“Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You bound yourself with an oath to them, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. And I will give them all of this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever.’”
During the Great Recession people who lost their jobs or who had their income reduced had to get creative to find ways to make money. Driven by necessity and fueled by the innovation that brought technology to us cheaply (the Cloud), we are seeing a new revolution of business growth that is unlike any other form we have seen, or can actually be counted today. Collaborative Consumption is a term used today for those who reuse and/or re-purpose assets or available time for pay. Those pink mustached cars are cars and drivers that would have been parked yet someone saw an opportunity to re-purpose their car when they didn’t need it for driving. The bake sale that happens every day now out of the kitchen from someone who loves to cook, has the extra time and a kitchen that sits empty and unused except for three times a day. The garage sale that is now every weekend with the entire neighborhood contributing their unused and unwanted items. Airbnb that allows us to rent our rooms , apartments and homes when we aren’t around. All of these happen within the “shadows” of how we count and measure employment in America. I guess it has always happened but since ebay, it has gotten bigger and bigger. It is good for our economy and the shadow is growing. Those in the shadows also think about products and services differently. They don’t waste. They won’t overspend. They move quickly. They think ahead. They desire products and services that speak to their situation and appreciate that they work and live outside of the norm and the expected.
I am reminded of the Apostles after Jesus’ death who went into the shadows of society to shed God’s light for others to see. Evangelism and the carrying of Jesus’ message many times happens in the shadows and like the shadow economy works, in ways that are unexpected. We never know when we are going to have the opportunity to share our testimony of what God has done for us. I love when I hear that someone came to know and love the Lord from the relationship they had with someone with whom they worked. And those shadow can be long and lasting. When God promised Abraham generations of descendents, little did anyone know what the impact of that long shadow would be. If there is a place of shadow that God wants to shine within, it is the workplace. Consider that the extra or re-purposed time and energy you have could be going to work for the Kingdom’s expansion. And, yes that can happen right there, at work.
Reference: Exodus 31:13 (New Living Translation)