Feeling Like a Retread

Life can really be funny sometimes. I never could have predicted where I am working now.

Although my heart is in the pastorate, I am not currently a pastor anywhere. I am talking with one church in particular (and have preached there 13 times so far since February), but they are still in search-mode. We'll see what happens with that.

Since we are now not being supported by our mission board and since Bobby is now healthy (praise the Lord for that), I needed to get a job. I have to admit that I wasn't looking for the place I ended up.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine offered to mention my name to another friend of his who works in the tire retread business. I said that would be fine. Well, as the saying goes: "One thing led to another. " Yesterday, I started work at a place near Savannah called Dorsey Tire. I work in a warehouse that takes old tires, strips them of their worn-down tread, and puts brand new tread back on (to read more about the process, click here.) A few weeks ago, I had never even heard of this type of industry; now I am in the middle of it.

God has blessed me with a pretty good job. I am one of the final inspectors of the tires. I have to look over each tire to make sure the new tread has sealed on the tire correctly, to see if there are any old holes in the tire, and to sand down any extra pieces of rubber. It is also a somewhat dirty job. When I got home from work today my daughter said I smelled like rubber.

There are several positives to this new line of work. I'll be working 40 hours per week, but shouldn't have to work on Saturdays too often. I won't have to work Sundays. I can leave the job where it is. I'm home by 4:30 each day. I should have opportunity to witness; at this point I don't know of there are any other Christians who work there.

Unfortunately, this job will not pay the bills long-term. Therefore, I probably will not work there more than six months. However, I thank the Lord for providing it for now.

I'm feeling like a retread, but that is O.K.