Series: New New
Colossians 3:23
Colossians 3:22-25 MSG
While my dad was not my master, he was my authority figure. As such, he was a gentle teacher and a loving father. When I was young he taught me to do things by doing them with me. I do not recall ever being given a job I didn’t know how to do.
There were times when he had to remind me of the steps we talked about when completing a job, but he did not yell at me. He simply reminded me what we talked about.
I really do believe he used the Jesus model for teaching.
Colossians 3:23 tells us, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”
So as I grew older I tried to remember his teaching steps. It was pretty easy because the steps were always logical (he was an engineer).
When I worked for the railroad as a clerk in my twenties I always tried to remember my training and the steps. It was a union job and the training took months. I had to go to railroad school for three months. Then I started on the job training. Probably today they would call it railroad university.
Colossians 3:22-25 from The Message says, “Servants, do what you’re told by your earthly masters. And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t cover up bad work.”
That scripture pretty much covers what my dad taught me about God and life, so when I went to work for the railroad I always tried to do my best.
Most of the people I worked with were lifetime railroad men. Women were not generally hired to do those jobs in the past. I was twenty and most of the men who worked out in the yard were 45-65 years old. Ninety nine percent of them were helpful and didn’t mind helping me, but it seems like there’s always one percent of descenders in every crowd.
My descender was Mac. He did data entry for second shift and he was extremely fast on the old keyboard. He was also extremely inpatient…especially with women. Plus, I became convinced he really hated young women.
He was forever yelling at me.
In those days the method of keeping track of the cars was to send a clerk outside in the rain, sleet, or snow day or dead of night to write the car numbers down on a log sheet. I had been issued an old style railroad lantern so I could see the numbers on the railroad cars but that did not help me to see the numbers on the page. In the rain or snow (or the dead of night when I could hear the rats scurrying about) I couldn’t see what I wrote on the page.
I was forever “in trouble” for not writing the numbers down clearly.
I also got called out when the rain, or snow smudged the numbers,
Because I had been trained by a patient father I thought everyone was helpful and patient. Mac was my first encounter of working for a difficult taskmaster. Most of the time when I worked with Mac I went home crying.
At the time my husband was in graduate school and even though he worked a retail job it didn’t pay enough to support us.
I could not quit.
That’s when I learned to really pray.
I prayed for Mac.
I prayed that God would show me a system for writing the numbers down clearly when it was raining or snowing. Miraculously I found a small flashlight (they weren’t common at that time) and I devised a system of covering my pad with clear plastic. The small light inside the plastic helped me to see the numbers as I wrote them down.
Eventually I was there long enough that I was able to bid on an inside job. The job was not on the same shift as Mac.
Even though I didn’t work with Mac anymore I came to realize that God had given me a great gift of working for Mac.
I learned to look for ways to do my best (not just the minimum requirement).
I learned to pray so I could do my best by relying on God.
I learned I wasn’t ultimately working for Mac. I was working for God.
Those years when I was twenty something taught me valuable skills I would carry with me all the days of my life. While my dad was patient and loving when he taught, I learned there are people like Mac everywhere.
I learned prayer is the answer when I’m faced with difficulties. That’s because ultimately I do what I do for Jesus…not the Macs of the world.
Spiritual Practice: Remember
When “a Mac” comes into your life (and they will) you need to pray to ask God for help.
In God, Deborah
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