Four weeks ago our neighborhood was rocked with a suicide attempt. The family in the house located in our backyard has three sons. The youngest son is the same age as my son Mike and he tried to take his own life. Although the two families aren’t very close we did know the young man fairly well because he was over to visit and play sports with Mike on many occasions as they grew up next to each other.
We live on a cul-de-sac and all the families on the cul-de-sac are very close. We don’t know the other families within the neighborhood nearly as well. Since this family lived on the street behind us we knew the kids but not the parents. It is a sad fact that we now regret.
That is the background that you need to understand before I tell you the rest of the story.
Last Saturday I went to work out and when I came home the cul-de-sac was empty. I went in my house and turned on the TV. Well I stood watching football in my sweaty clothes and holding my shoes I thought to myself there was something I needed to get from car in the garage.
So in my socks I went to the garage to get it.
When I got to the garage and opened my car door I looked in my car and wondered why I had come outside. Do you ever have that experience? It happens to me quite often. Many people attribute it to old age but my teenaged kids admit that it happens to them as well.
So there I was wondering why I was looking into my car. I noticed that Ben Petersen, a high school student that lives two doors down the street, had come outside to clean out his car.
All the information that we had received about the young man that had tried to take his own life and was now in a coma had come from Ben. You see Ben had gone to visit the young man in the hospital every day. Every day!!! I was impressed how Ben was handling the situation. I thought somebody should let Ben know.
But for now I was standing in the garage trying to remember why I had come outside in the first place. As I looked in the car and moved everything trying to trigger my memory I wasn’t getting anywhere. No matter how hard I looked I couldn’t figure out why I had come to the garage.
Several times I looked at Ben as he cleaned out his car. (He seemed to know what he was doing and why he was there!)
Finally I decided to go over to Ben and get an update on my backyard neighbor. As I feared the young man was expected to die in the very near future. As of Thursday he was taken off life support and had no brain activity but was breathing on his own.
It was a tragedy to say the least. But even through the awful ordeal Ben had faithfully gone to the hospital every day. I ended our conversation by telling Ben how impressed I was with his visiting the hospital and telling him how commendable I thought he had been.
Then still in socks and stinky workout clothes I walked back to my garage. Stopped at my car one last time to try to remember why I had gone outside in the first place. But nothing came to my mind.
Now I am not a complete idiot. I have figured out why I went outside. (To talk to Ben.) But I never did discover the actual earthly reason.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
I am not suggesting that every time I go someplace and wonder why I am there it is a divinely inspired event but I know that last Saturday it was.
Praise the Lord.
***I would like to close the blog by letting you know that yesterday our neighbor died and would like to ask that you keep the family in your prayers. They have suffered a great loss that as going to be a long struggle. ***
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Enjoy the Journey
Recently several things have happened in my life that brings to mind the following advice.
Enjoy the journey because you don’t always reach the destination.
First let’s talk football. My son’s football team has been highly rated all season. They only lost once during the regular season. The playoffs started with 2 relatively easy wins and the team that had beaten them during the regular season got upset and they remained as the highest seated team left in the field.
In Nebraska football is King and my son, his friends and all us fans where only 2 games removed from reaching the finals. In Nebraska we play the finals at Memorial stadium. The object is of course to win it all but just making the finals means playing at the home of the Huskers. Playing at Memorial Stadium is a childhood dream of most people in Nebraska. Just the thought of playing on that historic field puts a smile on the face of nearly every player. (And to be honest I think most parents dreamed of having their son play at Memorial Stadium.)
On Tuesday they lost. The team that beat them was a very good team that had also only lost once on the season but we were the higher seed. It was an upset. It was upsetting. Our dreams were over. For many on the team it would be the last time they ever played an organized football game. Combining all those elements made the moment very emotional.
I hope all the players (and fans) enjoyed the journey because if they didn’t enjoy the journey what is the point, you often don’t end up where you thought you end.
Life is just going to be full of disappoint if you need to see all your dreams come true in order to be happy.
And if you give up on hoping and dreaming you end up with an extremely sad life. Things don’t always work out.
Enjoy the journey because you don’t always reach the destination.
Even something as trivial as purchasing a lottery ticket is about the journey. I seldom buy lottery tickets. I understand that my chances of winning are lower than getting hit by lightning twice and completely out of my control. (Except for the getting hit by lightning part, there are things I can do to increase my chances to get hit by lightning. Things like sitting outside in storms or climbing to the top of tall things and grasping metal during storms. The lottery has none of those types’ things.)
But when the jackpot hits $250 million dollars nearly everybody enjoys thinking about what they would do with the money if they won. In fact it is hard not to come upon a conversation about that exact subject when the jackpots get near record levels.
Enjoy the journey because you don’t always reach the destination.
Life is full of other examples. I am sure you can come up with your own.
Another place to apply the “enjoy the journey” advice is at work.
As we go about our days at work we are looking for continuous improvement in all we do. It is how we stay competitive. In order to be successful in business it is important to have good systems in place for how we do things.
Once you find an efficient method you need to use that method. The Japanize word for continuous improvement is Kaizen and it is the key to staying on the cutting edge. Because once you think have perfected something it is important that are open to more improvements. Technology, tools, the people involved and many other factors mean that what works best today is likely to be improved upon in the very near future.
At work we are on a continuous path (journey) toward finding a better way. We never reach the finish line.
That means to keep from going crazy we need to celebrate our victories and successes along the way but we can ever think we have perfected something. If we do we will be passed by our competition. We can’t afford to let our competition pass us by because that will put us out of business. (In our home lives it is no big deal.)
Enjoy the journey because you don’t always reach the destination.
It is a hard concept to explain in a blog. If you would like more information I would strongly suggest reading Jason Jennings “The Reinventors.” In the book he outlines “how extraordinary companies pursue radical continuous change.”
Enjoy the journey because you don’t always reach the destination.
First let’s talk football. My son’s football team has been highly rated all season. They only lost once during the regular season. The playoffs started with 2 relatively easy wins and the team that had beaten them during the regular season got upset and they remained as the highest seated team left in the field.
In Nebraska football is King and my son, his friends and all us fans where only 2 games removed from reaching the finals. In Nebraska we play the finals at Memorial stadium. The object is of course to win it all but just making the finals means playing at the home of the Huskers. Playing at Memorial Stadium is a childhood dream of most people in Nebraska. Just the thought of playing on that historic field puts a smile on the face of nearly every player. (And to be honest I think most parents dreamed of having their son play at Memorial Stadium.)
On Tuesday they lost. The team that beat them was a very good team that had also only lost once on the season but we were the higher seed. It was an upset. It was upsetting. Our dreams were over. For many on the team it would be the last time they ever played an organized football game. Combining all those elements made the moment very emotional.
I hope all the players (and fans) enjoyed the journey because if they didn’t enjoy the journey what is the point, you often don’t end up where you thought you end.
Life is just going to be full of disappoint if you need to see all your dreams come true in order to be happy.
And if you give up on hoping and dreaming you end up with an extremely sad life. Things don’t always work out.
Enjoy the journey because you don’t always reach the destination.
Even something as trivial as purchasing a lottery ticket is about the journey. I seldom buy lottery tickets. I understand that my chances of winning are lower than getting hit by lightning twice and completely out of my control. (Except for the getting hit by lightning part, there are things I can do to increase my chances to get hit by lightning. Things like sitting outside in storms or climbing to the top of tall things and grasping metal during storms. The lottery has none of those types’ things.)
But when the jackpot hits $250 million dollars nearly everybody enjoys thinking about what they would do with the money if they won. In fact it is hard not to come upon a conversation about that exact subject when the jackpots get near record levels.
Enjoy the journey because you don’t always reach the destination.
Life is full of other examples. I am sure you can come up with your own.
Another place to apply the “enjoy the journey” advice is at work.
As we go about our days at work we are looking for continuous improvement in all we do. It is how we stay competitive. In order to be successful in business it is important to have good systems in place for how we do things.
Once you find an efficient method you need to use that method. The Japanize word for continuous improvement is Kaizen and it is the key to staying on the cutting edge. Because once you think have perfected something it is important that are open to more improvements. Technology, tools, the people involved and many other factors mean that what works best today is likely to be improved upon in the very near future.
At work we are on a continuous path (journey) toward finding a better way. We never reach the finish line.
That means to keep from going crazy we need to celebrate our victories and successes along the way but we can ever think we have perfected something. If we do we will be passed by our competition. We can’t afford to let our competition pass us by because that will put us out of business. (In our home lives it is no big deal.)
Enjoy the journey because you don’t always reach the destination.
It is a hard concept to explain in a blog. If you would like more information I would strongly suggest reading Jason Jennings “The Reinventors.” In the book he outlines “how extraordinary companies pursue radical continuous change.”
Friday, November 1, 2013
Red Sox, Willmar Office and Lincoln Christian All Win
My Brother Justin is a Cardinal fan and I am a Red Sox fan. So the people at work convinced us to place a wager on the World Series.
Now the World Series is over and I couldn’t be happier. My Red Sox won. The Chapin house is a joyful place!!!
The Willmar office donated more in the charity give away than the Lincoln office so the Willmar Office will be having a Jakes pizza party. Larry Marcus can start dreaming about what flavor he wants on his pizza. (I am tempted to force a Valentino’s party on the Lincoln office for losing.)
Thank you Steve Gardner for the great idea of using the Mustache Bet as a way to raise money for a good cause. Justin and I weren’t interested in growing a stache for fun but raising it for good cause was an easy risk to take. It appears that the total donations are going to be over $800. Without Steve’s idea we won’t have the chance to see Justin grow a cookie duster.
Well done and thank you to everybody that contributed.
When the Red Sox won that meant my charity won. The charity that I selected is Lincoln Christian School. So the money will go to its Family Education Grant (FEG). FEG is a fund that LCS uses to help offset tuition expenses for families that can’t afford to pay full tuition. During the month of October LCS is running a fundraising campaign that matches all contributions. That means that this contest will raise over $1,600 for LCS.
Isn’t that awesome!!! If you gave $10 it was matched by Justin or I to total $20 and that $20 was match again to total $40!
Plus we all get to enjoy seeing Justin with a soup strainer. (I doubt Dianna shares this view.)
Now the World Series is over and I couldn’t be happier. My Red Sox won. The Chapin house is a joyful place!!!
The Willmar office donated more in the charity give away than the Lincoln office so the Willmar Office will be having a Jakes pizza party. Larry Marcus can start dreaming about what flavor he wants on his pizza. (I am tempted to force a Valentino’s party on the Lincoln office for losing.)
Thank you Steve Gardner for the great idea of using the Mustache Bet as a way to raise money for a good cause. Justin and I weren’t interested in growing a stache for fun but raising it for good cause was an easy risk to take. It appears that the total donations are going to be over $800. Without Steve’s idea we won’t have the chance to see Justin grow a cookie duster.
Well done and thank you to everybody that contributed.
When the Red Sox won that meant my charity won. The charity that I selected is Lincoln Christian School. So the money will go to its Family Education Grant (FEG). FEG is a fund that LCS uses to help offset tuition expenses for families that can’t afford to pay full tuition. During the month of October LCS is running a fundraising campaign that matches all contributions. That means that this contest will raise over $1,600 for LCS.
Isn’t that awesome!!! If you gave $10 it was matched by Justin or I to total $20 and that $20 was match again to total $40!
Plus we all get to enjoy seeing Justin with a soup strainer. (I doubt Dianna shares this view.)
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