My Enemies Became My Footstool

WHILE I was going through seminary, I worked at Trailways Bus Station loading buses. I worked on the dead man’s shift from eleven at night until seven in the morning. When I came to work there, I realized that the guys had a scam going.

A guy would punch out for lunch and then have his buddies punch him back in when in reality he was asleep on the job. Each guy would get his turn and the other guys would cover for each other and await their turn to get three hours or so of sleep while on the job. Put simply, what they were doing was stealing. It was theft.

They had agreed to work for eight hours but were stealing a few hours every night from the company. After I’d been around a few days, one of the guys came to me and asked me which part of the night shift I wanted to take for a long break.

He explained the system to me, how long I could take, and who I was to punch in. When I told him that I couldn’t do it because I was a Christian, what I thought would be a great witnessing opportunity didn’t go over too well.

The guys all decided to teach me a lesson. When buses would show up during the night needing to be unloaded and then loaded again, the other guys wouldn’t show up and help.

I found myself loading and unloading buses by myself. That situation was hard. It was very painful both emotionally, knowing people were against me, as well as physically, because it was a lot of work. And to top it all off, I’d have to still, after all of that work, go to class.

It was rough. About six months into this, I got called to the office—the Trailways office. The supervisor said, “Unbeknownst to the night crew, we have had various night supervisors come down and observe the activities. We are aware of the scam.

We have also noticed that you haven’t participated and have not been supported when the buses came in. We would like to offer you the opportunity to become the supervisor for the night shift and we will double your salary!” My enemies became my footstool. God is watching.

Some of the greatness comes in time. Most of it comes in eternity. If you want to be great, take advantage of every opportunity to serve for the benefit of others, to the glory of God.