The Black Beanie

In October of 1990 I owned a small lighting maintenance company called “Sundown Lighting”. The company was starting to grow and we picked up some commercial shopping center contracts, but the contracts required us to service tall parking lot light poles. The only problem was that we didn’t own a Boom Truck that could reach tall poles. So I made the decision to take out a loan and buy one and I actually got lucky because I found out that Carmenita Ford had a great deal on a new Ford F450 Dura-Lift Boom Truck. They had been using it as a demonstrator and it only had 10,000 miles on it, but unfortunately at that time it was parked in Denver at a truck show. If I wanted it, I would have to fly there and drive it back. However, the Ford Sales Rep told me to hurry because winter was on its way!

When I got to Denver the truck was perfect and just what we needed. I filled it up with Diesel fuel and headed out, but within an hour the snow began to fall. Within two hours I was stuck in a blinding snowstorm at the top of Vail Pass. I waited a long time and eventually a snowplow showed up and I was able to follow slowly behind it. When we reached the summit, I glanced over and through the heavy white mist I saw a large 18-wheel truck stopped on the side of the highway. About 50 yards in front of the truck was a man dressed in a dark coat with a black beanie pulled tightly over his head. I figured his truck must have broken down so I pulled over and asked him if he needed help. He said “Yeah” and jumped in I asked him, “What happened to your truck?” His answer caught me off guard when he replied, “That’s not my truck.”

As we rode along together I was kind of spooked. I kept thinking, what is this guy doing in a snowstorm with no car, no food, and no water, just a black coat and a beanie? I tried to start a conversation several times but he didn’t say much, just that he was an out of work carpenter headed for Salt Lake City. He said he heard that there might be work there, but other than that he barely spoke at all. When I asked him if he had family in Utah, he said, “No family.” I began to have some crazy thoughts. How did this guy get to the top of Vail Pass in a heavy snowstorm on foot? Why was he traveling with no backpack or supplies? And what happened to the driver of that 18-wheeler on the side of the road?

After traveling for about four more hours along a section of Hwy 70, I spotted a gas station and a Wendy’s Restaurant. As we pulled up I asked the stranger if he wanted something to eat. He grunted, “No,” but I knew he had to be hungry, so I went inside and ordered two double cheeseburger meals and brought them back to the truck. As we pulled back out on the highway, I think he said, “Thanks,” but it was only a faint whisper that I could barely hear.

Soon we came to the intersection of Hwy 70 and 15, where my journey would take me south. All of a sudden he said, “Stop here!” It was late in the day and the sun was going down, plus it was cold out and we were in the middle of the desert, so I asked him, “Are you sure you want to get out here? If you want to keep riding along for a while, I’d be willing to get you a motel room.” The stranger just kept his head down and never responded, so I pulled over. As he started to get out of the truck I grabbed his arm and stuck a fifty-dollar bill in his hand and with a slight nod of his head, he turned away and jumped out of my truck, slamming the door. I kept thinking he’s going freeze to death out there, but I didn’t know what else to do. So I put the truck in gear, made a quick U-turn, and looked out the window to wave goodbye.

That’s when it got really spooky. The stranger was nowhere to be seen! Even though we were in the middle of the desert, with no trees and not even a cactus to hide behind, the stranger was gone! He vanished in less than 20 seconds and it totally freaked me out. “Where’d he go? What happened to him?” I even began to think maybe he climbed onto the back of my truck and was hiding out, waiting to jump me and rob me when I stopped again. I guess I was just being paranoid but I also began to wonder, “Did I really did just spend 6 hours with a mysterious stranger in a black beanie, who barely spoke, and then disappeared into thin air? What was that all about?”

When I finally did pull over at a Motel 6 about an hour later, I was still freaked out. So I climbed slowly out of the truck, walked around the back, and peered in to see if the stranger was hiding in the back of my truck or something. Fortunately, he wasn’t, so I guess I felt relief, but I also couldn’t stop wondering what happened to him. It was then that I decided to call my office and let them know that I had picked up the truck and was safely down the mountain. Boy did I get a funny surprise! My Office Manager told me she had finally decided on the perfect gift we should get our customers as a promotional item for the upcoming Christmas Season… Black Beanies with our Sundown Logo on them!

There are so many lessons I can learn from that experience. But maybe the most important lesson is that wherever I go and whatever I do, I am always operating for an audience of One. No matter if I’m at home or at work, or in a snowstorm in Colorado, or even on a remote highway in the desert, I need to remember that God is always watching me. So I should always do my best to serve others…. even if it’s a scary ghost in a black beanie!

Sundown Lighting's Promotional Black Beanie

One of the most beautiful compensations of this life is 

that you cannot sincerely try to help another…  

without helping yourself.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Walk The Walk

I’m pretty sure that most of us have experienced a bad neighbor at some time in our life. We’ve certainly had our share and unfortunately, we currently have a bad neighbor where we live now. For the past five years she has consistently caused us problems, so we refer to her as the “crazy lady” next door. By the way, that’s the same description the sheriff uses every time he has to deal with her.

And when I say crazy, I’m not exaggerating. She has an extremely loud voice and loves to drink and party all night on the beach. But mostly she loves to be the center of attention. My wife and I try our best to ignore her, so maybe that’s why she doesn’t like us and keeps trying to make us want to move. Whatever the reason, here is just a short list of some of the “crazy lady” things we have had to deal with.

·         She tore down our mailbox and our neighbor’s mailbox in a drunken rage one evening.

·         She knocked over a temporary fence we had installed, but managed somehow not to spill her drink.

·         She likes to party late into the evening and sing along with loud Hispanic music, which wouldn’t be so bad if she wasn’t singing so off key.

·         She doesn’t like me to park in front of my own house because it makes it slightly harder for her to turn into her driveway, so earlier this year she took her electric golf cart and creased the whole side of my truck with it.

·         Two months ago, we brought home some giant pink balloons from our daughter’s wedding shower and tied them out on our beach area. They were gently swaying in the breeze when we went inside to eat lunch. When we came back out, they had both been mysteriously popped.

·         And most recently, she broke off all the branches on the single beautiful Jade Tree we have in our front yard. I’m not sure what the Jade Tree did wrong, but maybe it simply forgot to applaud as she walked by.

So… If you’re wondering why we don’t just move away, there are several reasons. For example, we love living at the beach, we love our landlord, and we love all of our other awesome neighbors who help offset the single bad one. But you may also be wondering why we don’t retaliate. Well, the truth is we have thought about it and come up with a lot of clever ideas, but we can’t act on any of them because we’re trying to be good Christians. So, what can we do? We can be thankful! I know, now you think I’m the crazy one! But think about it. This “crazy lady” is giving us a chance every month to show God that we can pass His test, that we can actually walk the walk (just so long as we don’t walk into her yard), and that we understand what it means to turn the other cheek. We won’t stoop to her level (although I did stand on a ladder yesterday to install security cameras) and we won’t complain about it anymore (mainly because it doesn’t change anything anyway), but we will do something from now on every time we see her. We will walk the walk… and we might even applaud!

Prayer is when you talk to God. 

Faith is when you walk with God.

~ Anonymous

Give and Take

My wife and I are currently vacationing in Kauai and enjoying all that the island has to offer. The house we rented is perched out on a bluff with a gorgeous 280-degree view of the beautiful blue Pacific Ocean. As I sit here at the kitchen table typing this new Monday Message, I can see giant sea turtles swimming down below in the cove, gecko’s crawling outside on the deck, white tailed Tropicbirds flying overhead and lizards and frogs jumping around out by the rocks surrounding the pool. This place must be close to the center of Mother Nature’s universe because besides all the wonderful wildlife, we are also surrounded by lush green trees, beautifully colored plants and brilliant rainbows.

Having grown up on a ranch in Fallbrook, I’ve always had a love for nature, especially animals. But when I heard my wife scream as she stepped into the pool, I knew there must be some kind of deadly critter in the water. She screamed again and I said, “What is it?” She didn’t answer at first, she just pointed at the tiniest, cutest little frog I have ever seen and then shouted, “I think it’s dead!” I had to laugh because a miniature frog is not exactly a deadly creature, but apparently my wife doesn’t like frogs, especially dead ones floating in the pool.

The funny thing is, the frog wasn’t dead. Granted, he was floating upside down on the surface of the water, so he looked like he had drowned. But when I went to scoop him up he popped himself right side up on my hand and started moving around. He looked straight up at me and crawled out to the end of my finger. The little guy was smaller than my fingernail, but big on personality. I think he liked hanging out with me because he appeared to be smiling as I took him in the house with me to get my phone. And when I took him back outside to take his picture, he never once tried to jump away.

That tiny little toad and I had a good time hanging out together for at least 10 minutes. But then I wanted to return him to the wild, so I took him to the back side of the pool and set him on a lava rock. In less time than it took for me to stand back up, a large alligator lizard leaped onto the rock and chomped straight down on my new best friend. Now I was the one that felt like screaming. It was horrible to watch as that lousy lizard slowly munched my little buddy down his big fat throat. I swear that stupid lizard was smiling at me and I could just imagine what he was thinking, “Dude, thanks for lunch!”

I know that God designed our world in His infinite wisdom, and that this earth is designed “to give” and “to take”, and I appreciate the beauty and the wonder of it all. But sometimes… the “take” part is just kind of hard to take! 

Goodbyes are not forever.

Goodbyes are not the end.

They simply mean I’ll miss you.

Until we meet again!

~ Anonymous