A Slower Pace

I continue to be impressed by the Chick-Fil-A Desire to Inspire program I attended with some of the guys this last Thursday. It was an enjoyable time with friends at a nice large local church with some very good words spoken by some charitable folks.

Leigh Anne Tuohy told one of my favorite stories during her talk. I first heard it during the Hurricane Katrina clean up mission trip to Mississippi in 2006. While the version was a bit different, the point is just as impactful.

After one of the gulf shore storms, a young boy and his grandfather were down walking along the beach looking for shells. As they walked along, they noticed starfish upon starfish that had washed up on the shore. Without being in the water they would all soon die.

The little boy put down his shells and started picking up starfish and throwing them back into the ocean. He would pick one up, look at it, and then throw it as far as he could into the ocean. One by one he did this, repeatedly.

His grandfather looked at him bewildered. He finally said something to his grandson.

“Why are you throwing those starfish into the ocean? Can’t you see that there are THOUSANDS of starfish stranded on the beach. You can’t save them all. Save your energy and look for shells. You can’t make a difference.”

“The little boy looked at his grandfather, picked up a starfish, threw it into the water, and said “I just made a difference to THAT one”.

Leigh Anne went on to encourage everyone to get involved in their local communities to find starfish that are falling between society’s crack and “throw them back into the water”.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Last night I was lucky enough to attend a very nice dinner event hosted at a local large church (Northside Christian) in New Albany, Indiana. It was a continuing of a Desire to Inspire series put on by a local Chick-Fil-A franchise who is taking to heart the Chick-Fil-A mission “To glorify God by being a faithful steward to all that has been entrusted to us, and to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.

How cool is that for a company to have that kind of a mission…..and for a franchisee to take it to heart for action?

Their most recent dinner program was last year and included a motivational speech by Tony Dungee. Too bad I didn’t know about the series or I would have taken my wife to that one.

Last night’s program had Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy who you probably know better as the real life couple from the movie The Blind Side and who I highlighted back in this post. They were very good public speakers and played off each other very well. One funny part was the fact that Chick-Fil-A was hosting the event. There was a Chick-Fil-A basket with all sorts of prizes in it that was on the front of the stage wrapped up to be used as a door prize. Sean Tuohy, who is a Taco Bell franchise owner, grabbed the basket, hid it behind an object on the stage while saying “This thing makes me kinda nervous”.

The rest of the night was littered with funny comments by both Sean and Leigh Anne. You can feel the passion they have towards community outreach and helping others. Leah Anne repeated multiple times that what youth need is “a little love, a little hope, and a little opportunity”. She also encouraged folks to get out there and do something. They didn’t necessarily have to go out and adopt a 6 foot 6 inch, 350 pound, black kid. They can find needs right in their community and right in front of them. And it doesn’t necessarily need to mean adoption. And it doesn’t necessarily need to mean writing a check…..although we need those too. The bottom line is that we need to get out in the streets, in the community, and in the world to have a positive impact.

Another quote from Leigh Anne resonated with several of us who attended — “You want my advice on how to make a difference in someone’s life? Just do something. And do it well.”

It was also an interesting evening because it was a year ago on a Thursday night that the Tuohy family was with Michael Oher while he was awaiting news of his placement in the NFL draft. And as we all know he was a #1 draft pick for the Baltimore Ravens.

The night was a great time for me to spend with friends listening to some great role models. Hopefully, the program will spur lots of discussion, ideas and action, not only from me and my little group, but from all of those who attended.

Additionally, coming up is another Chick-Fil-A sponsored event — Leadercast – Be The One — on May 7. Take a look at the link — I think it is something that would be worth your time.

I have added links above but I think it is valuable to call them out individually below.

http://desiretoinpsire.blogspot.com/

http://www.chick-fil-aleadercast.com/

earlier Blind Side post

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

This posting is from my wife. It was on her Facebook page to her friends and is an amazing story.

My Friends,

This is so amazing I just had to share it with you. On the way home we stopped at Kroger Pharmacy to get D’s pain meds. I dropped off the prescription and wandered over to find some essentials D would need over the next few days. It’s been a long day and I was focused and Kroger was a mad house (maybe because of Easter). I could hear in the background a little boy screaming, “Mommy, she is from MY hospital” over and over. I had forgotten to take off my Kosair Children’s Hospital name tag and he spotted it.

Next I hear, “Mommy I want to talk to her”. That was followed by an “Excuse me”. I look up to see a little boy and his mom — the child an obvious cancer patient. If I had to guess he was about 4, a very tiny 4. I gave him my 100% attention. I explained that I actually didn’t work at Kosair but was very honored to meet him. He went on to explain that he loved Kosair and he was just there today for his chemo treatment. He said he really did love it but he didn’t want to have to go back for anymore treatments. He also said he had many surgeries and didn’t want anymore.

He talked a mile a minute and all with an incredibly beautiful smile. We chit chatted back and forth. His name is Dawson and I told him I would pray for him. He said “Yes please!” and then asked his mom to get him out of the cart so he could hug me. He gave me a huge hug and I thanked him for touching my life.

This is a God moment. I know we were both put in Kroger at the same time for different reasons.

Dawson touched my heart today. Please join me in praying for Dawson that God take this cancer from his little soul and heal him. I have seen today what the power of prayer did for us. God will heal this child.

I reiterate the call to pray for little Dawson. What an amazing soul!

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

As I stated in my post last night, this morning I had a few things on my list to do early. One is the Men’s Breakfast and Bible Study which I will be leaving for very soon. The other was prayer time in support of this weekend’s women’s Emmaus Walk. During my time of prayer, two words came to me — genuine and obedient.

Saturday is a special day in your Emmaus walk with Christ and those two words ring ring true for me in my days following my walk. I pray that today, while the women are strengthening their faith and walk in Christ, they empty out their heart and let Jesus in to clean, heal and build a temple inside them where he can reside and do His work. That is the genuine part. The obedience then comes after as Christ uses broken vessels like us to do His work here on earth. He will give us the means. He will give us the path. Our only job is to be obedient.

I pray those two words for the women this weekend. As well as for me, my family and each person reading this.

Genuine

Obedient

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Throughout our life we are lucky if we have a positive impact on others. Scripturally it is what we are called to do. However, because of our sin, we are lucky if we succeed. And it truly isn’t luck; it is the grace of God that we are used to love and touch others.

Quite often we don’t see our positive impact. And that is ok. Sometimes we are called only to plant seeds. Other times we water and fertilize. And sometimes we are lucky enough to harvest. Rarely do we do all three and usually it is only one or a combination but we don’t always see the fruits of our labor.

Today I was lucky enough to get some feedback that something I had written — actually just passed on from a devotional — had positively impacted someone else. You see, a post from October 2005 resonated with a reader and she kept that thought with her through tough times. It is not every day that someone tells you that you had a positive impact on their lives. It is encouraging and wonderful. And that should be another lesson for all of us — if someone has impacted your life in a positive manner, please communicate that to them. You’d be amazed at the encouragement that it provides.

If you are interested to see the impactful post from Oct 2005, click here. I am just lucky that God finds that He can actually use someone as flawed as me.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Over the next several days, it is my hope to reflect on and process the material and notes I have. This first output is a response to one of the last sessions on Friday with Bono of U2.

If you didn’t know, Bono has become more and more famous for his Africa hunger/famine/AIDS outreach than for his being the lead singer for U2. While I haven’t always agreed with his methods or politics, I do admire his passion and drive. And you do have to give it to him — you don’t see many other rock stars hanging it out there beyond their narcisistic selves.

I was very impacted by the interview with Bono…..specifically, what we need to do about the world health and poverty crisis. And I have been moved by an idea. An idea way beyond me but an idea I feel needs to be acted upon none the less. This idea revolves around the medicines that have significant impact to the lives of impoverished people. Let me set the stage for you.

I currently work for one of the world’s largest biopharmaceutical companies. While we have a wonderful mission — serving patients — the company has slowly eroded into a corporation whose primary pursuit is the dollar and quarterly approval by Wall Street (quite a different place where the company was 12 years ago when I joined).

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Now don’t get me wrong – I understand all about capitalism and the pursuit of a dollar. What I do not support is the pursuit of a dollar at the expense of someone else. And I am seeing that more and more in today’s world — both on the business side and the politics side. I feel that sometimes the politicians are more self-absorbed power and dollar chasers than our capitalistic CEOs although quite often it is an even tie.
==== tangeant off ====

In the sole pursuit of the dollar, the company has discarded with resources — specifically a biotechnology manufacturing facility site in Washington state. The question I asked my colleague who is also attending the summit was — “what if a team acquired the Washington site for the passionate manufacture of pharmaceuticals specifically for compassionate use — using some of those same experts that were let go last month?”.

The pieces are there — facility, people, knowledge. Add the faith, passion and leadership towards a mission Bono discussed in the interview and safe, efficacious drug product would be able to be provided for those without. I realize I may just be planting a seed, but right now I am a sower and tossing out the seeds. I am hoping that by posting this and discussing this with folks I know that a seed might be planted and germinate into an idea worth pursuing for a greater good. And it would be privately or self funded, not reliant on some government handout.

It sure also would infuse passion and mission back into people who have become jaded to the pharmaceutical borg mother ship.

I was just thinkin’…..

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

The quote below came to me this afternoon during my Christian Leadership Summit:

“Our sphere of empathy should be round enough to encapsulate the globe.”

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

The events of yesterday’s Christian Leadership Summit are still swimming around in my head like unfinished ingredients of a delicious cake not yet done baking. I continue to be humbled, inspired, refilled, and refueled. I have recently been saying that God is stirring up something within me. Well, yesterday he hit the “puree” button.

Below are some highlights that I will try to use as future post fodder.

• “Show me God’s way. My way didn’t work so well.”
• Personal sustainability – need to have an adequate replenishment strategy
• “How can I help fill you back up?”
• “The best thing you bring to the table is a filled up you (fresh Spirit, God led)”
• Associate with those who fill you up; avoid those who deplete you
• “Are you changing as fast as the world around you?” NOTE: this is one I will be coming back to because, while I agree with the premise, I also firmly believe that there are bedrock, non-negotiable, foundational beliefs that CANNOT change if we are to remain true disciples in this darkened world. The challenge will be to identify those unchangable foundational blocks while morphing all the other areas.
• “Innovate all of the time and fight bureaucracy none of the time” WOW! My company could sure use this one. Also, one note of clarification – my dad pointed out that we should always fight bureaucracy, which is true. But the point was that we shouldn’t have to. Our efforts should be going towards productive activities and we, as leaders, should remove as much bureaucracy as we can so our teams can be more productive.
• Don’t manage, command, and control but rather mobilize, connect and support
• “God doesn’t have a plan B”
• We have an extravagant, loving God to deal with our wreckless sin
• Meritocracy and the value of co-creation (within an organization)
• A common purpose is the best way to predict outcome in an unpredictable environment.
• Show, don’t tell
• “God has called you to action. He calls us to play the game. Break the huddle. (football analogy)”

And folks, that was just scratching the surface of my multiple pages of notes. And I still have another full day today!
(That is my birthday present to myself.)

Truly amazing!

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

I am excited because today I am attending the first day of a two day Christian leadership conference. They have an interesting agenda and the timing is very interesting with some recent stirrings going on in my life right now. That partially accounts for some of the lack of blog posts and quiet time here at A Slower Pace. When I get to a point where those new directions can be publicly revealed I will post about them.

In the meantime, I am looking forward to today and tomorrow where I believe God will use me and many others. I pray we will be inspired, lead, spoken to, given guidance, encouraged and directed to further His kingdom.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

I continue to be amazed at the timing of impactful messages on my life. Some messages are repeats that reinforce the direction of my spiritual compass. Others are meant to change my heart and challenge me.

Below is a story from today’s sermon. It talked about happiness and serving others. Very appropriate given the mission trip we just all returned from.

It was great seeing my fellow teammates at church today too. I really bonded with them and even though it was very hard work, we enjoyed ourselves. I would go back with each of them in a heartbeat. If they are reading this, thank you to each of you for the person you are and the person you shared with me during that experience.

Sermon story —–

Marion Preminger stumbled upon it and wrote about where lasting happiness is to be found in her autobiography ALL I WANT IS EVERYTHING. Born in Hungary in 1913, Marion was raised in a castle, surrounded by wealth, servants and the notoriety of an aristocratic upbringing.

At a Viennese ball, she met a handsome young man, the son of an Italian doctor. They rushed into a marriage that lasted only a year.

She returned to Vienna to embark on a career of acting. There she fell in love with the German director Otto Preminger. They married and she followed him to America where he began a promising career as a Hollywood movie director. But her new Hollywood lifestyle could not sustain her marriage and Preminger eventually divorced her.

Marion returned to Europe to live the life of a Parisian socialite until 1948. Then everything changed when she read that Dr. Albert Schweitzer was visiting Europe from his home in Africa. She determined to meet with the notable missionary doctor.

She first encountered Schweitzer doing one of the things he loved to do best while visiting Europe — playing a church organ for his own enjoyment. He invited her to dine with him. After the meal, Marion knew she had finally found what she’d been looking for. She accompanied Schweitzer every day during the remainder of his European visit. He invited to come back to Africa with him and work as an untrained staff member in the Lamberene hospital.

She left her life of status and ease and moved to Africa. There…the girl who was raised like a princess became a servant. She changed bandages, bathed bodies and fed lepers. She gave her life away to the poor, and because of it, found the happiness she’d craved for so long.

It was Albert Schweitzer who asserted, “One thing I know: The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.”

However, wherever and whomever you choose to help is unimportant. There are those in need everywhere. But when you figure out how to help other people, you’ll have also learned how to be happy for lifetime.

How true! In looking up this story, I also ran across this :

Someone said this about happiness:

To be happy for an hour — take a nap.
To be happy for a day — go shopping.
To be happy for a week — take a vacation.
To be happy for a month — get married.
To be happy for a year — inherit a fortune.
To be happy for a lifetime — help others.

Go be happy! I’ll let you pick how long you want to be happy.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net