One Year....And Counting!

Today I celebrate my first year in my current job and I really get a big kick out of the people who work here. The fellow who owns the company is not only a decent human being but also a God fearing man who does his best to live out the truth in the conduct of his business. He was born in Texas but has his roots deeply ingrained in a little town in Louisiana just thirty miles from where I was raised up. He is an expert in the field of metal fabrication and all related areas of skill. I know very little about this field but I do have a long track record in planning, managing, and organizing people and programs. Thus far we have been able to compliment each other in our working together to grow the business. As an added bonus sometimes we sit around after closing time and just visit where we talk about our families, our relationship with God, and old times back in Louisiana.

We have some real characters that work here. The shop foreman is past sixty-five but still working. He tries his best to be a grouch. But he just can’t help himself. He likes me and I know he likes me and he knows that I know he likes me but he does his best to act like he doesn’t. If I say white, he will say black, and if I say up, he will say down. We have a ball dealing with each other and I have such great respect for his craftsmanship and ability to get things done. He’s a hands-on type of guy and he can tell in a heartbeat whether a new worker is any good or not. If someone was listening in on some of our conversations they might wonder if we really worked that well together but we do and it works and I love working with people who have character.

Another gentlemen is in his early seventies and he also is a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to just about anything, fabrication, mechanical and general types of tasks. He comes in every morning to get coffee for himself and a couple of the other fellows down in the shop office. They say he used to be one of the meanest and most difficult people you could ever meet and that anyone who crossed him might well end up with a knot on the top of their head. Yet, today is a dedicated and devout believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and he has the most sweet and wonderful spirit about him. We often visit for a few moments before their official start time at 7 a.m., and we laugh together and encourage one another in the Lord.

There are really too many special folks here to talk about each one in particular so I’ll end today’s blog by sharing about another of our older guys. He is seventy-six years old and he works as our delivery driver. Let me just say that anyone who can drive all over the metro area from early to evening has to have one good set of nerve control. Add to this the fact that he often is carrying cargo worth up to fifty grand and in traffic jams and held up here and there and being called all the time to find out where he is but he loves it and does a good job at it. In addition, he knows just about everything there is to know about everything. If you don’t believe it, just ask him. Now some folks are put off by his ‘know it all’ attitude. Maybe it’s a respect thing but for me I think it funny and I love to dialogue forth and back with him.

These are just a few of the people here that make my twelve-hour days enjoyable. Do I ever have a bad day? Do things ever get kind of touchy and tense when schedules aren’t being met and other things go wrong? You better believe it! But, think about it for a moment. What a blessing to come here every day and do my best to contribute and on top of that I get to enjoy working with some really neat folks as well. I’ll say it one more time. Is this a great country or what? And, thanks be to God for providing as He does. So here’s to one year and counting. Amen.…. more later.