Sometimes, lessons we learn in our childhood, even if they may seem small at the time, can go on to have a major impact in our lives as adults. That was certainly true in my life, and like so many of my childhood lessons, I learned this very important lesson in my father’s general store.
When I turned 12 years old, I was allowed to start waiting on customers – mostly helping them find things or pumping gas and checking oil and on a limited basis I could run the cash register – but not unsupervised. I always had my father, Aunt or someone older watching me until I turned 14, then I could run the register and do just about everything in the store. However, there was one area in which I still had a lot to learn, and that was “reading people”. There was a certain customer who came in every day and I didn’t know how to take his jokes and sarcasm. The jokes weren’t “dirty jokes”, but they weren’t wholesome either, so as he would be standing there day after day repeating that stuff, I began to take it personally. I told my father that I didn’t want to wait on him anymore. He asked why not? I explained about all the lame jokes and sarcasm every day and I said: “I don’t like him, he is mean!” My father just calmly said: “You’re making a big mistake”. I said: “No I’m not!” He said: “Yes you are.”
He then went on to explain that I was “Judging a heart by a personality.” He told me that if I took the time to watch that man closely, I would discover he has a very, very, tender heart. As the weeks and months went on and I quietly observed this customer, I started seeing evidence of what my father had said. For instance, in that little town if someone passed away or had a house fire or some other type of loss, we would have a card and donation box for people to contribute and sign their name. I noticed he was always one of the first to sign and many times he would be wiping tears as he signed the card (and he always put in a very large donation). Did his personality ever change? No…But it no longer bothered me.
Learning this lesson played a huge part in my career as a machinist which lead to me starting a manufacturing company. In December of 1978, I first walked into a machine shop to work. Up until that point in my life, the only metal I had ever cut was with a hacksaw. My mindset when I walked in to work in that factory for the first time in my life was…I was determined to hate every minute of it! All I could think of was my high school guidance counselor saying “if you ever work in a factory, you are at the bottom of the barrel.” But, I was desperate for any kind of a job…I had been praying for something – anything and this job had been available for seven weeks as I tried to avoid it…Hunger and no money has a way of humbling someone who “wasn’t going to ever work in a factory”…especially if that’s what God has planned for my life!
“…but God intended it all for good.” Genesis 50:20b (NLT)
The supervisor in that factory had me start on production lathes and mills, putting threads on the inside or outside of parts that were already made. I also ran the mill that put wrench flats on parts or a screw driver slot in the head of parts. I soon discovered that I really liked this kind of work and it was almost like I had done it all my life! Right next to the secondary department where I was working was what they called “the automatic department”. That’s where the parts I was working on were made, and if they needed any “secondary” work done, they were sent over to where I was.
There was an older white haired man running those automatic machines – most days he was by himself, sometimes I’d see someone else over there, but they’d always seem to quickly leave. Some of the others who worked there told me that the man who ran those automatic screw machines was named Mike, and no one was ever able to work with him for more than a few days because “He’s mean!” When I heard them say that, I wondered if they were “judging a heart by a personality”, so I started observing Mike as much as I could. By appearance he resembled Albert Einstein but with shorter hair. He walked real fast and I could tell he totally LOVED his job.
The automatic screw machines he was running fascinated me, and so I started taking my breaks watching those machine run – making sure I stayed out of Mike’s way. He would see me watching and studying those machines every day and finally his curiosity “got the best of him” and he asked me what I was doing there every day. I told him the truth, I said: “I just love watching these things run, they fascinate me!” He just looked at me strangely and walked off. From then on, he almost started treating me like he knew me, for instance when I would be on break watching a machine run and he would be coming towards me, he would yell out “One side or a leg off!” Then when he was about 20 feet past me, he would look back with a big grin on his face! I was startling to see a side of Mike that the others had missed…his “marshmallow core”!
To be continued…
”We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” Proverbs 16:9 (NLT)
Till Next Time…..
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