Well, God’s Fellow Workers (2006-2008) just quickly surpassed the two year mark of Officership. Is it everything I expected? Everything and more. And more. And more. and…well, you get the point. At Crestmont the concept of ‘officership’ was always in my mind, but the reality was something that seemed far away. I knew that it was coming. I couldn’t wait for it to come. I was preparing for it to arrive. And then concept met reality on July 16, 2008. It was good in a ‘jumping off a 20 foot pier into a foot of water’ way. I wasn’t fully prepared for what awaited us at the Corps.
Before becoming an Officer I worked for the Army for 10 years as an employee. In working for the Army I became accustomed to my job descriptions ending with the words ‘and other duties as assigned’. If I had a normal, physical job description as an officer it would not doubt end with the words ‘and all other duties as assigned and unassigned’. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining (this time), but there are so many aspects to this job (or calling, if you must) that one cannot hope to be proficient in every single phase of officership. It is a sometimes tough, grueling sludge through things that have to get done in order to protect, or propel, the mission. There is an old saying that describes someone who does many things without perfecting any of them as a ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’.
Just off the top of my head, here is a very incomplete list of ‘trades’ that I have plied in my two years of officership.
Driver
In-home Care giver
Preacher
Teacher
Accountant
Toilet Cleaner
Baby sitter
Launderer
Complaint Department
Store Clerk
Wedding Officiate
Suicide Counselor
Praise Band substitute member
Prayer warrior
Waiter
Food line server
Bad guy
Cook
Phone Operator
Cashier
Clothes Sorter
Trash engineer
Donation collector
Tour guide
Tax preparer
24 hour on-call
Parking enforcement officer
Chairperson
Table mover
Night watchman
House cleaner
Carpenter
Low level plumber
Verbal punching bag (literal)
Counselor
Travel agent
Grant writer
Good guy
Caregiver
Master of Ceremonies
Funeral Officiate
Human Resources Department
Board member
Plumber
Punching bag (figurative)
Parking attendant
Tent repairer
Carpet Cleaner
Camp planner
Painter
Security Guard
Social Worker
As I stated above this is a very incomplete list. I once worked with an officer who once complained about something that he needed to accomplish, but had no desire to do. I answered quite flippantly, and in hindsight quite inconsiderately, that he had ‘signed up for it’. I can’t remember how he responded to me, but I think about that exchange almost every time that I am engaged in doing something that a) I am not proficient in or b) don’t really want to be doing. And (can I start a sentence with ‘and’?), let’s be honest there are many situations that fit the first description. And (again I fight grammar) to be even more honest the second probably presents itself more than it should, but this isn’t a confessional so I will move on from this digression.
So are we set up to be a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’? Yes and no. There are many things that I do so infrequently that I cannot hope to become an expert at them (however, this does not give me an excuse not to try my best or give my all in those situations). But there are many things that I do so frequently that I must master them (preaching, teaching, counseling, etc) for the sake of others and my ministry. So the term ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ isn’t completely true. I guess I will just have to settle on being a ‘jack of all trades with a master of one®.
Philippians 2:13-17
14Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16as you hold out[a] the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.
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