Ray left teaching at age forty to attend graduate school. Money was tight, and he worked part-time at the city’s baseball stadium. Ray had twice pitched his team to the College World Series championship, but now picking up trash and cleaning mounds had little to do with his past glories. Professional players on the field seemed to look straight through him.
“Doesn’t that bother you?” a friend asked Ray. “Being treated like you don’t exist?”
He answered, “No, what they think doesn’t define who I am.”
This is Howard Butt Jr. of Laity Lodge. Who you are is not a function of job description, or the impression you make. Your internal character, not a position or title, proves the high calling of our daily work.
“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.”—Deuteronomy 7:6
