I was awake at 3 a.m. on my last layover after sleeping only 3 hours. The topic on my mind was the thing that has prompted me to write this e-mail, asking for your prayers.
The thing is, I’m having a really hard time keeping hope alive at work. United declared bankruptcy shortly after 9/11, and has had the same contract for its employees since then. To give you a little insight into what that means for me (and the rest of people hired after 9/11), when I moved to Washington D.C. area, I didn’t qualify for the low-income housing because I didn’t make ENOUGH money. So, although the cost of living has gone up, the employees of this airline have been living with an income based on the company’s bankruptcy status 10 years ago. The time has come (FINALLY) to renew the contract. And, to put it mildly, the leadership of the company is dragging their feet.
If you look online for the name of Glenn Tilton, our CEO, he comes up quite often as being among the WORST CEO’s in the entire world. For example, remember when I’ve asked for prayer to keep my job twice now? Well, I know for sure at one of those times when we were cutting back on frontline employees, Glenn gave himself a 3.5 MILLION DOLLAR raise. Suffice it to say, he’s not a nice man.
As I was lying awake, feeling discouraged at what seems like a hopeless situation, I remembered a song that my mom likes to sing to me when I’ve previously had issues with this company. Anyone ever seen “Veggie Tales”? Remember the song, “God is Bigger than the Boogie-man”? Well, mom sings it, “God is bigger than UNITED!” and I’ve sometimes put in, “God is bigger than Glenn Tilton!” Needless to say, it’s a simple truth that I need to be reminded of during this time of uncertainty.
You see, minus the issue of poor income, and bad morale among my co-workers, I really do love my job. God has blessed me time and time again while working here. I have seen so many answers to prayer, and I know there are many more to come.
This is where you come in. If you could take a minute and pray for a couple things:
1. Pray for God’s will to be accomplished with regards to the new contract negotiations.
2. Pray for unity among ALL the employees at United, especially the flight attendants (more than 15,000 flight attendants). Because of the numbers, that itself will take a miracle.
3. Pray that Glenn Tilton and his co-horts who lead this company would have a mighty encounter with God that would change their lives. More than anything, they need Jesus.
If you even take just a minute to pray for these things, I know God will use it mightily to impact this (what appears to be) hopeless situation. And then, whenever you see or hear an airplane, take a minute to repeat these prayers. One by one, these prayers will make the impossible possible. Thank you for standing by me in this.
