Shaken

Well, my dad's hearing was last Wednesday, and he said he felt like it went really well. His attorney made a statement that there was no just cause for termination. Then Friday, at 4:30pm, my father was notified that his contract with the Broken Arrow Fire Department would be terminated effective at 5:00pm. My dad lost his job.

My family is stunned and heart broken. Not only were the accusations against my dad ridiculous- the city manager said he violated policy but listed no such policies what-so-ever whereas my dad listed the specific policies that backed up his actions- but when the city manager got fired, we were given hope that the whole ordeal was almost over. My dad had city adminstrators "secretly" calling him and giving him advice and head's up on what was happening so we thought they were all on his side. Then we get with this bomb shell.

And to make matters worse, a phone call? How completely unprofessional! It is normal for a place to call you in and tell you it's not working out and give you the option to resign, but a freaking phone call saying your fired? How ridiculous is that?

To understand how heart broken we all are, you have to know my dad. He is a genuinely good person. He loves being a fireman, and his priorities have always been #1- God, #2- his family, #3- the fire department. He loved his guys and they knew it. The support he has gotten has been amazing, but it's so hurtful that the former City Manager and current acting City Manager tried to drag his name through the mud. I am so thankful that my dad is so strong and he has enough confidence to not let this get him down. He knows he didn't do anything wrong, and he said if he had to go back, he wouldn't change the decisions he made.

I think that my family is struggling because last year, when he was up for this job, my mom prayed that if it was going to lead to something bad- if he would get hurt or if he wouldn't love it there- then we didn't even want him to get offered the position. And I think that if he would have gotten "terminated" in the beginning, when this whole ordeal started 4 weeks ago, we would have handled it better. But as time went on, our hope grew that things would work out. Then Friday my dad's world fell apart.

So I'm asking for prayer for my family. Please pray that my dad will make it through this. Please pray that God will bring strength and understanding to him and my family. Please pray that God will reveal the next step to my dad. And please pray that the thruth will be revealed, that BA's mishandling of this situation will come to light, and that my dad's good name will be redeemed.