I can remember as a kid growing up, working with my Dad on the egg farm and working with him on construction jobs. Living on an egg farm with 12,000 layers kept me and my brother Joe, along with my Mother plenty busy for years while Dad was doing construction work. He/we built the place, then for years we worked it after the chickens were moved in. One job I remember in particular on building the chicken houses: Dad cut oak logs and got them to the farm, and me and Joe used a straight hoe to strip the bark off. These were the main support posts of the houses. Whew! I remember that was hard work. We were glad when a day was done of stripping logs. There were about 120 logs to strip, so you can know it was a formidable task for two boys. There were blisters. There was aching fatigue. But we got ‘er done. It was always music to our ears to hear toward the end of the day, “Okay boys, let’s call it a day.” Another task I remember was when Dad built some block outhouses in Burns Park up on the other side of Little Rock. He put this little kid to rubbing the concrete blocks with a grout mix to fill in holes and cracks with a rubbing stone. That is what the specs called for. That event is forever “rubbed into” my memory. I was so glad when the boss (my Dad) came around and said, “Okay, son, let’s call it a day.” Ohhh! That was the most wonderful sound of my life. I would pick up the tools and get ready to go. I had stuck with it. I had done what the boss told me to do. The task for the day was done. Now it was time to head home.
In the household of God, there are tasks to be done. Sometimes it takes some tough endurance to do what the “Boss”, the Lord, wants us to do. Jesus summed it up in one illustration. He said “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). There were a lot of times I wanted to quit, but I did not quit until the day was done. God has called us to accomplish a certain task or tasks. He provides food, shelter, and a good future of continuous care and provision. All he asks of us is obedience. God gives grace, ability and power as we walk with him and obey him each day. As we continue in this grace of Jesus Christ, who totally identified with us as man, we will accomplish the task he wants us to accomplish under his supervision. Jesus did it to show that we could do it through him. Then, when the day is done, he will say, “Let’s call it a day”, and we go home with the Lord.
