My father worked at McDonalds during most of the years while I was growing up. Before that he worked as an insurance salesman, but when he decided that God was calling him into the ministry full time, he packed up and moved from Oklahoma City to Arlington, TX to attend Southwestern Theological Seminary. He worked at McDonalds for nearly ten years as he earned his Masters in Divinity.

I respected my dad as i grew up, watching him get up at 3:00 am to go to work. I didn’t get to see him a whole lot during those years. He would drive the 40min or so communte from work to home, eat lunch, and head off to class. He’d get home late, spend a little time with us then go to bed at about 9:00pm. Due to his busy schedule, he generally studied on his lunch break at McDonalds. Any real studying had to be done away from home, as we were always inturrupting him for one reason or another, so he would pack off to McDonalds anytime he needed to do any real study. It got to be such a tradition that he found he couldn’t study as well anywhere else.

When he graduated from seminary, we moved to IL where he pastored his first church. He swtiched from McDonalds to Hardees because Hardees was generally quieter. Seems like there were always people coming in and out of McDonalds.. *grin* He was so regular there that somebody had a little wooden sign made that said, "The Pastor Is In", for him to put on the booth while he was there. He developed a repore with the folks and regulars.

We homeschooled all them years, and as we got older we inherited some of his habits. Seems like whenever I really need to get something big done, I’ll have to seclude myself at some McDonalds and with my trusty refillable soda, spend hours reading, typing and thinking. Thanks Dad… its a great tradition…