When asked to describe what it was like being a Power Plant Operator, my answer is immediate, learned early-on in my Edison Operator career.  It is-

Hours upon hours of shear boredom interspersed with moments of stark terror! 

I guess one could equate it with a fireman’s job; performing routine and mundane tasks around the firehouse twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week until that alarm bell sounds!

An operator’s job involved beginning and ending each shift performing “inspection rounds,” walking throughout the plant making routine checks of all the equipment, or checking the control boards, charts, and instrumentation status. Important, but mundane tasks.  But then there are those stress-filled times during a unit start-up or shutdown process, along with intense moments when alarms sounded due to unexpected equipment failure or an event that required immediate operator intervention.  In between the routine and the unexpected events were many uneventful hours filled with nothing but the background noise and vibrations of the boiler/turbine/generator energy conversion process.

Operators handled the boredom in various ways; reading a book or newspaper; getting caught up and debating world events; listening to or watching a sporting event; even throwing darts on the back-shift. Then there was the challenge to just stay awake on graveyard shift, trying to remain alert and be ready for the “next unexpected event” or call from the Energy Control Center, or that unnerving annunciator alarm that meant, “we got a problem!”

Every power plant operator goes through the Division Operator Training School, graduating as an Apprentice Plant Equipment Operator (APEO) to become a Plant Equipment Operator (PEO), then advancing through a sequential step progression up to the position of a Control Operator (CO) or if so desired, a Shift Supervisor position.  But coming out of the school as an APEO, the first and primary objective was establishing oneself as a qualified and competent Plant Equipment Operator (PEO). Where you went from there was your choice in taking advantage of the available training and development process, and how you used your time in those “boring hours” that needed to be filled.  Each operator had a great deal of latitude and opportunity to advance.  But the one overruling prerequisite was being a qualified PEO, which meant thoroughly knowing the equipment at the base level, being prepared and ready to meet the unexpected events that give real meaning to the phrase, “expect the unexpected.”

The Operator Training School taught the basic theories and principles of what one must know to become a competent Plant Equipment Operator.   But, once you walked out of the classroom and into the plant, then came the inevitable encounter with the seasoned veterans.  It is here that one’s training really began; faced with the necessity to prove yourself in earning the respect and trust of your peers and superiors who were much more knowledgeable and experienced. One needed to convince co-workers that you would at best, not be an embarrassment to yourself in making a stupid mistake; or at worse, get somebody killed.  For the “newbie” right out of school, a whole new level of training commenced, being grilled by peers until they had confidence in your knowledge and abilities.  This often-entailed relentless question and answer sessions conducted by crusty and often cantankerous control operators who loved pointing out your ignorance.  There is a saying that comes to mind here: “Amateurs do it until they get it right – Professionals do it until they can’t get it wrong” – (Louis Armstrong).  These “professionals” were proud of what they knew and did, and they wanted you to have the same confidence as well.  Knowing your equipment in order to “be prepared” for the endless array of changes and emergency situations was an arduous task.

I could provide a list of my own personal adrenaline driving encounters over the years to prove the point that there really is no substitute for knowing your equipment, its purpose, its design, and how it functioned.  A job well done meant going home at the end of shift knowing you had performed your part and met the expectation of your peers.  More important than that was going through the process of having captured those lessons learned with the competence and ability to pass it on to others.

This is a lesson learned that can be applied to all of life, especially in the Christian life.  I recently heard my pastor say in a Sunday sermon, “The best preparation for turmoil is personal sanctification.”  This seems like a simple statement that, if anything, might appear to be an over simplification.  But it is not.  It can be most profound if truly taken to heart.

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.”  1Pet. 3:15

In these days of turmoil and stress, how many consistently, truly possess or see a reason for the hope in their life?  The problem with this resides in not knowing the abundant promises, foundational principles and purpose of our God so that we can “count it all joy” when we face various trials (James 1:2). As such we are ill-prepared to face the inevitable, daily “unexpected events” of the Christian life.  Working for Edison, expecting the unexpected and being prepared with knowledge of what to do in those moments of “terror” was an exhilarating reward; a welcomed experience as a well-trained Edison Operator.  But it didn’t just happen.  Applying this to the Christian life, Paul writes in the Ephesian letter:

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (Eph 5:15-16)

The lessons learned in those hours on the back-shifts, going through those relentless question and answer sessions was an invaluable process in being equipped and prepared for both tasks mundane and unexpected.  It meant making good use of the:

Hours upon hours of shear boredom
interspersed moments of stark terror!