Leaving behind an old year and entering the next is a 3-step process at our house.
Thank God for every blessing received in the past year.
Bury the things that need left behind.
Dream big about what is ahead.
Each New Year’s Eve, just after sunset, we focus on burying the things we need to leave behind. It is a tradition that started on a particularly tough year at our house, but has continued in better times. Part of growing is knowing when it is time to leave something behind.
Because I got to author this ritual, it needed to include a feel for days of glory and a flair for the dramatic, but allow me to keep my thoughts private.
Here is our ritual:
I build a very crude funeral pyre (not as cool as the one shown above)
Everyone writes down on paper those things to leave behind
Set the papers on the pyre
At 6:00pm, push the pyre out into the pool and light it on fire
Reflect prayerfully as the flames consume the past
Stay, leave or do whatever you want. It takes 10 minutes.
If you would like to come, just let me know to expect you. Bring your own sheet already written out, or come early enough to put it together.
I have worked with Dennis Stone at Overhead Door for a long time. When he announced that his retirement would be effective at the end of 2018, I had mixed emotions.
Dennis joined the company as President in February 2001. He was promoted to CEO a year later. He has thrived for almost four times longer than the average chief executive. I believe that his enduring success is the result of understanding the true nature of the responsibility that he accepted.
Overhead Door is special. It is more than a highly recognized brand or a profitable business. It is more than great products that provide access and security to our homes and businesses. It has provided stability and prosperity to thousands of families for almost a hundred years. It is special because it has been anointed by the Father to provide blessings for his children.
Dennis has embraced his role as the chief caretaker of that blessing.
The world has changed during his time here. 9/11. Social media. Smartphones. Working remotely. Going green. Brick and mortar moved online. The Great Recession.
Other famous companies have lost their way and failed during his tenure. Overhead Door continues to shine brightly, flowing hope and peace into a troubled world.
If I have witnessed the secret to Dennis’s success, it is his intense commitment to a simple concept:
Keep the main things the main things.
Copies of our core values are scattered around our office buildings nationwide. To most people, they are nice thoughts. For Dennis, they have been his north star. He understands that leaders exist for a greater reason than guaranteeing quarterly results. He understands that leaders make decisions that define our collective character.
I have also known Dennis’s successor, Kelly Terry, for many years. I have watched him defend forgotten people when he thought no one was watching. I am proud to serve with him. True to form, Dennis is handing guardianship to someone sworn to uphold the same values.
I have interviewed many people who were looking for jobs at ODC. One of the questions I am most frequently asked is:
“In a world where people change jobs so frequently, why have you stayed here?”
My answer is always the same. “Every day, I wake up and come to work. I try to create a better life for people. I am able to focus on doing my best because I am never distracted by scandals or being embarrassed by the actions our company has taken. I choose this job because I believe in our leaders. I have watched them survive both storms and the everyday details without compromising their integrity. I am here because they lead where I hope the world will go.”
Overhead Door is built on ideals that are worth safeguarding, and embracing those ideals requires a long-term commitment to serving the needs of others. For 18 years, Dennis has put us first.
Dennis is retiring with a long list of victories. He has served well and is now shifting his focus to his wife, children, and grandchildren. Like so many others, they will continue to be blessed through him.
Our careers are short and our legacies are brief. The most we can achieve during our time here is to do our level best and to inspire the next generation to do the same.
Thank you, Dennis, for your faithful service. Thank you for your leaving us a company that is worth defending. Thank you for showing us how to do it well.
May God bless you and keep you as love and prosperity continue to grow in your footprints.
In an age when tradition is falling out of fashion, I am learning to embrace my favorite parts of yesterday and carry their significance into tomorrow. I have a family tradition that is on my list of favorites. It started as unintentionally as a dropped acorn, but over the years it has grown along with our commitment to our family, friends, and community.
Years ago, right after my family moved to Dallas, we heard that Operation Care hosted a Christmas party for the homeless in downtown Dallas. Kim and I decided to take our seven- and ten-year-old children. It sounded like a great chance to serve the poor around the holidays and expose the kids to a part of society they would never see in the suburbs north of Dallas.
It was a wonderful event, hosted in a huge convention center. Thousands of homeless people either walked there or took special, event buses from across the metroplex. They received “gifts” of toiletry bags, blankets, shoes, haircuts, and coats. Lunch followed. Throughout the day, people prayed with them and focused on the true importance of Christmas. It was beautiful and unlike anything I had ever seen.
Halfway through our serving time my daughter, Erin, and I went to the foot washing area. The job was straightforward. We would introduce ourselves to the guests, then remove their socks and shoes, clean their feet with wet wipes and rub them with powder. Next, we fit them with new socks and shoes. It was humbling. I had never seen sights like those hiding underneath the soiled socks and shoes. My eyes were opened and my heart cried out.
The next year we went again, but the kids brought friends with them. We migrated to the foot-washing and shoe area because it offered a controlled environment to watch over our young ones. Since we were now “regulars”, we bought t-shirts and acted like veterans.
My favorite part was the small-talk with the guests of our party. We would chat about their favorite part of the holidays, what they thought about the party and other things friends share. We were so similar in spirit but so different in circumstance. Our worlds grew smaller as we connected.
On year three, we brought half a dozen pairs of work boots from WalMart to take with us. Living outside in the cold of winter is harsh, and work boots were the most common request due to their warmth and dryness. Operation Care had become a tradition larger than our family, so we began to take our family and the friends with us to celebrate afterward with the lunch of the kids’ choice. Steak n Shake – party of six, please.
As the years passed, we began setting aside more money and bringing more work boots with us. The handful of pairs became lawn-sized trash bags that were nearly too heavy to carry. Everyone in the family invited more friends. Kim’s father moved in with us and joined us in our biggest party of the year.
Others noticed the joyful faces when the work boots were received and asked about donating to increase our gift. People who were originally uncomfortable washing the feet of the poor became emboldened. The spirit of Christmas moved through us.
More than a decade has passed since our first trip to the convention center for a Christmas party honoring forgotten people. Our family car has turned into a caravan, donations now flow through a nonprofit, we are approaching 1,000 pairs of work boots given to the homeless and impoverished of our city, other groups follow our example in the “gifts” they bring with them, and our serving team is regularly featured in the event’s promotional materials.
There are years I have wanted to break tradition, to do something else with that day. Sometimes, I’ve been tempted to channel my donations to a cause that had captured my attention at the moment.
So far, we have stayed the course. We’ve been blessed that God has given us gentle reminders of the impact emerging from our perseverance.
My kids are now grown and live in other cities which makes their participation questionable. However, a few weeks ago, I was blessed to see one of them stop to give a restaurant take-home bag to a homeless person we passed on the street. Later, I saw the other chat with someone who was losing everything due to their own actions responding with love and acceptance.
The acorns planted years earlier are growing into mighty oaks.
We will go to the party again in a few days. The fruit of our labor may have taken years to grow but I am thankful that we chose to stay where we were planted. Our roots have grown deep here.
I love the people of my city and can’t wait to see their smiling faces again.
Merry Christmas.
Note: A special thank you to Gary Daniels, who faithfully photographs the event and took most of these pictures. We are blessed to know you. Also to Bill Krahulik, whose enduring leadership has encouraged us to stay the course.
If you are interested in serving at Operation Care, visit
https://operationcareinternational.org/
