More Than Just Work

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This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you what. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Welcome to Truth Talk Live.

This is Peter Rosenberger, PeterRosenberger.com, all the way from Montana. Where the skies are still big, but they're a little bit hazy. We got a lot of fires out here, and it's fire season. We're eagerly awaiting the first big snowfall up in the high country to put some of these fires out. And a big shout out to all the workers that are doing this.

I've learned quite a bit about fires, wildfires out here being living in the West. I didn't have a lot of this problem when we lived in Nashville for all those years. And this is a season that we have every year because it gets very dry out here. And there's a lot of timber and you get a lot of lightning strikes. And these fires were all started by lightning strikes.

In fact, I watched from our deck the one that hit. In our little town, we have all these little towns in Montana because it's Montana's one big. A city with very long avenues. You know, it just, it's, it's so spread out, it's hard to really imagine. But I could see 10 miles down the mountain where lightning struck on this hill and 3,500 acres burned within less than 24 hours.

It was, it was stunning to watch. But there was no property damage. There was no homes that were engulfed by this. And the fire crews did an amazing job of keeping it in just a hill that was covered with grass and sage. Even the snow fences they had on that hill for the wintertime to help with the snow drifts.

were not damaged. It j they got it under control pretty quick. Even though it spread fast, they were able to quickly get it from hurting structures or people.

Now over in the other part of the the county, we've had multiple fires here in this county. And there's a big fire up. High up, and they're having to bring in like bulldozers and so forth, like that, to clear land. What they do is they form a perimeter around it, let it just kind of burn itself out. It won't be completely out.

until we get the first big snowfall.

So we've got a lot of smoke in the air, and we have big sky country, but right now big sky is a little hazy. And big shout out to all the workers who are doing that. You guys, yesterday on this program, talked about coming back to work after Labor Day and. Labor Day doesn't really mean anything to me. I'm a full-time caregiver for my wife.

I don't particularly celebrate any holidays because I'm always working. Weather In my job or taking care of my wife, either way, I just there's not really a day off, I get hours off. But I am gonna do something tomorrow that I have not done in a while because we spent so much time in the hospital earlier this year and she's requiring such acute care right now that I can't leave her alone for more than an hour. Without somebody being here. But I do have somebody coming tomorrow that's going to be with her for about five hours.

and I am going to saddle up And I'm going to help move some cattle onto this property here. This is um her dad's place and We have summer feeding up here, so we got some late summer feeding that we're going to put cattle up here about 70 head. We partner with a local rancher down in the valley and They bring their cows up here for the summer feeding so they can get, you know. Everything ready for the winter feeding. They'll be up here probably till the end of October.

We're backed up to the National Forest, and there's another rancher that puts his cows up in the National Forest, several hundred head. And it's really interesting when it starts getting cold. They gather at the fence. There's a cattle guard at the entrance to the forest. It's just right up behind our house, and all the cows will kind of gather there.

They're not, they don't have to go look for them into the forest. They know when it's time to come down, and they want to get down where it's nice and flat and smooth and below the snow line. And we're above the snow line here at our place as well, so we'll start getting winter weather. By the end of September, first of October, usually we have our first winter storm, and the cows will all gather down below and be ready to go out.

So they'll be ready to go. But it's great to have them up. I enjoy it immensely. Saddling up and riding among the cows and talking to them, and it's a lot of fun. And that's something I get to do.

that is a vacation for me. I don't really get, like I said, a day off. But I can take hours off and cram quite a bit of Good stuff into a few hours. There's nothing like being on a horse. I think it was Churchill said this, or maybe Will Rogers, I forget.

But there's nothing wrong with the inside of a man that the outside of a horse can't help. And I always thought that was a great quote.

So I don't know what you do. For Labor Day, for taking a day off or taking some time off. And I had an interesting question that somebody posed to me a long time ago, and it's always kind of stuck with me. You know, the lottery. I don't know.

I'm not advocating to play the lottery because it's a tax on people who are bad at math. But you know, it's one of those massive numbers, almost a billion dollars or something crazy.

Somebody asked me years ago What would you do? If money was an object. What would you do? How would you feel your day? How would you spend your time?

If money wasn't an object. Isn't that an interesting question? It kind of gets to the heart of: okay, well, what are we here for?

Now, because there is going to be a time. when money will not be an object. for all of us. And uh you you ever wonder how you're gonna Well, I don't know how you spend time in heaven. Do you ever wonder what we'll do?

You know, when Adam was put in the garden, he had a job. He was to name the animals, he was to tend the garden, he was a gardener. That was how he spent the day. And evidently He would walk with God in the cool of the evening. A year ago my father stepped into glory.

And I was talking to my sister and brothers and wondering, you know, what what do you What do you think Dad does now? You know, he worked so hard as a pastor for many years to so many lives. And You know, I kind of wonder, what does he do now? What do we do? In the kingdom of God.

And if money was an object, what would we do here? How would we spend our day? What would we fill it up with? And the point of me asking this, we were built to work. We were built to be productive.

Well, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. According to the Westminster C Confession of Faith and the Shoulder Catechism, And we are glorifying God through our work. Adam was built. to have a job. And I've seen this in so many people who don't have purpose in their life.

and they retire and they don't know what to do. And they don't know how to function and they just dwindle away and they just kind of fade out. I've seen this in a lot of fellow caregivers. When their loved one passes away and they've invested so much of their life into taking care of that person, they don't know how to function. And I'm asking you, do you feel like in our society, in our culture, maybe...

even in the church, that we have people that don't really understand What is their purpose, to live? What are we doing here? And I saw this during COVID. We were so busy trying to not die that we weren't living. Did you notice that?

We want to make sure we don't get near somebody or we don't do this. We had to close churches. We had to do all these kinds of things. And we weren't living. as a culture.

We were not living, we were just not dying. And there's a difference. And part of living means working. You know, we just celebrated Labor Day. I don't know what you do for Labor Day.

And but, you know, we we'd stop wearing white shoes, I know that, but w What do we do? What is our life like? What what What is our purpose here? What is our function? And if money was not an object, You don't have to worry about making a living.

How would you spend your day? What would you do? And I thought that's a very good question to ask people because it gets to the core of what drives them. of what inspires them and w what what motivates them to get up and get going. You know, just having a job.

is great, but Di is it a passion? Is it something you love doing? And and if not, What is your passion? What do you see doing every single day? I've had a great opportunity to engage with a lot of ranchers and a lot of farmers and people that are just.

working you know they're they're responsible for a lot of livestock And and Hay and everything else. There's always something to do, but there's also a deep joy and passion in doing it. the thrill they have of just being a part of that stewardship of it. They learn to to work with the land and and with livestock and so forth. Yeah, it's hard work and it's frustrating and you get tired and all that kind of stuff, but it Some amazing things I've watched with a lot of these ranchers that do this with such massive amounts of livestock.

Let's unpack this a little bit more as the show progresses and let's hear your thoughts. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. What would you do? Weigh in 866-34 TRUTH 866-348-7884. This is Peter Rosenberger.

This is Truth Talk Live. We'll be right back. Truth applied. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live.

This is Peter Rosberger. Glad to be with you, 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. We're talking about work. Monday was Labor Day. Yesterday on Truth Talk Live, Robbie Dilmore opened up the conversation with Talking about work, and I wanted to build on that idea a little bit more and ask you: what would you do?

If money wasn't an object, how would you spend your day? And A lot of people say, well, you know, I travel, I go on, you know, do this and this, and this. That's fine. If you want to spend the rest of your life traveling, Traveling, that's kind of thing. If money was an object, I think it'd be great.

Is that what you would want to do? Is that what would get you up in the morning? And the reason I'm asking this is because a friend asked me this many, many years ago. to try to identify what was passed. Passionate in my life?

What did I really want to spend my time doing? What energizes me? Me. This was driven home to me in the hospital one time, several years back. Gracie was having this very, very big surgery.

It was going to be like a nine-hour surgery. Big surgeries, biggest back surgery they do at the University of Colorado Medical Center. This is a Big teaching hospital, and it's seven in the morning, and I'm there, and the surgeon comes in. Great guy. Really, really got to be quite fond of this fellow.

He he was just a good guy. and a very good, very, very good surgeon.

So he comes into pre-op at 7 in the morning, and we're a bit nervous. I mean, this is our first nine-hour surgery, certainly of this kind. Both of us are a bit nervous. And I looked at him and said, Well, you ready for this thing? And He clapped his hands together, his eyes were real bright, and he said, Absolutely, I love this surgery.

It really helps a lot of people. It's a nine hour surgery. And he was eager about it because he loved doing it. because it helped people. it helped people like Gracie.

And I thought, wow. You just I mean he he wasn't talking about his paycheck. He wasn't talking about anything else. And I saw how much money he made off of this thing. But it's um that was not the money was not the motivator here.

And I found that for a lot of people. Have you ever noticed that money is really not the motivator? People really want to do a good job. People want to feel good about what they do, that it has value. Do you feel this way?

Do you feel that what you do has value? Do you see that? Does it energize you? And if not, what does? What are your thoughts on this?

I mean, these are things that I think are worthy of exploring, particularly in the Christian community. And I'll tell you why. Because years ago, when I was. You know, struggling as a young caregiver. I'm still struggling now, but I'm just struggling as an old caregiver.

But The surgeries kept mounting for Gracie and I noticed that nobody ever came around me much. And said, Hey, what's a good career path for somebody who has to drop everything and go to the hospital like you do all the time? Nobody ever really kind of helped me formulate that. I had to kind of just. Forage for this on my own.

There was not really good career counseling. that that I was you know, connected with. Nobody really knew what to say. And because I look like, I had one pastor that said, you know, Peter, you do yourself a disservice. You make this look easier than it is, so people don't realize what you carry.

And I thought, maybe that's an opportunity in the church that we could see. other people in their career journeys And those of us with a little snow on the mountain Yeah. Figuratively and literally, from where I live in Montana. But those of us can look at other people and offer some career. Guidance, some wisdom we've learned over the years, maybe the hard way.

Of how to help somebody. dig deeper into What what do they want to do? We all have to have a job. We were built to work. If a man doesn't work, he doesn't eat.

I understand that, but but we don't have to be miserable in our job. Do we? Is that required? And this is the United States of America. That's one of the things that separate us from the world, that we're not relegated to some type of drone type work on behalf of the state, that we have the opportunity to explore these things.

So why do so many people express dissatisfaction in their work? What would they do? If money was an object, where's that passion? You know, one of the things I love about Mike Rowe, I love what he does with the dirty jobs guy. And he's got this huge push towards trade work.

You know, being in the skilled labor, plumbers, electricians, welders, he provides enormous amounts of scholarship help and so forth of getting people back to work in these types of jobs that are incredibly fulfilling and very lucrative. We don't know how to do skilled labor anymore. We took Voc Tech out of high school. And I don't know that our country's been improved because of that. We don't have skilled labor.

And so we run people through these college mills. And saddle them with an enormous amount of student loan debt for these worthless college degrees. I remember talking to this young man. I was visiting over in Nashville at Vanderbilt University Hospital. A friend of ours had a.

Friend, it was in the hospital and Ask if we'd just come and just sit there with the family.

So I did. I went down there and sat with them a little bit. And a young man came, he was the grandson of this fellow. And I got to talking with him. And this, this.

kid was 21 years old. Six, three, or four. 250 pounds easy. I mean just a Horse of a guy. I mean, big guy.

And I said, Well, what are you doing? Are you in school? He said, Yeah, I'm in grad school. I'm getting my master's. I said, Oh, that's great.

What are you getting your master's in? And he said, Gender studies. And I looked at him And I said, well, that can't be. This was back before, this is some years ago. I never even heard of this before, never heard of a degree in gender studies.

I thought it was a joke. And by the way, I still think it's a joke. But I said, well, that can't be much of a degree. There's only two genders. And he said, well, I identify as a male.

And I looked at him, six three, two hundred and fifty pounds. And I looked at him and I said, Buddy, was that an issue? I mean, at what point did that become problematic for you? And again, I thought he was just clowning around, but he was dead serious. My friends over there putting his head in his hands and thinking, oh, what has Peter done?

But I thought, you know, we're getting this young man, this worthless degree in gender studies. He doesn't, and he's over there at 21 years old saying he identifies as a male. If you're 21 years old and you are 6'3 and 250 pounds, and you're having to tell people that you identify as a male like that. You you got more than one issue going on. And and I'm But but what does what does he what do you do with a degree like that?

Where do you go to find any kind of fulfilling career or how do you fill up your day with that? And and Do you see how so many young people are lost? They don't know what to do. And they don't know what to do that's fulfilling for them. But what What brings great satisfaction, and I would suggest to you, biblically speaking.

We were designed to work and we were designed to be productive. Paul was a tent maker. Peter and all most of the disciples, you know, they all had jobs. Peter was a fisherman, and several others were. Matthew had been a tax collector, but you know he had accounting skills and so forth.

And Luke was a doctor. There's so many that had professions. And they were laborers, they worked, they were business people, they spent their days doing things. And as they did these things, They shared the gospel. They taught.

They engaged. You know, Paul would go to wherever town and stay. Start making tents. Pretty good job. It didn't seem to be.

all worked up about it at all. How many shepherds? How many farmers? How many vineyard workers? And we, and Jesus, of course, thing was done in an agricultural base, and I've really enjoyed getting to know more of that out here in Montana, but.

The surgeon that clapped his hand together. Oh, I can't wait to do this surgery. Because it helps people. What an amazing testimony to his career and to his life's work. Do you feel that way about yours?

If not, why not? If so, why? Would you like to share why? And what this means to you, and how you feel like God has led you into this work. These are things that I think that are worthy of exploring, and I think it's worthy for us as Christians to come alongside others, particularly younger people, and give them some guidance so they're not going off and saddling themselves with a bunch of student loans and a degree that is truly worthless.

and and be able to have a fulfilling career and a life's work that that be be used by God in so many different ways. And are you offering that to young people right now? Are you able to do that? and provide some wisdom. And these are things we'll talk about more.

We'll take your calls. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-4842. 7884. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Truth Talk Live.

We'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger and I am very glad to be with you. If you want to be part of the program, I want to weigh in.

866-34-TRUTH 866-348-3. 7884 866 34 truth. We're talking about work. It's Labor Day week, of course, and of course we got a four-day work week and people come back a little bit groggy after taking that last Summer flee holiday, if you will. And Robbie started this conversation yesterday.

I want to build on these some things. Here's some quotes that I think you might find meaningful. And I love to. Research quotes and just hear what other people say. But one of the Uh this is from Martin Luther.

The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God. Just as much as the monk who prays. Not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps, but because God loves clean floors. Yeah. I thought it was a great quote.

Um uh Francis of Assisi. He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman He who works with his hands and his head and his heart. is an artist. I love that one.

Colossians 3:23 through 24. Whatever you do. Work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Ephesians 6, 7 through 8 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will will reward each one for whatever good they do.

Now why is that important? in our job. I I maintain this. See what you think. Let me throw this out to you.

Just Consider this for a moment. A lot of people we may interact with in our day-to-day life, at our job, other places. may not read their Bible. In fact, many of them do not, unless you work maybe. At a Bible college or some type of institution like that, most of the people we're going to interact with are not reading their Bible.

In fact, a lot of people in churches don't read their Bible. They're not reading their Bible. But I will. ask you this. Have you considered that while they may not be reading their Bible, They're reading you.

They're reading me. If we wear the name Christian, Do people pay attention to that? Do they look at us differently? Are they reading us? Are we wearing that name well?

You you remember the story of Alexander the Great? who had a a young soldier who had um basically deserted. He was arrested for deserting his unit. He was a coward. And they brought him before Alexander.

And here's this king who conquered the known world by the time he was, what, thirty? Um in in just Incredibly gifted. Brilliant. powerful individual. And he asked this deserter, this coward, he said, What is your name?

And the guy muttered, looked down at the floor and he muttered. And he said Alexander. And Alexander the Great looked at this young man. who deserted his his unit, was a coward, Didn't serve well. who had the same name, and he said to him, He said, Either change your name Or step up and do your duty.

Change your name. or change your behavior. And I wonder if that, you know, if we can apply that in our lives, I know we can, to our lives today. Are people able to see a difference in us as we work. Because we're Christians.

Think about that surgeon I just told you about. who clapped his hands. He was going to work for nine straight hours. on my wife's back. And he clapped his hands.

He was he did he did. He was you could just tell the excitement of what he gets to do. A man who loves his job. I remember one time, 20 years ago, this year, when we went on our first prosthetic limb. Um mission outreach.

And we went over there with a um a team from Johnny and Friends, uh Johnny Erickson Tata's organization that does Wheelchairs for the World, and they kind of introduced us to the the people there that they had been working with and we established that relationship that we've maintained for twenty years now with the with Ghana Health Service and uh we've been putting prosthetic limbs on on Gracie's fellow amputees for a very long time. But that first trip we took Gracie's prosthetist. with us. He's the guy that makes her legs. been treating her since 1991.

She's been a double amputee since 1995. She lost her right leg, though, in 91. And he himself is an amputee. And one of the best prosthets in the United States, which makes him one of the best prosthets in the world. The man is, and he's still practicing.

He's 80. 81 or 82 now. Just an amazingly gifted man at what he does. Go back to that quote from Francis of Assisi. He works with his hands as a laborer.

He who works with his hands and his head as a craftsman. He who works with his head, his hands and his head and his heart is an artist. And that's this man. His name is Jim. And he is truly an artist and makes the lame walk every day.

Uh it it's it's an extraordinary career.

So we're over there in Africa. And the facility is Decrepit.

Now it's come a long way since then in 20 years, but when we first got there, it was pretty bad. And the electricity was intermittent. What we had to work with, we brought a lot of equipment with us and supplies and so forth, but it was pretty rudimentary. And Everybody's curious to watch what's going to happen here and we had this first patient. That came, and I'll never forget him.

His name was Jonathan. and Jim saw him come in, and he was wearing a leg. And we thought, well, he's got a leg, but then we realized he had found this leg somewhere. and what he had done is wrapped a bunch of cloth around his amputated limb so that it would that that the leg would go on, but he couldn't bend it because he had so much cloth around it and he couldn't ride on the l the the public transportation, what they call the Trotros, the little bus. He couldn't bend his leg.

and he was lugging this thing around basically. It was terrible. And Jim said, I'm going to change this man's life. And he did. And I watched him unwrap this thing and all that cloth off and he molded him a new socket, made him a new leg.

And this guy and as Jim went through the whole process, it's pretty complex. procedure to make a prosthetic limb. This guy from Johnny and Friends. His name was John, a wonderful, wonderful man. And he looked at me and he looked at Jim and he said, I love watching professionals work.

I love watching pros do their job. It is a delight to watch a pro do their job. And then this young man literally ran. He and I both were running in the parking lot, and he went walking and leaping and praising God. It was an extraordinary moment.

I'll never forget that quote. I love professionals doing their watching professionals do their job. And what a great testament to say about Christians. Do you hear that a lot? That we like to watch professionals do their job.

Perhaps But but we have so many that just They do it, but they don't They don't enjoy it. They don't they their their heart's not in it. In Proverbs. 1423 in all toil There is profit. But mere talk tends only to poverty.

Now that makes me immediately think of Congress. Because how much toil goes in and Congress. If pro is the opposite of con, what's the opposite of progress? Congress, I mean how much? We're thirty seven trillion dollars in debt.

That's poverty, wouldn't you say? Almost forty trillion dollars, I guess. That's poverty, wouldn't you say? That's because we have a bunch of politicians who talk. Instead of toiling, they don't work.

In all toil there is profit, But mere talk tends only to poverty. Second Thessalonians 3:10-12. If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. for we hear that some among you walk in idleness, Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Could it be any clearer?

If anyone is not willing to work not it didn't say if not able to work, it said not willing to work. Do we have people in this country that are not willing to work? Do we have people in our churches? that are not willing to work. And I would suggest to you, biblically speaking, if we are to call ourselves by Christ, like that deserter that stood before Alexander the Great, if he's going to have the same name, he better change his behavior or change his name.

If we're not willing to model what Scripture is talking about into work, And and if you are not happy at what you are doing, That I would I would really encourage you to start praying about this and searching the scriptures and say, okay, Lord, what do you have for me? What are my skill sets? And there are people out there that can help you determine that.

So that you're not just doing going through the motions of it. I remember one time I worked. Don't tell anybody this, all right? What I'm about to tell you, don't you tell anybody this just between you and me. But I remember I went to work for State government for a season.

This was a long time ago. I remember the first day I got there. A lady that I knew told me, she said, All you got to remember is seven point five. I said, What do you mean, seven point five? She said you just show up for seven point five hours and you go home.

You don't have to do anything else. And she was serious. And I thought Number one, what a horrific Existence, that is. To not be productive is just to show up. a participation trophy.

And then I thought As a taxpayer, I thought, what a horrific abuse of money. that were paying people just to sit there and that she was not alone in this. The people just didn't want to work. They just wanted to show up at Paycheck. But that doesn't honor God.

It does it honour God for us to be slothful. You know, again, I go back to in Genesis, Genesis 2:15. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and kill it. Keep it. To work it and keep it.

1. Thessalonians 4, 11 through 12 Aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders. and be dependent. On no one. Over and over and over Scripture talks about the value of work.

And nothing has greater value In work. Then Take room. Advancing the kingdom of God. And we can do that. Paul did it as he made tents.

I've seen plenty of things. plumbers. Who did what they did to the glory of God and were great witnesses without even saying a word just because of the work of their hands? carpenters, and so forth. Like I said earlier, ranchers.

I've seen it all, of all kinds of trades. This surgeon. From Everybody there's dignity in work. And are we Like-minded in this? Are we representing this?

They may not be reading scripture. But they're really new. 866-34 TRUTH 866-3636. 348-7884 is the number. If you want to be a part of the program, we'd love to have you.

This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Truth Talk Live, 866-34 Truth. We will be. Right back. Truth talks.

You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Technology. Off live, this is Peter Rosenberger 866-34 Truth 866-348-7884. 866-348-7884. Talking about work today.

A lot of you are getting off work right now as you listen to this drive time and How do you feel about that? How do you feel about what you did today? What you accomplished today at work? Remember when um Elon Musk sent out a thing around earlier this year at the beginning of the administration and wanted Federal employees to basically say, give five things you did. this week or last week, you know, you have five things that you accomplished.

And A lot of people bristled at that. They didn't want to do that. They felt You know, that was too much of an imposition on them. I never understood that. I can give you five things I accomplished today.

in the sense Yep. since lunch. Again, I'm a full-time caregiver, so I accomplish quite a bit. Plus, I'm also have my own business. If I don't work, I can't take care of my family.

And I relish the opportunity to talk about the accomplishments because I want to look back and say, okay, I did this and this. That's one of the things I love about. Working outside, and my son was helping us put some rail up around the fence. We had some fence rails that came down. We used the lodgepole pines on the fencing and uh Over time, they they get weathered or you get, um Wildlife that'll try to jump them and they'll their hooves will the deer or the elk will hit it and knock them loose and you got to go back and repair them.

And There's something incredibly satisfying about Looking back at a fence that has been repaired and rails put back up and so forth. That it just a sense of a um Good work. How many of you mow your grass and look back at it and say, okay, good job. Or you don't leave patches of grass laying around. You you You have a You have a deep sense of satisfaction when you look back and see the lawn is.

you know Looking great. or the hedges or whatever. How many of you love working in a garden and you like it seeing nice and and weeded? Or do you want to just leave a patches of weeds? No, these are things that that we do because we want to see that satisfaction in it.

And there are unsatisfied moments in our life where things that just cannot satisfy. It's just not enough. And I want to give you some encouragement from C.S. Lewis. And Mere Christianity.

You ever read that? If you haven't Do yourself a favor. But CS Lewis said, if we find ourselves with the desire that nothing in this world can satisfy The most probable explanation is that we were made for another world. There are things that we desire in this world. that we're not gonna have, but That doesn't mean that those desires themselves Or meant to be just limited to this world.

And Lewis went on to explain that a lot of things that we desire in our hearts, I'm not talking about sinful desires, I'm just about desire. What's soul satisfying to you? For example, you know, why do you feel differently when you look out at a when you're at sunset at the beach. What is it about that that does that? We're here in the mountains, so I look at the sunset in the evening and what it does to just the settleness, or there's a creek that runs.

right here by the house, and so I hear that creek, or I go down there and I look at it, I just stop and look at the creek for a bit. What what is it that's triggering that that that said oh I just want to sit here for a minute. And There are things that that Appeal to those places deep in our hearts. Knowing that they're not going to be satisfied here on this earth. that we are meant for something different.

And while we're here, we're working, and our, and our, the, the part of the curse affected our job. What did God say to Adam? You're going to have to toil. the earth and y and thorns and it's going to be work. what he used to have in the garden.

which I would imagine was incredibly meaningful and Soul-satisfying to till the earth in the garden, to prune, or whatever that looked like in the garden. But he was a steward over it. He was to tend the garden. And whatever that looked like. Before the fall must have been spectacular.

But then once sin came into the world work became toil. became hard. and difficult Because of Christ. We can do even the menial work that we have now. as unto Christ.

This is what Scripture is talking about. Do we look at it that way? I I I watched a lot of the custodians come into the room uh the gra uh the um At the hospital when Gracie was there for five months, you get to know a lot of people. And of the same custodian stuff they had, like they were assigned to that. whole hall.

So we got to know a lot of the folks there. And There were some that would come in. and go through the motions. But then there were some that to They they had their heart into it. And they were cleaning the room, and I remember watching Gracie many times thanking them.

Because she wants a clean room. You know, and who wants to sit in the fetid room for, you know, five months. and it means a lot that it's cleaned up and she would thank them, and they would just beam. Is there anything else we can do for you? And they were doing this with their hearts to be able to know, to make this patient's life a little bit better by cleaning this room.

and straightening up things. Is there anything else we can do? And I thought, what an amazing testament. Are we going through our life as believers this way? I watched surgeons approach Gracie With that kind of glee I watch housekeeping.

Do the same thing. What else can we do? What is in our power to help make this better for you? Do we give a fair day's work? Two Employers So, that at the end of the day, they're not looking at us and say, well, yeah, it's great when you hire Christians because you know they're going to.

you know, slack off or whatever. Ah, there's that Christian. Or are they saying Hire these people. Because they will work. and they will do it with a glad heart.

They will show up eager to serve. Because we're not doing it necessarily for well, we're certainly not doing it for a paycheck. We're doing it as unto the Lord. And this is what I tell my fellow caregivers on my radio program for caregivers and in my books and so forth: is that when you stop. thinking that you're doing this for a person.

because that's where a lot of resentment can come in. resentment for even just doing it for a paycheck. Like that lady told me, all you have to do is show up for 7.5 hours. That's a miserable way to live. But when you do it for the Lord.

And you say, Lord, this is what you've entrusted me with today. I would like to do more, I would like to have more, but this is what you've entrusted with me to day. May I serve you well in this? As a caregiver, may I serve you well in this, even if you're having to do tasks that are pretty unpleasant, we've all had to do them. From changing dressing to cleaning bathrooms and everything else, this is what the caregiver's life is about.

And it can get a little gnarly. But if you change your direction with it and you're saying, Lord, Whatever you do. Work heartedly, as Colossians 3.23 said, as for the Lord and not for man, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Kinda changes things when you clock in, doesn't it?

Kind of changes things. When you sit in the break room. changes things when you go about the task of what you do. That you're serving the Lord Christ.

Something to think about this Labor Day week, and as we go about to our business here. Speaking of work, I just finished a pretty big work. and it's a book that I've got. It's called A Caregiver's Companion. Scriptures, hymns, and 40 years of insights for life's toughest role.

It's available wherever books are sold. You can go to my website, PeterRosenberger.com. You can go to Amazon, Barnes Noble, wherever you want to get books. It's there. And it's written in Fluent Caregiver.

So, if you don't know what to say to a caregiver you know who may be struggling or taking care of somebody with Alzheimer's or maybe you have a special needs kid. And uh or maybe it's they're in a relationship with an alcoholic or an addict. or somebody who's mentally ill. And you don't know what to say to 'em, don't worry about it. I do.

Get him this book. Maybe maybe get a copy for your pastor. And say, hey, I think you're not. tremendously easy book to read. They're just quotes that I've married with a scripture or a hymn.

So, you know, it covers a wide swath of 40 years. It's my journal of 40 years. And so I'll have a quote that I'll put. Um Well, here's one. I just turned to it.

I just flipped it up. While the end of the trail for us as caregivers is uncertain, there is no doubt, however, our loved ones will suffer even worse than they do now. if we as caregivers are not in a safe and healthy place to day.

Something to live by. We don't know what's going to happen, but we know that the healthier we are, The better their life is going to be as caregivers. And then I put Proverbs 19:20 with listen to advice and accept instruction that you may gain wisdom. in the future.

So there's just filled with quotes like this. And we become gracious when extending others the same grace we desire for ourselves. That's another one. That's a quote. That I've come to live by, and then I put Ephesians 4:32 with that.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

So it's called A Caregiver's Companion: Scriptures, Hymns, and 40 Years of Insights for Life's Time. Toughest role available wherever books are sold. I've written that, this is literally my journal for 40 years. of things I've learned as a caregiver, And they're safe. Stones to stand on.

You remember in Indiana Jones in the last crusade when they had the When he had to go through those three tests, and Indiana Jones said to step on the letters that corresponded to the name of God, and he got what I'm wrong about crash through. You know, how do you know where the safe safe stones are as a caregiver?

Well, they're in this book. They're safe stones. Stand here, just rest here for a minute, catch your breath, and we'll go to the next one.

So, A Caregiver's Companion: Scriptures, Hymns, and 40 Years of Insights for Life's Toughest Role, available wherever books are sold. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Truth Talk Live, PeterRosenberger.com. Thank you for spending the time with me this afternoon as you work. Give glory to God as you do it.

That is Truth Talk Live. We'll see you next time. Bye. Uh