Dealing With The Unexpected (Super Cool Person Of The Week!) July 22, 2005

I had a good friend, Jason Wilson, over at my house last night. Lucretia went out for a little while, Vanessa Brown, our children’s ministers’ wife, hosted several ladies in her home for desert & so I was left alone.

So I bribed Jason into coming over…it wasn’t hard…I told him that I had two pieces of peanut butter pie from Sullivan’s and that I needed help in eating them…he was in my living room in less than 30 minutes.

We goofed off, watched Texas hold-em poker (interesting), and looked at some Google site on-line where you could see satellite images of the town you are in–funky! (I felt like a nerd!) Lucretia came home around 9:00 and Jason decided to take off.

BUT before he left I asked him to please take some of the food that we had in our fridge with him. You’ve got to understand–we have been taken care of in an awesome way by our church, and we have so much food that I actually considered opening a restaurant. Well, being the munchy boy that Jason is–he took several dishes with him. He pulled out of our driveway a happy man…and Lucretia and I began to get ready for bed.

(Disclaimer–please do not get the wrong picture of Jason…he does eat a lot–all the time! BUT he is a freak of nature–he is built like a house–runs all the time–basically he is in excellent shape. Sort of makes me sick–I can look at a candy bar and gain five pounds–Jason can eat that same candy bar once every thirty minutes and never show any signs of it!!! Oh yeah–ladies, he’s already married–sorry!)

Back to my story…

So my phone rang right before I was going to get into bed…I did not make it to the phone and the person did not leave a message–so I checked caller ID (a gift from the Lord) and it was Jason…so I called him back.

Jason had just wanted to say thanks for the food…and also wanted to tell me that he wished he could enjoy it…but that is was all over the floor of his truck as a result of him just creaming a deer that was standing in the middle of the road. (I’ve hit a deer before–it’s a pretty dramatic experience.)

I know Jason was a little upset about the food–but what got me the most was his attitude–he was sort of laughing. I asked him, “Are you ok,” and he said he was. Then I asked about the deer–uh, sorry animal lovers–but another one bites the dust. And then I asked him the question that every southern boy MUST ask, “Hey man, did it mess up your truck?” His reply was awesome–he laughed and said, “Oh, it was already messed up–it’s just an ‘ole truck!”

To me that is an awesome attitude! Jason lost a lot last night–he lost some incredible food, another piece of peanut butter pie…and he definitely did some damage to his truck…this was totally unexpected–seriously, he didn’t say to me right before leaving my house, “Hey man, got to go–there is a deer in the road that I want to mow down!” This came out of left field…yet his attitude was incredible.

So how about you–how do you deal with the unexpected? When something little…or big…happens in your life that you didn’t count on–do you scream, cry, get bitter at God…or do you just role with it? The Bible says in Philippians 2:5 that our attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus! I will admit that this isn’t always easy; however, it is always right.

I was reading in a book the other day that someone said, “God chooses what we go through–we choose how we go through it.” That is so true–the attitude that we have is our choice! We can’t blame it on circumstances–if we are negative and whiney–we chose to be that way–and that is a problem we must repair.

So I said all that to say this–I am naming Jason Wilson my very first “Super Cool Person of the Week.” (This will be a post that I do every Friday!) Thanks Jason for your awesome attitude, for not letting things get to you! You are a great example–keep up the great work!