10 Years Later...

?I first moved to Arlington, Texas way back in 1989 and while it seems like yesterday, that was 30 years ago. Arlington was not my first choice as I had originally made plans to attend Prairie View but when my financial aid package was declined, those plans went by the wayside. When I got to Arlington, I set my sights on UT-Arlington but even though I had a new school I had the same old problem; finances. 

Back then temporary agencies were everywhere with offers of short and long-term work assignments, so I signed on with a few to make some fast money. It seemed like every single time I got into a financial groove, the assignment would end and on my last, I sustained an injury to my shoulder. The injury forced me to wear a cumbersome harness but more importantly, it forced me to miss work. I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it, but time was of the essence as registration was nearing.

Out of nowhere one of the temporary agencies called and my sister passed me the phone. I started not to take it, but I did, and they offered me another assignment. Even though I was injured, I took it and was set to start that following Monday. So, Monday rolled around, and I had made up my mind that I was not going in, but I went in anyway…and kept going in…and kept going in…until one afternoon my boss called me into his office. I figured this was the dreaded “your assignment has ended conversation”; but boy was I wrong.

Instead he said, “I have asked the temporary agency for permission to hire you permanently” …the words every temp worker wants to hear. So, in a space of 15 minutes, I went from making, and I am not ashamed to say it, $5.15 per hour…to $45,000 a year; at 20 years of age. Financial problems…tuition, rent, car, books…all those problems and more…instantly solved.

***

I often wonder what my life would have been like had I not shown up for work that first Monday, but I am so grateful that I did. I stayed at that job for 10 years, bought 3 new cars, traveled, completed my undergraduate degree and began working on my MBA. I made lifelong friends and in effect went from a boy to a man. 

The irony of it all came rushing back to me on my last day as God spoke to me in several ways. First, He spoke through a mirror. I visited my old work station, the very first one I had and for some reason there was a mirror there. When I looked in it, I saw a man with a mustache and stubble beard looking back at me, nothing like the boy who arrived without a hair on his face. 

He next spoke to me through silence. As I walked through the plant one final time there wasn’t a soul around as everyone else had left early but by this time in my tenure, I had transferred to a department that worked late. The lights were dimmed, the machines were off and there wasn’t a sound to be heard. It made me stop and think about how much noise my life held when I arrived…noise that said don’t go Monday, noise that said you’re injured, noise that said you’re running out of time. But in that moment of silence, I remembered how He quieted all that noise down and led me to that place.

The last and most powerful was through a simple calendar. I walked past the inspection area where I also worked and saw one sitting on the table. It said August 14th, 1999… I was hired permanently on August 14th, 1989. My first day and last day fell on the same date. I’ve held onto those “conversations”, those reminders, those remember Me’s, those it’s going to be ok’s and every so often, I lean on them. But none of them would have ever happened had I not taken the call, or had I decided not to go in that Monday.  

Friend, when things get tight this week take the call and above all no matter how much noise you hear that says not to, says stay away, says it won’t work, go in anyway…

Because going in…is where your blessing awaits.