Login / Signup

Free Access

You are the Man

Illustration
Stories
John was angry. He sliced open the box with the cans in it and threw the box cutter onto the floor. He grabbed the cans and forced them into place in the shelf. How dare she? How dare she call him a bad manager, a terrible boss, and a toxic employer? He had built this business up from nothing. He was the reason people like her had work. When everyone told him there was no chance of anything succeeding in this neighborhood he had taken the chance, he had put in the long hours and the lean years to make this work. He was successful.

He finished the row of cans and pulled another box to him. He reached for the box cutter in his pocket and couldn’t find it. He had just had it. Where could it be? He patted all his pockets and looked around the cans he had just shelved. Great, just great. How was supposed to do this without the box cutter? Frustrated, he grabbed the box and ripped it open. He slammed the cans onto the shelf. When the box was empty he tore it apart and threw it in the corner. Looking down he saw his box cutter lying to one side where he had discarded it earlier. He snatched it up from the floor and shoved it back into his pocket. He grabbed the pieces of boxes and stuffed them into the recycling bin before flopping onto a chair.

How was he supposed to run a business if all his employees kept quitting? What was the matter with people these days that they couldn’t do an honest day’s work? He paid decent wages, not like the other stores. He didn’t care about the color of someone’s skin or their politics as long as they showed up on time, did their work, and helped keep the business going. He had even given a job to Diana when she was in recovery. He knew her history but gave her a chance. Everyone had said she wasn’t worth taking a risk on but he had. Then just like the others, she let him down by quitting part way through a shift. Just like Bobby, Carol, Henry, and that fellow whose name he always forgot. Why did he even bother?

“Hey, boss. Are you okay? ” Paul asked.

John looked up at the employee who had been with him the longest. “Whitney quit this morning.”

“Oh,” Paul shook his head. “I just came back here to see why she wasn’t out front.”

“She said she couldn’t take it anymore and quit without giving me any notice. I mean she’s a single mother, what is she going to do? I gave her a chance when no one else would and I was considerate when she needed her schedule modified because of the kids, wasn’t I?” John glared at Paul. “I even put that mirror up over there because she wanted somewhere to put in her contact lenses when the bathroom was occupied.”

“You did that for her. No question about that.”

“And what do I get? Grief. She says I’m hard to work with and angry all the time and a control freak.”

“You do like to have things done a certain way.”

“Of course, the right way.” John snorted. “If I let employees do whatever they thought was best, then things would fall apart around her pretty quickly.”

Paul shrugged.

“She had the audacity to say I was a monster when I called her ungrateful? Can you imagine that? Me?” John paused and glared at Paul. “Aren’t you supposed to be out front?”

Paul sighed. “I was just hoping that we wouldn’t be short staffed again today.”

“You can blame Whitney for that,” John said. “Get back out front. I don’t pay you to stand around yapping. I’ll help out again today until we find someone new. I mean what else can I do?”

“You could look in the mirror.” Paul muttered as he went out the door.

John glared at him and was about to tell Paul that he was fired when he caught sight himself in the mirror. A red-faced man with wild eyes looked back at him. The vein on his forehead was pulsing and the expression on the face was terrifying. John stared for the longest time. Where was the smile that he saw in his picture when he started this business? Where was the kind eyes which his mother always said he had? Where was the man who loved getting up each day to go to work? What had he become?

John felt his cheeks become wet. All the words his employees said to him as they quit came crashing down on him and he felt the sting of each truth that he had denied. He was harsh and cruel and unforgiving. He sat on the chair for a long time just letting the tears flow. Then he bowed his head and began to pray. He prayed for forgiveness and he asked for the wisdom to change. For John didn’t like the person he saw in the mirror.
UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Proper 7 | OT 12 | Pentecost 2
30 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
30 – Children's Sermons / Resources
29 – Worship Resources
34 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 8 | OT 13 | Pentecost 3
29 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
27 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20 – Worship Resources
29 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 9 | OT 14 | Pentecost 4
34 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
32 – Children's Sermons / Resources
26 – Worship Resources
31 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Plus thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...

New & Featured This Week

The Immediate Word

Thomas Willadsen
Nazish Naseem
Dean Feldmeyer
Mary Austin
Katy Stenta
George Reed
For July 6, 2025:

CSSPlus

John Jamison
Object: This is a role play activity for the children.

Note: You will need an older volunteer to help with this activity. One option would be to find a teenager with some physical ability. If a teen is not available, an adult could be used instead. For simplicity here, I will refer to my older volunteer as “TOM”. You will also need to select three of your younger children to serve as volunteers in the story.

* * *

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Mark Ellingsen
2 Kings 5:1-14
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Mark Ellingsen
Bonnie Bates
2 Kings 5:1-14, Psalm 30
Naaman seeks healing. He travels hoping healing will come to him when he visits the king of Israel. Yet, healing does not come in that way. Rather healing comes through Elishah. Healing comes from believing and being cleansed in the River Jordan. Healing comes through Naaman’s faithfulness and through God’s grace. Psalm 30 also reminds us to seek healing; to seek God and God will heal and restore us. Do we believe that? Do we believe that God can bring healing?

StoryShare

John E. Sumwalt
But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’ (vv. 10-11)

When I visit your church for the first time, consider the possibility that I might be looking for a church home. I am a good-looking old guy, but I have gray hair and I dress down in the summer, so don’t be put off by my cargo shorts and tank top. Talk to me!

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Damien and Ora grinned at each other in excitement. The time had come - at last! They'd been with the Leader for months and months, waiting for this moment. Not that it had felt much like training. They'd simply lived with the Leader, listening to his stories, hearing about the Kingdom, learning to get along really well with all the other people at Mission Headquarters. Now all seventy of them were ready, the spaceship had docked, and the Mission was about to begin. Ora was glad she'd been paired up with Damien again.

SermonStudio

James Evans
Stan Purdum
Carlos Wilton
(See Epiphany 6/Ordinary Time 6, Cycle B, and Easter 3, Cycle C, for alternative approaches.)

Anyone who has ever had the experience of losing a friend because of some conflict or dispute, and then has had the friendship restored because of love and forgiveness, has a unique insight into the meaning of this psalm. Although the poem begins and ends with praise, there is in the middle of the poem a brief moment of confession and contrition that puts the praise portions of the psalm in an entirely different light.

April Yamasaki
A word of encouragement came from an unlikely source the other day in a television interview with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. The former football player, wrestler, and now actor was asked about a low time in his life when he was very discouraged about his career and future.

"How did you make your way back from that?" he was asked.

The Rock replied, "You have to put yourself out there. You have to get out there and fail, and learn from your failures."

Larry D. Powell
In the summer of 1983, I participated in a ministerial exchange program sponsored by my denomination. My assignment was to a circuit of churches on the Isle of Man, a tiny island located in the Irish Sea. The months preceding the exchange included considerable correspondence with the minister on the island with whom I would exchange pastoral duties for six weeks.
Richard E. Gribble, CSC
A wealthy businessman decided to take a walk and eat his lunch at the same time. He strolled by a park. There he purchased a hot dog and a soft drink. As he walked through the park two different "street people" approached him one by one. Each asked, "Can you help me? I am hungry." Each time the businessman looked straight ahead and kept walking. After finishing his lunch, he stopped and bought a chocolate eclair for dessert. As he was about to take the first bite, he was forced to jump out of the way as a young boy raced by on his skateboard. The eclair went flying and landed on the ground.

Special Occasion

Wildcard SSL