Four Things

This past Saturday, we hosted a retreat for the confirmation class. Part of our conversation covered our covenantal relationship with God, identifying our unique gifts and the best possible ways that we could channel those gifts in service to God and neighbor. Before the retreat concluded, I shared my closing thoughts with the group. Those closing thoughts were the four things that I believe helps drive a meaningful and thriving life and faithful person. It isn’t about being successful; it is about living a meaningful, thriving and faithful life.

These are the four thoughts: first, you should always have something to love. Second, you should always have something to believe in. Third, you should always have something to work on. Last, you should always have something to look forward to.

Thinking about these four principles reminds me of a story. It is a long story, but I have tried to shorten it.

"My name is Stuart. I’m twenty-eight, and as of last Tuesday, I was officially “redundant,” which is just a cold corporate way of saying "unemployed." I had spent more than five years studying Aerospace Engineering, graduating at the very top of my class, only to get dismissed from a mid-tier company because of “budget restructuring.”

I was driving home in my old 2012 Ford Focus — a car that smelled permanently like stale French fries and disappointment — after yet another failed job interview in Philadelphia. The interviewer barely looked through my portfolio. He said I lacked something he called “real-world resilience.” I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.

I was exhausted. I was running out of money. I wanted nothing more than to return to my basement apartment, hide under a blanket, and sleep off my humiliation

That’s when I saw them.

A worn-out beige Buick Century was parked awkwardly on the shoulder. Its hazard lights blinked weakly through the storm.

Next to the car, leaning into the wind while trying to work a tire iron, stood a fragile elderly man. He looked like he had no business being outside in a drizzle, let alone a downpour like that. Inside the car, an elderly woman sat stiffly in the passenger seat, fear etched across her face.

Cars rushed past them at full speed — BMWs, Jaguars, Teslas — spraying them with filthy road water and not even slowing down.

I sighed in frustration. I tightened my grip on the wheel. I truly didn’t feel like stopping. My energy was gone, my future felt bleak, and I wasn’t in the mood to play the hero.

Then the old man slipped. He almost toppled into traffic.

“Okay, fine,” I muttered under my breath.

I pulled over.

I threw on my heavy raincoat, stepped outside, and the wind immediately shoved me as if trying to push me back into my car.

“Sir!” I yelled through the noise.

“Get inside the car,” I told him firmly. “You’re going to freeze out here.”

Twenty minutes later, soaked, shivering, covered in mud and grease, and definitely ruining my only good suit pants, I finally got the spare tire mounted.

“You’re all set,” I said. “But that spare isn’t meant for long distances. Stay under fifty, and take the next exit.”

The old man stared at me with eyes so intensely blue they didn’t seem to match his aged face. Sharp. Aware.

“What’s your name, son?” he asked.

“Stuart. Stuart Miller.”

He reached into his pocket with shaky fingers. His wallet was old leather, soft and worn. He pulled out some bills.

“Take this… I have forty dollars here.”

I looked at the money. I knew it was probably a lot for them.

“It’s okay,” I said, gently refusing. “Buy your wife something warm to drink. You both look chilled to the bone.”

The woman spoke softly. “But your clothes… You look like you were on your way to a business meeting.”

A bitter laugh escaped me. “I’m an unemployed aerospace engineer, ma’am. This suit wasn’t helping me much.”

The old man raised his eyebrows. “Unemployed? Aerospace?”

“Yeah,” I said, rubbing my hands. “But apparently, I don’t have enough ‘grit.’”

I headed back to my Focus before they could insist further."

The old man that Stuart helped was Arthur Sterling, the founder of Aero-Dynamics. Mr. Sterling would later explain at a press briefing that he began a personal experiment with his wife. They disguised themselves and traveled around the country, driving an old car to test how society treats strangers in need.

On that day, although hundreds of cars passed him during the storm, no one stopped until Stuart pulled over in the pouring rain. Stuart fixed my car and destroyed his own suit doing it, and when I offered him forty dollars, he declined and asked me to buy some warm soup for my wife.

Mr. Sterling then did something remarkable, looking into the plethora of cameras, he said this “Stuart, if you’re watching — I fired my current Head of Innovation today. The job is yours. Come claim it.”

Stuart was picked up from his apartment and offered the position of Head of Special Projects & Innovation, $450,000 annual salary, stock options and a signing bonus of $50,000.

That began a dramatic turn for Stuart. I don’t think he even thought about any potential benefit to what he did. All he thought he was doing was helping an old man in the rain, trying to fix his tire.

At this time of the year, there are a lot of metaphorical old men standing in the rain trying to fix their tires. But you have also had a bad day; you have nothing in you to give, but you have one thing to offer. Are you going to throw caution to the wind and jump into the rain?

Let’s chat next week!

Manny+

(This article has been broken into two parts. Part 2 is scheduled for next week.)