A good word for Advent

This is from John Wycliffe’s comments on the Creed. What a good word for the Advent season. As we celebrate His incarnation, we must also ready ourselves for His return. What a sobering picture he presents. This is the backdrop for understanding grace.

I believe that He is to come, to judge the living and the dead. Here we should believe that the same Jesus Christ, very God and very man, shall come to the judgment in the same manner, and with the same wounds that he suffered and bare with him to heaven, and shall judge all mankind, both good and evil, according to their deeds.

That shall be a dreadful judgment, and a fearful Judge. For Christ, who shall be Judge there, is now meek as a lamb, and ready to bow to mercy ; but there he will be stern as a lion to all that are damnable, and judge according to righteousness. Before the stern Judge, beholding all saints, angels, and fiends, all men and women shall yield reckoning of all their living in earth ; of all the deeds that they have done; for what intent and to whose worship they did them; and not only of great trespasses, but also of those that seem small. For of each idle word man shall account there, as Christ says himself. Each word that edifies not the hearer turns into peril to the speaker. That is an idle word which profits neither the speaker nor the hearer. And since reckoning shall be held of such, much more and without comparison, harder reckoning shall be of sinful speech, as of backbiting, slandering, scorning, false accusing, lying, swearing, cursing, and licentious speech. Also man shall yield reckoning of all the thoughts of his heart that inclined to any sin. And not only shall we account for deeds done, which we should not have done, but also of deeds left undone, that we should have done. As those that have not done works of mercy to poor needy folk, nor given to them, nor lent to them, nor helped them in their suffering, as Christ shall reveal at the judgment.

Also of all the time that man has in earth, he shall yield reckoning, how he has spent it. Also man shall account there of all his worldly goods, how he got them, kept, spent, and lent them. Also of all powers of body, as strength, comeliness, swiftness, skill of body — in whose service these have been spent.

Also each man shall yield reckoning of the keeping of his own soul. Therefore God commands in the book of his law, that each man carefully keep his own soul. The father and mother also shall account for their children whom they chastise not ; as is expressed in holy writ, how Eli was punished for his sons, because he chastised them not, as he should have done. Also each pastor shall account for his people, how he taught them by living and by word ; as God says by his prophet, a great dread shall be at his judgment.

Of the multitude of accusers, man's own conscience, which is defiled with sin and not amended, shall accuse him, not secretly but openly. Also a man's own sins, which he would not leave, shall accuse him. Also holy writ shall accuse them that knew it, and heard it, and lived not according to it. Such shall bear with them the sentence of condemnation. Also God's creatures which a man has used out of measure and in sin, shall accuse him there, and be as ready to take vengeance upon him as they were before to serve him. The fiends also shall be ready there, accusing sinful men and women, for they, as traitors, enticed to the sin, and when the sin is done they will accuse man of it. And therefore in the book of Revelation the fiend is called accuser of Christian men. Also the benefits which men have received of God, who did not worship him with due service for them, shall accuse them, and be alleged against them. And the torment which Christ suffered in time of his passion, both wounds, cross, nails, and spear, shall accuse sinful men.

Therefore, all Christian people, consider this truth, and flee the unlawful lusts of your flesh, and covetings, and deceits of this deceivable world ; and believe ye and keep this firmly fixed in your mind, that Christ shall appear in the judgment, stern as a lion to wicked men's sight, and judge both the living and the dead. Of the great dread of that day God speaks by the prophet Joel. The day of the Lord shall be a great day of deliverance, a day of wrath, and of vengeance, of misery, of bitterness ; the day of complaining and of accusing, the day of dread and of trembling, the day of crying and of sorrow, the day of darkness and of mourning, the day of calamity and of bitterness ; a dreadful day of parting from God for ever.

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Joel 3:11-16
11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

As I said at the beginning, this is the backdrop of grace. In the light of the Day of Judgment, how sweet grace appears! How wonderful forgiveness! And how necessary repentance.

Is celebrating Christmas biblical?

This year, Advent begins November 27. The world does not understand or distinguish between Advent and Christmas. Sadly, I don’t think the average Christian does either. Well, liturgical churches probably do, but not your average evangelical church and I’m almost certain very few contemporary churches would. For so many people, the Christmas “season” begins the day after Thanksgiving. And it ends on Christmas Day. By then they are thoroughly sick of it all, having heard Christmas music since All Saints Day!

There is a difference between Advent and Christmas. And Epiphany for that matter! But I’m not writing about that. I’m asking, Is it biblical to celebrate Christmas?

There are those who emphatically say, “No!” And, Why not? “It’s not commanded or observed in the Bible.”

I will admit at the beginning, they are correct. But, does that make it unbiblical? Are we only to do things explicitly mentioned in the Bible? Think about this. We meet on Sunday, that is according to explicit apostolic practice. But, what time do we start? Not mentioned. Have a song leader or praise team to lead the singing? Not mentioned. Meet in a building? Not mentioned! And then you have TV, computers, internet, Nook Color. None of these are even remotely mentioned in the Bible.

I believe we have three criteria for determining if something is biblical: precept, prohibition, principle. If something is commanded, it is a sin not to do it. If something is prohibited, it is a sin to do it. But what if a matter is neither commanded nor forbidden? Then we apply biblical principles. When there is neither command nor prohibition we have freedom that is guided and guarded by biblical principles and the Holy Spirit.

Is celebrating the birth of Christ commanded? No. Is there an approved example of it? No. Is celebrating the birth of Christ forbidden? No. So then, does celebrating the birth of Jesus our Savior violate scriptural principles? I believe that answer is also, No.

Obviously, there are elements of Christmas celebration that are unbiblical: the parties, the drinking, the carousing, the excess, the profligacy. The rampant materialism is also a huge problem, as well as the debt caused by it. These are simply and undeniably wrong.

Advent and Christmas are part of the Church Year. This is a way of teaching the life of Jesus in an orderly way. The year consists of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost, Kingdomtide. In this way, every year you cover the birth of Christ, his baptism, earthly ministry, death and resurrection, the church, and second coming. The church year is not commanded in the Bible, but is there anything wrong with it? Oh I know, it is Catholic. But you know what – GASP - not everything Catholic is wrong or bad. I have never cared for Lent and the Lenten season, but I am persuaded, if evangelical churches followed the church year in their teaching, or at least in their Scripture Readings, their people would be much more biblically literate. (Oh if we could just get all these Bible believing churches to read the Bible and pray in their worship!)

But what about the tree and wreath and lights and candles? Not to mention the Yule log – which I won’t since no one does this anymore! “Surely,” they say, “we can demonstrate that all these were at one time used by pagans in their feasts.” To me, this sounds a lot like the conflict in Corinth, “The meat in the market was dedicated to idols. You cannot buy that and be a Christian.” And the contact then was much closer than the tree and wreath are now. Paul told the Corinthians (1 Cor 8-10) that eating that meat was OK, as long as they didn’t eat it to honor the idol. I think we have a precedent here.

Now, I understand that these elements were taken up by the Church from heathens. (As were the names of each day of the week.) Those pagans were concerned about life (evergreens) and light (candles and fire) and the hope of a new day. They held these festivals in winter in the hope and anticipation that life and light and warmth would return. Does the Gospel not address these concerns? In the depth of our cold, dark, long night of despair caused by sin, Life and Light and Hope have come!

Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

I believe this can be a great tool to help us focus on Jesus. And I am convinced that the parties and consumerism/materialism are a much greater danger to our souls than the tree. Advent and Christmas can be a wonderful time to teach the incarnation and blessings of salvation that flow from it, as well as the need to prepare myself for the return of Christ.

Do you choose not to celebrate or in any way observe Christmas? You’re free! But don’t condemn those who do.

Do you choose to celebrate Christmas? You too are free! But don’t judge those who choose not to observe it. And keep your focus on Jesus.

Christmas is such a joyful time. The lights, the tree, the candles, the music. I am persuaded this is a reflection of the “good tidings of great joy.” I think Isaac Watts got it right:

Joy to the world! the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare him room,

And heav'n and nature sing.

Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns!

Let men their songs employ,

While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains,

Repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make his blessings flow

Far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations prove

The glories of his righteousness,

And wonders of his love.     

(Psalm 98 Part 2 C.M. The Messiah's coming and kingdom)

Christmas is the message that Jesus, the Son of God, became a man so that we might be reconciled to the Father, and gathered into the Family of God. All through the salvation provided by the incarnation, cross, and resurrection of Jesus! Amen!

I say, Celebrate the Incarnation of the Son of God. Celebrate Jesus. Celebrate Christmas!


In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth . . . No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.

On The Belief

This is one of the first things I read on my new Nook color. This is from the Writings Of The Reverend And Learned John Wickliff. I am posting this, not because it is some oddity to be gawked at, but because this is quite a statement on faith and especially because it really spoke to me as soon as I read it. 
Just a few brief notes. Belief is synonymous with faith. The belief is the faith and this section serves as an introduction to an exposition of the Apostles’ Creed. The fiend is the devil. I don’t know about the original spelling, this is pretty much the way I have it. I have made a few changes to make it an easier read, such as “bears witness” for witnesseth and shows for showeth. Finally, the loadstar is the pole star, by which mariners used to steer their course at night, before the invention of the compass.

ON THE BELIEF

The ground of all goodness is stedfast faith, or belief. This, through grace and mercy, is obtained of God. Faith was the principal ground that enabled the woman of Canaan to obtain health of soul and of body of Christ, for her daughter, who was evil treated of a devil, as the gospel bears witness. And the centurion was much praised of Christ for the stedfast belief that he had in the power of his Godhead. Faith is likened to the loadstar, for it shows the haven of grace to men rowing in the sea of this world. Faith is the eastern star that leads spiritual kings to worship Jesus Christ, through withstanding of sin, as the east star led three kings when Christ was born. Faith or belief is as a stone lying in the foundation of a strong building, that bears up all the work. For as the building stands stiffly that is well grounded upon a stone, so each virtuous deed is strong when it is grounded upon the solidity of belief. For upon this stone, that is, solid faith, Christ said that he would build his church, that is, man's soul. A man that hath lost his right eye is unable to defend himself in battle, for his shield hides his left eye, and so he has no sight to defend himself from his enemy ; even so he that has lost the right eye of true faith, is unable to withstand or fight against his spiritual enemy, the devil. - Saints, as St. Paul says, through stedfastness and true faith, overcame kingdoms, Heb. xi. They overcame the kingdom of their flesh through holiness of soul and body ; and the kingdom of the world by setting at naught riches ; and the kingdom of the fiend through patience and meekness. The want of stedfast faith is the chief cause why men fall into deadly sin. For if a man truly believed that soon after he committed a sin, he should lose one of his limbs, he would through that belief keep himself, and flee from that sin. How much more if he believed that God would punish him in body and soul for evermore, if he died in that sin? If man's belief and trust were firmly set in God, all fear of man, fantasies, and fear of this world, would grieve him but little, or not at all. Christ said to his disciples, that if their faith were as great as the seed of mustard, and they should say to this hill, Pass hence, it should pass ; and nothing should be impossible to them. St. Jerome says that faith is likened to the seed. If the seed be not broken, the virtue thereof is not known ; but the more it is pounded, even the stronger it smells ; even so a man who is firmly grounded in the faith, the more he is pounded by persecution, the greater and the more fervent is his belief. Thus if man's faith were as great as the mustard seed, he should remove from himself the hill of pride, and all other false deceits of the fiend.

This faith makes our souls so able to receive heavenly gifts, that we may get whatever we desire of the faithful Lord. Oh, blessed is the soul that believes right and lives well, and in well living keeps true faith. While Peter had true faith, he went upon the sea as upon dry land ; but when the firmness of his faith failed, he began to sink, and therefore Christ reproved him as of little faith. Thus it fares with us, who are staggering and unstedfast with the wind of each temptation or fear. Therefore, brethren, let us set all our belief and full trust on Him who is almighty, and not in any vain thing that may fail in any time. Trust we stedfastly that nothing may grieve us farther than He will suffer it, and all things which he sends come for the best. And let no wealth of this failing world, neither tribulation, draw our hearts from firm belief in God. Let us not put our belief or trust in charms, or in dreams, or any other fantasies ; but only in Almighty God. And let each man and woman take heed to themselves, for good living makes man to have firm belief and trust in God, and evil works draw him into despair.

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Amen! The part that I have put in bold is the part that spoke to me. Spoke? Convicted me. God forgive me for my "want [or lack] of stedfast faith."

I just want to be happy

A friend of mine told me about a recent encounter he had with a young man. This young man has a habit of getting into trouble and my friend asked him, “What do you want out of life?” He answered, “I just want to be happy.”

I’ve been thinking about that.

What is happy? I’ve looked up the word and done a brief etymological study. I know how it feels, but I cannot put into words what it is! Is it the same as satisfied? content? fulfilled? pleased? excited? fun?

Is it wrong to want to be happy? I don’t think so. I don’t think anybody says, “I want to be sad or miserable all my life.” Is happy a goal or a by-product? Can I say “My goal in life is to be happy?” Of course I can say it, but is it realistic?

I’m not mocking the young man. His statement has caused me to think about this. When pressed, he defined happy as having what he wanted. And most of us would agree, we are happy when things go our way or we get or have what we want. So, happiness often seems to depend on our circumstances. But is this dependable? How many of us get everything we want? All the time. And have you noticed that sometimes the thing you think you need to be happy doesn’t work as planned?

Like Breyers Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream. Not too long ago I was at Bi-Lo and saw some. Oooh, it looked good and I wanted it. I wrestled with this during my next couple of trips to the store. Finally I decided, this would make me happy. Alas, I was disappointed when I had my first bowl. It did not make me happy.

Surely there is nothing wrong with having what you want, but just as surely you can’t pin your hopes of being happy on that. Well, except for a Nook Color. I’m pretty sure I would be happy with that!

Therefore, I think that happiness itself cannot be your goal in life. You can’t aim for it in the sense, “If I have or do (fill in the blank), I will be happy.” Happiness has to come from another well. Because no one gets everything they want all the time. Besides, if you always got everything you wanted, when you wanted it, would you ever develop character? Trials, difficulties, disappointments, delays etc develop strength, patience, endurance, perspective. Now, I’m no different than anyone else, I don’t want delays and disappointments any more than you. And I don’t always respond well to them either. But we have to admit, they are a part of life.

This friend of mine participates in triathlons. This involves a lot of training. Is it fun to run, swim, and bike all the time? Is he happy when he is climbing another seemingly endless hill? Is he even happy during the grueling meet itself? Honestly, I don’t really know, but I kinda doubt it. It must make him happy because he continues to do it, but I would guess the happiness is the fruit of this.

Don’t we all do things we don’t want to do, just because they need to be done? Take work for example. Are you always happy to have to go to work? Are you always happy to cut the grass, take out the garbage, fix supper, wash dishes. I’m gonna guess, No. Yet we do these things because they need to be done and that is what responsible people do. You can be happy while doing them, or happy to have them done. But that is my point – happiness cannot be tied too closely to circumstances, it has to have another source.

Again, that is not to say that circumstances themselves can’t make you happy. I’m pretty sure that I will be happy if I am able to get an iPod!

I see a lot of people come to my store who seem pretty unhappy, like they have bad circumstances AND have not found the other source of happiness. Just sour people. I see a lot of men with their girl friends or wives who look exasperated and totally put out with everything the girl says or does. I’m always amazed because THAT itself would make me unhappy, but the women seem totally oblivious to it. I always think, your guy is such an unhappy camper, why are you with him? I’ve noticed a lot of parents are like that with their children. That is sad.

So, what is happy? It is hard to put into words, but I know it when I feel it. Can your goal in life be, “I just want to be happy”? Of course, you can have any kind of life goal you want, but I think if this is your goal you will be sorely disappointed. I don’t think happiness is something you can aim for, it has to be the fruit of the way we live. And I think we have to be careful not to tie it too closely to possessions and circumstances. We have to find that other fountain that transcends these. And I repeat, I don’t think it is wrong to be happy because of possessions or circumstances. For example, I am always much happier when I’ve had enough sleep!

And then there is the deeply personal question, Am I happy? I am today, because this is my day off!

Since I believe in Jesus, I have to wonder if the Bible says anything about happy. You know what, it does. Maybe I will write another post on what the Bible says about it. Meanwhile, in closing let me quote a stanza from one of my favorite hymns.

Worthy is the Lamb, who shed His precious blood
To restore a world to happiness and God
“When no eye could pity and no arm could save,”
Jesus for our ransom, Himself freely gave.  ~ Johnson Oatman, Jr.

I used to have problems with the second line. But I don’t any more. I believe one of the results of being reconciled to God is a happy life. But then, that is another post!

My Debt to the C&MA

When I became a Christian I joined a Baptist church. One Sunday night my pastor recommended a book (The Holy Spirit: Who He Is and What He Does by R.A. Torrey) that had a tremendous impact on me. Then I went off to college and was introduced to the charismatic renewal. As a result my eyes were opened – God still wants to do what the New Testament talks about! We moved to Memphis and the Baptist church we were an active part of made it clear, they wanted to no part of baptism with the Spirit, spiritual gifts, healing and more. So we had a parting of the ways.

We were churchless. Then I began to listen to a local pastor on the radio – Loren Calkins of Alliance Bible Church. He was going through the Book of Acts. I was impressed: he was going through verse by verse AND whatever it said, he believed. Not only did it happen then but similar things happened now. And he didn’t make a big deal of it, there was just room for God to be God and do what He said.

One afternoon he talked about something he called The Four Fold Gospel. That is, Jesus Christ our Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King. I was excited. When I got home I told Mary about it. “I just heard about this Four Fold Gospel. I’m not sure about the Sanctifier part but this sounds a lot like where we are!”

I contacted Pastor Calkins. He visited us and we visited the church. We were still so Baptist that we said, Let’s give it a month and if we like it we will join. At the end of the month we joined the church. We affiliated with this church, a part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance because of the Four Fold Gospel and their openness to God. I found out later on that not everyone was so open to the gifts etc. As a result of their interaction with the early Pentecostal movement (some of this movement came out of the Alliance, such as the Assemblies of God and Four Square), the Alliance had developed a position toward spiritual gifts: “Seek not, forbid not.” This is an obvious compromise and in some cases the actual position was, “Seek not, forbid not, hope not, better not.” Despite this, there was expectation of fullness of life and blessing.

I can tell you wonderful stories of this expectation. I remember hearing Bob Battles sharing about an earlier day when there were three lines at the altar during the invitation (salvation, sanctification, healing) and that they used to sing, “I was there when the fire fell!” Then there was the fairly new Christian (I can’t recall his name, but I heard him tell this story), saved under Glen Tingley’s amazing ministry in Alabama, who was sent out to pastor a new work. A woman came to the altar to be anointed with oil for healing. He objected, “Sister, I’m not sure about this. I need to look into this.” She said, “Pastor, I don’t have time for you to study this. I hurt too bad. Pray for me!” He did and the next thing he knew she was running around the auditorium, praising God for her healing! And then there was L.L. King. He told us how he came to pastor a church in Nebraska and discovered the young people were not interested in spiritual things. He set about praying for them to be saved. And every single one was born again while he was the pastor! All with just an emphasis on Jesus.

But the bonus was missions. We were introduced to the world, God’s working in the world, and these amazing people called missionaries. I know the SBC has the largest Protestant missionary force, but when I was in the SBC I never met missionaries. I only knew about the Annie Armstrong and Lottie Moon Easter and Christmas offerings. In the Alliance, missions was our middle name. Literally!

And what stories we could tell about missions! The first church I was pastored was Brent Alliance in Pensacola. Once a month those dear ladies would meet as the Women’s Missionary & Prayer Fellowship. The meeting would start at 7 pm and routinely lasted until 10:30 or 11:00 pm, with most of that time spent in prayer. We learned where Irian Jaya was and how Bill and Gracie Cutts went to work among the Moni tribe. They prayed and preached but nothing happened. Nothing. Then one day they woke up and found their yard full of people who explained, “We are hungry for God” and a great awakening occurred among them! I was reminded of this when a friend said to me, in a discussion about “seeker sensitive” churches, “No one ever goes to church seeking God.” I disagreed and he amended his statement. And it reminded me, the Moni came seeking God before there was a church! Then there was R.A. Jaffray. He went to China, then to the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). While in China, in a prayer meeting, God poured out His Spirit upon them and all the gifts were manifested. No hype, no fanfare, just life. John A. MacMillan  went to China and then the Philippines. He wrote a book, The Authority of the Believer, which was about spiritual warfare - before the charismatic movement. Powerful teaching. Once again, and this was the coolest thing, there was no “Look at me, see what I can do.” It was simply the expected fullness of Jesus. We had a strong work in Viet Nam that was mightily affected by the war. When the Montagnards (mountain people from Viet Nam) came to the US, we were in York and took a lot of aid to Raleigh, where Betty Mitchell was. Then Helen Evans came to Charlotte to work with them there. Both of these sisters had been missionaries in Viet Nam. In fact, Charlie Long, then the pastor in Raleigh, had also been a missionary among the Montagnards and worked on a Bible translation for them. The last I heard, Helen was in her 80s and still working with them! Amazing and awesome people. And every year we had two missionaries for our annual Missions Conference (I still prefer the older name, Missionary Convention). So I have many more stories like these.

I know this is rather random and even disconnected. But it is my friend’s fault. His comment got me thinking about all this. The Christian & Missionary Alliance has changed a lot in the last few years, especially the last five years and I am no longer affiliated with them. But I am grateful for the years I was with them. And still long for a church where the fullness of life in Jesus is taught and expected and experienced, and where the mission is: “The Whole Gospel for the Whole Man for the Whole World.”

Do you like working third shift?

I am constantly amazed that I get asked very few personal questions. There are people I talk to and I know a lot about their lives and they know . . . my name! I know all about them but their name. I did get asked once, “What are you doing working here?” But the most common question is, “Do you like working third shift?”

Good question. Most of the time it seems to be linked with either “Aren’t you scared to work third?” or “I would be too scared to work nights.” So, first of all, I am not afraid at night. I am constantly amazed at how many people are ruled by fear. The promise is, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Now, back to the question of whether I like third shift. Sure. As long as I can sleep during the day! You see, I sleep all day and even if I wake up at 5 pm, I still have 5-7 hours before I go to work again. I like that. It feels like you have a life.

As far as this job is concerned, I like third shift best. I always have a variety of things to do, besides people. There is usually a time when there are very few people coming (as in periods of no activity on the road at all). During those times I head to the cooler and my favorite, outside.

It is really nice to get outside and wander around the lot. I especially like the cooler nights. It is awesome to watch the moon – we create such light pollution the moon is about all I can see. I love it when I go out and there is no activity at all. It is nice when it rains and awesome when it snows. Of course, I love snow so that is no surprise.

I find it most amazing when it warms up during the night. Yes, warms up. It surprises me every time. I come to work and it is kinda cool and then by 2 or 3 I realize, “It is warmer than when I got here.”

Now, after all this nice and quiet it is quite a shock when people start coming back in because they are up and heading to work!

So, it would seem that I like third shift because it is quiet, slower, offers me a variety of work to do and a chance to get outside. I can be alone and think about a lot of different things. Sometimes sing, sometimes write. There are also people that I talk to and a couple that have become my friends. I don’t consider myself a “people person” but there is God’s grace! A guy I was training noticed that people talk to me and said, “They tell you everything” after a woman I had never seen before or since shared with me rather personal relationship matters. And they do, because I care and notice them and inquire into how things are going for them. I have a few people who come by and hang around a while and we talk like old friends. I don’t mean to imply no one else here does this, I’m just writing about what I like about third shift.

But there is a downside.

The people. Just as there are people I like and minister to, there are people I do not like. I don’t even know them but I don’t like them. I’m nice and all that… Second shift gets angry people and I get weird people. And a lot of people on something. I have several regulars that I don’t think I have ever seen sober. Ever.

I have to count my drawer more than anyone else. When I arrive, at 5 for 'close of day', the other drawer whether I get on it or not (end of day paperwork), then when I get off.

I also have to count every cigarette in the house every night.

There is nobody awake at night, so if I have a problem I have to figure it out on my own. If I ever get robbed no one will know until the morning! I hurt my back one night in the cooler. I could barely get back up. It was 3 am and I had to wait for the next shift to come in because I knew no one would be awake to answer their phone! How bad? I wound up in the ER and was written out of work for three days.

Sleep is a big problem. We have “blacked out” our room and that helps a lot. It’s not as dark as I would make it, but it helps a lot. If not for that I would lay down and in an hour, two at the most, I would be wide awake. People ask me all the time, “How do you stay awake at night? Energy drinks?” I tell them I just try to get enough sleep. I do not drink those energy drinks.

The biggest problem and drawback to third shift is your days off. You really need two in a row because the first day is often a wasted day. You are never sure, Do I sleep all day, feel good but stay up all night? Or, Do I stay up all day and fall asleep about 7? Or, Do I sleep a couple of hours and hope to fall asleep around 10 or 11? I’ve done all three. The second day is a much more normal day. Even so, it is not unusual to wake up around 3 or 4 at night. What do you do then? I try to fall back asleep, but when that happens I am usually fully awake by 5. But I just get up, whether it is 3, 4 or 5, and take solace in this, I don’t have to go to work!

As you can see, the third shift person thinks about sleep all the time. You never seem to get enough and when you do sleep it is really sweet. Often my best sleep comes the day I go back to work. There have been several times when I didn’t sleep well Sunday and Monday and then slept most of Tuesday before going back to work! Oh well. And, your first night back is often the most difficult because you haven’t had enough sleep.

The deeper question is of course, Do you like working here? But that is another post. Let’s just say I feel like Moses in the desert. And I don’t mean I am another Moses! Just that I’m in a desert place. Maybe more like Israel in the wilderness. I just hope I haven’t already been to Kadeshbarnea!

Now it's late and I'm off to work!