The Half-Million Dollar Mistake…That Led To A Fortune

           Mike McCoy wanted to enter the natural gas business; what he needed was a partner. He found one and they decided to drill for natural gas in an asparagus field that they had purchased in Northern California.

            Unfortunately, a valued employee whom McCoy had previously hired made a mistake. He accidentally poured cement into the well and ruined it. That mistake cost a half-million dollars and McCoy and his partner had practically no money left. Now McCoy had to call his new partner and tell him that one of McCoy’s best friends and most trusted employees had lost them hundreds of thousands of dollars.

            McCoy was amazed to discover that his partner reacted in a magnanimous way. He reacted with great equanimity and graciously told McCoy to let his worker keep his job. The partners borrowed another $500,000 and moved the drill bit 100 feet from the spot they had wanted to drill.             

            It was good that McCoy’s partner treated the mistaken employee in such a kind way. The next day the partners hit a reservoir of natural gas. The well was valued at $40 million. That huge and costly mistake actually led to the partner's greatest drilling triumph.

            Sometimes our worst defeats can in fact be laying the groundwork for our greatest victories. Lost gas wells, lost interviews, lost employees, lost bosses, and lost jobs can actually work to steer us in the direction that we need to go. That's why it's important to never allow ourselves to grow discouraged.

            Having said that, some of you may grow discouraged knowing that the windfall of that natural gas well was the critical financial victory that would allow McCoy’s partner to pursue his dream–owning a professional football franchise. Yes, an employee’s costly mistake paved the way for Jerry Jones to buy the Dallas Cowboys.

            And now you know the rest of the story!

Oh Those Typos!

            I love to read the author John Feinstein. His latest book-ONE ON ONE- is another excellent one. He closes it by telling a very emotional story of a tragedy involving one of his friends.

            The story concludes with his friend encouraging himself with the classic poetic quote that hangs above the door of the Army football locker room at West Point, “I lay me down for to bleed a while but I will rise to fight with you again.”

            Next comes Feinstein's last paragraph. He writes of how he was so emotional hearing this from his friend, he wept.

            Seeking a satisfying climax, Feinstein, in his last sentence, describes how lucky he has been “to have known the people I have known over the plast twenty-five years.”

            That is not a typo; the last sentence contains the word “plast” instead of “past.”

            Having written an entire book, with deep emotions and tears, having written tens of thousands of words, Feinstein, three words from the finish line, types a typo!

            I was amazed and stunned. Perhaps, in his original manuscript, Feinstein had typed the correct word–“past.” Perhaps, along the way, someone in the publishing company pushed wrong key on his computer.

            Still, everybody missed it. And ultimately, Feinstein's name is on the product.

            Can you imagine how he felt when he discovered the mistake? I’m sure he was distressed that all of his work geared toward a stirring finish was wasted because of the distraction of that last sentence.

            In a strange way, I find comfort in this mistake. I hold Feinstein in the highest regard; this mistake does not change my feelings for him.

            If someone of his quality can make a mistake, I do not have to beat myself up for mine. The Lord knows I make plenty of them, beginning with MY TYPOS in my blogs (including this blog!)

            More importantly, I’m glad that my Lord not only forgives me for my mistakes—he forgets them.

             The writer of Hebrews, quoting Jer. 31:34, writes of God saying, “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”

The Girl With No Future

         Désirée was a fourteen-year-old teenager, and she was nervous. She had enrolled in the John Murray Anderson School for the Dramatic Arts.          

         Like, many girls her age, she battled insecurities. Moreover, her life had been especially difficult. Included in her misfortunes was the death of her father, who died when she was four.

         Her grandfather had been a performer at one time, and he had encouraged her to pursue acting as she was growing up. Now, with her mother's approval, she was to begin acting lessons in a prestigious school.  

         Sadly, her dreams were not realized. Brutally, experts and professionals told her that she "had no future at all as a performer."

         Our blessing is that Désirée ultimately did not listen to those who were supposedly able to see into her future. She continued to pursue a career in acting, using modeling as her portal into her dream profession.

         Today, who does not enjoy watching Lucille Désirée Ball perform in movies and her classic TV show?

         A lot of people grow so depressed living in this world, they cannot bear to look to the future.

         I’m so glad we serve One, who is not only the God of the past and present, but also of the future. He sees what we cannot see, and He is moving our world to powerful, yet wonderful end. Although we cannot see it as He can, we can view it with hope through faith.

          20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen (Eph. 3:20-21.)

  

Source for Lucille Ball story: u-s-history.com

The Curse vs. The Cross

             When I was a graduate student in Abilene back in the eighties, I heard Rick Atchley tell a story about the great Russian writer, Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Decades ago, Solzhenitsyn was sentenced to a prison camp in Russia.

            Inside that camp, Soviet officials were determined to break Solzhenitsyn’s spirit. Part of their effort consisted of assigning him a job of moving a pile of sand from one spot to another. When he had finished, he was to move it back to the original spot. Solzhenitsyn was ordered to fulfill this mindless task day after day.

            Working under a hot sun—sweating and toiling— Solzhenitsyn one day reached the breaking point. He simply dropped his shovel; he couldn't do it anymore. He knew the guards were going to beat him, but he could not go on.

            It was then that one of the other prisoners, a believer in Christ, went to the sand and drew a cross. Then he rubbed it out with his foot before the soldiers could see it.            

            In that moment, a flood of hope filled Solzhenitsyn’s soul. Thereafter, every time he felt like the world was going to break him, he just remembered that cross.

            The curse of the Fall brings you down. The cross lifts you up.

Discouragement? Never!

Who doesn’t enjoy watching children play baseball? There is an old story about a man watching a little league baseball game one afternoon. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was.

The boy responded, "Eighteen to nothing—we're behind."

"Boy," said the spectator, "I'll bet you're discouraged."

"Why should I be discouraged?" replied the little boy. "We haven't even gotten up to bat yet!"

Because of the work of Jesus, we has Christians have all of the reason in the world to forestall discouragement and maintain hope:

1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God (Rom. 5:1-2.)