Several years ago, I was between churches and was quickly arriving at the point of needing to find something to help us get by.  After lots of searching and filling out a boat-load of job applications, I was blessed to find a position as a full-time custodian, at…you guessed it…a local church.  It was one of the largest churches in our city.  I knew I wasn’t going to get rich there by any stretch of the imagination, but it did take care of putting groceries on our table. 

This place was HUGE!  To this day, I still believe there were classrooms in the educational center that I don’t believe I ever found.  I even remember having to leave bread crumbs a time or two while I was working so I wouldn’t get lost. 

There were several of us on the custodial staff.  It was a good thing too, because this church had miles of carpet and acres of floor tile.  One of the guys that worked with us was a small framed, older man we called, Mr. Don.  He had big bushy sideburns that went with his bushy hair that he kept tucked underneath his well worn ballcap.  You always knew when Mr. Don was near because you could hear the jingle of his massive keyring he had hanging on the side of his belt.  Mr. Don was a unique character to say the least, but I loved every second of working with him.  Undoubtedly one of the sweetest men I’ve ever met.  And a working machine!  It didn’t take long to figure out that Mr. Don was the ‘god-father’ of floor tile.  Not. Even. Kidding.

This dude was an absolute master at cleaning floor tile.  Never before, or since, have I ever watched anyone treat and clean floors the way he did.  Floor tile literally feared this man.  I’m so thankful that he took me under his wing, and taught me his tricks and secrets.  I felt like Daniel-son to his Mr. Miyagi.  To this day, I still remember all that he taught me, and still use those same tricks.  In fact, right now I find myself again between churches…and again making a living as a full-time custodian, and every time I work the tile floors I think of Mr. Don.  

It always amazed me every time we worked a room that had tile on the floor our process was simple: we would go in, stack the chairs, thoroughly sweep the entire floor with a chemically treated dust mop…then we would mop the complete floor with the hottest water we could get mixed with the best commercial cleaner on the market.  When we were finished, the floor looked incredible!  They were sparkling in the fluorescent lightening of the classrooms and hallways.  That’s when Mr. Don would reach into his magic bag of tricks. 

Dumb me, thinking we were done…

As I was gathering up our cleaning tools and headed back to dump our filthy mop water, Mr. Don would waddle back down the hall to our custodial supply closet, with his keys jingling with every step.  You could hear the racket and rustling coming out of the room.  Then, Mr. Don would appear with his trusty floor buffer, making his way back to the same space we just finished cleaning.  I remember well when I first started working with him, I would say, “Mr. Don we just finished this space.  Don’t we need to move on to the next space?”  He would look up to me with a small grin on his face, and with his cap slightly tilted sideways he would say, “Now brother, we’re not done.  Now, we’re fixing to clean the floor.”  I about lost my mind the first time he told me that.  I could sincerely not comprehend the fact that there was more cleaning to be done on a perfectly clean floor. 

It didn’t take long at all before I realized I had no idea what ‘clean’ meant. 

But Mr. Don did.    

He would roll his floor buffer down to our room or hallway that we were working on.  Next, he would put a clean 20” buffer pad on the machine, then very gently spray a light mist of floor conditioner on the tile, then he would fire up the machine.

The floor buffer and Mr. Don were a match made in heaven! 

Ever so gently, Mr. Don would work his trusty buffing machine over and over the floor…back and forth until you could see the magic come alive.  Over the next little bit, you could slowly watch that extremely clean floor that we had just finished, transform into what appeared to be a brand-new floor with a dozen fresh coats of fresh wax.  It was truly unbelievable!  You could undeniably see the details of your reflection in the floor’s finish.  After he was finished with his buffer, he would take a clean dust mop and go back over the floor, sweeping up the debris that the buffer had worked up out of the floor.  Still blows my mind when I see exactly how much more dirt was in that floor, even though it appeared clean.  Then he would lay the buffer on its side and take the once clean buffer pad off and replace with a brand new one.  You see, a floor buffer rotates at an average of 175 RPM, and that once clean buffer pad was now coated with muck and gunk from the floor that it had just worked out…crud that was buried in the nooks and crevices of the floor, hidden in plain sight.  Even though the floor looked clean…it really wasn’t.  By using the buffer on the floor, it brought out the utter best the floor could be by vigorously cleaning the depths of the floor, removing the filth.    

Scripture also talks about a buffer, but it’s definitely not referring to a machine to use on a tile floor…

In Luke 22, Jesus has just completed His Last Supper with His disciples.  Judas Iscariot has already left the gathering, gone out to fetch the Roman soldiers.  He had already sold out Jesus…now it was time for him to keep his part of the bargain.  And just before Jesus leaves the Upper Room with Peter, James and John, He has a conversation with Simon Peter. 

His words are haunting:  “Simon, Simon!  Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.”  (Luke 22:31)

When we see the word, ‘sift’, we can think ‘buffer.’   Think about this Scripture for just a minute.  Satan has asked specifically for Simon Peter…which means that if he asked for Simon, he can also ask for you and me! As I have said time and time again, if you are doing your best to live your life for Jesus and be the man or women He has called you to be, then you can rest assured that your name is in satan’s mouth and there is a target on your back! Not only are you not immune to satan calling for you by name, but in fact you are on his most wanted list! And, not only did he asked specifically for Simon Peter, but he had a purpose…that was to ‘sift’ him as wheat.  Trust me when I tell you this is not a two-bit carnival ride in some county fair!  This is a vigorous and violent procedure of removing the waste…eliminating the chaff from the wheat.  It’s a deep process of separating the filth from the pure grain.  Without the sifting, the impurities would never be removed leaving the wheat product tainted.  The sifting process was vicious, designed to do whatever is necessary to remove the chaff.    

Just like buffing the tile floors…

Simon was indeed, about to be sifted.  Just a couple of short hours after this conversation, Simon had the opportunity…three times to be exact…to be identified with Jesus as one of His followers.  And all three times, Simon denied the fact that he ever knew Him.  It was for sure a powerful night for Simon Peter…it was a night he would never forget.  He had had the opportunity to stand firm on his faith…three different times to shine…but he buckled under the pressure of his trials and troubles.

Under the pressure of the sifting…

Satan thought that he had finally conquered Simon…he knew Simon’s weak spot, and he had just exploited it.  In satan’s mind, he had taken Simon out of the picture…he was no longer going to be a threat to the kingdom of darkness. 

But God had other plans…

This is where we as believers, need to dig deep and understand the bigger picture!  Every trouble or hardship that comes our way and attacks us, is done so under the authority of God.  Satan cannot do any of this on his own.  He has to have God’s permission.  We see this in Luke 22, and we also see it in the Book of Job.  But while satan is trying to use these hardships to break you, God is using it to grow you, strengthen you, and make you more Christ-like!  Look at what Paul told the church in Rome in Romans 8:28:  “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

What we as Christians need to understand, is the fact that God believes that we WILL make it through all the garbage that satan sends our way and puts us through! Look back at Luke 22: 

“Simon, Simon!  Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”  Luke 22:31-32 (emphasis mine)

Read that again and process for just a minute!  When life is throwing everything it can at you…when you’re struggling and hurting in ways you simply cannot comprehend…and you think your whole world is caving in, the God of the Universe is praying for YOU so that your faith should not fail and that you would overcome all the obstacles that satan is attacking you with! I’m talking about when you’re being pounded and pounded till you think there is no way out…God is praying…praying for you.

Is your life a dumpster fire right now?  Are you ready to give up…tired of the fight?  You’re doing everything in your power to be the Christian man or woman that God wants you to be, but life just keeps punching you in the mouth…sound familiar?  Right now…RIGHT THIS VERY MOMENT…in the heat of the battles that you’re in, Almighty God is praying…praying for YOU…to strengthen your faith…and that you would overcome the struggles you’re in!

God doesn’t waste anything! Everything that has, is, and will be happening to you is all for His glory! Romans 11:36: “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.”

Don’t give up!!!  Keep going!!!  You’re winning in Jesus’ Name, that’s why satan is trying so hard to beat you down!!! Jesus called satan a ‘thief’ in John 10:10, and trust me thieves don’t break into empty houses!

After coming back to what seemed like an already perfectly clean floor, Mr. Don would very methodically go over every inch of a tile floor with his buffer…back and forth, time after time and row after row of floor tile.  Mr. Don knew the floor had a much greater shine deep within than what it was showing, he also knew that it took lots of intense pressure and buffing to bring that shine out.  And sure enough, over a period of vigorous polishing with the floor buffer, you could see the shine begin to rise up out of that floor.  When he finished, it was so shiny…so clean…you could see reflections in the floor from all around the room.    

Right now, you may be under the intense and vigorous pressure of life’s buffer…and it may seem like there’s no end in sight.  I want you to remember that God Himself is praying for you right now.  He knows there’s a shine deep within you and He’s trying to remove all the muck and gunk in your life so that the shine within you would rise to the top for all the world to see!  And when it does, the reflection won’t show the dirt that’s still hidden. 

It will be a clear reflection of the One who’s running the buffer…