I once worked on a website (www.DrThind.com) meant to educate about an Indian man's struggle to be an US citizen in the 1920s. While fascinated with this man's life, I was not at all thrilled working for the actual person who hired me. Throughout my efforts I experienced verbal abuse, lawsuit threats, and just overall disrespect from this, what I consider, miserable person.
Finally my patience ran thin so I decided to let him go as client. Despite the difficulty working for him, I've been told that the website is one of beauty. I often wonder how I managed to maintain my creativity despite working for a man who could not control his temper.
While working on the site, I decided to create a new attitude behind the purpose of this project. I would not just work for his money or the Indian man's legacy, but rather listen to the whispers of what God was telling me and why I was introduced to this project. Perhaps it was to make me aware of my own temperament. Perhaps it was to reach out to God and ask that he work with me on this project. What I found was that when working 'with' and 'for' God, things became much easier.
When finished, the website became a portfolio piece in my showcase of websites (www.crystaldi.com). I now have a policy that would result in the project being dropped on-the-spot for similar behavior. Fortunately, I have been blessed by wonderful clients who I had the honor of serving over the years.
My experience is not unusual. How often have we heard of stories of undesirable work environments and experiences. Then I read 'The Book of Daniel."
Most stories I've heard (including my own) pale in comparison to that of the Daniel's story. The Babylonians killed his parents and sacked his hometown of Judah. As a boy, Daniel was captured against his will, taken to a foreign land where he was stripped of his Hebrew beliefs and forced to serve an oppressive regime for the rest of his life. Yet despite it all, he managed to rise up from captive to one of the high officials of Babylon. After reading the Book of Daniel over and over again, I've come to the conclusion that this man of God worked to serve God.
Then it hit me...Work is a form of Worship.
Regardless of who your boss is or not liking the people you work with, work is worship. You are serving God before you are working for your employer, good or bad.
I heard a wise man say that it is better to work licking stamps if it connects you with God than to be a rich mortgage banker prime lending to under-qualified home seekers, knowing a foreclosure is imminent. In the case of the latter, work can also be sin.
Daniel knew that his work would benefit the citizens of Babylon, which included many of his fellow captured Judahans. He endured life-threatening situations like the lion's dens yet somehow held on to his religious convictions. Perhaps he served so well because he felt the pleasure of God.
Do good work and you will reap the rewards. God is in full control. Have the faith and watch the results. He may (1) remove you from the job to a better job (2) have your undesirable workers removed (3) or simply give you the strength to endure and eventually win. Under God, situations get's better.
Daniel never forgot this faith. His situation solidified his oneness with God. He always knew that God would be on his side. As a result, his story has been told for many generations.
Jim Hague
Fellowship Studios
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