After Thoughts of My Emotional Last Day at Work

Last week was so emotional, especially yesterday!  Yesterday was the last day of my work.  And now I'm on a Personal Leave of Absence.  The absence will last four months as I travel to China.

At work we have a daily "huddle" (aka Daily Service Promise) where our team meets for a few minutes to talk about anything and everything that pertains to running the business.     Everybody on the team takes a turn once a month to lead the huddle. I lead my last huddle on Friday 2/11/11.   

The rough draft is below, but here is a quick preface.  The thoughts I wanted to say in the huddle came to me about a week in advance.  I was terrified by what my words that I would say.  Was very emotional for my last week at work, and especially the last day.  There were three subjects I split my thoughts in to in the rough draft into.  1. Trophy, 2. my emotions, 3. The why I'm going to China.  

1. The Trophy is a traveling trophy which means it gets passed around from team mate to team mate.  Simply put somebody gives you the trophy if you delivered WOW service in some way.  Then, likewise, you pass it on to somebody who you believe delivered WOW service.  And the trophy is suppose to move all around.  Except, the trophy has only moved around to two people over the course of 8 months. Most people do not even know it exists.  The trophy, in my opinion, has a huge amount of honor attached to it.  I received it for doing tons of work on the greatest national oil spill ever.

2. I thought it would be good to be vulnerable and share my story.  I've always felt insecure and lack of confidence.  It was hard for me to share deeply, but I did it anyway.  My team mates shared with me later how my words had impacted them.  I'm grateful for their kind words and all my team means so much to me.  

3. Some more of me just trying to be real.

Some of the below draft I shared, other times I just winged what was on my mind.  I present to you the rough draft of my huddle

Trophy--

1. trophy
   1. most highly coveted ultimate trophy
   2. only 2 othe people had it
   3. 8 – 10 months ago Chris Kempa passed it out
   4. Tarj had it and then Jason Campion
   5. I got it for staying late and doing BP credits/debits
   6. I hate having it because I have to decide who to give it to
   7. I'd like to give it to everybody
   8. I give it to mom
   9. She does the most forms, and takes the most calls, she given me so much that I'll never be able to pay her back. She's volunteered her time at the Y teaching challenged kids to swim for over 30 years. She's opened her home to me, and that's just amazing to me.
2. Hardest thing.
   1. This week has been really tough on me. So many mixed emotions I feel stirring around in my heart. I feel the pressure on my chest. I'm going to miss you guys so much is the hardest feeling, is feeling the loss of a team. We got so much chemistry here it's not even funny. Other emotions are fears of not having a pay check, not having a job, fear of the unknown with what's going to happen in China.
   2. Another hard thing is I've never been on a better team in my past. I'm used to get fired for misconduct and being a punk. I once was volunteering at the Waukegan Public Library for free and they fired me for putting books in the wrong locations. But sourcing is where I've grown so much, and I hope my China trip doesn't throw my chances at coming back, and that fear makes it hard.
   3. Our cell is the most amazing cell. Here's some highlights that I've noticed:
      • We have the highest GP.
      • We helped BP clean up the largest oil spill in history.
      • We're the only team that survived the recession. All the other cells were rearranged, split apart, hacked up and spit out, managers were fired, or merged. We were the only cell that made it through alive and kicking.
      • The only time we lose somebody is because they get promoted away. Or stolen by Dawn Batteau. But she gave us Jesse so I forgive Dawn.
   4. In my opinion, simply put, the Y1Y4Y7 cell is blessed by God himself!
3. The last thing I wanted to talk about was the question I get sometimes of why are you going? Or what led you to go to China? That's a hard question to answer because it's a long story, plus it's really personal and hard to explain, so I'll take a stab at it now. Simply put this is a door that I think God opened up for me. This China trip is divine providence in my life that I can't ignore. This will be more of a religious retreat than school or career advancement. About 7 years ago I hit rock bottom with alcohol and some other bad stuff. I was a momma's boy. I played xbox like crazy. I tried to date all the girls at work and at church. I was pretty sad. I hit my rock bottom and called up to God, surrendered in life, stopped doing life in my own strength. And start relying on all the crazy promises in the bible that God gives. My life totally turned around. I got a good small group, a good mentor, and my roommate was my battle partner God rest his soul. I started regularly seeing my dad again. I've lived at his house for the past month or two now. I've grown a ton. And I plan to just keep on growing and maturing and praying and reading the bible. The main thing is to have a relationship with God. That gives me all the meaning and purpose in life. And anyhow I believe God gave me a passion for China. Two years ago China was just another country on the map. God gave me the passion and opened the doors for me to go. It's been an amazing adventure to get to today. And tomorrow the adventure keeps going. Next week I am volunteering my time at Voice of the Martyrs. This is a ministry that tries to support the persecuted church. I'm not sure what to expect, but it will be more adventure. Than my China trip will be part of the adventure with God. And after China? I can't see that far in to the future. The doors are opened here in IL to live and work and church and family and friends are and my neice Audrina. And so those are God's open doors for me. That's why I'm going to China, is out of obedience to what I think God is calling me to.

I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you, plans to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11