The Missing Penny (or I have no cents)

I was debating whether or not to put this here, and I decided that I needed to. This is the company that is closing down the entire customer service center here in Springfield, MO, and putting my wife and me out of work.

Now, they are at least giving us a severance package, which in a no fault state is not required. But there are a lot of things going on in the company that just stings.

It almost seems that they are trying to intimidate, push, or boot us out, so that they do not have to pay the severance. Now, with the business degree that took me 6 1/2 years to get, I know that it makes good business sense to do so. That means that the company has to pay out less in the end. But doing all of this almost goes 180 against their precious ethics standards that the company was forced to accept to get out of bankruptcy.

It hurts that the time that I spent here (albeit short) is not worth that much. But I guess that employees being cannon fodder is the business principle of today.

There. I said it. Now I feel better. A little.

I like new things. I like that you have to practice to get it right, as frustrating as that can be. I am trying to get an image loaded onto this thing, and here goes!!!

Kind of like Napalm, but more dangerous. It is very infectous, and I think that I am catching it. Signs of this are:

- Ho Hum attitude
- Laziness
- Unattentiveness

I think that I have it here at work, especially since they are shutting us down.

N ot
O ur
P roblem
A ny
M ore

It is still amazing how children change your perspective on God. My wife's parents were in town over the weekend, and they bought Elijah a new bike. It was his first. He was all excited about it, but did not want to ride it. He said that he could not do it. Well, we went ahead and got it, and last night was the first night.

After getting the helmet, elbow pads, knee pads, and gloves (how did we survive learning to ride without them?) I put him on the bike. He would do one forward pedal, and then back pedal to stop. I would tell him that he was pedaling the wrong way, and he would say "Oh!". We would then repeat that cycle again.

I finally had to threaten him to stop hitting the brake, especially since that helmet kept hitting me in the stomach.

The thing that got me, though, is that everytime that I would coax/convince/threaten/encourage/move his feet for him, He would then get all excited and then turn around and say, "I can't do it." I would then tell him that I was there, and that I would help him, and then he would get some forward mo' and then hit the brake again and say, "I can't do it."

I had to stop and think, "How many times do I do that? God is right there, His hands on my feet moving me in the right direction. I got some forward momentum, and I go and hit the brakes and say 'I can't do it' when in all reality, I can't. It is God that is there doing it/helping me with it."

I love/hate those moments when I really see me in perspective.

It is very hard to give your all to something that has pulled everything from you. Where I work is like working in a morgue, but the bodies are still alive. Things are dead, there is no commitment, and any dedication or effort that you show is either ridiculed or undermined.

Talk about trying to be a light in a dark room.

I guess that this is working fine. I guess that it is now time for me to start opening up my self and my thoughts to this.

It is weird, but now I am finding this hard to do.....

Can you hear me now?

Good!

New creation. It seems that my life is epitomizing (sp?) "Behold, I am making everything new!"