On-The-Job Learning: February 2022 in Pascagoula

In a rural Mississippi town named Pascagoula, a team of hard-working men and women shape the components that keep the US Navy afloat. I'm proud to call these folks my coworkers!

Rolls-Royce has been designing and developing propellers for more than 50 years. During my work experience in Pascagoula, I toured the foundry with Al. I am new to the world of manufacturing - very new. I had to look up the definition of a foundry so I wouldn't seem too lost as Al spoke. Google taught me that a foundry is a workshop or factory for casting metal. Within 2 minutes of my tour, I had my first look at a casting mold.

Al and several other colleagues in Pascagoula have decades of knowledge and experience in manufacturing. They take great care to ensure each other's safety and to certify quality for the end user of their product. During this work experience, I learned a really interesting fact. Nearly 95% of the US Navy surface fleet are equipped with Rolls-Royce propellers. I have never given much thought to what all goes into protecting our country and the freedoms we have all grown accustomed to. Serving as the Internal Communications Officer for Rolls-Royce North America has been insightful and education. I'm only about four months into the role and I'm looking forward to support Al and all of our defense colleagues as they do what they do.

There are so many steps and processes to take raw material and turn it into a productive instrument of use. As I write that sentence, I am reminded of other ways transformation occurs. Each day, each of us are impacted by the world around us. What we are exposed to fills our minds and hearts like the molten hot material fills the molds in the foundry. The material prepared to go into the mold can easily become contaminated with tiny specks of dirt and other particles that serve no purpose to the end product. As the propeller cools and sets, sediment that doesn't belong in the end product separates and floats to the top of the mold. Then, it gets skimmed away by the laborer.

What fills us is not always pure. We are inundated by countless messages daily, some are direct but most are indirect. Messages that instill feelings of doubt, discontentment, worry, fear, insecurity, ineptitude, inadequacy, and FOMO taking room from the feelings of abundance, favor, wholeness, peace, enlightenment, joy, bliss, worthiness and more that want to occupy your mind and heart. This is where time and God's mercy comes into play. As we grow in our faith and allow God to guide our lives, influences that don't belong begin to separate from our reasoning and God is right there to skim it away.

I am very grateful God continues to skim unproductive people and influences from my life. Prayer is powerful. Every day, I pray "please remove anyone or anything from my life that is preventing me from being used by you, even if I refuse and resist". I don't have all of the answers but since I started saying that prayer around this time last year, baby, things have been shifting. Skimming and shifting and the best is yet to come. Amen!