I thought I'd share the tail-end portion of an email I sent that was related to my job-related experience in view of the freedom and life of Christ. The rest of the email was regarding some particulars of the company I work for in view of possible employment.

A few personal thoughts that were stirred by some of the above: I have been close to being terminated on more than one occasion to my knowledge. I was told by one particular manager that what saved me from termination was the simple fact of my high level of customer service. REMEMBER THAT. Above all else, make sure you are known as an employee who has Customer Service as the number one priority. It can sometimes make it difficult to impossible to get your job done, but you will be judged severely for a lack in this area.

Of course, when you know Christ is your reality in your job, you won't have to pretend that people are important. The truth that “love is the fulfilling of the law” has become much more real to me as I've witnessed all the BS from those who give lip-service to the high virtue of taking care of people. It has become more and more obvious to me that the value known as Customer-Service is merely a means to an end, which turns out to be one's own selfish ambitions.

Just remember that we are not bound by the rules of the world, including the (company) world. Their rules are THEIR rules, they are not OUR rules. I have found that I can submit to THEIR rules simply because I know who I am because of who is my life. They want me to take out the trash, I can take out the trash. They want me to fill out a form, no problem. My freedom is not found in resisting their sometimes silly or superfluous rules, my freedom is found in the reality that I am truly free in Christ.

I have discovered time and time again that the life of Christ has blown away the idea that I need their rules in order to truly accomplish the real stuff. My high level of customer service is not attributed in any way to their demands - nor their threats - regarding the taking care of people. Their rules about treating others with equality is bound by contradictory, currently-accepted practices of what it means to be equal or caring. I, instead, find incredible testimony to the overwhelming reality of the only life that needs no rules or principles. This has been discovered by virtue of my own experiences of living in a system that demands, and yet cannot keep, what it demands.

I have been asked on many occasions how I can do what I do, keep the attitude I keep through all I've been through, especially when those who ask know that I have no interest in working my way up into the organization. It has been a testimony of Christ not only to them but to me as well.

Love, Jim