The Barber Shop

One of my favorite places of the world, is the barber shop. It's a place where you can find the best and the worst of people. You find the hood in it. You listen to the stories other men have, you can brag your own, and show how cool or uncool you are. The barber shop is a place where you can learn about your hood's problems, circumstances and situations. You can help a brother out, you can support a family, you can watch a game in community. You get in contact with wonderful people, and you can be yourself. You learn more about manhood there, than you ever imagined.

The barber is a key figure in the neighborhood: is your personal stylist and the one who keeps you updated with the streets' freshest fashion codes, he is your psychologist, your sports annalist, your wing-man, your Dr. Love, your Wall Street advisor, etc. Today, my barber became a mentor concerning service vocation:

This week, the Catholic Church and some Protestant churches celebrates Easter Week (or Holy Week). The DR is a Catholic country, so the government takes the festivity as a holiday. Most of the folks work part time today, and after that, people take the rest of the week to rest, meditate, go to church, visit family, etc. The most of the people go for a quick vacation: beaches, rivers, mountains, hotels, shacks, road trips...it is insane. That is one consequence of living in a post-Christian society: the lost of religious traditions.

But the point is... after work, I got to the local barber shop by 6:35 PM. It was almost empty; I got 3 other guys before me. Andrés the barber was doing his thing and Wilmer, his employee, was doing his own thing too. After I ran in, Andrés closed the barber shop. He said to me that he was busted, and that he wanted to go home with his family. I feel him. He opens the shop at 9 'clock and he doesn't stops till 9:00 PM. It is fair that he closes the shop earlier in a day the city is almost empty. Andrés' wife, opens the locked door to start cleaning the place, but leaves the door open. And a client gets by. The client begs for a shape-up and a beard clean-up. Wilmer gets mad, because is one of his clients; he wants to leave too, but Andrés prompts him to SERVE him. That's the word he uses. SERVE HIM.

Wilmer started talking about how he didn't care if he needed to dispatch a customer without a haircut, but Andrés pointed out how complicated the barbershop business is. It's complicated because is all about SERVICE. It's all about VOCATION. It's all about putting OTHERS BEFORE YOU. He recalled the satisfaction he feels when a client leaves with a nice haircut and a good experience, and how good he feels when that client returns back. He is aware of bad clients; those who talk crap even after a good service. But he stated pretty clear, how he is willing to keep the shop open for one more hour, just for a lazy client who got outside the shop at the last second.

Even thou he is not a Christian (he visits my church from time to time), he just showed me a glimpse of Christian Work Ethic. He sacrificed for the sake of others in his job. He loves and rejoices in his job as his means of provision. He works for the sake of others.

We as Christians are called to:
²³ Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. (Col.3:23) 

Work willingly.

Are we so quick to enjoy what we do? Not all times. Some days I just want to super-kick my boss Some days I just want to stay home sleeping. Some days I want to insult everybody. I don't enjoy working, the most of the times. That's because the Curse. Adam's sin made work hard. But because of Christ, we are able to sanctify work, the same way God did it before the Fall. As Christians, we are called to erase the normal perception of work as something bad or difficult. As Christians we are called to work so joyful and thankful for it, that unbelievers have to ask us what's up. Work is a window for the Gospel. Let's open it in our daily lives.

Thank God for barber shops. They keep me fresh and clean, and make me meditate on my Lord Jesus. Win-win situation.