Introduction to #Boomerica: 103

Remixing Relationships...

I chuckled at the start of my first workplace meeting with the Boomers. As someone who has mostly worked for Christian organizations in the last four years, I'm simply used to meetings starting with prayer. I was laughing because this meeting began almost awkwardly with the person in charge basically saying hi.

Now, there's absolutely nothing wrong with this, it's completely normal, and I'm perfectly fine with meetings starting either way. It simply made me chuckle because that's been one of the only differences I've found between the two kinds of workplace environments.

And that's a good thing.

Isn't it? It seems like so often, the "secular world" is solely out to get Christians in every aspect of everyday life. But what I've encountered so far is more of a live-and-let-live mentality. No one really cares where you come from or what you believe when you're in the office. As long as you do good work and are a nice person (it would be hard to overstate the importance of that second bullet point) everyone is equal.

That's quite refreshing.

At the same time, I do feel like I'm standing out from the crowd as a person. That's not meant in an egotistical way, merely in the sense that I'm known as the perpetually happy guy at work. And isn't that how it should be as well?

Without sounding overly preachy (dear gosh, please don't sound overly preachy), I think Christians should be different in the workplace. Not by brow-beating people with the Bible or acting offended when someone shares a worldview that differs from your own, but by simply displaying the joy and the peace that comes with our faith. That's how people will notice there's something different about us, and that's how they'll want to know what it is.

Okay, Sunday School is over. Now is when we'd rewind the Veggie Tales VHS or take down the felt storyboard. I realize this has little to do with baseball, journalism, or my internship, but as a perpetual student of life and interpersonal relationships, it's one of the biggest things I'm learning in this crazy class called Introduction to #Boomerica.