do work son...

Mini Horse...really?

So every once in a while, I watch this ridiculous show on MTV 2 called Rob & Big. Come to think of it, I haven't watched it in several months, so I'm really not sure if they still air it. Now, let me say this first: I don't really watch MTV...at all. However, as a male, I have this innate channel-surfing gene. I can't help it. No ladies, there's no 12 step program for your channel surfing husband. So in the midst of a channel-surfing blitz quite some time ago, I discovered the show. I won't go into the particulars of the show or the depth of its plot (or lack thereof). Suffice it to say, imagine a multi-bajillionaire skateboarder turned entrepreneurial marketing genius with an entire show devoted to creating (and executing) the absurd.

Like...

• writing a song with John Mayer to apologize to your mother
• swimming with sharks...with no cage
• purchasing a pony, naming it "Mini Horse" and allowing it to live in your casa

That's MY line

The list goes on and on, but I'll stop there. So one of my favorite quotes on the show is this: "Do work son. Do work." The sweet irony is that on the show I don't know if I've ever seen either Rob or Big do anything that could legitimately be defined as work! Here's my brief thought of the day (or I guess night):

God, in the midst of calling out a very young Jeremiah (Jer 1:6) and appointing him for a pretty crazy task of being a prophet to a people who absolutely didn't want to hear it, spoke these words: "But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them lest I dismay you before them." (Jer 1:17). So before Rob and Big said "Do work son", God said it first. Of course, the context of the passage is that Jeremiah do the work of speaking truth to God's people.

Worth the price

I'm not saying I'm a prophet (by ANY stretch of the imagination), so I'll go ahead and toss out that disclaimer. But when I look around, I see so many Christian men pouring themselves into work. They do work. Some do it very well (even the "work of the ministry"). And that's great (Col 3:23-24). But what if your greatest work was really reflected in your marriage and in your family? What if in a culture that idolizes "doing work" at the expense of your family and at the expense of meaningful discpleship-oriented relationships, some young guys decided to buck the trend and make their main focus a different kind of work. Just a thought.

One thing I know about work...it's work! My friend John Sherrill used to tell our student ministry at the time: "If it's easy, it's empty." So true. This type of work is hard, requires sacrifice, time, energy, and you have to be in it for the long haul; but the reward of pressing on in the endeavor of leaving a gospel legacy in your home is worth the price. Here's a few pics of my fam. Think about your fam. You doing work? What kind?