The Saturday before Thanksgiving, the supermarket parking lot was jammed. Some friends and I had parked ourselves by every entrance, hawking “shopping lists” of the items most needed in our local food pantry. Our hope was that in six hours we’d fill an entire van with items purchased by generous shoppers, allowing the pantry to meet needs that extend long past the ceremonial distribution of holiday baskets.
In a situation like this, you can look at some people and just know they will give. So I wasn’t surprised when a deeply tanned and sun-crinkled retiree wearing an American Legion ball cap asked what we were up to. He thought for all of a second, said, “I think I can help with that,” and a bit later emerged from the supermarket with a big bag of food for us. His own errand for the day? Just a pint of local cider and two lemons.
Other folks aren’t so easy to predict. That tall young guy with the grey skull t-shirt, for example. He’s without a jacket … way under dressed for the brisk weather … clean shaven and neat, but not quite the usual contributor. He looks me in the eye, so I hand him a list anyway.
A half hour later, he was back at my spot with two big brown paper bags, one full of groceries, the other filled with personal care items.
“I’ve been fortunate,” he explained. “I made a good career choice. Not everyone is so well off. I’m glad I can help.”
I had to ask: What career had he chosen?
“Welding,” he said.
In this part of Maine, at this moment, welding is one of the career skills most in-demand and most undersupplied. The big shipyard here, Bath Iron Works, is not just paying for this kind of training; it’s paying a stipend to trainees during their training. A wannabe welder can learn the trade for free while also receiving, in essence, a part-time salary for learning the trade, plus the guarantee of a well-paid job on completion.
So yes: this young man had made a good career choice. And he was demonstrating a good character choice as well. The character he showed is the same character the apostle Paul demonstrated and urged on the whole people of God. The apostle worked a job to provide not just for his own needs, but also for the needs of others. He said, “by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:35).
And again he noted: “For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, ‘Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack’” (2 Cor. 8:13-15).
God commends those who work and are generous. Scripture doesn’t commend welders in particular, although the metalworkers of Biblical times used techniques we now recognize as early forms of welding. Nor does scripture commend military service as a career, although many soldiers are acknowledged with honor (and some with dishonor!) throughout the Bible.
What Scripture commends is those who are generous with what God provides through their work. May you live commendably this week.
(And PS: If you’re curious, we collected enough cereal, canned goods, and personal care items to fill the van nearly to its windows … not a full haul, but certainly a help to Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program!)
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