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March 2003 Table of Contents
A View From The Front Lines
Balance In The Vapor
By Kirk Lyons
 Strap in folks, 2003 is off to an even quicker start than last year. Well, at least that's the way it feels here in lower Alabama. They tell me that age will cause you to feel like time is quickly slipping a way. They have also told me that having babies at 40 will make you feel and stay younger. Since I have now accomplished both of these plateaus in my life I feel like I can confidently answer, YEAH RIGHT, GET A LIFE!
Anyway, I pray that all of you have had an incredible start to 2003. I also want to thank all of you who were in San Antonio for the kick off of our 25TH year in ministry. If you have not had an opportunity to send in your favorite J & J story, please send these in to Melinda Strickland so we can get them in the album we are putting together for Jackie and Jerry. We will be having a smaller celebration in Gatlinburg this summer so if you missed the first one you'll have another chance in July.
There is much for me to say this time around but with limited space I feel I need to address something that has burdened my heart since I began working in the Christian industry 8 years ago. I have never been one who has had a problem being honest about situations or sharing my feelings about things. I have had a problem with my timing and delivery in the past so I have meditated and prayed about this daily for sometime. All the honesty in the world does not help anyone or anything if it is not done in love and with concern for the people, places and or things you may be addressing. I believe God has given me an avenue to write about this burden at this time. I am sure of this because I have had to live through the embarrassment and humility of saying I'm sorry for things I said and actions I modeled just last week.
Before coming to J & J Music, I was a District Manager for Family Christian Stores. I remember being in one of their stores in Miami and hearing a Pastor from a local church screaming at one of their sales representatives because his order had not made it in on time or was incorrect once it arrived. It was an honest mistake I'm sure as I don't believe anyone would intentionally order the wrong product for someone. I stood there in disbelief and watched this poor young sales rep shrink behind the counter. I wish I could say this was an isolated incident but to tell you this would not be the truth. Being saved later in life and coming from secular employment these flagrant acts of verbal abuse never sat well with me.
Since coming to J & J, I have encountered another challenge when dealing with the ordering of customer product. Because our industry is seasonally driven we have times that we can't get product in or out fast enough. We also have many months during the year our folks are cleaning the base boards of their cubicles with a Q-tip. Finding a way to balance this known fact is the million dollar answer to providing outstanding customer service. In the 2-½ years I have been here we have worked diligently to hire exceptional team members and have reviewed every aspect of our daily activity to insure ultimate efficiency in what we do. I must tell you, the team that is here at J & J Music is made up of some of the most humble, selfless people I have ever met. Each team member is completely sold out to our ultimate mission of serving God's servants. Just as we get feeling good about ourselves, along comes January, and no matter how long we work or how many people we employ, we still fall behind in our ability to serve.
During these busy times our sales team endures tremendous verbal abuse for things in most cases they have had no control over. Each time this happens I find myself furious about the way individuals are hurting people who are trying so hard to help. I have questioned God several times about how people could talk to someone like this and then stand before a congregation and attempt to lead them into His presence.
After 2½ years I got the answer to my question. I will tell you in advance it came the way I always force God to send it, on the end of a 2x4! I was having an unusually stressful day and had gotten a call from Shanda asking me to stop by our Church to pick up cases of soda that folks from J &: J had ordered to support our son's school fundraiser. She told me I could pick them up anytime between 1pm and 5pm that day. Being the planner that I am and knowing how little spare time I have each day I decided to arrive about 20 minutes after 1pm. This should be plenty of time for them to get organized and have everyone's sodas ready for pickup. When I arrived they had just begun unloading the tractor trailer full of soda and had no idea how long it would be before they could fulfill my order. Well I must have been a sight to see with my hands flailing and carrying on about how busy I was and how crazy they were if they thought I was going to drive back and get these sodas at a later time. I hurried from inside the school, jumped in my truck and did my best Dale Earnhardt Jr. imitation as I left the parking lot. I then proceeded to call my precious wife and give her an ear full for even asking me to go by and get these things. I also informed her that I didn't care if she was going to have a van full of children, she would have to get the sodas herself and bring them to the office.
Hello! Hello! God to Kirk! Let me help you get the plank out of your eye by smashing you in the back of the head with this one! Boy, was I sorry for all the bad feelings I had felt towards those who had abused our folks at the office. What a hypocrite I had been. This young lady who bore the brunt of my little fit had one time visited our Sunday school class. Now that's the kind of leader I'm sure she and her husband would love to sit under! I cried out to God for forgiveness and asked him why this happens so often in our society. He simply answered we are a self-centered society that wants everything immediately. It doesn't matter what kind of day people are having and it doesn't matter what they are going through. All that matters is what is convenient for me. OUCH!
If you were like me you spent most of Saturday, February 1ST glued to your television set watching in disbelief as Columbia came falling to Earth in a million pieces. I returned quickly in my mind to the place I sat and watched another shuttle named Challenger fall in much the same way. For most of the next 48 hours nothing else in the world seemed to be that important. I just wanted to hold my wife and kids and tell them how much they meant to me. I tried to put myself in the place of all those family members that stood in grandstands listening for sonic booms that never came. WHEW! How selfish and self-centered am I? If I look back at the way I act sometimes I realize I am living proof of why it has been said “most people are not Christians because they know one.” What opportunities have I missed to further God's kingdom because of a bad attitude or no time to stop, help and listen? I think because we work in a Christian environment we take for granted the other person at the end of our voice is a Christian and will understand grace and forgiveness. I have learned the hard way that this is not always the case.
What do you have on your schedule today that is so important it is worth destroying another person's day over? What need do you have today, that if it is not met, will be worth forfeiting your testimony for? My prayer for this busy vapor of time we call life in 2003 is that we would take to heart in every situation that which Jesus would do. In all things may we bring Him honor and glory. I love and appreciate each and every one of you. I humbly thank you for allowing us to be a small part of your ministries to reach a lost and dying world through music.
Kirk
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