Day Fourteen

A few years ago Drew, my oldest son, recommended a book, The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. I found the book on CD and listened to it at least four times. If you have not read it, you should. It is a very inspirational book.

The key premise of the book is the following – when your personal legend (your calling) becomes clear and you embrace it, the whole world conspires to help you achieve it. That is a slight paraphrase, but the essence of the idea.

I look back over the past two years and realize that this principle has in fact been active in my life, often with me assuming at the time that it was just luck. I was working in a niche that would never help me become who I was created to be. Don’t get me wrong. I had some great clients. They helped me grow and I helped them grow. I have some dear friends as a result of those relationships. But the larger niche was not the place for me to manifest my calling.

When the economic crisis hit, that market disappeared, period. I look back now and realize that my business was struggling not really because of the economy. It was struggling because I was running from things. When I decided that I no longer wanted to run, things began to happen.

One of the first things I did was ask for help. I did it on two occasions. One was particularly helpful for Drew, and the other was extremely helpful for me. My friend Kit Landry helped me to find that sacred space where I could get back to past events that were sabotaging my present and future. The transformational time with Kit opened the door for me to begin cleaning out my closet. Once I realized that I wasn’t going to die when I faced my fears, I found the confidence to explore more and more and more. In my own words, “Whatever was in there, I wanted to get out.”

On another occasion I asked the best business man I know to be my business mentor. He was kind enough to say yes. He watched me through all of my career struggles and never once criticized me. He always asked probing questions that moved me to the next point. Then, when I discovered what I did want to do, I had the opportunity to help him do some key things in his business.

And then there were the times when people stepped in to help financially.

Here is the point. Once I started on the journey, stuff began to happen. I wish I could explain it in logical and rational terms. All of the events had logical rationale, but over time, I began to notice the pattern. When there was a gap, the gap would be filled. When there was a need, someone or something would step in the gap. Those who are religious would call it God. Those who are not religious would call it creating my own reality, luck or something else.

Whatever the source, I found myself one day believing that the journey would be completed. Instead of panicking, I began looking for the next opportunity. In some cases things came out of the blue. In other cases, they happened because of my actions.

Here is the point, with a story. When I was an associate pastor at First Baptist Church in Auburn, Alabama, Gerald Johnson was the head of the Political Science Department at Auburn University and a member of the church. A great man.

One day we were talking, and he said, “John, I am never sure what is God’s Will, fate, chance, or random acts, so I always have to be on my toes.” I have embraced his philosophy. Whether the world conspires to help you, like The Alchemist says, whether you create it yourself, or it is completely the act of God, I don’t know.

I do know that once I began to believe that the future was going to happen, it began to sprout.

The blog, I realize, was just one more step in that journey. Up to that point, my journey had been the inward journey. I addressed everything obstacle I could find internally. I still was not being proactive in my outward life, though. This blog was my call, or God’s call, for me to move from the inside journey to the outside journey. For me, it was not enough to clean the heart and find love. There was a deep call for me to share that grace and help others find their path.

That required a level of boldness, though, that I was not prepared to exhibit at that moment. It took a couple of months for me to warm up to the idea. The accountability associated with the blog, though, and the feedback from those who read it have been the next push to create the outward journey.

The future is being manifest even as I type. My prayer is that I have the courage to speak and act boldly to bring that future into the present. My prayer is also that I have the eyes to see the actions that need to happen to build that future.