Workin’ for da’ Man

Well, you wake up in the mornin’,
You hear the work bell ring,
And they march you to the table to see the same old thing.
Ain’t no food upon the table, and pork up in the pan,
But you better not complain, boy,
You get in trouble with the man.
(Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Midnight Special)

For the past two months, I have been working at a local pharmacy where I have worked intermittently since high school. Since I began working at the pharmacy, I have taken sabbaticals to intern at a local church, to intern at a research facility in Texas, and to attend seminary. This recent stint at the pharmacy was the result of leaving a ministry position and needing to have gainful employment while looking for another job–preferably one closer to school.

The pharmacy work has also reminded me of the joy I have working with people. At the church, I would minister to youth and young adults often, but there were times when I would not see the students for several days (i.e., Monday-Wednesday afternoon and Thursday-Saturday afternoon). Most of my work was preparation, study, and planning–times not often directly spent with others. Working at the pharmacy rekindled the joy I get by helping people. Whether it’s helping them locate an item they are requesting, assisting them in selecting a product, or aiding their proper use of medications that will save their life or increase their quality of life. However, often it is asking them how they are doing, inquiring about their family, checking the progress of their treatment, and wishing them well on their way. It is amazing the way a little courtesy and a little concern brightens one’s demeanor. Having the opportunity to cheer up a person’s day has been a great advantage of seeing many more people on a daily basis.

However great this type of work is, there are other types of work that must be done at the pharmacy, and when you work for “da’ man,” you are going to do almost any type of work that you can imagine. Just this summer I have helped pressure wash a deck, painted benches, built picnic tables, painted shutters and then the house on which the shutters are hung, trimmed trees, moved trees from the yard to the road, and ripped out carpet. Previously, I have had to pressure was a house, paint the house, put down carpet, do yard work at a cemetery, clean the dumpster, etc. When I arrive at work, sometimes I have no idea what I will be required to do that day.

With that being said, while my bosses son and I were pulling out carpet from a flooded room in one of my bosses rent houses, the renter ask, “How does he get ya’ll out here when you are supposed to be off?” My simple response was, “Because when he asks, you do.” It is not because he threatens us to do these extraordinary jobs and respond to these additional requests. It is because he is a fair man and he is willing to compensate us for hard work. If the question is why are we ready to do what he asks, the answer is because he is a great boss.

In a sense, this is exactly how it is when we serve God. Often He may ask an individual to do something outside of his job–his gifts or abilities, his skill-set. This often causes the individual to push the limits their faith, requiring that they depend on Him to be their guide, even when their work may seem to make no sense. The fact is that my God is great, that He is using individuals to do His work, and in the end the reward for faithfully following His direction is going to be great. I may have a great boss at the pharmacy, but I serve an even greater God.