Usually I spend a good bit of
Father’s Day reminiscing and thinking about the love and wisdom my Dad gave
me. And, I am sure I still will do my
share of that today. Today, I woke up thinking a good bit about not only my Dad
as I call him, but my Father in Heaven. I call this Father, God, Abba, Lord and
more. I am very thankful for Him. I
often wonder if He would come, sit down with me and just chat, what would we
talk about? Most of my conversations
with the Lord are one-sided. I seem to do all of the talking and though I work
to listen to Him and hear his voice, I am not so sure I am such a good
listener.
Early today, I started my morning reading my current book, “Six Hours One Friday”, written by Max Lucado. Max is one of my favorite authors. My favorite of all of his books, is “He Chose the Nails”, but I have been deeply touched by other books of his as well. When Max describes how Jesus chose the nails, and chose the cross for you and for me, it brings me to tears. Yes, I am a man who hates to admit he ever cries, but the idea that someone chose to give his life for me is just a little more than I can take with a straight face. Max also wrote “God Came Near” and many other books that are simply amazing. He writes stories that make you feel like you are an important part of God's stories.
As I read “Six Hours One Friday” this morning, Max shared the story of a
priest, Maximilian Kolbe who was imprisoned in Auschwitz. One day in prison, Kolbe offered to take the
place of another prisoner who was randomly selected to die of starvation and
torture. This man had exclaimed he was a father in his plea to live. The commander accepted Kolbe’s
offer and he died a slow, tortured death so that another man could live. People
often speak of how bad life is and how things are just getting worse, but I
don’t see it that way. The sacrifices we see that people are willing to make for
one another shows us a love that is bigger than this life we know. God’s love for us is greater than we can
really totally grasp. It is so hard to wrap my mind and heart around
the truth that He gave His son as a sacrifice for all of us to accept. And, what a love for us from Jesus who willingly chose the nails, chose to die on the cross to obey His Father and save the world. Jesus chose to save a world that has
difficulty accepting His gift of sacrifice.
During the great recession as I call it, I saw many people lose their
fortunes and their jobs. I even saw some people lose their lives because they
could not bear the losses. I saw friends turn against one another end, many of whom would never
recover some of their closest relationships.
Even though our financial losses were significant, I believe I was one
of the lucky “survivors” of the recession. By the way, I am not suggesting that the
sacrifice of one’s life even remotely compares to the loss of money or net worth. Where I am headed today is one man’s offer of personal sacrifice during the recession that truly overwhelmed me. I want to share this man’s amazing offer of
sacrifice even though we did not accept his offer.
In 2008, during the course of two days, we laid off well over 40 people in
our business. We had no idea this wasn’t
even the worst of the recession in the building supply business, but this was a
very hard time. We looked people in the eyes, apologized to them that we could no longer afford to pay them and let them go. The crash of the market was bigger than our
financial reserves. Many of these people we worked with had
done everything we asked them to do, but we could not afford to pay them. Some
of our leaders had voluntarily quit accepting paychecks so times were tough.
At the end of the second day of layoffs, a young man with a family asked
if he could come in and talk with me. He had a wife and a teenager whom he
supported. This man offered to take the place of another employee who had been
laid off earlier in the day. He said to
me, “I am much younger and can find a job much more readily than he can.” He had not even discussed this offer he made to us with his wife. He did not have another job lined up to go to that
afternoon. Tears rolled down his face as
he offered to lose his own job. As tears rolled down my face, I explained that
even if we laid him off instead, his offer would not “save” the other man’s job. I shared that even though the other man
was a wonderful employee, he was not physically able to do all of the jobs we needed done. We believed we had to keep the people who could do a larger
variety of work, not people who were really strong in one area. We hugged, we quietly wept, and we moved on
that day.
I have not forgotten this man’s offer, his amazing courage and compassion for his
fellow man. You see that even though we live in a world where bad things happen,
there are incredible acts of courage, sacrifice and love. The "older" man who was laid off was eventually able to
return to work at the same business.
Even though I was a partial owner, I had moved on too because I could no
longer go forward working without receiving a paycheck. Both men and their families survived the
very difficult financial times. At the time, the
mountains we were climbing seemed insurmountable, but ultimately they were not. Some of our deepest hurts make the greatest positive
impacts on our hearts and souls. I know from direct experience that “life ain’t
always beautiful”, but I also know it is a beautiful life.
I hope this Father’s Day brings you great joy and love even if it is in
the midst of loss or because you miss someone as badly as I miss my Father. I
am so grateful that I had such an amazing Father who I miss so much. He always
believed in me. I realize not every
Father is that good to His children. I also know that God believes in and loves you so
much He gave you His only son. Please be thankful for Him today. He is a
greater Father than I deserve. And my
children are greater gifts than I could have ever imagined God would give me. I am
only called Father because of them. Thank you, children. You are the gifts that make Father's Day "happy".
No comments:
Post a Comment