Day Jobs and Night Jobs.

My parents were ALWAYS BUSY.

The house was always clean.  My dad was always repairing something, crawling under the car or up into the attic. The yard was never sloppy. We had home cooking every night, never without a salad. These were two people who absolutely HUSTLED every day.

Not everyone is made that way, nor should they be.  Both my parents were probably Marthas, but my wife is a Mary—and I love her that way (see Luke 10:42).  But let’s talk about work.

From the day Adam and Eve left the Garden, God put them to work. Adam would eat “by the sweat of his brow.”  They had to cultivate crops, store food for the winter, and make clothing and shelter. It was non-stop work, and our lives are equally busy.  That is not wrong.

In fact, our culture has made idols of recreation and vacation. 

We must have balance and wisdom, and work toward godly, Biblical goals—but 

We must embrace HARD WORK.

Young people sometimes misunderstand: when you “clock-out” at the office, you are not supposed to go home and do nothing. Often the REAL work begins at home! Life requires more from us. God requires more. Even if you could afford maids and cooks, there are details in life that require your attention. You will work your day job and you will also work at night. Sometimes that means working multiple jobs.

By day, I am a right-of-way agent.  At night I put on my lawyer/adjunct professor hat and will teach 12 semester hours this semester. Beyond that, I just published a book. You never know which area God is going to bless.

“Sow your seed in the morning, and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed or whether both of them alike will be good” Ecclesiastes 11:6.

We should expect to be busy all day, not just while we are “at work.”  Your work at home is arguably even more important.

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*This picture is a time clock like I once used. Employees are issued a card. When they arrive at work, they slide it into the machine to stamp their arrival time. Then when they leave, they stamp it again to note the time they left. This tabulates your work down to the minute, obviously increasing the employees’ feeling that he will not work one minute beyond those for which he is going to be paid.

The Stress of Being Rich.

Saturday Twila said, “When I see places like this, I just think that inside these houses are all these rich people, just living their rich, happy lives, without any problems.”

I mentioned an old cliché: Sometimes when you are wealthy, “you no longer own your stuff, but your stuff owns you.” Do you understand that? Ownership involves all sorts of headaches, especially MAINTENANCE. Animals need food and medicine. Cars need gas, tires, oil changes, and more. Houses need new bathroom floors, new microwaves, etc. Solomon sums it up:

“The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich permits them no sleep.” Ecclesiastes 5:12.

Imagine a day laborer who gets hired at dawn and does yard work till dusk—or painting, or demolition, or moving furniture. When he goes home that night, even to an infested shack, he will sleep like a baby. He has cash in his pocket, the satisfaction of a hard days’ work, and peace. But the rich man who hired him may be up for hours checking his bank account and wondering if he has enough money to finish this project. “The abundance of the rich permits them no sleep.” It’s true. There is a correlation between stress and success. If you have nothing—then you have nothing to lose. But when you have wealth, you have a wealth of worries.

So what is the answer?

Remember that GOD owns it all. Leave it in His hands. You are the steward, the manager. Your money is God’s. Your car is God’s. Your clothes are God’s. God even owns YOU. He owns your talents, skills, and abilities. Let Him show you how He wants you to use the gifts He has given you. Solomon knew the answer, for the rich and the poor:

“It is good to eat, drink, and ENJOY the work God has given you to do during your short life, because that is your reward.” Eccl. 5:18.

ENJOY YOUR WORK. Trust God with the details.

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Can You Enjoy Hard Work?

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon writes:

“I took pleasure in all my struggles.” Ecclesiastes 2:10.

Have you ever stopped in the middle of hard work and caught yourself enjoying it? A friend of mine was on the rowing team at Rutgers University and worked out so hard that throwing up was an everyday thing. And one day, it occurred to him that he loved it: he absolutely LOVED the rowing team, the hard work, the struggle. Have you been there?

I had a similar experience when we moved to the country. Every time I stepped out of the house to trim trees or mow or build fences or clear brush from fences—whatever it was—I realized I was loving it. I could have been lazy. I could have hated it and whined about staying inside reading books. But no, I loved it. I LOVED it. I still love it.

At my job yesterday something caused me to stop on the way out the door to lunch. I stepped back into my humble cubicle and prayed: “Thank you, God, for this job, this office, this desk and computer and all the good things that happen here. Thank you for work that is creative and challenging but not overwhelming or burdensome. Thank you for the pleasure and satisfaction of doing an honest day’s work.”

Have you ever felt that way? Can you join Solomon in “finding pleasure in struggles”? If not, think about the quarantine. Sometimes NOT working is so terrible, it makes you appreciate having work to do. Right?

Dear God, help us find pleasure in all our struggles. Help us be GRATEFUL for work. And help us always work hard and honor you—and do our work “as unto God rather than men.” We know that YOU are our real boss. Help us serve You well, whether working for ourselves, our parents, our teachers, or our jobs. Make us HARD WORKERS, and make us grateful. Thank you for honest, creative, challenging work. Help us to find pleasure in all our struggles, all our work, every day. We are here to serve You. We love you.

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No One Will Remember You.

I watched a show by ancestry[dot]com. The host took people through their family trees. One had a cousin who had awarded to President Kennedy the keys to Mexico City. It was pretty amazing to see who they were related to—but also sad that it could be forgotten so quickly. And you and I have amazing family trees, but SO MUCH has already been forgotten. And I will be forgotten. And you will be forgotten. Soon no one on earth will know we were ever here.

“For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come.” Ecclesiastes 2:16.

The Bible speaks the blunt, honest truth. Even if you are famous today—you will be forgotten. So what do we do with that truth? Walk with God:

“Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth before the evil days [aging and sickness] come and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no delight in them.’” Ecclesiastes 12:1.

You see, only God will remember you forever. Only Jesus will know you and love you forever. As Casting Crowns sings:

“And I, I don’t want to leave a legacy

I don’t care if they remember me

Only Jesus

And I, I’ve only got one life to live

I’ll let every second point to Him

Only Jesus.”

Nothing else matters. And honestly, no one else cares. No one cares about what you do—not forever, not for eternity. But Jesus knows every step you take, every choice you make. He literally NUMBERS the hairs on your head—and those that fall out. He is totally into you.

Live for Him. Every second. Ask Him to help you every day, every moment.

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DON’T LET YOUR GOAL BECOME YOUR IDOL: Enjoy the Process & Trust God With the Results.

Are you goal-oriented? Motivated by achievements? I am. Absolutely. I’m not sure I’m motivated by anything else. I often think about my goals, tallying up whether I have accomplished them—even the meaningless goals. For example, I have written 475 book reviews (reviews, not ratings) on Goodreads[dot]com.  My goal is to write 1,000. I have a LONG way to go.

Small goals are not that distracting. But when you are about to achieve a big goal—when you can finally see it, hear it, taste it—after a lifetime of dreaming and trying, the goal can dazzle you.  Imagine a football player running 99 yards for his first NFL touchdown—and as he gets closer and closer to the end zone everything begins to blink and flash and blur and swirl and he finds himself dizzy and off-balance. 

Our biggest goals can become DAZZLING IDOLS—just as we finally achieve them.

And if our friend carrying the football lets the goal line dazzle him, he will stumble.  You have to “keep your eye on the prize.” But if you stare into the prize like a solar eclipse, it can blind you.

So how do you reach a huge goal when the goal itself can cause you to lose focus?

You keep your eyes on the work, only glancing at the goal from time to time. Focus on your work and leave the results up to God. 

NEVER LET YOUR GOAL BECOME YOUR IDOL.

“There is nothing better for a man than to eat, drink, and tell himself that his labor is good” Ecclesiastes 2:24. 

Enjoy your WORK.  Don’t obsess over the goal.  Small goals may not be distracting—writing book reviews or having a nice lawn or buying your dream car.  But if you are approaching one of life’s major milestones, be prepared to be thrown off balance just as you are about to reach your goal. 

Focus on the process—enjoy the work and leave the goal in God’s hands.

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Proverbs: God’s Book on Parenting.

Parenting books are almost as popular as diet books; it’s a huge market.  You would think babies were different today—but they are the same as always.  And Solomon put the basics of parenting in the Book of Proverbs 3,000 years ago:

DISCIPLINE YOUR KIDS. 

“Discipline your son and it will bring you peace of mind and give you delight” 29:17.  “A rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a youth left to himself is a disgrace to his mother” 29:15.  This is simple: if you discipline your kids, they will bring you peace and happiness, if you don’t, they will bring you disgrace.  We have all seen examples of both.

DON’T CODDLE AND SPOIL YOUR KIDS.

“A servant pampered from his youth will become arrogant later on” 29:21.  Though this verse is about servants—the “staff”—consider how it applies to children: if parents spoil them or pamper them, withholding necessary discipline, children will grow up to be arrogant and ungrateful.

CONTROL YOUR ANGER.

“A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man holds it in check” 29:11.  Control your anger, even when you discipline your children.

DISCIPLINED KIDS WILL HAVE INTEGRITY—AND INTEGRITY WILL GIVE THEM COURAGE.

“The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are as bold as a lion” 28:1.  Righteousness—integrity—CREATES courage, because it repeatedly requires children to stand alone, to make hard choices, to go against the foolishness around them.  As they grow up, they will develop courage and boldness.

LIVING LIVES OF INTEGRITY WILL BLESS YOUR KIDS WITH GREAT WISDOM.

“Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand everything” 28:5. When your children become godly adults, living obedient lives and walking in God’s truth and wisdom, God will help them to “understand everything.”  That is, God will bless them with GREAT WISDOM.

God, make us the parents you designed us to be. Thank you for putting EVERYTHING we need to know in the Bible!

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When You Need Courage.

Have you ever been afraid? Fear is a difficult emotion. Sometimes fear is vague, dull, and unfocused: you feel anxious, but you’re not sure why. Other times it is acute: you know EXACTLY what you’re afraid of! Fear, whether in the form of fright, worry, anxiety, terror, or dread, affects everyone. What is the answer?

Prayer is answer number one—talk to God about your fears and He will give you peace, as it says in Philippians 4:5-6.

But there is another answer: INTEGRITY.

INTEGRITY GIVES YOU COURAGE.

If you have integrity, it will fill you with courage. How? Because when you have integrity, you are committed to doing the right thing no matter what. You may be afraid of some consequence, but integrity means you care more about doing the right thing than about your own fear. People with integrity push through their fears all the time, they do the right thing, and God blesses them. In the process, they grow more courageous. Thus, integrity breeds courage.

“The wicked flee when no one is pursuing them, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” Proverbs 28:1.

Are you as bold as a lion? If you have integrity, you will be! But the converse is also true: if you do not have integrity, you will be afraid all the time: the wicked flee when no one is pursuing them.

So if fear is ever an issue for you, whether terror or worry, increase your commitment to integrity. Total integrity—total HONESTY—will make you have more courage!

Dear God, help us have integrity. Make us honest in all that we do. Help us work hard for our pay. Help us be honest in our work and honest in our academics. Help us go the extra mile rather than taking shortcuts that are really nothing more than high-tech cheating. Mold us into people of the utmost integrity. And use that commitment to integrity to grow more courage in us. Make each of us AS BOLD AS A LION. Thank you!

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The Refinery of Compliments.

Raw products are nearly useless. 

You cannot clip wool from a sheep and weave it into a sweater until you refine the wool by cleaning it and spinning it into yarn. Ditto for cotton. Crude oil is a great discovery, but little of it is used in its raw state.  Instead billion-dollar factories refine oil into gasoline, diesel, lubricants, plastics, and more.  Silver and gold are beautiful, but must be put through intense heat to remove impurities.

People are the same way.

We are born raw but life has a way of removing impurities and making us useful. We are refined through adversity.  Everyone in the gym says “no pain, no gain.” That’s how we build muscles—by breaking them down.

Losses make you grow.

But wins also make you grow.

Small victories prepare you for large victories.  And there is a LOT to learn: how to be a gracious winner. How to be humble when you are the king of the mountain. How to give glory to teammates and to God. And most of all, how to maintain perspective so you don’t get a big head and ruin everything.  Honestly, great success is a heavy burden and most people are not ready for it and handle it badly. Politicians, performers, and athletes are destroyed by their own successes every day. 

Believe it or not, winning can be harder than losing.

“The crucible is for silver, and the furnace for gold, and a man is tested by the praise he receives” Proverbs 27:21.

THE WAY YOU RESPOND TO COMPLIMENTS IS IMPORTANT TO GOD.

(Did you know that?) God will PURIFY you and REFINE you with praise.  Don’t disagree with compliments. Let people praise you. But when you accept compliments, say ‘thank you,’ and SHARE the credit, share the glory by pointing to everyone who helped you including God Himself.

Accept kind words, but accept them with humility.

God, prepare us for success.  Make us gracious winners. Make us humble. Fill us with genuine gratitude for the team supporting us. IT’S NOT ABOUT ME.

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Dogs Will Eat … Anything!

Do you know any fools? Have you seen people do crazy things? Most will do it again. Binge drinkers will binge drink. Drunk drivers will drive drunk. Violent, angry people will again be angry and violent. Selfish people will be selfish, unless God intervenes—unless they allow Him to change them. (Have you allowed Him to change you? Are you willing?)

One of my bosses used to cite a proverb to me each time I came to his office:

“As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly” Proverbs 26:11.

Isn’t that hilarious? The way he said it implied that HE was the vomit: “So—you’ve come again, like a dog returning to his vomit?” I just smiled and swept papers off the chair so I could sit down in his cluttered office.

But do you understand the writers’ point? Dogs will vomit, then return to the spot and eat their vomit. And there’s a medical reason—but who cares? It’s gross, right? Dogs eat vomit. That’s nasty.

But fools do the same thing. They have these colossal failures, screwing up their lives in dramatic fashion: they drink until they black out, or they fight with strangers, or rob convenience stores, cheat on their wives—whatever it is—and then THEY DO IT AGAIN. If people are lost, they are cut off from the God who can change them. Thus, most are destined to repeat their mistakes—like dogs returning to their vomit.

We need to rescue people from lives of failure. We need to tell them about Jesus and His grace: He can restore and redeem broken lives. God can give value, worth, and self-control to those who have nothing.

At the same time, this verse reminds us to be careful: those you know who have experienced disastrous failures may experience them again. Be cautious that you are not dragged into their folly. Love them and pray for them, but don’t let them influence you. I pray we make God’s Word our guide in all things.

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Border Wall.

All ancient cities had the same feature for protection: a wall.  Remember Jericho? The wall came down and the city fell to the Israelites.  Remember Nehemiah? The prophet took a crew to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls.  Remember the movies that show invading armies scaling walls while archers shoot them and pour boiling tar down on them, and more?  Security was all about WALLS.  (America’s border with Mexico is 2,000 miles, yet the wall has never been completed.  By contrast, the Chinese built the Great Wall nearly 3,000 years ago, and it is 13,000 miles long—if it were a straight line it would reach more than half the distance around the earth!)

When it comes to security, people in history knew: IT WAS ALL ABOUT THE WALL.

What about personal security? What about your safety and well-being and that of your family?  Solomon offers a simple analogy:

“A man who does not control his temper is like a city whose walls are broken down” Proverbs 25:28.

If your anger is out of control, you are blowing up your wall, hurting yourself and your family.  If you cannot ‘temper’ your reactions, you leave yourself vulnerable.  First, you look foolish and weak.  Second, you break things.  Angry men and women throw batting helmets, vases, and dinner glasses.  They punch walls, break their hands, and physically injure the ones they love the most. 

—And yes, they DO love them.  If you have an anger problem, don’t think your love will stop you from doing something stupid.  Furious rage is a beast, an Incredible Hulk that Dr. Bruce Banner cannot control. 

If you struggle with violent anger, deal with it now.  Beg God for wisdom and supernatural help.

God, teach us better habits. Help us choose patience. Help us be calm. Remind us of who we are—and WHOSE we are. Remind us to honor You even when we are selfish, hurt, and angry.

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