not hard to give my day to the Lord as I set out to do this work. We all spend a lot of time at the work we do to make a living. I have done many different types of work that I was paid for and having this attitude about work with jobs that I did not like was not as easy. For a christian, however, this line should not exist as all labor dine for the Lord would be ministry.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Improving economy?
I would love to believe the economy is improving. The "recovery" is a very popular topic with the media and I suppose there is some hard data to support this idea. As far as the recovery effecting me directly I have trouble seeing this for these reasons.
1) I am in the piano care business and I send our reminder post cards to customers when their piano is due for service. I still have this experience many times with customers. I will go to a service call and ask if they received a reminder card and the customer will say they received the card and also the card from last year and the year before but are tuning now because the piano is really bad and the money is finally available.When money is tight and the customer has my reminder card in one hand and the estimate for the car repair and the car is the way to work I completely understand the piano work being put off. My bottom line just has not significantly improved.
2) When I drive through my small community in Florida or the Chicago area when I am there I still see roughly the same number of empty storefronts. I also see no new commercial construction which would be expected if empty store fronts cannot be filled. The media talks of improvement in the rate of foreclosure as well as sales but buying a house to live in is a different thing than opening a store and consumer confidence in terms of opening a new business still is not there.
I know what I personally see and experience is not hard data that would prove anything but consumer confidence is another hot topic the media like to explore and this consumer remains very unconvinced that the economy is going to come roaring back to life very soon. My last comment about this would be that it is a fact that a smaller government spends less money and it is a fact that the government is too big already and continues to grow.
1) I am in the piano care business and I send our reminder post cards to customers when their piano is due for service. I still have this experience many times with customers. I will go to a service call and ask if they received a reminder card and the customer will say they received the card and also the card from last year and the year before but are tuning now because the piano is really bad and the money is finally available.When money is tight and the customer has my reminder card in one hand and the estimate for the car repair and the car is the way to work I completely understand the piano work being put off. My bottom line just has not significantly improved.
2) When I drive through my small community in Florida or the Chicago area when I am there I still see roughly the same number of empty storefronts. I also see no new commercial construction which would be expected if empty store fronts cannot be filled. The media talks of improvement in the rate of foreclosure as well as sales but buying a house to live in is a different thing than opening a store and consumer confidence in terms of opening a new business still is not there.
I know what I personally see and experience is not hard data that would prove anything but consumer confidence is another hot topic the media like to explore and this consumer remains very unconvinced that the economy is going to come roaring back to life very soon. My last comment about this would be that it is a fact that a smaller government spends less money and it is a fact that the government is too big already and continues to grow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)