Sometimes life throws you curves that shake you to your inner core. Lately it feels more like I am on a road in the mountains that twists and turns and runs real close to the edge with no guard rail! October 1 I was hit with perhaps one of the biggest curves so far. My boss was found in his apartment where he had passed away of natural causes. This began a new journey for me. As shaken to my core as I was I knew we had to continue on at work and get the job done. Not only is that necessary when you work for a newspaper it is also what Walt would have wanted.
Here we are 22 days later and I continue to strive to keep things normal at work and get things done. However, there is still that empty hole. When I have the office door open and I walk by I still look to see if Walt is sitting at his desk. I still look for his car in the parking lot. I still think of him when I see something KISS related or see them on television. When I hear a bad joke I always think of him and how he would probably love the joke or had already heard it. However, I didn't think I would think of him when it came to Sunday school and church.
We started a new series at church called "Extravagant Generosity". It involves a daily devotional and a sermon series as well as a Sunday school curriculum. While we are of course at church talking more of giving to the church in my mind extravagant generosity brings to mind Walt. He was very generous to me in what he taught me. He encouraged me to learn and dig for more information on things that didn't look right or problems that needed to be solved. He was generous with me when it came to understanding and knowing that I moved to a position that had me step out of my comfort zone. However, I was just shown the tip of his generosity.
At the memorial service we held for him the number of people from our building and our other newspapers that came to say goodbye showed how generous Walt was of himself. As the stories were told we heard of a man who was very wise in the newspaper world. We also heard from his family of what a kind soul he had been. His father spoke of Walt's generosity to donating funds to the Children's Miracle Network. An employee spoke of Walt helping when times were tough and expecting nothing in return. I am certain that there are many more stories of Walt out there that would play out just as those two did. What was abundantly clear was that everyone was touched by Walt at some point in their time of knowing him.
Sunday I learned of a book called "Under the Overpass". It is a book written by a man who spends five months homeless in five different cities in the United States. He tells the stories of being hungry, having no where to sleep, panhandling and of the people he meets along the way. My journey in Christ has been one of many good intentions. However, I see my journey this time as something much different then it was in the past. I feel so connected and as if I have missed out in the past because my heart wasn't where it needed to be. I am certain that every one of us has walked by a homeless person on the street and looked the other way. My challenge to you is to not look the other way but to offer a smile. Offer the change in your pocket. Take them to dinner. Show them the generosity that Christ would show.
In high school we went on a mission trip as a youth group. I have many memories from this trip but one that stands out in my mind is a church we were in that had a white board. The seniors of the group wrote sayings all over the white board to leave for the church members to find. One was "Live simply so others may simply live". As we head into the Christmas season and the extravagant marketing and the extravagant buying begins please remember that not everyone is as lucky as we are. Perhaps it's time to look at holiday giving and remember to live simply.
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