Worker Man

When I was a little guy, my dad was the greatest man that I knew.  He went to work each day and came home to us each night.  When my dad would come in the front door, my younger brother and I would fight over the left-over coffee in his thermos bottle.  I’m sure that dad left some coffee in his thermos just to see us run to get it.  It was stale, cold, and nasty, but we thought it was great!  My dad took his work shoes off at the door.  They were oily and the soles were gummed up with metal filings picked up from the machine shop floor.  I couldn’t wait to grow up and be a worker man like my dad.  It appears that I have successfully passed on that trait to my children.  Now I am working at passing it on to my grandchildren.  Paul said it best in II Thessalonians 3:10-12, “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.”  Hey, the American dream is to reap the benefits of your own labor.  If you work harder or smarter, you make more money and live better.  We are not entitled to eat someone else’s bread; we earn our own bread.  We are not given a paycheck at the end of the week; we earn a paycheck.  Thank you, dad for teaching me.  Thank you, my children, for paying attention and learning to “eat your own bread”.  And that’s Bible.