January 9, 2023 • 41 mins
Welcome to a new year! We start the new year talking about faith in factories, and while delivering the mail! That's right, we're joined by Mailman Sonny...Sonny Workman! Sonny Workman is a former Whirpool Factory employee, and current USPS Mail Carrier in the Clyde, Ohio area. He's started and runs several social channels including:
Sandusky County First Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/332335700970295
Dine in the 419 Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/255367028826078/
Sonny in the 419 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/419Sonny
You can also catch him here on YouTube at: http://youtube.com/@SonnyWork
Also, check out his children's book "Mailman Sonny" at: https://amzn.to/3WVFnWX
Podcast Production Gear used on The Work Week Walk:
- Canon R5 - https://amzn.to/3ZbB23s
- Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens - https://amzn.to/3QpAO4E - https://amzn.to/3QpAO4E
- Govee Floor Lamps: https://amzn.to/3vLleqJ
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- UGreen 6.35mm ¼ Male to 3.5mm 1/8 Male TRS Stereo Audio Cable - https://amzn.to/3GNOWld
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- Mackie 802VLZ4 Ultra Compact Mixer - https://amzn.to/3GLaDCw
- Books about Workplace Ministry I recommend:
- “The Word Before Work” – Jordan Raynor - https://amzn.to/3ipthGM
- “Called to Create” - https://amzn.to/3VXJkJo
- “The 9 to 5 Window: How Faith Can Transform the Workplace” – Os Hillman (Audiobook) - https://amzn.to/3QoX6DR
- “Every Good Endeavor” – Timothy Keller - https://amzn.to/3GKvEgD
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Me myself.
I wasn't the type of person that
said the word “God” right away.
I would just be being nice to them.
Show them some love.
A lot of people were dealingwith addictions and they thought that,
well, my my dad was a smoker.
My grandpa was a smoker.
(00:21):
And now I'm a smoker.
I can't quit. It’s in me.
It's in my DNA.
And I always try to
convince them that they can.
It takes it just takes one personto break that cycle.
Yeah, maybe they can.
They could stop.
And so I would encouragejust just encourage them accountability
and and then they would.
The whole goal is to hopefully ask them.
(00:43):
Them ask me what, what is it about you?
You seem so different.
Welcome to the Work Week Walk podcast.
Living out your faithauthentically in the everyday workplace
with your host, Craig Magrum.
(01:05):
Welcome to the Work Week Walk podcast.
This podcast is all about living our faithand Jesus out
in the everyday workplace, in our jobs,in the marketplace.
I'm Craig Magnum.
My 9 to 5 Mondaythrough Friday is working as a
oh, what is my title?
I just blanked out.
A business development specialistand client care specialist for a company
(01:28):
that sells software to real estatephotographers and videographers.
And I also have the privilege
of being able to serve as ourour volunteer staff chaplain.
So just very thankfulfor that opportunity.
So what we're going to do is each eachepisode, we invite somebody different on
to talk about how they live their faithin Jesus, out in their daily jobs.
(01:50):
Different careers, different industriesevery week.
I love just
the variety of this because
God works through our personalities in
how He made us individuallyand He gives us gifts and talents.
And those things are expressedin different ways.
But it always, always points back to himas Savior and as Redeemer.
(02:13):
So I want to invite youto subscribe to the podcast
so that you get notificationsof when the new episodes drop.
Feel free to like the videois or the audio podcast
if if you're getting somethinggood out of this.
And by all means, feel free to share thisso that it can encourage others as well.
All right, so let's dive into this.
(02:34):
Today, we are exploring faithin factories and mail routes.
I know two things that seemkind of unrelated, but our guest today
has worked in both fieldsand I'm just really excited about this.
This is the first guest
that we've had on the on on on the podcastthat I don't know personally,
but somebody that we did have on ScottEast up just a few weeks ago
(02:55):
strongly suggested and said, Craig,you've got to have this guy on.
He just carriesthe joy of of Jesus everywhere he goes.
That man is Sonny Workman.
Sonny, welcome to the podcast.
Hey, Craig. Thanks a lot, man.
What a pleasure it is to be here.
I like you say we do.We both have a pastor.
You step in and come in here.
(03:16):
So that's that's a great thing there.
So thank you for allowing meto spend some time with you.
Yeah. And thank you for what you're doing.
You know, when I first heard about this,I was like, This is awesome.
You know, this is great.
This is something that peoplethroughout the
hopefully the world will eventually,you know, dive into and and spend
spend their time during their daylistening to your podcast.
(03:39):
So thank you for having it.
Oh, well, absolutely.
My my heart has always been ministry.
I've worked
a prettywide variety of different types of jobs
over my career, but the one constanthas always been I love Jesus.
I'm thankful for what he did for meand I want to encourage others.
And so that that heart to ministerand to serve others.
(04:00):
This just that's just never gone away.
So if I can encourage othersworking out there in their everyday jobs
that have this, this mistaken notion,which I had for a long time myself, Sonny
that to do ministry,you had to be a pastor in a church or,
you know, a Bible teacher or somethinglike that to be doing ministry.
That's that's actually nota biblical concept because in Ephesians
(04:23):
and we always wrap up the podcastby talking about this from Ephesians four
that God calls you and I to be ministersin the everyday world
and our pastors and teachers,
their job is to equip us to do thatwork of ministry out in the world.
You look at Jesus, he was a carpenter,He was working in the trades
before he did his public ministry.
(04:43):
I've got to believe he was doingministry in his job.
Right? Exactly.
Yeah, I totally agree.I thought the same thing.
I thought I should.
I be you know, I'm not a pastor.
I'm not a minister.
Is this my role?
Am I supposed to be a pastor?
Sometimes I thoughtmaybe I was supposed to be.
Maybe that's my calling.
But I don't know.
I sometimes still think that,but I catch myself
(05:08):
doing ministryin other ways that doesn't see,
you know, a pastor might not
come into the churchor come into a conference with a pastor
or a priest or whatever.
I see myself doing ittotally out of the box,
out in the middle of the street, whereverI might be, in a factory, like you say.
Exactly.
Well, if you don't mind,can you kind of introduce yourself,
(05:30):
you know, a littlea little personal information
you don't mind sharingand then we'll we'll dive into what,
what and how God is doing in your lifethrough through your work.
All right. Yeah.
I just turned 55 on Sunday, and soI had a great celebration with my family.
And luckilymy parents are both still alive.
So we celebrated that.
(05:50):
And I'm married to a God loving wife,
Denise, and,and and I'm just like everybody else.
I'm not perfect.
I made some mistakes through the years.
You and I are like, we are.
You know, I think that's that'sthe misconception about being a Christian.
Everybody thinks that you're you'reyou're perfect now.
(06:12):
You're safe, you're perfect.
You don't make no mistakes.
But I have made mistakes like we all have.
And five yearsago, I was married and things
we got away from from that fromGod a little bit.
And through the years,
just like a lot of young, young adultsin their twenties, 1920s,
(06:33):
they kind of thinkthat they can handle things on their own.
And so I went through a phase,
through those through those yearswhere thinking, you know,
maybe I don't need God, but I had myI had that foundation inside me.
But, well,maybe I don't need them right now.
And so me and my wife at the time,we both got away from God a little bit
and unfortunately we we divorced,but we did have three kids.
(06:57):
I thank her for that.
And we have three great kids together.
And so the next time, you know, I thought,well, do I want to get married again?
I didn't know what I shoulddo, but actually my faith
brought me, you know, God just brought me
my faith was stronger, just kept gettingstronger and stronger and stronger.
(07:17):
And so that becameone of my important things.
If I'm going to start dating,I want to date someone that's,
you know, faith based.
Faith based loves God, Right?
And then how I ran into my wife.
I just ran into my wife.
We had so many mutual friends.
I never thought we would ever meet.
And here here we are.
(07:39):
We met and things. Things just developed.
And and it's just it's just been great.
And so I you know, it's just been great.
And I love it.
And I have like I say, I have threedaughters and five grandchildren.
Oh, wow, That's awesome.
Sunny, congrats on all that.
Well, let's let's dive into youryour career and your work life.
(08:01):
So at the beginning of the podcast,we talked about the fact that we're going
to be talking about faith in the factoryand faith on the male route.
So did share share with us a little bit
about about the backgroundon Under your factory life?
Yes, right out of high
school, I wasI graduated in Klein High School in 1986.
And Whirlpool, a big Whirlpool plant hereapplied is the one time
(08:24):
it was the world's largest.
I don't know if it still is, but I knowit's the largest one in America.
You're you're talking4000 people on there.
It's like a little city.
Let's see, one, two towns.
Self is like 6600.
And so really awful people in there. Yeah.
And they're popping out 20, 22, 22,000
washing machines every day. Wow.
(08:45):
So where do these all go?
So anyway, so we were and said,no, it's my senior year.
Whirlpool used to comeand do applications for us at lunch time
and that was back then.
Everybody was either going to college,the military or Whirlpool and whirlpool.
Whirlpool was so hard to get into,so you usually had to have somebody
(09:05):
in your family.
My dad was there at the time,and so that's where I went.
I went right out, right two weeksafter high school, I went to Whirlpool
and just started doing assembly workand did that for many years.
And and it came to a pointin my life where I thought,
I think I'm better than
shooting these screws whileI'm made screws in the back of the washer.
(09:29):
I'm just going to be the bus,the best shoe scooter I could be.
And so that was my whirlpool career there.
And I end up staying therefor just shy of 30 years. Wow.
And during that time, I also coached
I also coached high schoolcross-country and track.
Okay. For 24 years.
(09:50):
That's awesome.
Very nice story there. Yeah. Very cool.
So in your time in that factory settingand I have a little bit of experience in
factories myself, when I was in college,I worked at a limestone factory
for a couple of summers, three summers
in, and maybe you and I can commiseratea little bit on this,
but I found a factorycould be a very challenging place to work
(10:16):
some some hard personalitiesthat you you run into.
What what were the challengesthat you ran into in in factory life?
Where in the factory lifeyou got everybody there.
You got such a diverse placewhere people are coming from miles away
and you're meeting in one spotand for 8 to 10 hours you're together.
(10:37):
Sometimes you're you're two,three feet away from someone.
You're stuck working with them for 8 hoursand you might rotate.
But it's just,you know, some some believe in God.
Some do not believe in God.
Some think it's some fantasy that, oh,we can't sleep.
You know, there's a lot of discussions.
When I first started,
(10:57):
one of the one of the older people told methere's two things we can't talk about,
where you're into factory,religion and politics.
And so that was like some of the stuffwith me through the years.
And so it's kind of like
First Corinthians 1613, you know, it's
beyond your guard stand firm in your face,be courageous and be strong.
(11:20):
And so that was one of the verses I wouldsay is is my factory life is to you.
You can you can be a part of that.
The bad language, some of the bad jokes,
some of the bad discussions,you're stuck there.
You know, you can't do much about it oreven even though you might be hearing it.
(11:40):
That's where you stand firm on your faithand you just walk away if you can.
Don't participate.
And so that was the hardest thing.
But it really wasn't that hard, really.
But it's hard for a lot of people.
But that's probablythe thing about factory life
is, is just thatyou see so much going on in there.
It's like a soap opera.
(12:02):
There's there's gossipon the assembly lines.
You know, It's just it's just remarkablefactory life in itself.
I think people who've been in a factory,you've seen it all.
You really have. Right?
Yeah. So good, good.
Versus really kind of build your life on
to to say strong in thosethose times of trial and temptation.
(12:23):
But then conversely, I've got to believejust because of the joy that you carry
Sonny that that God used, you've been
in some incredible ways andyou probably had some great conversations.
Do you do you have any stories ofof opportunities that you had to maybe,
maybe not always overtly share us,but to bring encouragement
into people's lifeor or just straight up share the gospel?
(12:48):
Oh, yeah, Yeah.
That's I think
me, myself,I wasn't the type of person that
said the word God right awaywould just be be
nice to them, show them some love.
A lot of people were dealingwith addictions and they thought that,
well, my my dad was a smoker,
(13:10):
my grandpa was a smoker,and now I'm a smoker.
I can't wait to send me.
That's in my DNA.
And I'd always try to
convince them that they can.
It takes it just takes one personto break that cycle.
Yeah, maybe they can.
They could stop.
And so I would encouragejust just encourage them accountability
and and then they would thethe whole goal is to hopefully ask them.
(13:34):
They asked me what what is it about here?
You seem so different.
That's what I think Christians.
Are there a difference makers.
Yeah.
Not so I was justI disappeared different to them, I guess.
And so they would just approachme and I'd become like somebody.
The I don't want to say look up to you,but they,
but they more or lesswere, were comfortable coming to me.
(13:57):
Right.
And so I had that'swhen I had an opportunity to talk
a little bit about what my faithand what Jesus has done for me.
And so it just snowballedand it just was so great to see someone
just quit smoking over timeand and they'd come on and thank me.
I said, Don't thank me.
You did it with, you know,with with your face, your new face.
(14:21):
And so it was just, just remarkable.
Stories like that is what helped meget through my almost 30 years.
It sounds like really what your approachwas, Sonny was you built
relationships and over time, you builttrust with with your coworkers.
Yes. Yup.
Yeah, I think when people feel when people
(14:41):
feel comfortable around youand they trust you
and they trust that you're not going toyou're not going to judge them,
you're not going to berate them,you're not going to look down on them,
but you're going to be looking at at themwith with the eyes of Jesus and
and be a vessel of agapelove, unconditional
love for the person,just like God is for us.
(15:04):
Yeah, that's not something normalfor them to see.
So the fact that you were able to walkin that and
and build those relationshipsand then have them open up discussion,
it's a natural way to share faithand there's really no pressure on that.
Exactly. Yeah, you're right.
Yeah. Awesome.
Well, thanks for sharing that.
Know your mail route.
(15:25):
You made a transition in yourin your career.
And I've got toI've got to ask you about that.
So what what took you fromfrom working in the factory
to then an interest in delivering mail.
Well what happened was when I was in andstill at Whirlpool, I was I was coaching.
And so I would have
to at that
time Ihad 24 boys on my cross-country team
(15:48):
and I would on my way home from the meets
on the busses, I would figure out workoutsfor the next week doing the math.
It was a lot of math.
And so I had some engineering background.
I did everything.
I worked in the engineering department,the all steel coordinator or order
all the steel for the plant assembly,scheduling everything that I could do.
(16:10):
I did it all through my year.
And so that background
kind of gave me the opportunity to, okay,there's a problem here.
I need to solve this problemnot just for me, but for other coaches.
So I developed,I developed, invented and patented
the world's first runner's calculator.
It's like it'sit's about the size of your phone.
(16:32):
Here it is right here.
Okay. Here are the notes.
And so basically,it just you could figure out your kid.
You're you're individual splitsbased off your goal time.
Okay.
And so and it would store your whole teamon there as well
and I had a calculator on thereand a stopwatch.
So it's very good for like coachesand things like that.
(16:53):
And my first six orders were from Olympiccoaches from around the world. Wow.
And so it kind of
I didn't get rich off of it.
You know,
I think if you go into thingslooking for money
as choosing what you're not going to find,I just wanted to
I just wanted to fill that voidthat was there.
Right.
And now now, you know, I know if you everinvented a product, but it takes it.
(17:18):
There's a lot behind patternin a product. It's
there's so many so many obstaclesto get there.
And without without my faith,I don't think I would have made it.
Most people would have turned around.
But I think it's all about connections,too. Yeah.
And there was a lady
there was a lady in our churchwho was a manufacturer up for like 16,000
(17:42):
corporations around the world.
Oh, wow. And I took her.
I didn't even have it made yet.I just had it on paper.
I took it to her and she said, Wow,this is pretty cool.
I'm going to take itto the trade show in California.
And so she took it thereand she found a guy that was from Samsung.
Okay.
And he's like, Wow, we can make this.
So that's so I so we start our emails
(18:05):
and next thing you know,I had a prototype made from China
come on over here from Samsungand we just took it from there.
And so I would have never had that,you know, like this about connections.
Sure.
And so, you know, here itit had that connection from church.
And here I had the patent and,
you know, making these calculators.
(18:27):
And so there there we go.
We just went from that.
And that kind of afforded methe opportunity.
Like I said, I wasn't rich, but I had alike a little a little bit of opportunity
to do something that I wanted to do.
I wanted to be like a UPS manor a mailman.
And so I applied, and next thing you know,I was hired very quickly.
(18:48):
And so I started I took a huge, hugepay cut, huge fake what I was making.
But it's something I wanted to do. Yeah.
And so but I had to.
But what happenedwas that door closed were my coaching.
I couldn't coach no more because.
Because I had to work on Saturdays nowdeliver mail.
(19:09):
I couldn't do cross-country.
Yeah. So that's you.
That's where your faith comes involved
because you think, okay,the door is closing.
Most people would turn, turn around,stop right there
and say, No, there'sGod's telling me to do something.
You know,something's happening for a reason, right?
And I really believe things happen for areason, especially when God's behind it.
(19:31):
And so it close that door.
I was done with coaching after 24 yearsand I really missed it.
And here I am.
I'll deliver a mail all by myself,you know, It's like,
Oh my gosh, I'm so used to talkingto people in my apartment.
Had 50,000 people in my department.
Every day I talk to themand all of a sudden I'm talking to no one.
Yeah, it was it was very surreal.
(19:54):
So and I kept I kept thinking,what's going on?
And I always believe thatI'm put in places for a reason, right?
I'm here for a reason. What is it?
What is it? God.
And so the community became my team,my new team.
And so every time I would see someone, I'dmake sure I talked to that person.
(20:14):
And it justI just developed relationships.
So many great people.
A lot of people were scared.
We're going to, you know, get ready.
The pandemic was comingand they were just scared.
They were looking out at me and and I waslike the only person they saw every day
as I would leave notes and if they needed
(20:36):
anything, bread, milk or whatever.
And we just develop relationships.
And the next thing you know, I'mwriting books about it
and think, this is why I'm here. Wow.
After 30 years Deliveror you're working at a plant for
people questioning why?
Why would you leave?
You got six weeks vacation.
(20:57):
Well, this is why now I figured it out.
God is showed me.
This is why I'm here.
I'm writing books now or about some ofthe people that I've met in my role,
trying to try and trying to changethe perception of the post office
because, you know, everybody has thisbad perception of the post office.
Sonny, can I canI interrupt you real quick?
(21:17):
Yeah.
So in getting ready to record this episodeand not knowing, you know,
I had this thought go through my head,okay, Mailmen
have a reputation from years pastand and do I.
Do I go there? Do I ask Sonny?
Okay. How do you live so different
than the stereotypical mailmanwe have in our heads?
(21:39):
Because you are not an angry mailman.
You are a very happy, happy,joyful mailman.
So thank you for opening that door for me.
I had to walk through it.
Yeah, that is funnybecause like I say, when I work there,
I talk to everyone on my team every day.
Every night.
How was your kids soccer game?How is the play?
You know, things like that.
Every day I made a habit of I goto the post office and I try to do that.
(22:03):
I talk to the workersand the next thing you know,
they're calling me on the radioover the over the loudspeaker.
Sunny,get back to your case. That's your desk.
They don't
want they don't wantnone of that going on at the post office.
So I just kept doing it.
I kept doing it day after day after day.
Sunny, go back to your case. Sunny,go back to work.
And one dayI was buying some stamps for my customer.
(22:25):
I went up to the clerk's deskand I bought some stamps.
And one of our managers,one of the people in the management,
come up to me and say,What are you doing up here?
I'm saying,I'm getting some stamps for my customer.
And they asked me, Do you ever not smile?
And I say, I said, I'mnot I'm not going to let this place,
(22:46):
this job or anybody in here steal my joy.
So, yeah, you're always going to see mesmile.
That's so it was different.
It was differentbecause people, like you say in the post
office are a different breed.
Are you know, it all depends on how long
they've been thereand the things they've gone through.
I could see why
(23:08):
being in there, I could
see why, you know, really they support.
But it's a it's a it'sa different environment.
Yeah.
You know,
the factory life is adifferent environment and the postal life
is a different environment.
There's so much good people there.
Yeah,but sometimes the systems that were behind
behind the people some nightsometimes I think needs to be tweaked
(23:30):
no matter if it's in a factory
or or any government system,you know, there's a lot of difference.
So but there are some good people.
We have a lot of good carriers out there,and they're just doing the best they can.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Well, let me let me drive backand rewind a little bit
because you've you've described
two environmentswhere there can be some hard personalities
(23:51):
and you're living very differentlythan a lot of the people around you.
The joy that you carry.
Sonny you know, obviouslyyou're a believer in Jesus.
You follow him andand you have at least a church background.
It sounds like you grew up in the church,but not everybody that goes to a church
or even calls himselfChristian walks in in the
(24:13):
in the joy of the Lord,which is their strength.
Usually that comesout of some sort of an experience.
Do you mind kind of sharingwhere this joy came from,
how God developed that in you,what kind of experience you had with him?
Well, I think a lot of my ex,a lot of my joy comes from my parents
that I've learned my foundation,you know, through the years.
(24:35):
My I can't think of I have to literallythink of some times that my
my parents were yelling or or anything bador throwing things or anything.
You know, unfortunately,a lot of a lot of kids growing up now
have that or people our age had that.
And I think a lot of what comes from me
(24:56):
is a reflectionof what I've learned from my parents.
They're both very hardworkers, great work ethic,
you know, God loving people.
Just, you know, I think that's whatwhere I get a lot of my joy from and
and just I just loveI just love helping others.
(25:17):
I just people is my passion.I love people.
That's my passion.
And so I think that's my thought.
My foundation really helped me. Very cool.
Well, let's let's get backthen to the to the mail route.
You said initially, you know,you were kind of by yourself.
So any time that you did run intosomebody, you made sure to talk with them.
(25:38):
So what what does again, what does faithlook like for you living that out
day to day on on your mail route,those opportunities
that you get to talk with people,what does ministry look like to you?
And in that role in the mail route?
Yeah, yeah.
I got a great example.
There was a guyI used to work with at war for years ago,
(25:59):
maybe 20 years ago,and I didn't work with him very long,
but I just remember his face and I didn'teven really remember his name.
And one day I was deliver a mailand I saw him here.
He was on my row now and he was in.
So he was talking to me.
He said, Hey, I, I remember you.
You're that you were really nice to me.
(26:20):
And we worked up in PowderCo and I'm like, Oh, man,
I remember your face,but I can't remember your name.
But my name is Fred.
And so we we started talking again.
He said, I'm getting ready to retire.
I said, Well, that's great, Fred.
I'm your new mail man.
And so you'll see me.
He says, Yeah, if you're
if, if you ever,I'll don't be afraid to knock.
(26:43):
And so so I started knockingjust to say hello.
And we developed a relationshipoutside of work.
More now on the mail route.
And one day I was sitting at the study
and at my park point in my truckand he pulls up in his car.
He's never done that before.
And I thought,Oh, there's Fred, wonder what he wants.
(27:03):
And he comes up to me and heI get out of my truck and he says, Hey,
I just came back from the doctorand you're the first person that I told.
But I've been diagnosed with stagefour cancer.
Oh man.
I got lost.
And he gives meless than six months to live.
And he just retired like two months ago.
(27:23):
And so that gave me the opportunityto pray with them.
Yeah.
And he and and so he started we startedpraying right there at my mail truck.
And he he accepted.
He accepted his
diagnosis.
He was okay with it.And he says, I'm right. I'm ready to go.
(27:44):
I'm ready to deal with the Lord.
And so I'm not going to fight this.
I'm I've been sick.
I could tell something was wrong.
But today I found out.
And so it was it was a very emotional timefor both of us.
And it just like timestopped for a minute there.
And but I then I wasn't. I'm working.
(28:05):
I got to get John, you know. Yeah.
And so that wasthat was a great, great talk we had
and we talked a couple more times.
I'd see him out in the yard and wayand then things like that
and right before,
right before my book came out,
I got to show him a picture
(28:26):
of him and me and the bookbecause we took a person that day.
That day I took a picture like peoplecall it a selfie,
but I call it a I call it an ACbecause it's more than one person.
Right. And I see.
And so we took an AC that day and I took
I had that picture put in the book.
(28:47):
And so I got to show him that picture.
So he knew thathe was going to be in the book.
But three days later he passed away.
So he never got to see the book. But
so that's one of the one of the storiesthat hit me the most is a friend.
And so I'll never you never knowwhat's going to happen out there.
Yeah, you. Have.
(29:09):
Yeah.
It's one of those things where you justyou need to be ready in season
after season. Yeah.
Because God, God will send peopleacross your path for you to minister to
and just to have his worddeeply enough in your life that you can
then minister to that person that'sgoing through that, that challenging time
and your obedience in that Sundaybecause you didn't have to offer
to pray and a lot of Christians wouldn'tbecause they're they're fearful.
(29:31):
They're they're scared of what to say.
But but God gives us those words.
The Spirit will direct,
you know, exactly how to prayand encourage that person
in that in that spot in life. So awesome.
That's awesome. Yeah,
I think it's Psalms 3723.
The steps of a man are orderedby the Lord. Yeah.
(29:52):
And so that that's an opportunityI had there.
And luckily he was already, he was savedalready, so he was ready and ready to go.
Yeah.
But God still used you to encourage him,even in the midst of salvation.
We still. Need something.
Yes. I was so thankful.
He let me know instead of mefinding out in the paper or something.
(30:13):
Right? Right.
So that was another questionI was going to ask you.
You just mentioned that verse from Psalms.
What, you know,are there any standout verses or passages
from God's Word that God is really kind
of highlighted to you in in your work,both at the factory and in the mail room?
Yes, I think our enrollment is like 15.
I think it's 15 to each of usshould please our neighbor
(30:38):
for the good to build them up.
That's that's one of the verses I think is
so I'm always trying to build them upusing that, you know, through that verse.
It's not all about me.
I need to build them up to rightAnd make them understand
what's available for them.
You know how much power there's so muchpower resides in all of us, through God.
(31:04):
Yeah. Yeah. Good word. Good word.
Well, certainly one of the things I wantedto ask you about, you know, obviously
you mentioned with the mail routethat the community is your team now.
Yeah.
And I've heard about this,Sonny in the 419.
We see that on your on your T-shirt.
Now, can you
can you tell us a little bit about thatand how God's using you in this role,
(31:25):
even if it's not an overtlyChristian thing that you're doing?
Tell us about Sonny in the 419.
Well well before before signing to forand I like
when I first started the mail wroteI lost my
my my coaching, so to speak.
I love I love motivating peoplebecause it motivates me and so I started
a Facebook community page called SanduskyCounty First, which is our county.
(31:49):
There's about 10,000 members in there and
I was just getting tired
of the negative perspective of everything.
I think because somebody is arguingand, you know, you know, something.
And so I wanted to bringa different perspective of our area.
And so that's why I started the page.
And I so I would go around businessesand uplift the small businessmen
(32:12):
to try to find a story, somebody out therethat was doing some good work,
mowing yards free or whatever, and I'llbring some in, shine some light on it.
And so, yeah, it's in people.
People don't like people.
And so people are so funny.
People will always disappoint us.
That's that's a that's a gift.
So I would get messages all the time.
(32:34):
I kid you not.
And they would say,How can you be so positive?
There's, you know, there's athere's a negative on a battery.
How can you be so positive all the time?
You know, they would send me messagesand I'm like, well, a battery
does have a positive and a negative,but you can remain the negative.
I'll be the positive. And so
(32:56):
and so I would get
and so sometimes I would post somethingon Facebook, right?
Everybody could see this guy.
I had this one guythat would always argue with me
and he would just always tryto spin my words around.
And I so I just said, Hey, you know, I'm
sorry, I'll pray for you.
(33:18):
You might be having a bad day.
You might be having a bad week, maybeit's a bad year, but I'll pray for you.
And I could do not within 5 minutes.
This guy sent me a direct messageand said, Hey, I'm sorry.
I'm. I'm just alone.
I'm alone.
And I feel like everybody's against me.
And so I'm sorry for what I did.
(33:39):
And I said, Hey, man,what's your address, man?
I'll come over.
I want to come overand take you out for breakfast.
Let's talk about things.
And so we went out for breakfastand we had some goods discussions
and he was just tell me he's alone.
He's an older guy.
His family moved away.
He lost his wife years and years ago.
Now all he had was a catand he was just angry at the world.
(34:02):
And so we had a good discussions andand through through taxes and through
direct messages and a couple of meetings,I'd go visit him off and on.
His grandkid was coming in to visit him.
A few months after that,I brought the kid a book.
I signed the book. Here you go.
It is Mailbox.
And now this guy has becomeone of my biggest supporters. He's
(34:22):
always on the out.
And it's just amazing how thingsturn around so fast. And
so that was my community college.
And when the pandemic hit and
I know a lot of restaurantowners around here
and were pretty worried aboutwhat's going to happen to the restaurant.
And, you know, everybody was right.
(34:43):
We thought it was going to bea two week thing, Right.
And so I thought, what what'ssomething I can do to help these guys out?
So I started Dine in the 419.
It's all about food.
And so every day after work,
I would go to three restaurantsin the area and I would just go live.
I'd put a sombreroon, I'd bring a little guitar
(35:05):
and I'd put my margarita glasses onand I would go to a mexican restaurant.
I'd put all the food on myon my hood of my car and put my camera up
and I'd get a margarita or whateverthey had because you couldn't go in.
So I had I had to get out.
And so I'd say, Hey, we're herelive and gossip.
Yes, come on out.
They're open to go only.
And so they open the doorsand they're like, Hey,
(35:27):
whatever you're doing, sign it,keep doing it, our phone’s off the hook.
And so I would.
Just Oh, wow, I.
Would just do this forfor every day for different restaurants.
I was spending $90 a week on food,but I didn't care.
I wanted I just oh,I just wanted to help them out.
And so that's what we didwith the Dine in the 419.
We got like over 10,000 members on that.
And so then I thought
(35:50):
I thought there's
something I find myselfgoing out of the county a lot.
So I thought I started Sonny in the 419,which is our area code.
And so right now I work the area code.
So on my days off, I'm somewhereI go, I go somewhere
every my days are on there,I'm somewhere at a restaurant.
(36:10):
I'm trying to find a good storyabout somebody and highlight them.
It's not about me.
It's just about our area. And,
you know, if they, you know, afterwards,they'll message me and say,
thank you for coming over.
Thank thank God that you you're here.
Thank God for the opportunity.
We got to talk.
And so God use it somewhere.
And, you know, after we talkfor a little bit, but I just love it.
(36:34):
I think we have so many great peoplearound here.
We need to switch gearsand start being more positive,
more energetic, and just upliftnot only our area, but but God.
Well, it's it'sall about being the light in the darkness.
And that's exactly what what you'reembodying the the story you told about the
(36:56):
gentleman that that was coming against youand you just kept bringing
the versethat that was brought to my mind.
And I think it's Romans I'll put it in
I'll put a graphic up on the screenfor this.
But there's a verse.
I said, It's the kindness of Godthat leads people to repentance.
And that's exactly what you livedin, allowed
the kindness of God to flowthrough your life into this man's life.
(37:19):
And God brought him 180. Yeah.
So you're just you're walking this outand that's that's awesome.
Sonny.
And since you're doing this in the 419,if you ever come over to Bowling Green,
give me a shout.
I would love to go out with youand just see, see what you do here.
That would be great.I have to remember that.
Definitely. I'll make that up.Make that a point to get there.
Yeah.
I mean, Clyde Fremont, take Route six,just due west.
(37:42):
You're coming right into BG Yeah. Yeah.
We got the South Side 6 there.
Yeah. Oh, I love their gyros. Yeah.
They're good.
Yeah, they are good.
Awesome.
Sonny, thank you so much for taking timewith, with me on this podcast
and just sharingwhat how God is working through you.
(38:02):
You know, in your past at the factoryon your mail route,
the, the community groupsthat you're doing online, it's
this is awesome just to see that joy
and that joy of God is it's infectious.
People will take notice.
So thank you for being obedient toto live that out in the midst of that.
You know let's let's faceit, a dark world.
You're right.
(38:24):
Awesome.
Well, my guest this week, Sonny Workman
from the USPS, the United StatesPostal Service, also Sonny in the 419.
If people had a question for you, Sonny,or they wanted to find out
about the groups that you've started,
you know, say, on Facebook and otherwise,how can they get a hold of you?
Yeah, of course we're yeah,we're on Facebook YouTube channel Sonny
(38:46):
in the 419 on Ithere's always something going on so
yeah just connect with meusually Facebook is the best or YouTube.
Okay excellent excellent
Well thank you again
for for taking the time to join join usIt was just awesome to see your heart
and I'm glad that that Pastor Scottmade the connection for us.
(39:07):
Thank you Craig is a pleasure to meet you.
And I'm going to take you up on that.
And I want to get to get over to BG
and we'll go outand I'd like to see a face to face.
Awesome. That would be great.
I'm looking forward to it.
All right.
Well, thanks for joining us this weekand if you have a question for the podcast
or again, you want to find outa little bit more about Sonny and how
God is using him in his in his communityover in the Clyde and Fremont area.
(39:30):
And for one in general,you can email me theworkweekwalk@gmail.com
and you
know, feel free to leave a commenton the YouTube channel.
Drop me an email.
If you're listening to the audio podcast.
We just we want to be an encouragementto those that, you know,
those of us that are workingthe everyday work, work workplace.
(39:52):
And you'd think I had worked in radiofor almost 18 years.
Can’t spit it out, need more coffee.
Something like that.
But anyway, justwe want to share this to encourage others
that have a belief in Jesus,
have dedicated their life to himand are working Monday through Friday
9 to 5 job to help people understandthat we have been called.
(40:12):
We end every podcast with this passageand it's from Ephesians
chapter four verses 11 through 13.
I should have this memorized by now.I'm going to work on that.
But here's what that passage says.
It says this now, these are the giftsChrist gave to the church, the apostles,
the prophets, the evangelists,and the pastors and teachers.
Their responsibility is to equipGod's people
(40:34):
to do his work and build up the church.
The body of Christ.
And this will continue until we all cometo such unity in our faith
and knowledge of God's Sonthat we will be mature in the Lord,
measuring up to the full and completestandard of Christ.
You have been calledyou have been labeled a minister
(40:55):
by God himself in the job, in the careerthat you're in.
So be encouraged in that.
And just again, subscribe like sharethis with somebody else to
to help them understand the callingthat God has put on their life.
You have purpose. You have value.
And I'm just excited to hear storiesof how God's going to start using you
(41:16):
and maybe alreadyis using you in your career.
So until then, have a great week.
Know that you're called. Be Blessed.
Thank you
for joining us for the Work WeekWalk podcast.
Living Out Your FaithAuthentically in the everyday workplace.
We're praying you have a great weekat work, living out your faith in Jesus,
(41:37):
in an authentic waythat transforms the atmosphere around you.
Me myself.
I wasn't the type of person that
said the word “God” right away.
I would just be being nice to them.
Show them some love.
A lot of people were dealingwith addictions and they thought that,
well, my my dad was a smoker.
My grandpa was a smoker.
(00:21):
And now I'm a smoker.
I can't quit. It’s in me.
It's in my DNA.
And I always try to
convince them that they can.
It takes it just takes one personto break that cycle.
Yeah, maybe they can.
They could stop.
And so I would encouragejust just encourage them accountability
and and then they would.
The whole goal is to hopefully ask them.
(00:43):
Them ask me what, what is it about you?
You seem so different.
Welcome to the Work Week Walk podcast.
Living out your faithauthentically in the everyday workplace
with your host, Craig Magrum.
(01:05):
Welcome to the Work Week Walk podcast.
This podcast is all about living our faithand Jesus out
in the everyday workplace, in our jobs,in the marketplace.
I'm Craig Magnum.
My 9 to 5 Mondaythrough Friday is working as a
oh, what is my title?
I just blanked out.
A business development specialistand client care specialist for a company
(01:28):
that sells software to real estatephotographers and videographers.
And I also have the privilege
of being able to serve as ourour volunteer staff chaplain.
So just very thankfulfor that opportunity.
So what we're going to do is each eachepisode, we invite somebody different on
to talk about how they live their faithin Jesus, out in their daily jobs.
(01:50):
Different careers, different industriesevery week.
I love just
the variety of this because
God works through our personalities in
how He made us individuallyand He gives us gifts and talents.
And those things are expressedin different ways.
But it always, always points back to himas Savior and as Redeemer.
(02:13):
So I want to invite youto subscribe to the podcast
so that you get notificationsof when the new episodes drop.
Feel free to like the videois or the audio podcast
if if you're getting somethinggood out of this.
And by all means, feel free to share thisso that it can encourage others as well.
All right, so let's dive into this.
(02:34):
Today, we are exploring faithin factories and mail routes.
I know two things that seemkind of unrelated, but our guest today
has worked in both fieldsand I'm just really excited about this.
This is the first guest
that we've had on the on on on the podcastthat I don't know personally,
but somebody that we did have on ScottEast up just a few weeks ago
(02:55):
strongly suggested and said, Craig,you've got to have this guy on.
He just carriesthe joy of of Jesus everywhere he goes.
That man is Sonny Workman.
Sonny, welcome to the podcast.
Hey, Craig. Thanks a lot, man.
What a pleasure it is to be here.
I like you say we do.We both have a pastor.
You step in and come in here.
(03:16):
So that's that's a great thing there.
So thank you for allowing meto spend some time with you.
Yeah. And thank you for what you're doing.
You know, when I first heard about this,I was like, This is awesome.
You know, this is great.
This is something that peoplethroughout the
hopefully the world will eventually,you know, dive into and and spend
spend their time during their daylistening to your podcast.
(03:39):
So thank you for having it.
Oh, well, absolutely.
My my heart has always been ministry.
I've worked
a prettywide variety of different types of jobs
over my career, but the one constanthas always been I love Jesus.
I'm thankful for what he did for meand I want to encourage others.
And so that that heart to ministerand to serve others.
(04:00):
This just that's just never gone away.
So if I can encourage othersworking out there in their everyday jobs
that have this, this mistaken notion,which I had for a long time myself, Sonny
that to do ministry,you had to be a pastor in a church or,
you know, a Bible teacher or somethinglike that to be doing ministry.
That's that's actually nota biblical concept because in Ephesians
(04:23):
and we always wrap up the podcastby talking about this from Ephesians four
that God calls you and I to be ministersin the everyday world
and our pastors and teachers,
their job is to equip us to do thatwork of ministry out in the world.
You look at Jesus, he was a carpenter,He was working in the trades
before he did his public ministry.
(04:43):
I've got to believe he was doingministry in his job.
Right? Exactly.
Yeah, I totally agree.I thought the same thing.
I thought I should.
I be you know, I'm not a pastor.
I'm not a minister.
Is this my role?
Am I supposed to be a pastor?
Sometimes I thoughtmaybe I was supposed to be.
Maybe that's my calling.
But I don't know.
I sometimes still think that,but I catch myself
(05:08):
doing ministryin other ways that doesn't see,
you know, a pastor might not
come into the churchor come into a conference with a pastor
or a priest or whatever.
I see myself doing ittotally out of the box,
out in the middle of the street, whereverI might be, in a factory, like you say.
Exactly.
Well, if you don't mind,can you kind of introduce yourself,
(05:30):
you know, a littlea little personal information
you don't mind sharingand then we'll we'll dive into what,
what and how God is doing in your lifethrough through your work.
All right. Yeah.
I just turned 55 on Sunday, and soI had a great celebration with my family.
And luckilymy parents are both still alive.
So we celebrated that.
(05:50):
And I'm married to a God loving wife,
Denise, and,and and I'm just like everybody else.
I'm not perfect.
I made some mistakes through the years.
You and I are like, we are.
You know, I think that's that'sthe misconception about being a Christian.
Everybody thinks that you're you'reyou're perfect now.
(06:12):
You're safe, you're perfect.
You don't make no mistakes.
But I have made mistakes like we all have.
And five yearsago, I was married and things
we got away from from that fromGod a little bit.
And through the years,
just like a lot of young, young adultsin their twenties, 1920s,
(06:33):
they kind of thinkthat they can handle things on their own.
And so I went through a phase,
through those through those yearswhere thinking, you know,
maybe I don't need God, but I had myI had that foundation inside me.
But, well,maybe I don't need them right now.
And so me and my wife at the time,we both got away from God a little bit
and unfortunately we we divorced,but we did have three kids.
(06:57):
I thank her for that.
And we have three great kids together.
And so the next time, you know, I thought,well, do I want to get married again?
I didn't know what I shoulddo, but actually my faith
brought me, you know, God just brought me
my faith was stronger, just kept gettingstronger and stronger and stronger.
(07:17):
And so that becameone of my important things.
If I'm going to start dating,I want to date someone that's,
you know, faith based.
Faith based loves God, Right?
And then how I ran into my wife.
I just ran into my wife.
We had so many mutual friends.
I never thought we would ever meet.
And here here we are.
(07:39):
We met and things. Things just developed.
And and it's just it's just been great.
And so I you know, it's just been great.
And I love it.
And I have like I say, I have threedaughters and five grandchildren.
Oh, wow, That's awesome.
Sunny, congrats on all that.
Well, let's let's dive into youryour career and your work life.
(08:01):
So at the beginning of the podcast,we talked about the fact that we're going
to be talking about faith in the factoryand faith on the male route.
So did share share with us a little bit
about about the backgroundon Under your factory life?
Yes, right out of high
school, I wasI graduated in Klein High School in 1986.
And Whirlpool, a big Whirlpool plant hereapplied is the one time
(08:24):
it was the world's largest.
I don't know if it still is, but I knowit's the largest one in America.
You're you're talking4000 people on there.
It's like a little city.
Let's see, one, two towns.
Self is like 6600.
And so really awful people in there. Yeah.
And they're popping out 20, 22, 22,000
washing machines every day. Wow.
(08:45):
So where do these all go?
So anyway, so we were and said,no, it's my senior year.
Whirlpool used to comeand do applications for us at lunch time
and that was back then.
Everybody was either going to college,the military or Whirlpool and whirlpool.
Whirlpool was so hard to get into,so you usually had to have somebody
(09:05):
in your family.
My dad was there at the time,and so that's where I went.
I went right out, right two weeksafter high school, I went to Whirlpool
and just started doing assembly workand did that for many years.
And and it came to a pointin my life where I thought,
I think I'm better than
shooting these screws whileI'm made screws in the back of the washer.
(09:29):
I'm just going to be the bus,the best shoe scooter I could be.
And so that was my whirlpool career there.
And I end up staying therefor just shy of 30 years. Wow.
And during that time, I also coached
I also coached high schoolcross-country and track.
Okay. For 24 years.
(09:50):
That's awesome.
Very nice story there. Yeah. Very cool.
So in your time in that factory settingand I have a little bit of experience in
factories myself, when I was in college,I worked at a limestone factory
for a couple of summers, three summers
in, and maybe you and I can commiseratea little bit on this,
but I found a factorycould be a very challenging place to work
(10:16):
some some hard personalitiesthat you you run into.
What what were the challengesthat you ran into in in factory life?
Where in the factory lifeyou got everybody there.
You got such a diverse placewhere people are coming from miles away
and you're meeting in one spotand for 8 to 10 hours you're together.
(10:37):
Sometimes you're you're two,three feet away from someone.
You're stuck working with them for 8 hoursand you might rotate.
But it's just,you know, some some believe in God.
Some do not believe in God.
Some think it's some fantasy that, oh,we can't sleep.
You know, there's a lot of discussions.
When I first started,
(10:57):
one of the one of the older people told methere's two things we can't talk about,
where you're into factory,religion and politics.
And so that was like some of the stuffwith me through the years.
And so it's kind of like
First Corinthians 1613, you know, it's
beyond your guard stand firm in your face,be courageous and be strong.
(11:20):
And so that was one of the verses I wouldsay is is my factory life is to you.
You can you can be a part of that.
The bad language, some of the bad jokes,
some of the bad discussions,you're stuck there.
You know, you can't do much about it oreven even though you might be hearing it.
(11:40):
That's where you stand firm on your faithand you just walk away if you can.
Don't participate.
And so that was the hardest thing.
But it really wasn't that hard, really.
But it's hard for a lot of people.
But that's probablythe thing about factory life
is, is just thatyou see so much going on in there.
It's like a soap opera.
(12:02):
There's there's gossipon the assembly lines.
You know, It's just it's just remarkablefactory life in itself.
I think people who've been in a factory,you've seen it all.
You really have. Right?
Yeah. So good, good.
Versus really kind of build your life on
to to say strong in thosethose times of trial and temptation.
(12:23):
But then conversely, I've got to believejust because of the joy that you carry
Sonny that that God used, you've been
in some incredible ways andyou probably had some great conversations.
Do you do you have any stories ofof opportunities that you had to maybe,
maybe not always overtly share us,but to bring encouragement
into people's lifeor or just straight up share the gospel?
(12:48):
Oh, yeah, Yeah.
That's I think
me, myself,I wasn't the type of person that
said the word God right awaywould just be be
nice to them, show them some love.
A lot of people were dealingwith addictions and they thought that,
well, my my dad was a smoker,
(13:10):
my grandpa was a smoker,and now I'm a smoker.
I can't wait to send me.
That's in my DNA.
And I'd always try to
convince them that they can.
It takes it just takes one personto break that cycle.
Yeah, maybe they can.
They could stop.
And so I would encouragejust just encourage them accountability
and and then they would thethe whole goal is to hopefully ask them.
(13:34):
They asked me what what is it about here?
You seem so different.
That's what I think Christians.
Are there a difference makers.
Yeah.
Not so I was justI disappeared different to them, I guess.
And so they would just approachme and I'd become like somebody.
The I don't want to say look up to you,but they,
but they more or lesswere, were comfortable coming to me.
(13:57):
Right.
And so I had that'swhen I had an opportunity to talk
a little bit about what my faithand what Jesus has done for me.
And so it just snowballedand it just was so great to see someone
just quit smoking over timeand and they'd come on and thank me.
I said, Don't thank me.
You did it with, you know,with with your face, your new face.
(14:21):
And so it was just, just remarkable.
Stories like that is what helped meget through my almost 30 years.
It sounds like really what your approachwas, Sonny was you built
relationships and over time, you builttrust with with your coworkers.
Yes. Yup.
Yeah, I think when people feel when people
(14:41):
feel comfortable around youand they trust you
and they trust that you're not going toyou're not going to judge them,
you're not going to berate them,you're not going to look down on them,
but you're going to be looking at at themwith with the eyes of Jesus and
and be a vessel of agapelove, unconditional
love for the person,just like God is for us.
(15:04):
Yeah, that's not something normalfor them to see.
So the fact that you were able to walkin that and
and build those relationshipsand then have them open up discussion,
it's a natural way to share faithand there's really no pressure on that.
Exactly. Yeah, you're right.
Yeah. Awesome.
Well, thanks for sharing that.
Know your mail route.
(15:25):
You made a transition in yourin your career.
And I've got toI've got to ask you about that.
So what what took you fromfrom working in the factory
to then an interest in delivering mail.
Well what happened was when I was in andstill at Whirlpool, I was I was coaching.
And so I would have
to at that
time Ihad 24 boys on my cross-country team
(15:48):
and I would on my way home from the meets
on the busses, I would figure out workoutsfor the next week doing the math.
It was a lot of math.
And so I had some engineering background.
I did everything.
I worked in the engineering department,the all steel coordinator or order
all the steel for the plant assembly,scheduling everything that I could do.
(16:10):
I did it all through my year.
And so that background
kind of gave me the opportunity to, okay,there's a problem here.
I need to solve this problemnot just for me, but for other coaches.
So I developed,I developed, invented and patented
the world's first runner's calculator.
It's like it'sit's about the size of your phone.
(16:32):
Here it is right here.
Okay. Here are the notes.
And so basically,it just you could figure out your kid.
You're you're individual splitsbased off your goal time.
Okay.
And so and it would store your whole teamon there as well
and I had a calculator on thereand a stopwatch.
So it's very good for like coachesand things like that.
(16:53):
And my first six orders were from Olympiccoaches from around the world. Wow.
And so it kind of
I didn't get rich off of it.
You know,
I think if you go into thingslooking for money
as choosing what you're not going to find,I just wanted to
I just wanted to fill that voidthat was there.
Right.
And now now, you know, I know if you everinvented a product, but it takes it.
(17:18):
There's a lot behind patternin a product. It's
there's so many so many obstaclesto get there.
And without without my faith,I don't think I would have made it.
Most people would have turned around.
But I think it's all about connections,too. Yeah.
And there was a lady
there was a lady in our churchwho was a manufacturer up for like 16,000
(17:42):
corporations around the world.
Oh, wow. And I took her.
I didn't even have it made yet.I just had it on paper.
I took it to her and she said, Wow,this is pretty cool.
I'm going to take itto the trade show in California.
And so she took it thereand she found a guy that was from Samsung.
Okay.
And he's like, Wow, we can make this.
So that's so I so we start our emails
(18:05):
and next thing you know,I had a prototype made from China
come on over here from Samsungand we just took it from there.
And so I would have never had that,you know, like this about connections.
Sure.
And so, you know, here itit had that connection from church.
And here I had the patent and,
you know, making these calculators.
(18:27):
And so there there we go.
We just went from that.
And that kind of afforded methe opportunity.
Like I said, I wasn't rich, but I had alike a little a little bit of opportunity
to do something that I wanted to do.
I wanted to be like a UPS manor a mailman.
And so I applied, and next thing you know,I was hired very quickly.
(18:48):
And so I started I took a huge, hugepay cut, huge fake what I was making.
But it's something I wanted to do. Yeah.
And so but I had to.
But what happenedwas that door closed were my coaching.
I couldn't coach no more because.
Because I had to work on Saturdays nowdeliver mail.
(19:09):
I couldn't do cross-country.
Yeah. So that's you.
That's where your faith comes involved
because you think, okay,the door is closing.
Most people would turn, turn around,stop right there
and say, No, there'sGod's telling me to do something.
You know,something's happening for a reason, right?
And I really believe things happen for areason, especially when God's behind it.
(19:31):
And so it close that door.
I was done with coaching after 24 yearsand I really missed it.
And here I am.
I'll deliver a mail all by myself,you know, It's like,
Oh my gosh, I'm so used to talkingto people in my apartment.
Had 50,000 people in my department.
Every day I talk to themand all of a sudden I'm talking to no one.
Yeah, it was it was very surreal.
(19:54):
So and I kept I kept thinking,what's going on?
And I always believe thatI'm put in places for a reason, right?
I'm here for a reason. What is it?
What is it? God.
And so the community became my team,my new team.
And so every time I would see someone, I'dmake sure I talked to that person.
(20:14):
And it justI just developed relationships.
So many great people.
A lot of people were scared.
We're going to, you know, get ready.
The pandemic was comingand they were just scared.
They were looking out at me and and I waslike the only person they saw every day
as I would leave notes and if they needed
(20:36):
anything, bread, milk or whatever.
And we just develop relationships.
And the next thing you know, I'mwriting books about it
and think, this is why I'm here. Wow.
After 30 years Deliveror you're working at a plant for
people questioning why?
Why would you leave?
You got six weeks vacation.
(20:57):
Well, this is why now I figured it out.
God is showed me.
This is why I'm here.
I'm writing books now or about some ofthe people that I've met in my role,
trying to try and trying to changethe perception of the post office
because, you know, everybody has thisbad perception of the post office.
Sonny, can I canI interrupt you real quick?
(21:17):
Yeah.
So in getting ready to record this episodeand not knowing, you know,
I had this thought go through my head,okay, Mailmen
have a reputation from years pastand and do I.
Do I go there? Do I ask Sonny?
Okay. How do you live so different
than the stereotypical mailmanwe have in our heads?
(21:39):
Because you are not an angry mailman.
You are a very happy, happy,joyful mailman.
So thank you for opening that door for me.
I had to walk through it.
Yeah, that is funnybecause like I say, when I work there,
I talk to everyone on my team every day.
Every night.
How was your kids soccer game?How is the play?
You know, things like that.
Every day I made a habit of I goto the post office and I try to do that.
(22:03):
I talk to the workersand the next thing you know,
they're calling me on the radioover the over the loudspeaker.
Sunny,get back to your case. That's your desk.
They don't
want they don't wantnone of that going on at the post office.
So I just kept doing it.
I kept doing it day after day after day.
Sunny, go back to your case. Sunny,go back to work.
And one dayI was buying some stamps for my customer.
(22:25):
I went up to the clerk's deskand I bought some stamps.
And one of our managers,one of the people in the management,
come up to me and say,What are you doing up here?
I'm saying,I'm getting some stamps for my customer.
And they asked me, Do you ever not smile?
And I say, I said, I'mnot I'm not going to let this place,
(22:46):
this job or anybody in here steal my joy.
So, yeah, you're always going to see mesmile.
That's so it was different.
It was differentbecause people, like you say in the post
office are a different breed.
Are you know, it all depends on how long
they've been thereand the things they've gone through.
I could see why
(23:08):
being in there, I could
see why, you know, really they support.
But it's a it's a it'sa different environment.
Yeah.
You know,
the factory life is adifferent environment and the postal life
is a different environment.
There's so much good people there.
Yeah,but sometimes the systems that were behind
behind the people some nightsometimes I think needs to be tweaked
(23:30):
no matter if it's in a factory
or or any government system,you know, there's a lot of difference.
So but there are some good people.
We have a lot of good carriers out there,and they're just doing the best they can.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Well, let me let me drive backand rewind a little bit
because you've you've described
two environmentswhere there can be some hard personalities
(23:51):
and you're living very differentlythan a lot of the people around you.
The joy that you carry.
Sonny you know, obviouslyyou're a believer in Jesus.
You follow him andand you have at least a church background.
It sounds like you grew up in the church,but not everybody that goes to a church
or even calls himselfChristian walks in in the
(24:13):
in the joy of the Lord,which is their strength.
Usually that comesout of some sort of an experience.
Do you mind kind of sharingwhere this joy came from,
how God developed that in you,what kind of experience you had with him?
Well, I think a lot of my ex,a lot of my joy comes from my parents
that I've learned my foundation,you know, through the years.
(24:35):
My I can't think of I have to literallythink of some times that my
my parents were yelling or or anything bador throwing things or anything.
You know, unfortunately,a lot of a lot of kids growing up now
have that or people our age had that.
And I think a lot of what comes from me
(24:56):
is a reflectionof what I've learned from my parents.
They're both very hardworkers, great work ethic,
you know, God loving people.
Just, you know, I think that's whatwhere I get a lot of my joy from and
and just I just loveI just love helping others.
(25:17):
I just people is my passion.I love people.
That's my passion.
And so I think that's my thought.
My foundation really helped me. Very cool.
Well, let's let's get backthen to the to the mail route.
You said initially, you know,you were kind of by yourself.
So any time that you did run intosomebody, you made sure to talk with them.
(25:38):
So what what does again, what does faithlook like for you living that out
day to day on on your mail route,those opportunities
that you get to talk with people,what does ministry look like to you?
And in that role in the mail route?
Yeah, yeah.
I got a great example.
There was a guyI used to work with at war for years ago,
(25:59):
maybe 20 years ago,and I didn't work with him very long,
but I just remember his face and I didn'teven really remember his name.
And one day I was deliver a mailand I saw him here.
He was on my row now and he was in.
So he was talking to me.
He said, Hey, I, I remember you.
You're that you were really nice to me.
(26:20):
And we worked up in PowderCo and I'm like, Oh, man,
I remember your face,but I can't remember your name.
But my name is Fred.
And so we we started talking again.
He said, I'm getting ready to retire.
I said, Well, that's great, Fred.
I'm your new mail man.
And so you'll see me.
He says, Yeah, if you're
if, if you ever,I'll don't be afraid to knock.
(26:43):
And so so I started knockingjust to say hello.
And we developed a relationshipoutside of work.
More now on the mail route.
And one day I was sitting at the study
and at my park point in my truckand he pulls up in his car.
He's never done that before.
And I thought,Oh, there's Fred, wonder what he wants.
(27:03):
And he comes up to me and heI get out of my truck and he says, Hey,
I just came back from the doctorand you're the first person that I told.
But I've been diagnosed with stagefour cancer.
Oh man.
I got lost.
And he gives meless than six months to live.
And he just retired like two months ago.
(27:23):
And so that gave me the opportunityto pray with them.
Yeah.
And he and and so he started we startedpraying right there at my mail truck.
And he he accepted.
He accepted his
diagnosis.
He was okay with it.And he says, I'm right. I'm ready to go.
(27:44):
I'm ready to deal with the Lord.
And so I'm not going to fight this.
I'm I've been sick.
I could tell something was wrong.
But today I found out.
And so it was it was a very emotional timefor both of us.
And it just like timestopped for a minute there.
And but I then I wasn't. I'm working.
(28:05):
I got to get John, you know. Yeah.
And so that wasthat was a great, great talk we had
and we talked a couple more times.
I'd see him out in the yard and wayand then things like that
and right before,
right before my book came out,
I got to show him a picture
(28:26):
of him and me and the bookbecause we took a person that day.
That day I took a picture like peoplecall it a selfie,
but I call it a I call it an ACbecause it's more than one person.
Right. And I see.
And so we took an AC that day and I took
I had that picture put in the book.
(28:47):
And so I got to show him that picture.
So he knew thathe was going to be in the book.
But three days later he passed away.
So he never got to see the book. But
so that's one of the one of the storiesthat hit me the most is a friend.
And so I'll never you never knowwhat's going to happen out there.
Yeah, you. Have.
(29:09):
Yeah.
It's one of those things where you justyou need to be ready in season
after season. Yeah.
Because God, God will send peopleacross your path for you to minister to
and just to have his worddeeply enough in your life that you can
then minister to that person that'sgoing through that, that challenging time
and your obedience in that Sundaybecause you didn't have to offer
to pray and a lot of Christians wouldn'tbecause they're they're fearful.
(29:31):
They're they're scared of what to say.
But but God gives us those words.
The Spirit will direct,
you know, exactly how to prayand encourage that person
in that in that spot in life. So awesome.
That's awesome. Yeah,
I think it's Psalms 3723.
The steps of a man are orderedby the Lord. Yeah.
(29:52):
And so that that's an opportunityI had there.
And luckily he was already, he was savedalready, so he was ready and ready to go.
Yeah.
But God still used you to encourage him,even in the midst of salvation.
We still. Need something.
Yes. I was so thankful.
He let me know instead of mefinding out in the paper or something.
(30:13):
Right? Right.
So that was another questionI was going to ask you.
You just mentioned that verse from Psalms.
What, you know,are there any standout verses or passages
from God's Word that God is really kind
of highlighted to you in in your work,both at the factory and in the mail room?
Yes, I think our enrollment is like 15.
I think it's 15 to each of usshould please our neighbor
(30:38):
for the good to build them up.
That's that's one of the verses I think is
so I'm always trying to build them upusing that, you know, through that verse.
It's not all about me.
I need to build them up to rightAnd make them understand
what's available for them.
You know how much power there's so muchpower resides in all of us, through God.
(31:04):
Yeah. Yeah. Good word. Good word.
Well, certainly one of the things I wantedto ask you about, you know, obviously
you mentioned with the mail routethat the community is your team now.
Yeah.
And I've heard about this,Sonny in the 419.
We see that on your on your T-shirt.
Now, can you
can you tell us a little bit about thatand how God's using you in this role,
(31:25):
even if it's not an overtlyChristian thing that you're doing?
Tell us about Sonny in the 419.
Well well before before signing to forand I like
when I first started the mail wroteI lost my
my my coaching, so to speak.
I love I love motivating peoplebecause it motivates me and so I started
a Facebook community page called SanduskyCounty First, which is our county.
(31:49):
There's about 10,000 members in there and
I was just getting tired
of the negative perspective of everything.
I think because somebody is arguingand, you know, you know, something.
And so I wanted to bringa different perspective of our area.
And so that's why I started the page.
And I so I would go around businessesand uplift the small businessmen
(32:12):
to try to find a story, somebody out therethat was doing some good work,
mowing yards free or whatever, and I'llbring some in, shine some light on it.
And so, yeah, it's in people.
People don't like people.
And so people are so funny.
People will always disappoint us.
That's that's a that's a gift.
So I would get messages all the time.
(32:34):
I kid you not.
And they would say,How can you be so positive?
There's, you know, there's athere's a negative on a battery.
How can you be so positive all the time?
You know, they would send me messagesand I'm like, well, a battery
does have a positive and a negative,but you can remain the negative.
I'll be the positive. And so
(32:56):
and so I would get
and so sometimes I would post somethingon Facebook, right?
Everybody could see this guy.
I had this one guythat would always argue with me
and he would just always tryto spin my words around.
And I so I just said, Hey, you know, I'm
sorry, I'll pray for you.
(33:18):
You might be having a bad day.
You might be having a bad week, maybeit's a bad year, but I'll pray for you.
And I could do not within 5 minutes.
This guy sent me a direct messageand said, Hey, I'm sorry.
I'm. I'm just alone.
I'm alone.
And I feel like everybody's against me.
And so I'm sorry for what I did.
(33:39):
And I said, Hey, man,what's your address, man?
I'll come over.
I want to come overand take you out for breakfast.
Let's talk about things.
And so we went out for breakfastand we had some goods discussions
and he was just tell me he's alone.
He's an older guy.
His family moved away.
He lost his wife years and years ago.
Now all he had was a catand he was just angry at the world.
(34:02):
And so we had a good discussions andand through through taxes and through
direct messages and a couple of meetings,I'd go visit him off and on.
His grandkid was coming in to visit him.
A few months after that,I brought the kid a book.
I signed the book. Here you go.
It is Mailbox.
And now this guy has becomeone of my biggest supporters. He's
(34:22):
always on the out.
And it's just amazing how thingsturn around so fast. And
so that was my community college.
And when the pandemic hit and
I know a lot of restaurantowners around here
and were pretty worried aboutwhat's going to happen to the restaurant.
And, you know, everybody was right.
(34:43):
We thought it was going to bea two week thing, Right.
And so I thought, what what'ssomething I can do to help these guys out?
So I started Dine in the 419.
It's all about food.
And so every day after work,
I would go to three restaurantsin the area and I would just go live.
I'd put a sombreroon, I'd bring a little guitar
(35:05):
and I'd put my margarita glasses onand I would go to a mexican restaurant.
I'd put all the food on myon my hood of my car and put my camera up
and I'd get a margarita or whateverthey had because you couldn't go in.
So I had I had to get out.
And so I'd say, Hey, we're herelive and gossip.
Yes, come on out.
They're open to go only.
And so they open the doorsand they're like, Hey,
(35:27):
whatever you're doing, sign it,keep doing it, our phone’s off the hook.
And so I would.
Just Oh, wow, I.
Would just do this forfor every day for different restaurants.
I was spending $90 a week on food,but I didn't care.
I wanted I just oh,I just wanted to help them out.
And so that's what we didwith the Dine in the 419.
We got like over 10,000 members on that.
And so then I thought
(35:50):
I thought there's
something I find myselfgoing out of the county a lot.
So I thought I started Sonny in the 419,which is our area code.
And so right now I work the area code.
So on my days off, I'm somewhereI go, I go somewhere
every my days are on there,I'm somewhere at a restaurant.
(36:10):
I'm trying to find a good storyabout somebody and highlight them.
It's not about me.
It's just about our area. And,
you know, if they, you know, afterwards,they'll message me and say,
thank you for coming over.
Thank thank God that you you're here.
Thank God for the opportunity.
We got to talk.
And so God use it somewhere.
And, you know, after we talkfor a little bit, but I just love it.
(36:34):
I think we have so many great peoplearound here.
We need to switch gearsand start being more positive,
more energetic, and just upliftnot only our area, but but God.
Well, it's it'sall about being the light in the darkness.
And that's exactly what what you'reembodying the the story you told about the
(36:56):
gentleman that that was coming against youand you just kept bringing
the versethat that was brought to my mind.
And I think it's Romans I'll put it in
I'll put a graphic up on the screenfor this.
But there's a verse.
I said, It's the kindness of Godthat leads people to repentance.
And that's exactly what you livedin, allowed
the kindness of God to flowthrough your life into this man's life.
(37:19):
And God brought him 180. Yeah.
So you're just you're walking this outand that's that's awesome.
Sonny.
And since you're doing this in the 419,if you ever come over to Bowling Green,
give me a shout.
I would love to go out with youand just see, see what you do here.
That would be great.I have to remember that.
Definitely. I'll make that up.Make that a point to get there.
Yeah.
I mean, Clyde Fremont, take Route six,just due west.
(37:42):
You're coming right into BG Yeah. Yeah.
We got the South Side 6 there.
Yeah. Oh, I love their gyros. Yeah.
They're good.
Yeah, they are good.
Awesome.
Sonny, thank you so much for taking timewith, with me on this podcast
and just sharingwhat how God is working through you.
(38:02):
You know, in your past at the factoryon your mail route,
the, the community groupsthat you're doing online, it's
this is awesome just to see that joy
and that joy of God is it's infectious.
People will take notice.
So thank you for being obedient toto live that out in the midst of that.
You know let's let's faceit, a dark world.
You're right.
(38:24):
Awesome.
Well, my guest this week, Sonny Workman
from the USPS, the United StatesPostal Service, also Sonny in the 419.
If people had a question for you, Sonny,or they wanted to find out
about the groups that you've started,
you know, say, on Facebook and otherwise,how can they get a hold of you?
Yeah, of course we're yeah,we're on Facebook YouTube channel Sonny
(38:46):
in the 419 on Ithere's always something going on so
yeah just connect with meusually Facebook is the best or YouTube.
Okay excellent excellent
Well thank you again
for for taking the time to join join usIt was just awesome to see your heart
and I'm glad that that Pastor Scottmade the connection for us.
(39:07):
Thank you Craig is a pleasure to meet you.
And I'm going to take you up on that.
And I want to get to get over to BG
and we'll go outand I'd like to see a face to face.
Awesome. That would be great.
I'm looking forward to it.
All right.
Well, thanks for joining us this weekand if you have a question for the podcast
or again, you want to find outa little bit more about Sonny and how
God is using him in his in his communityover in the Clyde and Fremont area.
(39:30):
And for one in general,you can email me theworkweekwalk@gmail.com
and you
know, feel free to leave a commenton the YouTube channel.
Drop me an email.
If you're listening to the audio podcast.
We just we want to be an encouragementto those that, you know,
those of us that are workingthe everyday work, work workplace.
(39:52):
And you'd think I had worked in radiofor almost 18 years.
Can’t spit it out, need more coffee.
Something like that.
But anyway, justwe want to share this to encourage others
that have a belief in Jesus,
have dedicated their life to himand are working Monday through Friday
9 to 5 job to help people understandthat we have been called.
(40:12):
We end every podcast with this passageand it's from Ephesians
chapter four verses 11 through 13.
I should have this memorized by now.I'm going to work on that.
But here's what that passage says.
It says this now, these are the giftsChrist gave to the church, the apostles,
the prophets, the evangelists,and the pastors and teachers.
Their responsibility is to equipGod's people
(40:34):
to do his work and build up the church.
The body of Christ.
And this will continue until we all cometo such unity in our faith
and knowledge of God's Sonthat we will be mature in the Lord,
measuring up to the full and completestandard of Christ.
You have been calledyou have been labeled a minister
(40:55):
by God himself in the job, in the careerthat you're in.
So be encouraged in that.
And just again, subscribe like sharethis with somebody else to
to help them understand the callingthat God has put on their life.
You have purpose. You have value.
And I'm just excited to hear storiesof how God's going to start using you
(41:16):
and maybe alreadyis using you in your career.
So until then, have a great week.
Know that you're called. Be Blessed.
Thank you
for joining us for the Work WeekWalk podcast.
Living Out Your FaithAuthentically in the everyday workplace.
We're praying you have a great weekat work, living out your faith in Jesus,
(41:37):
in an authentic waythat transforms the atmosphere around you.
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