During my early career in management one of the hobbies I took up was playing with the new wave of the future called personal computing. The first computer I started out with was a small Timex system. I later moved over to the Commodore 64. It was on the Commodore 64 that I taught myself basic program and decided to see if I could use it at work. One of the first programs I created was a routine I could run to help me calculate the stores Operational Ratios (OR) which was the formula that determined how many hours we could use in a given department based on our sales. Our sales by department, hours by department and the OR report (which at that time had to be done on a calculator) were called in every Saturday night to our zone office. This program made the process so much easier. I could now complete my OR report in a minute instead of the usual fifteen minutes. And I knew the report was accurate, where as when I ran it on the calculator, we had to rerun it to verify the totals.

Later I used the IBM2 with Lotus to prepare budgets and run different scenarios to go over with my department heads to help plan promotional sale events. This was a very different approach than most other store managers a that time took. To most store managers in the early eighties’ computers belonged at the headquarter offices and not at the store level.

As I look back now almost forty years later, I see how this love for computers set the stage for my 3^rd career. When I started teaching twenty-eight years ago one of the assignments I was asked to take was that of the schools SYSOP (System operator).  This job assignment would be the one that transformed my 2nd career for the last twenty-eights years.

One of the characteristics of Christ I use to preach on is found in Luke 2:52: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God, and man. The importance of this verse is that Jesus kept on growing.  Growth is something that we must continue to work on even when we get old. Hopefully the old skill sets I have learned over the last fifty-one years will lead to growth in other areas of my new life. So as God has always help prepared me for my past careers, I pray that He has done as He opens doors of opportunity on my next career of retirement.

An early Commodore 64 computer system.

One of the first challenges I had as a new store manager was the development of others to follow a new path of growth and development.  This was a store were sales were dropping and was losing money.  So, I can in with the goal of correcting both trends.  My plan worked, but it was not easy.  Change is not easy, especially when you must get others to follow you, but they do not buy into your plan.  The six months at this store give me some of the greatest learning experiences in management that I could have received in such a short time.  The greatest tool I learned during this time was how to develop and surround yourself with a great staff and let them manage their project.  Ownership of change made growth more rewarding.

Paul in 2 Timothy chapter four writes these words to Timothy: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.   But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”  I learned early at my new assignment that I had to make changes.  Like Timothy I was warned about the issues I would be facing from my zone manager.  Sometimes it is impossible to change those around you.  I learned quickly that making a stand was difficult, but in the end results would come.  I use to quote 1 Corinthians 15:10 all the time “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”   I might not have had much talent, but I labor more than anyone around me.

And yet there was a better way.  Inspiring others to follow your leadership and to own the labor and results of their hard work.  This was when I embraced the 20/80 rule.  In retail the 20/80 rule refers the concepts that twenty percent of the people usually does eighty percent of the work.  Placing key people in key roles and rewarding them made my job as a store manager so much more rewarding.  At this store I started a new direction in my management style.  Yes, I still set the example of giving the best service and product to the customer that was possible, but at the same time developing and giving others an environment to growth and become leaders themselves over their departments was now my focus.  Six months later this new direction leads me to become the manager of the store of my dreams.

New study guide for my next career.

Have you ever jumped at an opportunity because you believe it was a wave of the future just to see another opportunity come along soon after going in a different direction?  That was me in my early career with Kroger.  Completing the training program in just eight weeks, one of the fastest times in which this program was ever completed, I believed I was on the fast track to becoming a store manager. Wrong.  I was told by one of my first managers that “it was a dog eat dog world in management”.  Everyone seem to be looking out for number one and that was usually themselves.  It seemed like when the store had problems, I got the blame and it was usually my fault.  The more I strive to improve school conditions and sales the more others were getting the credit for these improvements.  So, I was told I was great at getting things done, but not in managing people.  I realized that I had now entered the university of Hard Knocks, learning how to be a middle level manager.  Pleasing both the people below you and the people above you and getting the desires results of the upper management.

God has a way of helping square pegs fitting in a round hole.  An opportunity came open for volunteers to open five new stores using a new management philosophy.  This format had as a management team a store manger with each of the department heads acting as department heads and assistant managers.  Most assistant mangers at that time did not want this position since to them it was a step down instead of up, but I saw this as an opportunity for me to shine so I volunteer.  I took the position as the produce manager.  Great results in the first year.  However, no talk of promotion and was asked to take on more responsible and take on a failing deli department.  I did and soon I received the nickname of Kenmore.  The more work you gave him the more he did.  In six months, I turned this department around, but still no talk of promotion.  Discourage I was about to turn in my resignation to the store manager until the zone manager talked with me.  I was told I had a problem with my management skills, I had great results but there was just something about the way I manage that (which no one could pinpoint) that needed to be improved.

So, I was given one more challenge.  Grocery and Nonfood had sale issues and poor inventory results, so improve these and I will be considered for a promotion.  Well six months later the results came back, and they were better than ever, sales were up and great inventory results, however the promise of a promotion to store manager still looked far distance.  Two and a half years so it came time to quit.  But God opened a door.  Sometimes you are ready to move forward but God still must shape the future.  I was a square peg but working in an environment of round holes.  So, God had to create a square hole environment for me fit into.  My first position as a store manager was a position that few people wanted because it was a small store and required a working store manager.  With no assistant manager it required a lot of opening the store in the morning and closing the store up in the evenings.  A lot of twelve hours or more a day, and sometime working seven days a week.  But I loved having the opportunity of having my own store.  So, God prepared a squared hole for this squared peg.

Starting a new job soon Shark tooth hunting with love ones.

I had an old saying once: “There was a man who sought after truth, but when he found it, he turned and walked away.”  That is what happens when someone seeks advice and finds out that the path that they are traveling on is easier than the path they were advised to take.  God’s Word is our source for truth, but how many of us turn and walk away from this truth.  Paul writes these words in I Corinthians 13:11-13:  “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.  For now, we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.  Growing in the grace of God is a slow process in most believers.  I Corinthians chapter thirteen was Paul’s discourse on a better way of walking in God’s way than the way of the gifts he had describes in chapter twelve. Chapter twelve is called the gift chapter in which Paul describes the different gifts that believers are given form God.  However he ends chapter twelves with these words: “But eagerly desire the greater gift. And now I will show you the most excellent way.  Gifts are great, but using them in a way that cause growth in us and others is the most excellent way.

Psalm 131 is a very short psalm but speaks volumes that can ease the mind of a believer.   “My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.  ”  The beauty of God’s Word is how the truth found in each verse can touch the heart of those who are not proud, who have quieted themselves so that the Spirit of God can renew that individual relationship between them and God.

How often did I try to put myself or others on a pedestal only to see how easy it was to fall off that pedestal? How often did I seem to have all the answers and then realize that the path I had charted was taking me in the wrong direction? How often do I let my thought become express words without going through the filtering system that I had developed during my experiences on this earth? Yet the opening verse of this Psalm gave me the advice that I needed to avoid all these issues. The definition of pride as found in the dictionary is: a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc. Synonyms for being proud include: pride, conceit, self-esteem, egotism, and vanity can imply an elevated idea of the way we appear to others. The advantages, achievements, as well as the position that I had attained in this life, often lead me to develop characteristics that creates an environment in which self-admiration took over in our life. I recall one of my favorites saying in the days of my youth as “when you are good you are good, but when you are great you are like me!”.  However, age can sometimes have a way of adjusting our attitudes, and where pride exist a fall is close behind.

Later than sooner I arrived at the place in my life after the fall from pride, that I realized that there are matters that I could not handle and things that are now greater than my abilities to comprehend and explain. It is during these time that I could either return to the folly of starting over and doing things my way again, or finally waiting on God to make things happen.  This was my first learning experience in management.  I realize that I could give advice all day to most people, but in the end, they would still follow the path that they were traveling.  However, it not what I said, but what I did that influence the employees around me.  In my early career in management I learned that you lead by example.  Yes, not all will follow your example, but for those who do it leads to great results in both yours and their lives.

An old walking stick found on the beach in Gulf Shores.

As I look back on last fifty-one years of my life, I realize that the one thread through out these years has been work.  My life has been defined by my jobs.  For the last forty-three years my jobs were always career focus.  When work becomes more than a job that causes you to show up for a daily task to a position where you have input on the your daily activities, then it becomes a career.  This change can be a great path changer.

As I look back on the last forty-three years I realize that that was only a little over a third of Moses’s life span.  As I mediate upon Moses’ life of one hundred and twenty years and the trials that he went through as I read the words that he wrote in Psalm 90 I realize that like him my life paths have changed.  Verse twelve states “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” is a key to our daily living.   Moses’s first forty years were spent in the courts of Pharaoh learning the wisdom of Egypt and how to be a royal administrator. His second forty years were spent in the wilderness tending sheep. The last forty years he became the prophet who lead Israel to the Promise Land. Moses had different careers in his life, His first career was a career where he wanted full control of his life to make things happen his way, which did not work out.  His second career was a shepherd.  However, it was probably during his second forty years of life in the quietness of the wilderness as a shepherd that he learned that God is God. This is a lesson that most people learn late in life. His third career was God calling him to lead His nation to the Promise Land.

One of the greatest features that an elderly Christian shows the world is the gracefulness of growing old in the Lord. They should have learned the secret of living and that is to quietly look to the Lord to meet their daily needs.  So, as my path keeps changing to a different career may I stay on the main path of always walking in the ways of God.  Charles Swindoll reflected upon this truth of gaining a heart of wisdom in his book Wisdom for the Way. He wrote “Aging isn’t a choice. But our response to it is. In so many ways we ourselves determine how we shall grow old.” May I continue to grow in the love and the grace of Jesus my Lord.

As I look back on life I realize that many of my plans never turned out the way I planned.  Plans for the ministry never went the way I planned.  I did get to perform my sister’s wedding and I did pastor a few small churches, however my true dream of going to the mission field as a Bible teacher was never meet.  Every door I tried to open closed.  Until one day I said yes to a new job offer.  An opportunity to go into management with Kroger.  This job I enjoyed for fourteen years, even with the long hours and the difficult path it took to finally get an Unit manager position.

Joseph was also a man of dreams.  His brothers even called him the dreamer.  In Genesis 37:19,20 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other.  Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him.  Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.  How Reuben step in and prevented his brothers from taking his life, however they sold him to the Ishmaelites as a slave.  But in Genesis 39:2 we see that the Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered and  that the Lord gave him success in everything he did.  This is the same God that I serve.  If we walk in His ways we too can be God’s chosen people.

But we must also have the mind of Joseph and walk in God’s way to serve our Lord.  Remember that at the time this was written, Joseph only had the training from his parents and family to know the difference between right and wrong.  We are blessed by having the Word of God to guide and lead us in this world.  Paul in Colossians 3:12-17 gives the way to serve the Lord.  “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.   And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.   Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.   Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.  And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

This verse found in Revelations 3:7 was written to the church of Philadelphia.  Of the seven churches mentioned in Revelations chapter two and three the church of Philadelphia and Smyrna were the only two that the Lord did not give a warning in the address to them.  In Revelation chapter 3:20 he writes to the church of Laodicea these words: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”  Three doors: an open door, a closed door, and a door ready to be open to enjoy the fellowship of the Lord.

In my live many doors have been closed.  I remember the time in January 1978 that the door to the ministry was closed to me, and yet another door opened for a new career with Kroger.  At that time it was a disappoint, having spent the last six years of my live preparing for the ministry, yet now looking back I can see God’s hand in the my life.  We sometimes forget the words from of the great hymn Follow Me.  In this hymn it states:

Oh Jesus if I die upon a foreign field someday,
‘Twould be no more than love demands, no less could I repay,
“No greater love hath mortal man than for a friend to die”
These are the words He gently spoke to me,
“If just a cup of water I place within your hand
Then just a cup of water is all that I demand.
But if by death to living they can Thy glory see,
I’ll take my cross and follow close to Thee.

Sometimes we must realize that the Lord has a different purpose in our lives than what we dream.  We can not all be the star of the football team.  It takes a great blocking front line to give the quarterback the time he needs to make that great pass, so some of us have to be the center, guards, tackles, and tight ends in the game.

We must realize that when the Lord closes a door, he also opens a door.  However there is always a door we must open.  That is the door of Fellowship.  The church of Laodicea was the last of the seven churches in Revelation chapter two and three.  I believe it pictures the last days of the church before the Coming of our Lord.  It is the church that is rich in worldly goods, but poor in the spiritual matters of the Lord.  It is the church that pictures the Lord outside the church and knocking on the hearts of believers to come in.  This is the door we can open or close.  The chose is ours, so when the Lord knocks open the door, because His fellowship can give you the peace that passes all understanding in a world of confusion which is around us daily.

Yesterday I was asked about the ages of the people in the Bible who lived before the Flood.  Did I believe people could live that long?  My answer was yes.  Have you ever looked at the numbers in Genesis chapter five.  If you consider these numbers as truth, then only around 1661 years after the Lord created the Earth He destroyed it by the flood.  Adam was alive to see all his grandchildren, except Noah.

Peter writes about these numbers in II Peter 3:3-7:

³ Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. ⁴ They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” ⁵ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. ⁶ By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. ⁷ By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

The world of that time was destroy must have been a different world in which we lived in today.  My mind can only fathom what type of earth it could have been in those days.  However, we do know from Genesis chapter six that man was corrupt, and the whole earth was filled with violence.

With this in mind we must heed Peter’s warning and take his words in verses 8-17 of chapter three to heart:

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.  The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.  Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.  That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.   But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.  So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.  Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.   He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.  Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.   But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

So consider again the numbers of Genesis chapter five.

!! Timothy 3:16–17  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

At age thirteen to pass my evenings away I read books on either World War II or the Bible.  It was at this time that I read the entire 10 volume series of The Bible Story written by Arthur Maxwell.  These books gave me a great background to help me understand the Bible when I started reading it two years later.  My Bible study began the year my father passed away.  It was hard for a fifteen year old to understand why someone would take his own life.  At that time the Retail Clerk Union gave family members a Bible in a cedar case at the death of a love one.  It was the reading of this Bible that I started my search for an understanding of the ways of life.  I still treasure this Bible and the notes in it to this day.

As I was listening last night to the President speaking I heard his words and the message he was presenting.  Afterwards I listen to the commentaries on his speech and a lot of these commentaries were portraying a different message that I had just heard.  This truth can also apply to reading God’s Word.  The truth about a daily study in the Bible is that it gives us the truth without anyone else’s opinion.  It is God speaking to you.  The Word of God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  It is never changing.  It is the gift of the scriptures that God has given mankind to show us the way to Him.   Yes Bible commentaries and guides are great resources for us to use in gaining a better understanding of his Word, but so is the hiding of God’s Word in your heart.  So sit down and read the Bible and let the Word of God speak to you.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. (KJV)

Romans 15:20 “Yea, so I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation:”

Romans 8:28 was the verse that Dr. Lee Roberson put beside his signature in the Bible given to me at my ordination into the ministry at Highland Park Baptist Church. At that time I serving as the pastor of one of the Highland Parks chapels which was a small church called Rock of Ages in Richard City Tennessee. It was during the questions and answer section that a minister must go through before his is ordained that I had to give my life verse and explain why I choose this verse.  My verse at that time was Romans 15:20 “Yea, so I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation:”.  Before I could give the reason one of the professors ask me what version of Bible I was using.  I told him the King James Version.  He looked it up and stated that in all his studies of Paul he had never recalled this verse.  He asked me the reason I chose this verse and I told him my desire was to preach Christ on the mission field in South America.  Of course at that time I had studied David Livingstone journeys in Africa and want to follow in his footsteps in South America.

Life happens;

As I look back on the pass my life verse has changed several times.  However, I guess the verse that I love now is found in Philippians 1: 21 ” For me to live is Christ and to die is gain”.  I have taken the easy road with this verse unlike many through-out the world.  For in so countries if you live for Christ your live may be taken from you as Paul was referring to in the context of the verses 22-26 that follows verse 21.  I just live day by day with the phase “what a beautiful, wonderful day that the Lord has given us” to preach my love for Christ.  Yes some might disagree with me but my life is never in danger.  However, easy road or hard road the last part of the verse “and to die is gain” is what we are blessed with when our live is over.  As I get older and see so many of my love ones around me pass away, the great the truth of “to die is gain” brings joy to my heart.   Yes, death is just the gateway for believers to enter heaven.

I Corinthians 15:53-58

For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.  When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”  “Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?”  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.