If you haven’t read my previous post “Unanswered prayers”, then please back up. You will not experience the following blog in full effect if so. Thanks.
Work has been both amazing and stressful in its opportunities lately. I have finally been given a permanent home(store) and the privilege of running my own department. May 16th is the day that I start work at the Harris Teeter on Lawndale. I can not begin to explain how overly excited I am to have the chance of leading my own team to excellence. With the knowledge of it being a brand new store and no current employees, my mind has been full of visions of how I want the place to run and who I want to work with in my department. My brain was and still is overflowing like a boiling pot. Sometimes I wish I had a bigger pot. But maybe the pot is not the problem, it could be the temperature.
Interviews needed to be conducted and still are. I was put in charge of building my team and I had the perfect team atmosphere in mind. Within the first minutes of each interview I was able to decide whether or not the specific person was right for the job. Even knowing this I was still fair and consistent with every interviewee. Something about the saying “at the first impression” was clearer to me then ever. One guy came to the interview in real baggy pants that hung way below what we consider the waistline and a tee-shirt so long that it could have been used as a curtain. The handshake I received was softer then mash potatoes and was the one thing I kept thinking about throughout the entire interview process. Another guy preceded to lean back in his chair as if he was riding his car, listening to Snoop Dogg. Every sentence he spoke began with a “You know I’m sayin’?” Not to mention the cell phone that kept ringing during the interview.
I know it’s funny and sad at the same time, but belive it or not, I had a few quite good candidates. Most of the hiring is now complete, but it wasn’t up until yesterday that it came to its final. The people that I have hired have impressed me with their attitudes more then with their experience. Actually none of them had any grocery stocking experience. I was getting stressed out knowing that I needed people with experience to help me open a brand new store. Amateurs(or as we call them “rookies” or “green”) are a long term investment and take time to train and develop and the situation I’m headed into will not give me adequate time to babysit. The crew is to consist of a Grocery manager (me), an Assistant Grocery manager (Jeff, my buddy, with a great work ethic), 3 full time stockers, and 2 part time stockers. So far I have hired 2 part timers and 1 full timer, all which have no experience. With two spots open and a good candidate for one of them (no experience as well) I had no other choice but to pray.
One of my 4 prayers I lifted up to God with confidence last Thursday was about this particular situation. I asked Him to give me a person with experience, a good attitude, and a high energy level to fill the last spot. I was desperate but sure God would provide. Yesterday I was in the middle of an interview and my store manager interrupts me to make sure I don’t leave before I see him. I thought it was something of a lesser significance, but boy was I wrong. The District Manager called for me, to tell me he aquired an experienced stocker who currently works for Harris Teeter, to join my team at Lawndale. I was skeptical at first. This whole time I had a perfect team in mind and there he is pushing somebody at me like its just an old TV, somebody couldn’t wait to get rid off. “What if he’s slow or has a bad attitude”, those were my exact thoughts. It came to me after I had jumped in my car to drive home. This was God’s doing. I asked him to deliver and he did. I had nothing to do with it. I remembered Pastor Roy’s message this Sunday. I was like Naaman in 2 Kings 5. Naaman expected the prophet Elisha to meet him and cure him of his leprosy. He expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on God to heal it. But instead, Elisha sent out a messenger to tell him to wash in the Jordan River seven times and he would be cured. Naaman was furious and wanted to see a miracle performed by God, not something stupid like jumping into a river seven times. I realized I was Naaman. To stubborn for my own good. I expected to hire this person myself and probably would have forgot to give God the credit.
The lesson is that God never works the way you think He will. You ask for a slice of bread and He will give you a whole loaf. You look for Him in yourself but He will reveal himself in somebody else. You try to lift a stone but somebody else lifts it for you. God is “unexpected”. I trust God that this was the person I have been praying for, even though I have not met them yet. I am so glad pastor Roy preached on Naaman. God intended for me to be in church this Sunday as always. There is a reason for everything.
One more prayer to go. I am shaking right now. I feel like I have just seen the Red Sea part.
