How about a quick detour? Really not, as what happened today, is part and parcel of the life I live now that my beloved is no longer present. I really do miss her, but I am amazed at the way God seems to have re-directed my course in life. Today was merely more evidence.
I joined a new church a few months ago, a loving congregation that I like to claim has "loved me back to life". With Derlene gone, I was lost, not just because of her absence, but because there were issues with the others who would have an immediate say in my future. I listened for awhile and decided that I had a future and chose to walk into that future.
Today was an example of how my life has been blessed and I write because I believe that if you can hear my heart, you will be blessed as well.
Cookeville, Tennessee, is the home to a University that appeared to me along my way, some 65 years ago. I was home on leave from Japan and my mother decided it would be good if she and I and my grand parents would drive down from Michigan and visit my sister who was attending Baxter Seminary in nearby Baxter, Tennessee. As we drove into Cookeville, I noticed a football stadium along the way and learned that it belonged to Tennessee Tech and I would learn that they had a game scheduled while we would be in the area. It would be the first time I had ever witnessed a "big time" football game.
I have no idea as to who won or lost, but the sight of that stadium has remained etched into my mind. And it remained dormant even after I was employed by a company that brought me to this area, three times every week. Nor did I recognize its significance when I met and married my beloved Derlene who lived nearby. We spent the seven years of our marriage in the shadow of that stadium.
And today, I drove by it as I headed to Tech's student body center to take part in a gathering known as a Window on the World. I was about to be amazed. Walking up from the parking lot, I was met by a gathering of students representing various aspects of life in our world. There were an abundance of signs, but as I approached each one, I was met by an eager student who was well prepared to advise me on the conditions of our world with regard to how we are experiencing our daily lives. I was very impressed. And then, I walked on into the facility where the administration of the University seemed to be housed. Today however, it was crowded with signs and students and tables on which their "causes" were appropriately displayed. I had to believe they really were representing the worlds in which we live out our lives. Listening to them, I was more than convinced they were dedicated. That was just the first floor. My reason for being there was up on the second floor.
Our church has been representing an organization known as Heifer International for a number of years.
I was interested in helping as I had a personal experience with them, of providing funds for the purchase of farm animals to families and other groups throughout the world and the contributions were used to fund areas where poverty had been and currently is, exacting its toll on the youngsters of such communities. What is fascinating about the concept is the fact, our children - from the more affluent nations of the world, are encouraged to relate to such gifts. Its existence dates back the years when such conditions were being made known to nations such as ours. Today, we were encouraging the children passing by to present their "passports" so that they could be authenticated by a "stamp" that left an impression of many of the animals involved We then, discussed and distributed literature regarding the purposes and practices of Heifer International. It was heart warming to hear from many that they were well aware of the program and were or, had been involved in the past.
With my "shift" was over I had the opportunity of further examining the others. It was difficult to believe there might be other nations the organizers had missed. I came across a distinctive display from Iran and I stood by listening to the conversation. Here was a bright young man talking about his home in terms that had nothing to do with the headlines we read in the reports of our media, far too often. I was moved to take the young man's hand and vowed to him that my prayers were with him and would continue so that there would be peace between our two great nations. I turned around and there was a display from Japan. I approached one of those talking about their nation and told him of the four years I had been stationed near Fukuoka and his eyes lit up. I explained the fact that it was his people who taught me how to love one another and to care for the respect we have held for one another, even though at one time we were the bitterest of enemies. I walked on, chatting with a few as I passed by and headed for home.
Not before I re-visited two of the booths I had noticed on the way in. The first was one devoted to re-cycling our waste products and explained how I had discovered and was using a private company, operated by students on a part-time basis, who took the "work" out of my efforts. He knew of them and he seemed almost excited to discover and advocate to his cause. I encouraged him to keep doing what he had been doing and he will be rewarded for his efforts. The next booth was entitled "Grow Cookeville" and promoted the expansion of "home grown" vegetation in the lands adjacent to our city. What a great idea. Having been raised on a farm, I am very disappointed at the hundreds of acres of land that lies dormant in what we call the Upper Cumberland area - most of which could be devoted to the growth and distribution of products that would not only serve, but contribute to the well being of our own.
As I headed to my car, I spotted a place to sit down and as I did, the tears came pouring out of my eyes.
I had seen the future as envisioned by our young and obviously endorsed by the University.
Oh, that others could see the possibilities that were every where, people, from everywhere on the globe we call home, visionaries perhaps, but why are do we seem to be reluctant to encourage them on a 24/7 basis rather than just once every so often?
There they were, gathered together, in a place I never thought I would ever see again.
If it is only a dream, please don't waste your time trying to waken me.
Showing posts with label opportunities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label opportunities. Show all posts
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Walking with God
March 11, 2014
As I arrived at my destination, I found a public telephone and called the offices of the man I had hoped might help me get my life in order. I was not prepared for the answer. As President of the college, it was graduation day and after the commencement exercises, he and his wife were leaving on vacation and would not return for at least three weeks.
At first, I was stunned, but there had to be an answer and I sat down to review the possibilities. One of the real problems I faced was that I was almost broke. It was them I recalled that we had passed a "labor" office on our way in and I discovered it was not that far away. It was still morning and I felt there would be a possibility of finding a job, today. It didn't take me long to get there, register and find a seat, hoping, not yet praying, there would be a job. Hours passed, it was approaching 2 PM when the phone rang. The dispatcher looked my way and asked if I could count. "Certainly, yes I can!" With that I was on my way. In a few minutes, I was introduced to a man who had a problem. "I have to take take inventory and have the results on my boss's desk by Friday. Do you think we can do that? "Yes!"
Come Friday, he signed my work ticket, indicating 40 hours of work performed and handed me $20, saying, "Thanks, you don't know It, but you just saved my job!"
I was about to have the most fascinating experience I have ever known. After cashing my voucher, I was headed for the YMCA where I heard I could find lodgings. Passing a cocktail lounge, I thought to myself, "You have worked hard, earned your keep. It would be good to celebrate with a beer." Guess what! I tried to open the door and it seemed to be locked, even though I could hear people talking and laughing on the other side. There was nothing I could do but walk away. And then I noticed two couples coming my way, laughing and enjoying themselves and watched as they turned to go into the lounge and they walked right in. "Why could they go in and I could not?" I tried again. It was still locked - to me. I walked away and thought to myself, ..."perhaps, my life was changing." I decided to see if this was true.
Obviously, it was as I found myself all alone in a city I had never even visited. All I needed now was to find a good church. There were two Methodist churches nearby and I called both. One responded with a recitation of the schedule for Sunday services and the other, by a young girl who seemed to be more interested in me that any schedule. Learning that I thought of myself as a Christian, she warmly invited me to the 8 AM service, "You are going to love this one."
She was right. The people greeted me as warmly as the girl had suggested would happen and it was to become my "home away from home" for the next two years. I was not only welcomed there, it seemed I was as welcomed by every place I turned to for employment. For years, I had struggled to find a job that really appealed to me. Here I was to find several. And I would find more friends than I had ever met in my years since leaving the service.
I was about to discover, my problems were typical. We tend to look on a job as a task to perform, but I was beginning to learn, jobs are opportunities to serve others, no more, no less. If you are employed where you are needed and do what you can do to the best of your abilities, it is no longer just a job but an opportunity to become all you were destined to become.
Eventually, I was lured away to Dallas, TX, where I had discovered an opportunity to serve a man who had become a paraplegic and was operating a business in which I knew I could excel. I was wrong. It was not the employment opportunity, but the way he treated those assigned to help him. For the first time in my life, I found a person who not only failed to appreciate the gifts he had received, he was not appreciative of almost all efforts to simply help himself. It was a tough place to work, but it led me to a friend who came to my aid as I walked out.
He had noticed my disciplines. "On time and at work, consistently," those were his words as he told me of a part-time job he had been ignoring and thought I might be the person to bring it to life. It would become the opportunity of my life time.
His prime business was newspaper advertising and he was working with a number of different papers and magazine. My job was to work with his clients to build their businesses, beyond the results of the advertising, to working with one another so that they might offer more than the printed word. It took a lot of imagination in many cases, but since I represented an established entity, most of our customers were eager to listen and buy into our proposals. The beauty of our offer was that most of our plans did not require investments, so we were able to pay ourselves handsome dividends.
My personal obligation was the support of my children and since I no longer trusted their Mother, I employed a lawyer to deal with the payments. When my deposits with him reached a point where I could pay more, he used the excess to add to investments he made for his firm. It worked well.
Just when I was thinking of opening a business related to the efforts we were already making, we were offered a lot of money to sell our interests. When my share was far more than I had imagined, I asked my lawyer to talk with the California agency governing child support and learned that I could advance enough to pay for my requirements until they reached age 18. We discovered the figures were equal to each other; my contribution would be slightly more than my obligations and so, a deal was made.
With that, I had nothing to do, nowhere to go, and prayed, asking God, "What would you have me do?"
It did not happen immediately, but His answer was clear to me, "Go, be with My people."
What did that mean? I kept reviewing the people I had known over the years, but my mind kept drawing me back to the Labor agencies I had operated in California. "Why," I used to ask myself, "could a person sink to such a level that they believed they could not live without giving themselves to an agency that only paid the minimum wage, but we paid for their efforts, daily." It dawned on me that God's love for such people was no less than He extended to the richest in His kingdom. I decided to - Go, be with His people. With nothing more than a pair of jeans, a tee shirt, underwear, socks and loafers, plus my Bible in hand, I walked out of Dallas into a world seldom seen by most people. Oh, I forgot to add, I had less than two dollars in my pocket.
More, much more, later on...
As I arrived at my destination, I found a public telephone and called the offices of the man I had hoped might help me get my life in order. I was not prepared for the answer. As President of the college, it was graduation day and after the commencement exercises, he and his wife were leaving on vacation and would not return for at least three weeks.
At first, I was stunned, but there had to be an answer and I sat down to review the possibilities. One of the real problems I faced was that I was almost broke. It was them I recalled that we had passed a "labor" office on our way in and I discovered it was not that far away. It was still morning and I felt there would be a possibility of finding a job, today. It didn't take me long to get there, register and find a seat, hoping, not yet praying, there would be a job. Hours passed, it was approaching 2 PM when the phone rang. The dispatcher looked my way and asked if I could count. "Certainly, yes I can!" With that I was on my way. In a few minutes, I was introduced to a man who had a problem. "I have to take take inventory and have the results on my boss's desk by Friday. Do you think we can do that? "Yes!"
Come Friday, he signed my work ticket, indicating 40 hours of work performed and handed me $20, saying, "Thanks, you don't know It, but you just saved my job!"
I was about to have the most fascinating experience I have ever known. After cashing my voucher, I was headed for the YMCA where I heard I could find lodgings. Passing a cocktail lounge, I thought to myself, "You have worked hard, earned your keep. It would be good to celebrate with a beer." Guess what! I tried to open the door and it seemed to be locked, even though I could hear people talking and laughing on the other side. There was nothing I could do but walk away. And then I noticed two couples coming my way, laughing and enjoying themselves and watched as they turned to go into the lounge and they walked right in. "Why could they go in and I could not?" I tried again. It was still locked - to me. I walked away and thought to myself, ..."perhaps, my life was changing." I decided to see if this was true.
Obviously, it was as I found myself all alone in a city I had never even visited. All I needed now was to find a good church. There were two Methodist churches nearby and I called both. One responded with a recitation of the schedule for Sunday services and the other, by a young girl who seemed to be more interested in me that any schedule. Learning that I thought of myself as a Christian, she warmly invited me to the 8 AM service, "You are going to love this one."
She was right. The people greeted me as warmly as the girl had suggested would happen and it was to become my "home away from home" for the next two years. I was not only welcomed there, it seemed I was as welcomed by every place I turned to for employment. For years, I had struggled to find a job that really appealed to me. Here I was to find several. And I would find more friends than I had ever met in my years since leaving the service.
I was about to discover, my problems were typical. We tend to look on a job as a task to perform, but I was beginning to learn, jobs are opportunities to serve others, no more, no less. If you are employed where you are needed and do what you can do to the best of your abilities, it is no longer just a job but an opportunity to become all you were destined to become.
Eventually, I was lured away to Dallas, TX, where I had discovered an opportunity to serve a man who had become a paraplegic and was operating a business in which I knew I could excel. I was wrong. It was not the employment opportunity, but the way he treated those assigned to help him. For the first time in my life, I found a person who not only failed to appreciate the gifts he had received, he was not appreciative of almost all efforts to simply help himself. It was a tough place to work, but it led me to a friend who came to my aid as I walked out.
He had noticed my disciplines. "On time and at work, consistently," those were his words as he told me of a part-time job he had been ignoring and thought I might be the person to bring it to life. It would become the opportunity of my life time.
His prime business was newspaper advertising and he was working with a number of different papers and magazine. My job was to work with his clients to build their businesses, beyond the results of the advertising, to working with one another so that they might offer more than the printed word. It took a lot of imagination in many cases, but since I represented an established entity, most of our customers were eager to listen and buy into our proposals. The beauty of our offer was that most of our plans did not require investments, so we were able to pay ourselves handsome dividends.
My personal obligation was the support of my children and since I no longer trusted their Mother, I employed a lawyer to deal with the payments. When my deposits with him reached a point where I could pay more, he used the excess to add to investments he made for his firm. It worked well.
Just when I was thinking of opening a business related to the efforts we were already making, we were offered a lot of money to sell our interests. When my share was far more than I had imagined, I asked my lawyer to talk with the California agency governing child support and learned that I could advance enough to pay for my requirements until they reached age 18. We discovered the figures were equal to each other; my contribution would be slightly more than my obligations and so, a deal was made.
With that, I had nothing to do, nowhere to go, and prayed, asking God, "What would you have me do?"
It did not happen immediately, but His answer was clear to me, "Go, be with My people."
What did that mean? I kept reviewing the people I had known over the years, but my mind kept drawing me back to the Labor agencies I had operated in California. "Why," I used to ask myself, "could a person sink to such a level that they believed they could not live without giving themselves to an agency that only paid the minimum wage, but we paid for their efforts, daily." It dawned on me that God's love for such people was no less than He extended to the richest in His kingdom. I decided to - Go, be with His people. With nothing more than a pair of jeans, a tee shirt, underwear, socks and loafers, plus my Bible in hand, I walked out of Dallas into a world seldom seen by most people. Oh, I forgot to add, I had less than two dollars in my pocket.
More, much more, later on...
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
February 5, 2014
I am amazed by what appears to be happening to me in recent weeks. All of a sudden I seem to have a supernatural concern for others; something I cannot really explain and if continues, I will keep writing about it. A couple of days ago, I was thinking about my next post; actually worried about it as I have been screwing it up as you may have noticed, and then a perfect quote appears in an e-mail that was really a condensation of what I had wanted to say.
Now, today, I got a notice that a friend of mine had posted something on her FaceBook page for the rest of us to read. I will quote her in a minute, but first I had to add my two cents worth and was startled to read a response to my thoughts. It really made me think. My comment was rather basic and here is a quote of what another person added: "But how can we change the hearts of those who are heartless? We are so few and they are so many?"
This started with a comment by my friend: "We as a society want to "blame" someone for our country's lack of 'values'. As parents, it is our responsibility to teach our children to be strong and instill values that will not be swayed, strength and values that they will teach to their children. If we want to change the world in which we live, we are going to have to change the examples we set and the way we raise the next generation. It's the only way to make a difference..."
On second thought, I could have added a simple "Amen" and went about my day.
It seems to me that Kim (my friend) was right about the 'blame game' that so many among us seem to enjoy; assessing blame to the other guy. If you read as many newspapers as I do, you will find it common place among a majority of writers in virtually all of their newsworthy articles. It troubles me because of my age. I have always liked to think of myself as a world changer, always trying to come up with a better idea to apply to the problems we face, but I don't have that many days left to continue that practice. And I will be leaving it to my children and a bunch of grandchildren to clean up the mess. That's not fair. When I was a child our nation went to war and defeated three other nations that were intent in destroying all that our fore-fathers had created. They did it in short order and we were able to return to normal. It appears to me that - as a nation, we are doing very little to clean up the messes created by my generation and the one that followed. I can understand the thoughts of the person responding to Kim's statement.
A few years ago I discovered something in my house that I never really noticed. In fact, there were several and as I became aware of them, I had to stop and examine my own thinking about many of the problems we face. That "thing" was a mirror. The "man in the mirror" is responsible for many of these problems. I began to change my way of thinking. Since I was not personally responsible for the really big messes, I started looking at them as opportunities. Rather than fussing at those I thought might be responsible, I began searching for people who were in a position to bring about change. And I didn't go to them expecting they would; I merely encouraged them to take a closer look at the opportunities and with few exceptions, I was thanked for my interests and heard that they would consider my thoughts. To this day, I continue this practice. My prayer is that others might do the same.
So, to answer the young man with a very serious question, I would have to say that I have seen a few really heartless people in my day. I used to visit "death row" in Nashville and found within those ranks, a man who had been changed by the experience and worked to educate himself so that now - by the grace of God, his sentence has been overturned and he will soon be released.
But an overwhelming numbers of the people I have met in the eight plus decades of my life, are just like you and me. We all have "hearts" and the only thing that will help others to reveal theirs is for you and I, our friends and neighbors, to offer them encouragement.
Life has taught me that there are ups and downs in the lives we live, some days are better than some others, but as long as we keep an eye in that person we see in the mirror, and offer encouragement, you might you might be surprised to observe how many others are out there.
I am amazed by what appears to be happening to me in recent weeks. All of a sudden I seem to have a supernatural concern for others; something I cannot really explain and if continues, I will keep writing about it. A couple of days ago, I was thinking about my next post; actually worried about it as I have been screwing it up as you may have noticed, and then a perfect quote appears in an e-mail that was really a condensation of what I had wanted to say.
Now, today, I got a notice that a friend of mine had posted something on her FaceBook page for the rest of us to read. I will quote her in a minute, but first I had to add my two cents worth and was startled to read a response to my thoughts. It really made me think. My comment was rather basic and here is a quote of what another person added: "But how can we change the hearts of those who are heartless? We are so few and they are so many?"
This started with a comment by my friend: "We as a society want to "blame" someone for our country's lack of 'values'. As parents, it is our responsibility to teach our children to be strong and instill values that will not be swayed, strength and values that they will teach to their children. If we want to change the world in which we live, we are going to have to change the examples we set and the way we raise the next generation. It's the only way to make a difference..."
On second thought, I could have added a simple "Amen" and went about my day.
It seems to me that Kim (my friend) was right about the 'blame game' that so many among us seem to enjoy; assessing blame to the other guy. If you read as many newspapers as I do, you will find it common place among a majority of writers in virtually all of their newsworthy articles. It troubles me because of my age. I have always liked to think of myself as a world changer, always trying to come up with a better idea to apply to the problems we face, but I don't have that many days left to continue that practice. And I will be leaving it to my children and a bunch of grandchildren to clean up the mess. That's not fair. When I was a child our nation went to war and defeated three other nations that were intent in destroying all that our fore-fathers had created. They did it in short order and we were able to return to normal. It appears to me that - as a nation, we are doing very little to clean up the messes created by my generation and the one that followed. I can understand the thoughts of the person responding to Kim's statement.
A few years ago I discovered something in my house that I never really noticed. In fact, there were several and as I became aware of them, I had to stop and examine my own thinking about many of the problems we face. That "thing" was a mirror. The "man in the mirror" is responsible for many of these problems. I began to change my way of thinking. Since I was not personally responsible for the really big messes, I started looking at them as opportunities. Rather than fussing at those I thought might be responsible, I began searching for people who were in a position to bring about change. And I didn't go to them expecting they would; I merely encouraged them to take a closer look at the opportunities and with few exceptions, I was thanked for my interests and heard that they would consider my thoughts. To this day, I continue this practice. My prayer is that others might do the same.
So, to answer the young man with a very serious question, I would have to say that I have seen a few really heartless people in my day. I used to visit "death row" in Nashville and found within those ranks, a man who had been changed by the experience and worked to educate himself so that now - by the grace of God, his sentence has been overturned and he will soon be released.
But an overwhelming numbers of the people I have met in the eight plus decades of my life, are just like you and me. We all have "hearts" and the only thing that will help others to reveal theirs is for you and I, our friends and neighbors, to offer them encouragement.
Life has taught me that there are ups and downs in the lives we live, some days are better than some others, but as long as we keep an eye in that person we see in the mirror, and offer encouragement, you might you might be surprised to observe how many others are out there.
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