 Hello friends, welcome back to Anabaptist Perspectives. Before we get into today's video, a little context. This is a clip from an interview I did with my father and that full interview will be released on this channel soon. But often times when we do interviews like this, there will be clips and pieces that get cut out for various reasons. And those extra clips are released on our partners program, which you can find on our website at anabaptistperspectives.org. You can join the partners program for a monthly donation of any amount. But because this week is giving Tuesday, all that content is freely available through November 28. I think you're going to really enjoy it. Over on the partners program, we have extra clips that don't make the main episodes and we have an exclusive podcast that you can't find anywhere else. Thanks so much for supporting the ministry of Anabaptist Perspectives and I hope you enjoy today's bonus video. You want to throw in the story of the master key? Yeah, I guess I could share that story. I've always worked for myself. You mean like self-employed? Yeah, self-employed. I was a mason years ago. But I decided I'm going to go work for someone else at something different. So we live here in Tennessee and they're building a school, not too far from here. A large school. I'm a mason. Let me go work for someone else. Something different. And so I did. Well, it was about two weeks. That's all I could handle. And it was time to move on. A lot of it was the language, the subjects that they talked about, the disrespect. Just putting in time. You do your time and go home in the evening. It was just a different mentality than I was used to rather than look at a job as accomplishment. And my boss, he'd come down and he'd look and see what's happening. And sometimes I'd still be around and I would suggest, you know, that we can have someone set this up and get started on that while we finish this. That's just the way my mind thought. And I guess he thought about it. It was different. But yeah, I was, after two weeks, I was going to go. But my boss called me from the job trailer. It was a commercial job. And he asked me if I'd come up to the trailer. We had radios where we're working. So he just called down on the radio. So I said, yeah, I'll come up there. And so I did. And he asked me if I would consider being a foreman. And I said, well, I'll think about that. Because, see, I was quitting and I didn't tell him. I said, give me a week to think about that. And so I did. And he said, I don't want to see a trial in your hand. I don't want to see a level in your hand. I don't want to see nothing. All I want to see is a radio in your hand. That's it. So I said, I'll let him know in a week. And I thought about it. And I thought, you know, I'm going to do it. So I did. And then I noticed I thought things were getting better. And the people that were working together, I noticed the language started changing. People were laughing some more. And maybe it's just when I was around. I don't know. But it's like friendship started. And it was, it was, it was actually kind of fun. And I thought, either I'm getting a little more immune to what was going on, which I could happen. You can start getting immune to what's happening. Or it maybe is changing. And so time went on. We're getting school done. There was a lot of crews there. It was a $27 million project, about 70 acres, everything. This is narrowing down, but it's time for school to start. And we're not quite finished. So we're working long hours. And so school finally does start. We're working at sections and maybe even the ball field, but just closing up, getting some things finished, but they could still have school back in their rooms. But since everything wasn't totally finished, they decided to work some in the evenings, a little bit. They call it punch list. You go back into a room, maybe touch up some paint, or there's an outlet not working. Or, you know, it's just little things here and there that they would find as they're having school. And we go in after school hours and fix things up. I think anyway that they had a meeting with the principal, the school, the general contractor, and all the subcontractors, you know, from paint, electrical plumbing, masons, all the bosses had a meeting. I wasn't there. I was out working. And my boss, he comes back. And he gives me some keys. He said, here's keys. And this key is for you. And I said, what do you mean, this key is for me. And he said, this is the master key to the school. And I said, what for? He said, you're supposed to have the key. I said, I'm a Mason. And you've got this commercial company here. He said, no. He said, somebody's supposed to have a key on these premises. And it's you. And I thought, man, this is different. So it felt kind of weird in a way. Here's a Mason with the master key to the whole school, 340-some rooms, all the exterior doors. I had a key to get in every room in there. And so what felt funny is when the supervisor comes up to me from the commercial company, he was one of these guys that used to love to strut his stuff and go around. He loved to tell people what to do, that type of person. You know what I mean? But it was different when he comes up to me and he kind of looking at the floor and all, asked me to open a door for him. Project supervisor. Yeah. The supervisors, there was roving supervisors. And then there's the project manager. And then the man over the whole project company was out of Texas, the project manager of the whole thing could not get into a room unless I opened it up. That is bizarre. The instruction was you open the door. When they leave, you close the door behind you. I mean, the IDF room with all the security screens and everything, I could get into every room. And that, and I pondered that. And I thought, why in the world do I have this key? And there's 100 people out here. But I guess they had a meeting and the principal wanted someone on this project to have a key and they chose not to give it to the supervisors of the commercial company or the project manager. And they chose a Mason. Now, that's what's so strange to me. And I really had to work through that one just a little bit. But then I thought, you know what? There again, it's an employee. It's the honesty and integrity. And I think that's what they saw. Who out here gets our key? One key. And they chose me out of that. So I still have that key. It's sitting in a shadow box at home. And the reason for that is I can look at that. And that's a reminder that need to always have honesty and integrity. People see that. And yeah, it's noticed. There again, it's not that I'm any better than anyone else. But apparently at that project, they felt like I should have the master key to the school. I'd love to know if that key still works. I've never went back to tries. Go to the one of the exterior doors. You know, just try it. Pretty sure it doesn't. But no, that really spoke to me when as an employee, I got the master key to the whole school. That's such a story of the power of honesty and integrity, but also consistency too. Because they probably had to watch you for a while to see, wow, he's like this, he is honest. We can trust him. It doesn't happen overnight. Trust is built over time. And apparently you showed that. I guess so. Because I figured a supervisor needs that key, not me. Wow. Incredible story. It really spoke to me. That's what we all need to be, all of us. And myself, even from here forward, we all need to always have that. And as you said, in business or as an employee, that's something we can take from this. Take with that to where you are the kind of person that can be trusted is honest, does have integrity. Wow. Thank you so much for sharing some of your stories. I appreciate it. You're welcome.