Thoughts and Writings from the furnace by Kent Weathersby

Stories

it’s always a pleasure to spend time with someone who is a good storyteller. Someone like Jeff Foxworthy who I heard speak recently. Unconscious eavesdropping on good stories being told at the next table in a restaurant can be very entertaining. Not long ago, we were dining at our favorite restaurant and couldn’t help overhearing the two couples at the next table talking about one of them having reached her 100th birthday. All of a sudden a man in the party, stood up, struck his glass of water with a spoon several times to get everyone’s attention, and proceeded to celebrate the centenarian by singing a complete aria with operatic perfection. Great story by the tenor.

While we are on the subject of stories, I would like to suggest that we are all story tellers: writing a story on the pages of our lives with the ink of our thoughts, words, and deeds.

Much of what we watch and read about is someone’s story. In scripture, we learn that Abraham sent his servant to the land from which he came to find a wife for his son Isaac. When the servant arrived at the family’s homeland, he stopped at a well to refresh himself. He asked God to bring the woman preserved for his master’s son to the well. “I will ask her for a drink from her water jug and if she gives me a drink and offers to water my camels, may she be the one chosen for Isaac.” In a short time, Rebecca came to the well and fulfilled the servant’s prayer. Another great story.

King Edward VIII abdicated the throne of England for Wallis Simpson, the woman he loved. When Medal of Honor winner Marine Corps Sergeant John Basilone was killed on Iwo Jima, his wife never entertained the thought of remarriage knowing for a certainty that no one could ever fill the void left by Manila John.

Nancy Regan provided the emotional bulwark that empowered President Regan to bring down the Berlin Wall. Nicole Kidman loved Keith Urban out of the deep well of despair and addiction in which he was entombed. There is no end to life’s stories. The question is which ones reflect nobility, loyalty, endurance, faith, and love.

Recently, my wife and I walked by a Starbucks in Peachtree City where we live. There was a lovely couple enjoying coffee and sunshine at one of the outdoor tables.The wife of the couple stopped us and asked me if I was a priest. She had mistaken the large increase-volume plus sign on the blue tooth speaker married to my playlist for a cross.

The four of us joined in a conversation during which the husband spoke with halting and strained speech. It was apparent that he was handicapped in some way. The atmosphere was a little tentative because I was unsure to what depths I could converse with him. His wife seeing the awkwardness of the moment told us that her husband had a form of cerebral palsy.

More conversation with the couple shattered many of my flawed perceptions, ignorance, and biases when I learned that her husband was a Board Certified physician. Diagnosed as a child, Dr. Darrell Pone assumed that he would be dependent on others his entire life. His father, also a physician would have no part of that. So powerful was his mentorship that Dr. Pone not only achieved excellence in academics, but played on both the baseball and football teams in middle and high school. He may have only kept score and attended the huddles, but he was on the teams, wore the uniforms, and was considered by fellow players and fans to be a hero. Dr Pone’s story, We’ve Come This Far By Faith, was published in 2007 and is an inspiring and transforming autobiography.

It’s almost natural in this world to allow familiarity, monotony, and the demands of making a living to discount our story – to rob it of its DNA. A story which will be read by friends, family, and witnesses to our lives. There is nothing to prevent each of us from starting a new chapter for every day we live. Each of us is gifted with carefully conceived gifts and talents. Those who have wealth can write a story of generosity. Those who have skill can write a story of apprenticeship. Those who have faith can write a story of overcoming. Those who have love can rewrite someone else’s story.

We should not settle for watching the days pass by as footnotes in the passage of time. We were made to soar like eagles on the winds of passion, vision, and a hunger for righteousness. The reward for our authorship will be to hear the Chief Literary Critic say “Well done” as He closes the final chapter of our stories.

“…I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself.”

Kent