Miracle Meeting

“I heard a voice calling my name and when I looked up, it was a doctor I knew from the United States!”

-Mark Heesen

Miracle Meeting

There are times when I feel as if I’m merely a speck of space dust floating through an infinite universe that isn’t even aware of my insignificant existence.  Have you ever felt the same?  If you have, then you’ll want to have the same feeling of reassured guardianship I felt when having a conversation at dinner just the other day.

I was invited to a business dinner by my friends from Wayne Brown Institute and Zions Bank.  It was held in a private room at a large round table that provided space for about twelve people.  It was a chance for us to have a conversation about the state of Angel and Venture Capital Investing with Mark Heessen, a nationally celebrated investment expert.

I didn’t know Mark personally before the dinner, so I was interested to get to know him during our time together.  As we were all talking, we became aware that Mark was getting ready to retire from his current position.  One member of our group asked what he was going to do upon his exit.  I think all of us were surprised by his answer.

“I’m going to take time to let myself get healthy.” He said.

When we probed for a little more information we were stirred by his extraordinary story.  He was in Ireland where he was invited to speak at a conference.  His wife was with him and after the conference was concluded they went on a tour of some of the interesting sites.  As they rode along bumpy roads he told his wife, “There is something just not right!  I don’t feel well.”

He told us that as the bus was making its way along the roads he was jostled a lot.  He thought that perhaps he was just getting sick from the ride.  When he could take no more, they ducked into a pub in a small out-of-the-way town to see if respite there would help him.  He got a drink and immediately began to feel worse.  He began to experience great pain and his discomfort became apparent to everyone in the pub.

“Ah, we see people like this all the time!  You’ve just had too much to drink.  You’ll be just fine.” The other patrons of the pub cheerfully said.

Mark knew he needed to get back to Dublin as soon as possible so he could get some assistance. He walked out of the pub and onto the sidewalk where he collapsed.  He was in a bad situation.  He was very ill and it was a Sunday.  Many hospitals are completely closed on Sunday in Ireland and he knew it.  He sat in a heap on the ground in an ill desperation.  But, his desperation was soon to yield.

A voice came to him and penetrated his pain and anxiety.  “Mark!”  He looked up; not believing anyone he knew could possibly be there in this out-of-his-way place.  He was looking into the face of a friend from the United States; a physician!

His friend scooped him up, found a hospital that was open, and got him the treatment he needed.  It enabled him to get home in comfortable safety after a few days.  It was a fortuitous, amazing turn of events. 

I sat in amazement myself as I listened to his riveting tale.  It made me realize that this and other seemingly random events that save and change our lives are neither random nor insignificant.  I’ve seen too many other similar events to come to any other conclusion.

So, when you are facing a personal challenge or tragedy please remember this fantastic story and know that you are a significant and important part of this world and universe.  There is an invisible hand in all of our lives that gives us individual aid and knowledge; often when we have come to the end of our personal resources.  You are not and never will be alone.

Words From Window Glass

“Keep Calm and Carry On”

-A sign in a bedroom window

Words From Window Glass

I was driving in an unfamiliar neighborhood on an early Saturday morning.  The road in front of me was getting steeper and I continued up the hill.  The road was winding so the neighborhood was revealing itself to me turn by turn.  It held lots of variety for interest. 

Most of the neighborhood was filled with older homes, but many of the turns exposed pockets of new homes that sprung surprisingly into to view.  The architecture was varied and I marveled at differing age, size and styles as I drove. I began to look forward to every turn in the road, wondering what surprise it would hold.  Then, a surprise I wasn’t expecting sprang into view.

Just as the street turned and became dramatically steeper there was a large two story house framed in my view.  And, there in a second story bedroom window was a sign.  It had been placed with care so that every driver of every car moving up the street would see it.  I saw it. 
I wasn’t prepared to be hit in the face by words from a bedroom window so early in the morning, but there they were.  “Keep Calm and Carry On.”

I carried on.  The words were spinning around in my head.  I thought about them again and again!  When my meeting was finished up the street, I still thought about them and drove back down, looking over my right shoulder as I navigated.

When I saw the plain white poster I pulled over to the side of the road and read it again.  I thought about it more.  I thought about it for two days until an occasion caused me to be within a mile of the house.  I drove over, stopped, and read it again.  “Keep Calm and Carry On.”

It caused me to reflect over the course of my life time and I came to a conclusion based on personal experiences.  I’ll give you the short version because I’ve lived a long time now and most of my life would bore you to tears!  But here are some events that have had a big personal impact on me.

President Kennedy was shot.  As a child I remember watching the funeral procession and seeing how sad everyone was.  I could tell that lots of people thought their world was coming to an end.

When the first oil embargo hit in about 1973 it had a huge impact on everyone around me and I remember sleeping in a friend’s car one night, in my uncle’s driveway, because it was so late that the gas stations that used to be open in the middle of the night were all closed.  The crazy shortages and price increases made us all think that the world, as we knew it, was ending.

The second oil embargo in 1978 found me waiting in line for hours just to get gas when I was living in the Los Angeles Area.  There were times we couldn’t get gas so we pulled our bicycles out and used them to get places.  The news headlines were ominous and I was really afraid of the future.

The stock market crash of 1987 came and wiped out everyone’s retirement savings.  I was listening to the event on the radio.  By the time I heard about it, it was too late for me to pull any of my money out to safety.  Lots of people viewed this as the end of prosperity.

The Dotcom Crash of 1999 wiped out billions of dollars in stock value again and everyone was running around saying that the sky was falling!

September 11, 2001!  I was traveling on business and couldn’t fly to my next destination so I drove my rental car for a full day to get to there.  When I arrived at my hotel there was an army of valet attendants waiting for my one car!  There were three of us in the huge hotel for almost an entire week.  I’d never seen anything like it and the sky had literally fallen.

November 2008 was the largest financial collapse in history, no matter how you look at it.  The past five years have been a real challenge for most of us.  Sometimes it’s hard to keep it all in perspective.  But, a little sign, placed carefully in a bedroom window so I could read it when I drove by caused me to search for new perception.

You and I have faced many life shattering changes.  If you’re older than I, you’ve experienced more that I have.  If you’re younger than I am then you’ve faced fewer.  The fact is that we’ve all faced them!  These days it’s easy for us to listen to the constant chorus of “the sky is falling.”  Perhaps the sky is falling and perhaps it’s not.

The little sign, in the little window, on the big hill is there to remind us that there will always be big hills in front of us.  When we’ve climbed them then we’ll be able to sail down for a while.  Then there will be another big hill in front of us to climb.  That will never change, so let’s be the ones that keep calm and carry on.  Life will change for the better and the worse.  You and I can always use all of our experiences to change for the best.

Losing Kidneys

“I was working with a group of underprivileged children one day when one of them came up to me and asked if I would be her father.”

-Joe Bradford

Losing Kidneys

When one of my heroes, Joe Bradford, developed kidney disease, he and his wife Denise were forced to move into, “the projects,” a low-income area of Nashville.  They immediately noticed that the neighborhood was filled with children.

One day, a child came up to their door and Joe gave her a piece of candy.  “You know what happens when you give one child a piece of candy and there are lots of others in the same neighborhood?” laughed Joe.

All of this was happening because Joe had been going through a very difficult period.  He had lost both of his kidneys and was spending nine hours each day in dialysis.  “That’s a lot of time every day!”  Joe said.  “But, I knew I had talents I could use to make a difference!”

Joe excels at music, martial arts, academics, and computer programming and decided to use his talents to help the thousands of at-risk kids torn by poverty, poor education, drugs, and murder that were living around him.  One day when he was reaching out to the children, a little girl came up to speak with him one-on-one.

“I was working with a group of underprivileged children one day when one of them came up to me and asked if I would be her father.” Joe said to me.  “Then some of the other children gathered around me and also asked if I would be their Dad!” he continued.

“I went home that night. I couldn’t sleep!  I knew the importance of being and having a father.  I struggled with sleep all night long.  When I went back to the group of kids and they called me Mr. Joe, I corrected them and said call me Papa Joe!” 

From that time on, many of the fatherless children embraced Joe, and now he’s known to the whole world as "Papa Joe."

Papa Joe’s experience has an important message for all of us.  When talking with me today, he said, “I had to become humbled! When my kidneys gave out, it was the last of many trials that really made me understand how important being humble is.  It taught me that to find yourself you must become a servant.” 

“Being a father, living in a family, is the perfect training ground for learning the principle of living as a servant!  My wife, Denise, is pregnant with our eighth child right now.  She can’t easily do things she normally can; like wash the dishes.  So I do little acts of service, such as washing the dishes, to serve her and make her life more comfortable.”

“When I was a young man, I thought only women washed dishes.  My Grandmother said, ‘I hope you learn that’s not true one day!’”  He laughed.

Joe’s story is an amazing inspiration that proves how even while facing life’s most shattering circumstances, you can overcome yourself and become a servant.  “Everyone can do it!  You just need to do simple little things for those you live with and others who live around you.  It’s as easy as washing dishes!” Joe said with a twinkle in his eyes.

His story of transformation is a tool all of us can use to spread our love to others.  He’s made me think of how I can do so much more than I’m currently doing; after all, I have two perfectly functioning kidneys.  Do you?

Other Reflection

“You can’t walk past here without smiling!”

-Ballpark Customer Service Agent

Other Reflection

There was a stream of people walking from parking lots all around the ballpark.  It made me feel anonymous; almost like a small fish in a huge school, in a larger ocean of life.  I didn’t know anyone flocking with us, but it didn’t matter.  We were all swimming in formation toward openings that would allow us access to a baseball game.

Most passing faces were bright and cheery. For the most part, individuals were in smaller groups made up of friends or members of the same family.  Some, near the entrance, were selling or trying to buy tickets to the game.

One man, on an opposite street corner had a cardboard sign hanging around his neck; “I need tickets.”  While, on the corner across the street, other people were holding tickets for sale high in the air asking as many as crossed their path to buy what they were offering.  I thought it was interesting to see that the cardboard-sign-man never accepted the offer to walk across the street to buy the tickets being offered.

I observed, but didn’t take the time to ask why.  I simply absorbed the view and continued on my way, noting that some images remain in the eyes that behold them. They don’t reflect, reproduce or become a sign to the world around them.  It was a lesson in anonymity; how one can be surrounded by others and still be alone, unnoticed and without impact.  But the opposite, the truth, was about to be exposed.

I was still thinking about being anonymous as we swam with others up the stairs, through the concourse and out toward the grassy knoll toward a tree covered destination, when a voice crashed through my ambivalence.  “You can’t walk past here without a smile!” a man with a guest services shirt blurted out to me in jovial fashion.

The words were as the sound of a crashing mirror!  I turned and smiled.  He smiled back and gave a little laugh.  Even in this huge, flocking & shifting school of humanity individual actions and emotions are reflected back to their originator.  While it’s easy to believe we live lives of isolation, the contrary is true and once in a while that truth is declared by someone we don’t know and will likely never see again.  Everything we do has an impact on everyone and everything around us; “Other Reflection.”  It is reflected back again and again.

Keeping other reflection in mind as you go through your life will help you to focus on creating what you want to see in your world.  If you create it, it will always come back to you.  Reflect on that.  Will you?