Fallen Family

Fall we did. Not Sherry, and not I, but another Branch — the one in front of our house.

The vultures quickly gathered. Before I pulled on my shoes to go out, three different neighbors were on the scene. “We saw it happen,” they said. What kind of world do we live in, where people watch the violence but do not intervene? Streets are no longer safe for timber, it seems.

One neighbor claimed the remains for cremation. Another offered a small chainsaw. Yet another helped clear the carcass out of the street, lest my dear Branch be dishonored by the approach of oblivious vehicles.

Neighbors helping neighbors. Death brings us together.

Snow here today — a record breaking snow for us. This morning I dropped Sherry at work. While there wasn’t all that much snow down yet, it was definitely slushy and slippery.

After I dropped her off, I got a text message with this picture. “Look what you left me in the parking lot,” she said. Sure enough, my car tracks left an early valentine. Could I do it again? Probably not. I have no idea how it happened. Some people might say it was a miracle — the kind of thing they show on Miracle Pets, or Touched by an Angel.

It’s a miracle, all right. But it’s not the hearts carved out of parking lot slush. The miracle is the love that makes the heart-picture possible. The miracle is that Sherry and I found each other again eight years after I graduated from high school. The miracle is that self-centered people can love at all.

It’s been a miracle for us since 1981. It’s been the handiwork of God since time began.

As soon as I get this item posted, I’ll be scouting the Internet for potential jobs. From what I read I won’t be alone.

It’s odd; for years we’ve routinely interacted with customer service people, repair people, and other gainfully employed people — the people who make life tick for us at the gas station, the bank, the laundry — and thought nothing of it. Now I wonder if other unemployed people who transact their business with these same employees have the same thought I do: “He has a job. She has a job.”

The past couple of weeks, I’ve been pondering, “How does God look at work?” What does the Bible say about work — not just the verses that tell us about working hard, or using work to provide for our families, but what’s God’s big plan for work? He made it; He must have a plan for it.

The outcome is this paper on the Theology of Work. Also, here’s a List of Verses the paper cites. It helped me. Maybe it will answer some questions for you, as well.

Included:

I. What is God telling us about Himself through “work?”
II. How can we reflect God’s creative/redemptive work in our own work?
III. How does God use our work in daily life?
IV. What does the Bible tell us about how God views man’s daily work?
V. FAQ
- Is “work” (daily work in the marketplace) real ministry?
- Is household work part of the equation?
- What about work for women?
- How do I respond to ungodly employers? Employees?
- Must work be physical – of our hands – to be real work?
- What role do trade unions have?
- What if I cannot find work?