Sunday, October 2, 2011

How May I Help You?


For better or for worse, I have a reputation for getting the most out of customer service.  Jesus said “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s…” so I figure AT&T can render unto Clark H Smith that which is Clark H Smith’s.  Make sense?  What makes crappy customer service even less tolerable is the lame script the support personnel is a slave to.  You know the routine, you state the current problem and support replies “I’m sorry that you are experiencing a problem.”  They’re not truly sorry, that’s just what the menu in front of them tells them to say.  After one particularly unfruitful episode, the support tech read the next line on the menu, “Is there anything else I can do for you today?”  My response was clear and firm, “You have yet to do the first thing I asked you to do, why would I ask you to do something else?”

More on this after a word from our Sponsor:
“The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’”  (Matthew 25:20-21)
In the Parable of the Talents, Jesus illustrates a simple truth: take care of the first, simpler things and the reward of being entrusted with greater tasks will be given to you.  Followers of Jesus put flesh and bones on this truth.  Pick up a piece of trash in the hallway on your way into the boardroom.  Put product back in order on the shelves at the grocery store.  Send a caring thought to someone who lost a loved one several months ago.  When someone asks for your assistance, leave nothing undone and be sure to follow up.  Especially when serving others, followers of Jesus should go above and beyond.  If the “devil is in the details” get down into the details, be excellent, and drive him out.

I’m not a perfect person.  “If walls could talk”, the walls (and floors and landscape) around my house would tell you I have a few unfinished projects gathering dust.  At the same time, I would wager that most of the people I have rubbed shoulders with in life would say that I give my best and my all when it comes to ministering to others.  I hope that is my legacy, anyway.  As we go through this life, Followers of Jesus are not just putting our own reputation on the line, we are putting His!  Our testimony reflects the excellence of the One we follow.  Oh, and it was pretty good:

They were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”  (Mark 7:37)

Clark H Smith

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