“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 NKJV)
On my way to get my vaccine early Thursday morning, I called one of my daughters; an early riser too. I was positive that she had left the gym and was about ready to arrive at her workplace. I remarked that I was a little early for my appointment and knowing me, she responded with two words, “Of course.” This transitioned into talking about being on time. Just as a side note; whenever I talk with any of my seven children, regardless of the time in between conversations, it is just like they walked out of their bedroom and started interaction. It’s like no time had passed and they were around me all the time. That’s the way it should be. Why not? That’s how it is when we resume our conversations with our Father who art in Heaven; the great “I am;” the One who was before time, now, and forever, according to Jude.
With my side note done, let me get back to where I started. After our exchange about being early, my daughter shared some stories about her workplace; how some of her subordinates do not seem to understand that they need to be in their assigned area working at the start of their shift; not getting coffee, not rushing to change into their hospital scrubs, not parking their car by the entry way and running to the nearest time clock to punch in before parking their car, and not running down the corridor to perform the job they were hired to do. On regarding the end of the day, she went on to describe how some of her employees clocked out right when their shift ended, obviously not staying in their work area until the end of their shift. It’s funny, but really it’s not, right?
Continuing our dialogue, I chimed in talking about the philosophy we had at a distribution center I worked at a decade ago. Employees were to be in their area starting to work at the beginning of their shift, regardless if they worked near the time clock or they worked way in the back of the half-mile long warehouse. And as far as the end of the shift is concerned, the associates were not to leave their work area until the bell rang. They were not to head to the restroom next to the time clock every single day, ten minutes before the end of the shift bell. They were not to go the location where they stored their lunch bag before hearing the bell. They were not, all of a sudden, to be found interested in reading the legal postings on the bulletin board next to the time clock. They were not to imitate employees at our east coast headquarters who came in the door at starting time, journeyed to their office, dropped off their work bag, headed to the cafeteria, stood in line waiting for the cook to prepare their special order breakfast, and sitting down to eat before starting the work day. On top of that, these east coast employees, they would rush to the parking lot as soon as quitting time came; not a minute later. That’s got to be where the saying “they ghosted” came from. To be fair, I will point out that the headquarter employees had a different philosophy since they had long commutes. But at my former work location in the Midwest, just like with my daughter’s place of work, the philosophy is to work “bell-to-bell.”
Oh it is Saturday and you clocked out of your workplace or your home office yesterday, ending the work week in many cases. But as a Christian, I got news for you. You have to work “bell-to-bell.” It may be Saturday, but I need to share something with you of great importance: You don’t have a start and stop bell every day or better stated, on any day. Your start bell was sounded when you accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior. Your “end of shift” bell has not been rung yet and it will not ring until your work on earth has ended, your purpose has been fulfilled and the Lord has called you home to tell you “Well done.” So even though it is the weekend my friend, know that you are to still be doing the work of the Lord; being His witness. You cannot clock out early. You cannot take off your holy attire that is called holiness. You must work; yes you guessed it, “bell-to bell.” Have a great weekend! Remember church service tomorrow! Be attentive from the call to worship until the benediction! You will still be on His “clock.” Be blessed!
“As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” (John 9:4 Living Bible)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King