Take a Breath
It was probably the stupidest thing I have ever done, although others may say they can think of more stupid things I have done. It was just a natural reaction. Maybe I forgot that Super Heroes are only fictional characters.
I was working for one of those big box hardware stores. Within a year I had moved up to an assistant store manager. There were several assistant store managers and I must have said something wrong to the right person because it seemed like I got most of the Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. It was on one of those Saturday afternoons that my stupidity kicked into high gear.
There were usually two assistant store managers in the store at the same time. One watched over the front. That person would handle any of the register issues, help cover the customer service area, make sure all the front end caps were full, and would make sure the shopping carts were returned to the store for the customers to use. The other assistant store manager would cover the rest of the store. Of course my unfortunate display happened when I was covering the front part of the store.
Things were running rather smoothly. I decided to sit down for a moment in the customer service area. I noticed a young man running as he turned toward the registers. He was carrying a box. I jumped up when I heard shouts of, “Hey! Hey! Stop him.” It was the guy in charge of the appliance department that day. Before I knew it the young man was running out the door with the box. I didn’t think; I reacted. I gave chase. He ran through the parking lot. Then he darted through the traffic on the busy street. I was right behind him. He ran through a field. I didn’t give up on my chase. My long distant track days were allowing me to keep up with him. Finally the young man gave up. We were probably over a mile from the store.
The police came and took the young man away. Me? My track days had long since passed and I collapsed in the chair I was in before the whole adventure began. I thought I was having a heart attack. It literally took me thirty minutes before my breathing returned to normal. As I sat there in the chair trying to catch my breath, I did a little bit of thinking. It’s strange how the best moments of reflection are almost always when you are trying to recharge. It was then that I realized how stupid it was for me to chase that young man. There could have been others helping him. When I stepped outside the store I could have really gotten hurt. The manager of the store reminded me of that, too, when she returned the next day.
He was a one term President. He might have been the President who got the most done in just one term. At forty-nine years old, he was the youngest man elected President up until that time. At age fifty-three, he is one of the youngest to ever retire from the office of President.
It was quite a surprise that he even became the Democratic candidate for President in that election. Several recent defeats for other offices had tainted his chances. In fact, he wasn’t even running for President in that election. He wanted to be Vice President. The problem was there were a lot of candidates who wanted to be President and none of them could garner enough votes to lock up the nomination. Finally, on the ninth ballot, this dark horse Vice Presidential candidate became the compromise candidate for the Democrats. He went on to defeat the much better known, Henry Clay, in the general election.
One of the greatest accomplishments of his term was the fact he increased the size of our country by one third. A large part of that territory came from a two year war that was waged during his term. He also tried to purchase Cuba from Spain, but they refused to sell it. With his efforts we became a nation from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Epaphroditus is a man who is only mentioned in seven verses in the Bible. He seemed to be the man in charge of logistics. He was also very excited about his mission. He was part of a team that was energized about spreading the Word of God. Although there isn’t much about him in the Bible, I would be willing to bet he spent countless hours on this task and was very devoted to the cause. I would even image he ate, drank, and slept it. The problem was he was working himself to death.
It was a city in eastern Macedonia near the head of the Aegean Sea and at the foot of Mount Orbelos. It was the first European city this famous preacher visited. The preacher would return two more times. The preacher was Paul. The place was Philippi. It was believed that Epaphroditus was from Philippi and he must have loved the city very much because the Bible says he longed for it. Epaphroditus joined Paul’s missionary group and it appears he was in charge of the supplies. He worked so hard at it that the Bible says he was near death. Paul realizes Epaphroditus needed some rest and relaxation, so he sends him back to Philippi with a letter.
In the election of 1844, James K. Polk pulled off two upsets. First, he won the Democratic nomination. Second, he beat Henry Clay in the general election. The United States was deeply divided on the annexing of Texas, but no one doubted where James K. Polk stood on the issue. Manifest Destiny was in his blood. A war with Mexico and a treaty with Britain lead to our possession of almost all of our western lands.
But there was another side to James K. Polk that seldom gets mentioned. Polk was a workaholic. He didn’t believe in delegating work. He did most of the work himself. Most Presidents age as they serve their terms. Polk might have aged the most and he only served one term. He was exhausted after his term ended. After he left office he took a goodwill tour of the south. It is believed he contracted cholera while he was in New Orleans. His great fatigue did not help his cause. He would die from that cholera only 103 days after he left office (the shortest retirement of all the Presidents, excluding the Presidents who died in office). At the age of fifty-three, he was the youngest President to die (with the exception of the young Presidents who died in office). He is one of only six Presidents to die while his successor was in office.
One has to wonder if James K. Polk had learned to relax and rest a little more would he have been able to fight off the cholera and live longer. Personally, I know that I think a lot more clearly when I am rested up from a vacation or a good night’s sleep. Paul’s love for his fellow companion in Christ saw the wisdom to send him away for rest and relaxation. Even God rested on the seventh day of creation.
To be successful in life usually requires hard work. Whether it is a job, a mission, an event, or even a hobby, that desire to do your best requires the muscle to make it happen. One of the things often overlooked, though, is breaks from that activity. These breaks are needed not just to keep the spirit going, but also the body.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, Please help me in those times of busyness to remember to take a breath. You want us to enjoy life and it is hard to do that if we only think about all we have to do. Amen..
