Mr. Sam and Emmanuel
Two things happened to me during college that God used to both help me understand salvation and put me on a path to a fruitful retail career. I worked for Wally World for the first time in college at store 67 in Searcy Arkansas during part of my college years.
WalMart was different back then. Customer service was a hallmark and they are trying to get better now but I learned much from senior field directors that were trained by Mr. Sam. They had worked with him a long time. We were opening the Supercenter format and we were a training store as the company scaled the program across the country. WalMart was in a strong growth phase and we had a lot of management teams coming through to learn the ropes on how to run such a large store as we were transitioning from the earlier smaller WalMart concepts that had fueled growth for the company. They were called Division 1 stores if I remember correctly. I remember getting a thank you card from the home office with Mr Sams signature on it for the way I had handled an issue with a push mower. The customer wasn’t satisfied and I did a lot of extra work calling for parts and working with the vendor and home office to get him satisfied. It was the first time I had received that type of recognition with my work and it felt good. I was enjoying learning retail but also realizing the stress and the time committments it took to be a big box retail leader. Even just slowly being promoted to lead then Assistant Manager made me appreciate time off and a regular schedule. It was tough and I was single.
At the same time a young man named Emmanuel befriended me on break times. We got to know one another well. I had recently been baptized but he was the first person that helped me understand that there was more to my salvation. He taught me about Jesus and a relationship with Him. He explained Christ far more than I had understood. The funny thing with him was that he never hit me over the head with a bible, he just kept telling me about Jesus and how important a relationship was with Him.
Emmanuel managed the optical business inside the WalMart and he used his break time to share Christ with people. He never pushed but you knew he had a relationship with Jesus by the way he carried himself. It definitely made an impact on my life. I can still see and feel the memory of dropping to my knees on his front porch of that old white house he lived in only ten or so minutes from the store when I accepted a personal relationship with Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
Emmanuel introduced me to business and ministry long before I knew it was a concept of missions. He simply lived out his faith and exhibited a good majority of the fruits of the spirit as he talked and got to know people that worked at the store. He wasn’t pushy but really interested in getting to know you and help you understand his relationship with Christ. I look back on that time some 30 plus years ago and can see that God was moving even then to get me to where I am today.
God has used work in my life to grow my relationship with Him. I think that is why our family is passionate about people knowing the peace their is in a relationship with Christ as Savior. From my jobs over the years to Cindi’s work in the special needs community building friendships and helping with those ministries, we have both seen God move mightily in our lives. Our hope is to continue to encourage each of you to see work and the areas you spend most of your time as places to be active with your faith.
Had Emmanuel not befriended me, I believe someone else eventually would have, but his timing was perfect for where I was in life and God knew that as he nudged him to share Christ with me.
You can be that person to someone as well. It just takes a perspective change and surrender to be all in for Jesus at the places you spend most of your time. It could be work, it could be volunteering at a non-profit or it could be a multitude of other places. I truly believe the Holy Spirit will impress upon you those that could use your influence in their lives.
