Great nametags: Out of Order

One of the most fun jobs I had was as a student supervisor at Case Hall Café on MSU’s campus. There were so many awesome and fun people that worked there, going to work never felt like work. Student supervisors worked as almost middle management between supervisors, full time employees and part time employees. We had zero ability to control full time employees and this was okay. Everyone always did a great job working, but when it was slow we had fun.

It was one of these times we found the label maker for name tags/badges. So some friends and I started to create new nametags to wear around work. Some of the nametags we created…

Out of order

Ask someone else

On break

There were others but this is close to 14 years ago so my memory fades a little bit. So it was a slow Saturday and I was wearing my Out of Order nametag when a student approached me with a question. They started to say excuse me then looked at my nametag (At this point I forgot I was wearing this name tag). The person then started laughing loudly, gave me a nod then said I gotcha as they were smiling. They then walked to another employee and asked their question. This was great. I enjoyed my time working there. When I started working at MSU I wasn’t a Christian but gave my life to Christ during my time working there, looking back there were some moments I would regret.

Paul shares this in Philippians 1:27…

“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worth of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for faith of the gospel.”

Sometimes in life I go for the quick joke without really thinking about whom I am affecting. The word manner that Paul uses means to act as citizen. We are supposed to control ourselves and maintain our obligations in relationships and to others as part of a community. I can miss the target completely in this area. The way this is put in The Message, “Live in such a way that you are a credit to the Message of Christ.”

Who or what are you trying to represent? Case Hall was a blast but I look back and think of all the times I went for a joke rather then thinking who I was truly impacting. I am trying to represent Christ in my life; I need to improve daily to be more like Christ.

Have a great day.

Laying in a hospital bed over winter break

Laid up in a hospital bed is not how I like to start my winter break. Several years ago, this was the case, stomach pains sent me to be admitted. I shared a room with someone I have never seen before. His name doesn’t ring a bell, but he is a guy I will never forget. Having intense stomach pains I was admitted to the hospital where I found out I had a roommate, over the next couple of days I got to know him better.

He was a guy from the Lansing area I would have never run across. There was something that was off about him but I could never figure out what was wrong with him. He was a nice guy, had a great personality, he cracked me up and seemed to be loved by his visitors. I found out this guy got wrapped into stuff he shouldn’t have been in. Now he was living in a tent behind a store in the Michigan winter.

This is what put him in the hospital. He didn’t notice it at the time but from living out of a tent in the middle of the winter he ended up with some form of frostbite and lost a couple of his toes. Now he sat here in the hospital waiting on what they were going to do. The doctor came in and told him all his toes would be removed from his foot they would be replace with synthetic (I vaguely remember). They were doing other things to help with the infection and improve that.

This guy had a great attitude and desire for life, with his remaining toes on his right foot he would often say, “Hey look, the peace symbol!” He cracked me up. Soon it wasn’t as funny.

He didn’t have insurance and would be sent away. What was going to be a couple of days of procedures and recovery was changed to some antibiotics and a boot out the door. For the life of me I could figure out why this guy couldn’t get insurance at all. It ends up he was heavily into drugs and even his visitors were family that tried to help him out from time to time but he never improved. The help he needed wasn’t from medical hospital but from a rehab place.

This guy’s life was wrecked because of drugs and his ability not to get help. What’s different between us and him? Not much. We are in the same boat, we are sinners and full of mistakes. Yet God gives us another chance, Romans 3:23-24…

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

This guy fell short of the glory of God and so do we. We are not mistakes but we make a ton of mistakes. God values each and every life and values your life so much. God loves you and you are free because Jesus gave us grace. Through all our sins Jesus washed them all away. Laying in the hospital bed next to my roommate, we came from different paths, had different struggles and yet we were in the hospital both seeking help.

We all need help from time to time. Whether it’s our marriages, our family, our friends, a physical problem or a bad habit like drugs or alcohol, help can be there for us. Don’t be afraid to seek help with issues going on in your life. If you had a broken leg, you go to a doctor, if something was wrong with your head mentality, you would go to a doctor too.

We serve a God that is loving and just. He wants us to be able to conquer those issues going on in our lives. I think about my former roommate from time to time and pray that he was able to get the help needed and kick the bad habit. God is love and is forgiving to those who seek forgiveness. If you need help, please seek someone to help you.

Have a great day.