Hello again. Before I start, I must apologize. While I appreciate the questions and comments that many of you have sent in, I must take a detour from addressing them. Out of the many questions that I often receive, approximately 94% of them are dealing with relationships. And while I completely understand that our ability to build and maintain successful relationships is pivotal to our overall development, I just can’t keep writing about that topic every week. For those of you that are waiting for me to finish the series, I promise, I will get to it. But, I just can’t write about relationships again this week. Well, I won’t say that I can’t. I just don’t want to. It’s draining. But, for some reason, something tells me that some of you will be pleased with that decision. Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s move on. Enjoy.
It seems that whenever I spend a significant amount of time in San Diego, I come away with the best blog topics. Some of you may be able to remember my previous San Diego posting about Felix. Maybe I should move there. If I did, I am sure that it would be a great escape from the triple-digit degree heat that we have been experiencing in Texas. Okay, enough crazy talk. There’s no way that I am trying to move to San Diego. For one, it’s too far away from my ‘Little Princess’. And two, they have earthquakes. There’s something about the ground moving for no reason that doesn’t sit well with me. Anyway, after spending last week in a city that failed to experience a day over 80 degrees, I think I have come away with one of my most inspiring messages yet.
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Comfortably leaning on the wall of a well-lit hallway, I stood, waiting outside of the office of the corporate executive that I was scheduled to meet with. Although our meeting was scheduled to begin promptly at ten o’clock in the morning, it was quite obvious that the demands of his busy schedule had already begun to have their way with his time, as the time had already slipped past our intended start. Waiting outside of his door for the culmination of his previous meeting, I gave myself one more “brush over,” ensuring that my shirt was neatly tucked and pants properly pressed. I had prepared for this meeting. I knew what I wanted to discuss and had a good idea of the questions that I wanted to ask. The neatly pressed black slacks and light purple, long-sleeved shirt that I chose to wear, gave off a sense of confidence that wasn’t too bold. And while, over the years, I had been a part of hundreds of similar business meetings, none would compare to the lessons that I would take from this one.
Providing him with a last set of directives, my host escorted a gentleman from his office as he entered the hallway to receive me. Although he was rather casually dressed in khaki pants and a polo-styled shirt, his tall stature and authoritative demeanor clearly indicated his competence in managing and controlling the many issues that may have arisen throughout the offices around him. “Chris?” he asked.
“Yes,” I respectfully replied.
“Come on in,” he invited as we both extended our hands for a demonstration of the usual firm corporate handshake. “You’ll have to excuse the mess in here,” he apologetically said, pointing to the stack of papers that almost covered the desk, which was no comparison to the mounds of paperwork that currently engulfed my office desk.
As I sat in one of the two available chairs that rested across his desk, we began to engage in a gratuitous level of small talk that often precedes the discussions of business. Although we had talked a few times via telephone, this was our first face-to-face meeting. And while our initial phone conversations were rather cordial, there’s something about being able to physically meet someone that makes doing business much easier.
Over the course of an hour, we engaged ourselves in an interesting exchange of various business strategies, ideas, and suggestions that was not only acceptable, but warranted. However, as our conversation drew nearer to a close, the topics seemed to drift further away from the discussion of business, as we both began to tell stories of our college days and childhoods. While this kind of behavior often occurred in business meetings, our conversation would soon take an unexpected, but appreciative, twist.
“Chris,” he said, interrupting what seemed to be an interesting depiction of his college days. “Are you a believer?” he asked. “Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?”
I must admit. I was completely taken aback by his question. However, while I am not, in any way, ashamed of my faith, I was not accustomed to such conversations taking place during a business meeting. As a matter of fact, political and religious conversations are often considered taboo in various business circles. Therefore, without hesitation, I began to follow his lead into a conversation that I was not ashamed to have as I emphatically replied with a resounding, “Absolutely.”
“I could tell,” he said. Surprisingly, the next twenty minutes resulted in a wonderful conversation with us describing the details of when we first accepted Jesus Christ and how God has continuously blessed our lives. And as I proceeded to leave his office that day, I thanked the executive for his time and for being a blessing to me and others.
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You see, every morning, I sincerely ask God to order my steps and to let His light shine through me so that I can help someone else. With that in mind, one of the most insulting things that someone can say to me is that they didn’t know that I was a Christian based on my actions and attitude. Therefore, for a man—that I just met—to reply that he could tell that I was a Christian was a huge compliment to me. It taught me that no matter what I am doing, I should never do anything that will ultimately kill my witness and testimony for the love of Christ.
No, I am not perfect. And I never profess to be. Lord knows that I struggle everyday with certain issues. To be honest with you, there is rarely a day that goes by that I don’t have to convince myself not to curse someone out. But I understand that I am engaged in a process. And I also understand that being a Christian doesn’t make me sinless, as opposed to it making me sin less. One day, some of you will understand that last statement. But what I want to encourage you all to do is to try to live at a level of excellence in which God’s light precedes and radiates through you. Don’t let your actions kill your witness. Be an inspiration to someone even when you’re not directly interacting with them. In all you do, let others know who you are and whose you are. Don’t spoil your witness. Thank you. Let me know your thoughts.
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