"God was in there with us!"

The way her voice trembled as she said my name told me immediately that something was wrong. About fourty minutes earlier I had kissed her goodbye as she, and my two youngest children left on a mission to sit on Santa's lap. Now Sheryl was telling me that they had been in an accident, "Mitchell, it's real bad. But I'm O.K. and so are the kids." To say that my heart sank would be an understatement, thoughts that no one wants to entertain were racing through my mind. One thought that is still haunting me are what could have been the final words I spoke to my wife and the lack of words said to my children. At 11:00 A.M. this morning Sheryl and I stood in front of Subway, we said goodbye, gave each other a small kiss and she ran to our Nissan Pathfinder, because of the rain I didn't go to the car to tell John Austin and Chloe goodbye. It is this exchange that haunts me.

We were not angry with each other, there was no animosity between us, we just went through the standard parting ritual that we have established throughout our years of marriage and the kids, well, I let a little water stand between us today. The thought that this could have been the last moment I spent with Sheryl, John Austin, and Chloe keeps popping into my consciousness. As I explained previously, it wasn't that it was a bad exchange, it's that it was simply an exchange, something that we went through like some sort of obligatory rite of marriage and parenthood.

After hanging up the phone, I rushed to my truck to go to the site where the Pathfinder hydroplaned off the road, struck a tree, and came to rest at the bottom of a ten foot embankment. Sheryl and the kids had been picked up by some local boys and driven to a convenience store about two miles down the road but not until they had gotten completely drenched from the winter rain. My heart rate steadily increased as I got closer to the market where three-fifths of my family was waiting on their husband and daddy to come and rescue them. I ran into the store quickly scanning the aisles for a familiar face when I heard my name called out, only this time the tremble in Sheryl's voice had been replaced with relief, it was one of the sweetest sounds I have ever heard. I turned my head toward the sound of Sheryl's voice and there I spotted three drowned mice wrapped in a borrowed children's sleeping bag. I joined them on the floor as we exchanged hugs and began shedding tears. Chloe grabbed hold of me harder than she ever has before and laid her little head on my shoulder as Sheryl reached in for a hug. John Austin had accepted the role of "man of the house" in my absence. Chloe recounted how he had grabbed her hand and used his body to shield her during the accident and now, in the aftermath, he stood behind his mother with his arm around her shoulder comforting her. Families rally in adversity and ours is no different.

I learned a valuable lesson from this experience that I pray you never have to go through in order to learn it, so listen. Treasure your family and never miss an opportunity to let them know just how much they are loved. That might sound a little cliche but, it's only when you are faced with the reality that at any moment your loved ones could be gone, do you realize how much we take them for granted. It shouldn't take such "wake up calls" to remind us to savor each moment God has blessed us with.

Chloe said it best this evening as she told her big sister, Reagan, about the wreck, "God was in there with us!" Indeed he was baby girl, indeed he was.

A Culture of Change

We have become a culture of change and, in my opinion, this mindset is quite possibly the cause of so many of our problems and social ills. Before you start warming up your keyboards to call me an "old fogey" give me a chance to explain. Most of what I know I learned from my dad. Dad has been my spiritual leader as well as my mentor in business and he is great at both. As an entrepreneur, dad has made some pretty bold decisions and was never afraid to make a change when warranted. Dad's motto has been "never change simply for the sake of change." In other words, if you believe you need to make a change make sure you are changing for the right reasons.

I can remember, soon after graduating college and joining dad in the family business, a man calling on me wanting to become our new wholesale supplier. He made a good pitch and I, in turn, pitched it to dad. His first bit of advice was to wait, if it's worth doing today it will still be worth doing tomorrow. Well you can just imagine how I felt about that, I was upset! Here I had come to him with this great deal, sure to lower our costs and increase the bottom line and all he can say is wait! So I waited. After a week the man who wanted to get our business called to see where we stood, I told him that we were stll considering but not quite ready to move. Guess what this guy does the next day? He calls and sweetens the deal! Well I was sure dad was going to be so proud of me! When I told dad the good news he still wasn't impressed, he liked the idea of saving money but at what cost? We had been with our current supplier for fifteen years ond until this new company put themselves in the mix we were satisfied. At dads direction I called our current supplier and talked to them about the situation, not wanting to lose our business and to reward our loyalty they beat the new companies proposal and we have been with them for thirty years now.

Another personal example just came to fruition today. Our convenience store has proudly sold Amoco fuel since day one. Thirty years ago my dad "inked" a deal with the local Amoco jobber with a handshake. (Back then a handshake was much stronger than ink, but that's for another post.) Over the years, the oil and gasoline business has changed, Amoco being bought by BP several years ago had, by far, the biggest effect on our business. This year the changes began to pile up, we were no longer satisfied with BP as a company, however, we faced a serious decision. Would changing to a different supplier solve our problems or simply move them? After many phone calls and meetings with people on each side of the equation we decided a change was in order. Today the BP sign came down as we welcomed Texaco to our family business.

So how do you know when change is good or not? Typically, change for the sake of change is a bad idea, you end up moving into a situation worse than where you started. Take my dad's advice, if it is good today, it will still be good tomorrow. Change should be something you direct, not something you allow to forced upon you. When considering change actually take the time, do the homework and make an informed choice. Never, never, not ever, should you make a change when you are too angry or too emotional.

Our culture today is loaded with people who are victims of the poor choices they made when seeking change. The boss makes you mad, well I'll show him, I quit! (Never mind that you don't have another job to go to, you had to prove a point.) Another company offers you a little more money to work for them and you jump at it without even talking to your current employer. (Don't forget all the little things your employer does or has done for you. Loyalty is important. There might me a reason why this job is open to begin with!) The preacher, elder, or a member at church offends you so to prove a point you quit going to church there and go somewhere else. (Don't talk to them about it, you have a point to make!) Some people at church are clamouring for certain things to change because "it's time for a change." You decide to join them in their crusade because we've done things this way for a long time, lets try something new.

If you get nothing else from this, Get This! Don't change for the sake of change. Change should be led by reason and fueled with knowledge.

I want your input on this. When is change good? When is it inevitably? How can one know it's time for chamge?

Defining the Win

In any endeavor one undertakes there is an expected result that, if achieved, serves as a "win." In sports this is easy to define, a "win" is a win, just score more than your opponent to claim victory. In business the win is usually defined in monetary terms, increased sales, lower costs, or increased profit. In ministry the "win" is sometimes harder to define.

Most people, myself included, tend to want to tie some tangible result to ministry work to define the win. Usually we enter into a ministry with the expected result being either an increase in attendance or even better, saving the lost. However, some ministries do not lend themselves to such concrete results whereby we can claim victory.

This past weekend at Waynesboro was one such occasion. Saturday morning the church, in conjunction with The Second Harvest Food Bank, was able to distribute over 12,000 pounds of food and necessities to deserving families in our community. In all, we were able to help over 100 families and about 400 people in total with this massive distribution of produce, frozen food, and dry goods. I guess for some the "win" here would be in the numbers, but for me and those of us who worked the food drive the "win" was something else entirely.

The "win" Saturday was evident in the faces of the people we were fortunate enough to be able to help. The win was the erasure of worry from the face of a single mother as to how she would balance paying the bills and putting food on the table for her children. It was expressed in the relief of an elderly couple who, at least for this month, wouldn't have to make the choice between food or their needed prescription medicine. It was evidenced in the heart of a Mom & Dad as they collectively realized that they wouldn't have to face the choice between food and Christmas presents. You see, sometimes defining the "win" is not as simple as counting the numbers, sometimes the win comes from the simple act of helping those who need help.

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." (Matthew 25:35-36)

1000 Visitors Can't Be Wrong!

It's hard to believe but, sometime today "The Mind of Mitchell" blogsite will record it's 1000th guest. I started this blog in June of this year but didn't really get going until August/September (basically what that means is I didn't know what I was doing when I first started and it took me a good two months to figure things out).

One of the things I learned was how to gather and analyze statistics for my site. I am amazed every day at the number of people who read my blog as well as the reach I have made worldwide. Yes, worldwide! I have visitors from all over the United States, Racine, WI to Biloxi, MS; San Bernadino to San Marcos to Spring Hill; Nashville to Los Angeles; Pascagoula to Chicago and many points in between. I also have recorded visitors from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India, South America, Honduras, Germany, and England.

I reached another milestone today, since I began keeping stats(on Sept. 3rd), I have flirted with 100 guests in a day but never quite made it, today (Thursday) the site recorded 103!

When I started this blog I never dreamed of the impact and reach I could have on so many people, from so many different places. God willing I will continue to write with my purpose remaining to glorify God and Christ, to bring a little humor into your life and to help us all gain perspective on the things happening around us. Thank You for stopping by and reading. Let me know how I'm doing and what you would like to see me discuss in the future.

"The Golden Compass"

As a rule I'm not one to pass judgment on someone or something unless I am satisfied I have the facts. Too often people rush to judgment with little or no information to support their claim and this can lead to many problems and even undermine a persons credibility in the future, i.e. The Little Boy who Cried Wolf. That being said I want too inform you of the new children's movie The Golden Compass, while I haven't seen the movie (it opens this Friday, December 7th) or even plan to see it, I have done a fair bit of research on the trilogy of books upon which the movie is based.

The author of the trilogy His Dark Materials is Philip Pullman, a professed agnostic, atheist, and secular humanist. Pullman lives in England and the first book in his trilogy Northern Lights(released in the U.S. as The Golden Compass) is the basis for this movie. The second book in the trilogy is titled The Subtle Knife with the third named The Amber Spyglass. Concerning the underlying purpose for his trilogy, Pullman has stated "My books are about killing God" along with "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief."

The movie and the book which inspired it are reportedly the least offensive of the three in the trilogy, a design to get parents to let their guard down and allow their children to read the books. In The Golden Compass book, one character who is an ex-nun describes Christianity as "a very powerful and convincing mistake." In the last book The Amber Spyglass the two child heroes participate in the dissolution of a senile, pretender God who has falsely passed himself off as the creator of the universe.

I hope this is enough to convince parents that this movie and Pullman's books should be avoided but we should not ignore their existence. If your children are old enough you should discuss this movie/book with them because it is most certain that other children will see this movie and be talking about it.

You can read more on this for yourself by clicking here.