The Serious Work of Being a Husband

I usually write about faith in the workplace in this space, but I want to pause and talk about another kind of work we are called to do that must brought into rhythm with our career.

Some of you know that this time last year ago my precious wife Kathy was battling breast cancer. As we worshiped at the Easter Service at our church a few days ago, my memory turned back a year to Easter 2007. Just four days before, Kathy had undergone a radical mastectomy. But there we were sitting near the back of the auditorium, me in my suit and Kathy dressed in a roomy coat that covered the drain tubes that ran from her scared body. She refused to miss Easter and the opportunity to sing “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.”

A year ago I wrote the following in an email to friends:

God has a reason for Kathy to be here, and I am so thankful. Kathy continues to have a growing impact on America’s families—and I get to be her husband. What a privilege! We love helping each other do the will of God—a husband and wife’s highest calling, according to George MacDonald.

As I watch Kathy at her work today, I am so thankful for the positive outcome of this trial. I have to admit, I can’t image life without her nor doing my work without her help. But neither can I image her mission cut short. It is my privilege to help her do the will of God. And I continue to be amazed at the impact Kathy has on the people she works with.

Rather than slow her down, cancer has expanded her impact on others. (Why should I be surprised?) Just last week when she was at her surgeon’s office for a checkup, she took the opportunity to pray with her doctor about a trial sin the doctor’s life. I love that about my wife. She’s always seeking to serve others, even when she is the one who is supposed to be being served.

So gentlemen, along with honoring God in your workplace today, remember that you have another job as well. And it deserves just as much hard work and dedication: to help your wife do the will of God. If you have no idea what that is, let me encourage you to pre-order a copy of What God Does When Men Lead. You’re likely to get “brownie points” from your wife just for ordering it on your own. Click on the image and it will take you to straight to Amazon.

4 Comments »

1. Hi, Bill! I loved getting your email and of course I enjoyed so much reading this “entry.” I am sure you’ll be updating it regularly. I think I will order the book for John for Father’s Day — perfect!C.Comment by Anonymous — March 25, 2008 @ 11:15 pm
2. This is such a powerful story, Bill. Thanks for sharing it. And it’s a good reminder to invest in our marriages. My wife and I are partners after all.Comment by Mark Goodyear — March 26, 2008 @ 5:40 pm
3. Thank you for sharing this story…and the quote from George MacDonald (one of my favorite authors!)that the highest calling we have as a couple is helping each other do the will of God…may my husband and I seek to do this for each other…thanks for the encouragement and insight. May you and Kathy have many more Easter mornings to share with one another!Comment by Connie Hughey — March 27, 2008 @ 1:04 am
4. […] 24 Seven Faith reminds husbands that along with honoring God in the workplace, honoring the Creator by honoring your spouse is also a high calling. He has a particularly moving personal story to tell in this regard. […]Pingback by Around Our Network… : HighCallingBlogs.com — July 17, 2008 @ 2:09 pm

Stockholder vs. Shareholder Value

The headline in the Dallas Morning News reads “Pilgrim’s Pride to cut 1,100 jobs as feed costs soar.” I also noticed that the stock price of the nation’s largest chicken producer has plummeted over $10 in the last six months. Even though the headline implies a simple exchange, I’m sure that the business equation for Pilgrim is much more complicated than trading employees with families to feed for chicken feed in order to increase stockholder value. My hope is that company officials weighed the needs of all the “shareholders”—not just the stockholders—when they made the decision to furlough workers.

The Bible is very positive about work, business, and profit. Obviously without profit everyone loses. But profit is not the only end of business. Business leaders face a huge dilemma when stockholders pit their demands against the other stakeholders in a company. Employees, suppliers, customers, and local communities all have a stake in a company, not just those who own stock. In his book, Joy at Work, Dennis Bakke suggests that company leaders need to consider all the shareholders in making business decisions. Business leaders who choose to increase shareholder value at the expense of everything else might gain praise from Wall Street, but not Main Street—and not from Him who makes their business possible in the first place. There’s a reward more important that a fat executive bonus for increasing stock value and that is to stand before the Ultimate Stakeholder in your business and hear from his lips, “Well done good and faithful servant.” Read more about God’s values in the workplace in Colossians 3:22-4:6.

Be So Good They can’t Ignore You

I try to read several blogs on the workplace regularly. One is Wally Bock’s Three Star Leadership Letter (http://blog.threestarleadership.com/). Today Wally referenced an interview with Steve Martin that interigued me. At the end of his interview Charlie Rose asked Martin about the advice he gives to people who want to be a success in show business. Martin’s reply was “Be so good they can’t ignore you.”

I couldn’t help but consider how profoundly simple and biblical his advice was. Proverbs 22:29 says, “Do you see a man skilled (gifted) in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before obscure men.” Colossians 3:23 says, ” Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” It sounds like doing our very best at our work is pretty important to God. Makes you wonder why we don’t hear more sermons on this topic doesn’t it. I think Dorothy Sayers was right when she wrote, “The Church’s approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the Church should be telling him is this: that the first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables.”

People pay attention to good work well done. It not only paves the way for success in your career and pleases God, it opens the door for spiritual influence. If we want people to pay attention to our faith, we have to first pay attention to our work. Work at your work with “all your heart” and people will notice. And as Steve Martin says, “They can’t ignore you.” Work at it “with all your heart as for the Lord” and people won’t be able to ignore your faith either.

Read more about becoming a spiritual influence at work in Going Public with Your Faith. To order a copy click here.

4 Comments »

1. Thanks for thinking my blog is worth a read, Bill.As Paul Tillich said, “The test of a religion is its ability to transform lives.” It’s another way of stating the lesson of James 2:18. “I, by my works will show you my faith.”Comment by Wally Bock — March 7, 2008 @ 8:34 pm |Edit This
2. Wally, interesting how Biblie references to work or works are thought of as referring to church work or “good deeds.” The quality of our daily work shows our faith as much as feeding or clothing the poor.Comment by Bill Peel — March 7, 2008 @ 9:12 pm |Edit This
3. Bill,Last week I was speaking at a leadership conference for men in the Philadelphia area. These were guys who are committed to leadership at home, at work, and in their churches. A conversation arose regarding the origin of work. It turns out that some were laboring under the burden of work as a consequence of sin. (We’ve probably all heard someone grit their teeth in the pulpit and proclaim that as truth).Yet in Genesis 2:15, scripture states clearly that “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” That was before the fall. As such, it completely changes the spiritual nature of work and how one can begin to view it properly.

   For those not gifted at teaching or evangelism (in the traditional sense), “Being so good that they can’t ignore you” offers a witness–and an opportunity to witness–5 days a week.

   Steve

   Comment by Steve Roesler — March 13, 2008 @ 12:40 am |Edit This

4. Steve, I find the view that work is a consequence of sin all to common among Christians, thus they have no idea what God wants to do through them in their work. I hope that you will take a look at “Going Public with Your Faith.” There are all kinds of ways men and women without the gift of evangelism can be highly spiritually influential in their workplace.Comment by Bill Peel — March 13, 2008 @ 10:14 am |Edit This