This is supposed to be the last
hot day for a while. We, along with much
of the rest of Oregon, are supposed to be getting some moisture from the sky –
we will just have to see how much moisture that is -- in the form of rain, of
course.
Had to get my blood checked in
preparation for the operation next week, guess it is still red. Took Blaze into his groomer today and he came
back looking purty. He doesn’t
particularly care to ride in the car, so I end up having to lift him up and put
him in – kinda passive aggressive, he will lay down so it is harder to move
him. BUT, once I pick him up he is much
more willing to go.
Had to have Carla take me to the
lab and to the groomer; but was feeling a bit better when she called to pick him
up, so I went ahead and drove down.
Colossians 1:9-10 For this cause we
also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire
that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and
spiritual understanding;
10 That ye might walk
worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and
increasing in the knowledge of God;
What is our focus in this
life? How do we maintain an attitude of
servitude and a desire to increase in the knowledge of God?
I got a message from Steven the
other day, “Finished my first in service day to be a juvenile transportation
specialist.” He is in training to be a
substitute bus driver while he is going to school at Northwest University. Now, I don’t know if this was a joke on his
part, or if that is what the school district up there actually calls their
drivers. His humor is similar to my
own.
It amazes me what some groups do
to make their employees “feel important” or more likely make some individual in
‘Human Resources’ think they are making them feel better.
The change in lexicon can be
helpful – when our Chief promoted Sergeants to Commanders without changing our
duties, much, he did so to allow us to take management level classes we were
barred from at the Academy. It helped to
improve our abilities as well as improved the department.
But most of these changes are
just so much baloney, to me doing such demeans both the work and the
employee.
What is wrong with the term
“Janitor?” Why is it so important to
change the term to “custodial engineer?”
If a person calls himself a ‘custodial engineer’ the first thing we think
is janitor.
Where Carla works they called
their managers “Team Leaders” as if they are just part of the group – their
customers became ‘guests.’ Some words do
change the outlook of people, guests IS how you want to treat your customers,
but changing all these things is more pomposity than common sense. By the way, they changed the name back to
manager.
There is nothing wrong with
doing jobs that may not be the most glamorous.
Someone has to do them. Most
people use them as stepping stones to another job. They can learn how to work, how to manage
their time, how to do a good job. Some
choose to stay in the lower echelon jobs for whatever reason, and there is
nothing wrong with that.
Some may hold a job, simply to
help them achieve something off the job; the thing they do off the job is more
important to them than the job itself.
It may be one of the reasons some remain on a lower level instead of
aspiring to a higher level on the totem pole.
I know many ministers that had to have a job to meet the bills – but
their real focus was on their duties to God.
They do their secular job well, but it is only a means to allow them to
be a minister.
Frankly, it irks me when I hear
someone being condescending or treating a service employee (clerk, waitress,
etc.) like they are beneath them. They
don’t know what the person is going through or what their priorities are – they
deserve respect for being there, doing their assigned job.
The world has to have important
sounding jobs, Domestic Engineer, because being a house wife, or stay at home
mother sounds to demeaning. Instead
throwing out these terms makes it looks like they aren’t important, so we must
make it look like they are – not a good way to uplift a person’s spirit I would
think.
The world portrays the worth a
person by the job they hold, not the job they do. You have to BE someone, not just be
someone. It goes along with the need for
material things and being better and bigger than the next guy.
That is not how God views
us. He isn’t concerned about the world’s
opinion of our jobs. He doesn’t care
that we may be the lowest person on a totem pole – what HE wants is for us to
grow in Him, but walk in a way that brings glory to His Name.
He wants us to do our job so
well that people see Him in us.
We conducted hundreds of
interviews with applicants to the Sheriff’s Office. One of the things the applicant had to pass –
and most had no knowledge of this – was the ‘how do you treat ‘lessor positions’
test?’ I always asked the Civil Service
Director how there telephone demeanor was – some applicants would treat her as
‘just a clerk’ when they talked with her, others had genuine warmth in their
tone. The clerk at the desk also was
asked about the attitude of the applicant when they came in for the
interview.
We used other non-disclosed
tests of this nature to find out what the true nature of the applicant was –
prior jobs, prior landlords, etc, not just those listed by the applicant, but
those ‘others’ that we found in the course of a background investigation –
attitude was an important determination, and often times was the difference, on
who we hired.
What was important to us,
besides ability, was how they treat other people. The past reflects on the future and we didn’t
want arrogant and condescending people working for us.
Positions were important in the
operation of the Sheriff’s Office. While
some made more money than others and while some had supervisory authority over
others, each position was crucial to the smooth operation of the Office so we
could provide the best service possible to our citizens.
No matter what our position most
of us always try to do better. We study,
we take classes, we ask others how we can improve, we train and we do all we can
to do our job well; and of course it doesn’t hurt that it might help us when we
want to go to the next level on the totem pole.
We need to make that same effort
in serving Christ. No matter the
position we hold in service to Him.
In our service to God, there are
no unimportant positions. Yes, there are
those that are leaders – they are ministers, teachers, deacons, elders, etc. but
the person that cleans the church (janitor,) prepares communion, welcomes people
at the door and many other ‘minor jobs’ are important to God and to the smoother
operations of the church. It enables the
church to more effectively reach those that need Christ.
That ye
might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good
work, and increasing in the knowledge of
God;
God wants us to grow in
Him. He wants us to be the very best
representative of him that we can be. We
all know of people who we have worked with who had the same skills after 20
years they had after one year. They
simply had a year experience, 20 times.
That is not what God wants of
us. He wants us to meet with Him, daily;
He wants us to worship Him, and give Him the honor and praise He deserves; He
wants us to work in whatever endeavor we are in to the best of our ability – as
that work shows the world what our relationship with God is; and He wants us to
study His Word, listen to those that are here to teach us, follow His Holy
Spirit and increase in the knowledge of God.
Later, Art :-)
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