Participation in the Pink

Last week I drove down to Solana Beach in San Diego to do a light pole inspection.  I came up with the idea of doing light pole inspections using Ultrasonic Technology about 15 years ago. It’s a highly innovative approach to preventative maintenance because by performing an annual inspection for rust and corrosion, I can locate light poles that are in danger of falling… before they fall over! It’s a much better approach than waiting until a pole falls onto a car and then having to clean up that huge mess.

When I finished checking all the light poles at the Solana Marketplace, I headed south through Del Mar towards my next project. However, when I tried to head towards the freeway, the traffic was severely back up. It took me about 10 minutes to make the left turn, but as I drove down Via de la Valle, I saw why the traffic was a mess. There was a huge parade of thousands of people walking down the sides of the street, all of them decked out in bright pink.

It was obviously a parade in support of breast cancer research, but what was really impressive was the number of people. The steady throng of “people in pink” went on for miles and miles, until I thought it would never end. But then, as I got close to the 5 Freeway, I saw the crowd finally start to thin out. And then she caught my eye! Far behind the rest of the crowd was this little old lady, all by herself, completely decked out in pink clothes, pink feathers, and a pink hat, moving ever so slowly holding on to her walker as she shuffled along. She was at least 100 yards behind everyone else, but still moving.

She was so cute I almost crashed my truck trying to get a better look at her as I went by. I should have stopped ang got her picture because she must have been at least 80-90 years old and had the brightest pink outfit I have ever seen. She was definitely inspiring because it was obvious that despite her age, she was determined to participate in this event no matter how long it took her to finish. By the way, when I got home, I looked it up on the internet. That Del Mar Susan Komen Event is a 3-day 60-mile walk!

Witnessing that little old lady make such a great effort to support a worthy cause made quite an impression on me… and it got me thinking. There are so many stories in the Bible where God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things all the time. Like Moses, David, Jonah, Tamar and Rahab. None of them started out as anything special, but yet they all ended up as inspirational people in the bible. So you don’t have to be a celebrity, or a sports star, or even the President of the United States to inspire others to do the right thing. You just have to be willing to participate in doing the right thing… and do it in front of others. And hey, who knows, you might even look pretty in pink!

The reassuring lesson is clear. God uses ordinary people 

to change the world. Not saints or superhumans, 

just people. Crooks, creeps, lovers and liars, he uses them all. 

And what they may lack in perfection, God makes up for in love.
~ Max Lucado

Character Counts

Today is Veteran’s Day and it got me thinking about the meaning of character. I don’t know if having good character is something you are born with or whether it is something that is learned and developed over time. But what I do know, is that in today’s crazy busy society our “character” is constantly being tested in small ways, as well every so often in a huge way. Let me give you two examples to think about.

I recently went to get a haircut from a young talkative hair stylist whom I’ve known for many years. She is newly married, so I asked her what attracted her to her new husband. She told me a story. They came out of a grocery store together after shopping and when they got to his car, he noticed what looked like a wad of money on the ground. He picked it up and said someone must have dropped their cash. He then said, “We need to wait here in case they come back.” My hair stylist friend said she told him the chances that the person will realize where they dropped it and come back any time soon are pretty slim, but he was determined to wait. They waited together for over an hour but eventually spotted a young mother with two small children scouring the parking lot for something. The smile on that woman’s face when she got her money back, was worth every minute of the wait.

A friend of mine and his wife were recently returning from vacation when they decided to stop at a large Outlet Center off the 60 Freeway. My friend was waiting outside a store while his wife shopped when he noticed a small crowd gathered nearby. He walked over and noticed that there were two Hispanic women frantically trying to perform the Heimlich maneuver on a small girl. It must have been the girl’s mother and grandmother who were trying to help her, but the girl wasn’t responding and went limp. My friend immediately stepped up to the women and put his hands out. With fear and desperation in her eyes, and a lifeless little girl in her arms, the mother handed her over to him. My friend flipped the little girl upside down over his knee and began pounding his palm into the girl’s back. He told me it seemed like forever but that it was probably only 10 seconds before the little girl coughed and spit up some fluid. A few seconds later, a large wad of popcorn came flying out. She choked and coughed some more, but she also started breathing again. The situation could have ended very badly, but it didn’t because someone had the character and the courage to step up and help.  

The two stories above might seem like two very different examples of character. One is simply about returning a lost item, while the other is about returning someone to life. But they are related… Because if we cannot be trusted to do what is right with the small things, how can we be counted on to do what’s right when there is a life on the line.

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much; 

and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

~ Luke 16:10