We lost two members of the Chick-fil-A family this week. Well.....lost isn't the proper word. I mean, we know where they are, they are just no longer here with us. Truett Cathy was the founder of Chick-fil-A. He started with the Original Dwarf Grill in Hapeville, GA, and built it into the Chick-fil-A franchise we know today. I'm not sure there is anything I can say that hasn't already been said about a man who modeled his life and business around his love for God, his family, and a tasty chicken sandwich.
I have been in a lot of different types of business and ministry settings in my career, but never has a setting been more transparent than what I have experienced at Chick-fil-A. What you see portrayed in public is exactly what you see behind the scenes. From the leadership to the team members, we truly work as a team for a common goal, "To glorify God by being good stewards of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A."
The morning after Mr. Cathy died, I had a guest ask me if Chick-fil-A would continue to follow the principles that Mr. Cathy had set forth. Dan Cathy has been CEO for several months now. I don't know him personally, but I feel like I do, and as I told our guest that morning, I have the utmost confidence that Chick-fil-A will continue to be led as it always has. I am proud to be a small part of what God is doing in and through Chick-fil-A.
JoRita Pickel had been employed with Chick-fil-A for about 17 years. I came to know JoRita when I was hired as a team member just last March. She trained me to successfully work the front counter register. Until I was promoted to leadership, I worked beside her almost every day, greeting guests and making them feel like part of our family. She set the standard that we all follow. Everyone who came to Chick-fil-A Bristol Mall knew JoRita Pickel. She was an institution in and of herself. She desired to know everything about everyone who came within 10 feet of her. She manned register 4 like a boss. In our restaurant, register 4 is situated in such a way that almost everyone who comes into the store has to pass somewhere close to her. It is also near the waiting area where guests stand to receive their food. Jo would always engage people in conversation. It makes 2 minutes seem like 30 secs and 5 mins seem like 2. After I became a leader in our store, there were times when I wished she might move guests through a little faster, but I never said anything because she was always engaged, always engaging guests in such a way to enrich their experience in our restaurant. She delivered 2nd Mile service like no one.
Jo was a stickler for the rules, for quality, and doing things right. She was in charge of our quality assessments each day. She assigned assessments to people every day, and you better make sure you had yours done before she came in the next day because she was going to ask you about it. She wanted things done the right way and done with excellence. I loved that about her. It made all of us better. She didn't get around real well, but it was ok because the rest of us enjoyed serving her as she served our guests. If she needed tea in her tea urn, she would make a heart with her fingers and point it in the nearest person's vicinity. She would shortly have tea in the tea urn. She loved doing dishes. At times she would volunteer to go into the kitchen to help the prep guys with dishes if they needed it. She displayed a servant's heart in all she did.
She had a nickname for almost everyone. From Smiley, to Handsome, to Mr. Poston, to Barbie, to Buster Brown, she knew how to endear herself to others. I had a nickname for her, too. She was Sweet Pickel. However, we all knew she could go from Sweet Pickel to Dill Pickel in 0.2 seconds if our quality or excellence dropped....haha.
JoRita died on Thursday, just four days after Truett Cathy. But in death, as believers in Jesus, they are more alive now than they ever have been.
Truett Cathy and JoRita Pickel embodied the spirit of Chick-fil-A. They modeled it for all to see. And now the rest of us must pick up the mantel and carry on in like manner.
And in the spirit of Columbo (thanks Dr. Kuykendall), just one more thing.....I've had many people over the last year-and-a-half ask me when I'm going back into ministry. My response? I have a ministry wherever I am. I don't have to be on staff full-time at a church to have a ministry. God has given me a ministry right where I am at Chick-fil-A. God has allowed me to be a part of my co-workers' and our guests lives at points of joy and pain. I had the privilege of being with JoRita's family when the doctor told them she had passed. I had the opportunity to pray with them, and I pray that my presence was a blessing to them in a difficult time. I'm grateful to Jo's pastor for informing us that Jo was being transported to the hospital and to Holly, our Interim Manager, for asking me to go to the hospital to represent Chick-fil-A.
Colossians 3:17 says, "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." So, are you still asking the question? When am I going back into ministry?
Truth is........I never left.
Be REMARKable, my friends.
