Perspective Shift

When I was growing up, I worked for my Dad. He owned and operated a vending and catering business. I held several jobs during my tenure on staff. I was a JAR (Junior Assistant Repairman), ASA (Associate Stockboy Assistant - to the Manger of Shelving), ASM (Assistant Sandwich Maker), and CBO (Chief Broom Operator).
When I got my license, I was able to move up the food chain a bit. I became a Route man. I delivered the food to all of the local cafeterias in the city. And as I became good at my route, I found that I finished my duties earlier than 5pm. One day my Dad saw me goofing off, so he charged me with the most important job in the business – CA (Cash Runner). I was responsible for taking the cash to the bank.

Each day, I would go into the cash room around 4:30pm with my hand truck, and fill up 5 or 6 milk crates with bags of coins and cash. When I entered that room, I became a different person. I was a man on a mission.

Each deposit would vary anywhere from $10,000 - $20,000. It was more money than I could begin to fathom. When I left the cash room, I was alone, and I was the most alert person on the planet. The way I figured it, everyone knew how much money I was carrying, and that meant everyone was looking for a way to take me out. My job was to safely deposit the money in the bank – unarmed!

It was uncanny how aware I became of my surroundings. When loading the milk crates full of money in the back of my truck, I just knew where everyone was. I heard every conversation around me. I saw exits and evaluated common items for use as weapons just in case someone tried to jump me.

Even when I was driving down the road, I thought about what I would do if someone tried to grab the cash while in transit. Who was driving next to me? Did they look at me in any unusual way? Were cars getting to close? Was there anyone following me? I changed up my route to the bank each day just to make sure no one’s dastardly plans would come true.

When I pulled up to the bank, my entire nervous system was on edge. Extra adrenaline was ordered to every muscle in my body. The real un-nerving process was unloading all of the cash on to my hand truck on the sidewalk. When someone would walk by as I was unloading, I told myself, “Just be cool. That’s just a person minding their own business walking on the street.” The process took about 30 seconds, but in my opinion that was about 29 seconds too long. I never felt safe until the cash was in the vault and the deposit slip was in my hand.

For me, having that kind of money changed how I thought about everything. My view of the world was colored. I saw the money as something to protect. As a result, everyone around me was a potential threat. For me, even though this money wasn’t mine, just being around it changed my relationships with others. I saw how my mind started to shift away from loving my neighbor to being mastered by this money.

Pray with me that we would be a community that understands money as a resource to exercise kindness and grace to one another. Pray that our use of money would lead us to a deeper pursuit of God and his kingdom.