When we last left Griffin’s testimony, he had committed to year 3 with Biking for Babies, had just decided to take his turn on the bike for the National Ride, and had just quit his job at St. Bernard’s for a new opportunity. His “God doing His thing” count? 11. Let’s pick back up.
The new job I had was working for a call center. It wasn’t fancy or elaborate, but it was something I had been praying to God for months about: stable. I needed stability in my life, and I needed it bad. And He delivered. (God doing his thing count: 12) While I was working at this call center, I was able to move into a house, but some other stuff happened so I ended up having to work a lot of extra hours. Like. A lot. I was averaging 70 a week, and there was a period of time where I was working 100 hours a week. I was dead. Training definitely wasn’t happening. I called Nikki up, who at this point had become our Executive Director (Huzzah!), and I told her that I needed to drop either being a Route Leader or being a rider, because between work and those two, I couldn’t do all three. She told me to drop the cycling portion, so I did. I felt awful when I had to tell my teammates that I wasn’t going to be riding with them. Instead I was going to be in the support van; I felt like I was chickening out.
In addition to that, at this new job I had, I put in a time-off request four months in advance. At least, I attempted to. I was told that I needed to wait until it was two months before the time-off date before I could make a request. Why they wanted less notice, I don’t know, but if Boss says, I do. Two months come, and I place my request. Wait for confirmation; nothing. Ask my boss about it. “Send a follow-up email,” she says. Like I said, if Boss says, I do, so I did. Still nothing. Ask my boss about it again. “Re-send the request.” Boss says, I do. Still nothing. Well… you can see where this is going. It is THREE DAYS before I’m supposed to leave for the National Ride, and I had still heard nothing. So I ask my immediate supervisor if I can just swap shifts with people to where I have the week off (not the same boss I’ve been referring too, but still my boss, and definitely an awesome lady; bless her). She says yes, and I had amazing teammates that knew how important the National Ride was to me that were willing to take shifts from me. (God doing his thing count: 13) So that’s it. I finally get my week off to go do the National Ride (foreshadowing).
I do want to take a step back for a second. I had one of the most impactful moments of my life while I was working at this call center. And that is by no means an exaggeration. There was a young woman on my team who I became pretty good friends with. We had similar interests, but different backgrounds and outlooks on life. It made for amazing conversation, and we learned much from each other. One day, she was extremely late for work though. Very uncharacteristic of her. Like, hours late. She finally walked in. I asked her what was up; I knew something had to be up for her to be as late as she was. She found out she was pregnant and was taking the morning to process a lot of thoughts and emotions. It was most certainly unplanned. She was certainly not in an ideal position to raise a child. Towards the end of the conversation, she told me she had thought about abortion for a split second. But then, she said she thought about me, and all the times I had spoken about Biking for Babies, and pregnancy resource centers, and the Culture of Life, and about the human life that is inside of the womb. She told me that because of all those conversations, there was no way she could go through with it. She had to have the baby. I had to excuse myself to go to the restroom. To absolutely bawl my eyes out. I have never been so humbled in my entire life, when God decided to use my witness to save a life. (God doing his thing count: 14) She sought out help. That little boy is just over one year old now. And he’s as sweet and healthy as can be.
Ok, back to talking about the ride itself. We got to the ride, and things were ok at first. But for some reason, I don’t even know why – probably not a very good one – I just wasn’t getting along with the rest of the missionaries. I don’t know whether it was personality clashes or what, but I was straight up not having a good time. By Day Two, I was just trying to make it through the week and trying to not let my bad mood get the best of me. This was still Biking for Babies, and I needed to be joyful. Maybe not happy, but joyful. Then came Day Four. Oof. Day Four. About an hour before lunch, I get a call from my boss (not the awesome one). She wanted to know where I was at. I told her I was off; I had switched shifts with people. What it boiled down to was apparently my other boss (the awesome one) didn’t have the authority to let me do that, and if I didn’t show up by the next day, I would be fired. Well, I was in the middle of Tennessee, and I wasn’t in my own vehicle; I couldn’t get back even if I wanted to. She told me she was going to go ahead and file the paperwork then. I said ok.
I was LIVID. After all that time of praying to God for some stability, I finally had it, and I threw it away for Biking for Babies. Sure, Biking for Babies was awesome and amazing, but I need to pay bills. I have to live and eat. I decided right then and there that I was done with Biking for Babies. I was quitting. Never again.
What’s going to happen to Griffin and his job predicament? What’s going to happen to his involvement with Biking for Babies? What will be his final “God doing His thing count?” Stay tuned for the final installment of Griffin’s Biking for Babies testimony, coming next Thursday!
Missionary applications are due February 28. If you have felt a stirring in your heart because of Griffin’s testimony, consider applying! We still have open spots for support crew and riders on all four routes of the National Ride (rolling July 11-17).
Permalink