In our last blog, I focused on a small thing that had a huge impact on me professionally. It was the answer to the question Mike Tate, CEO of On the Same Page Consulting and another executive coach, asked me during an interview for his “Small-Time Leaders” podcast. I talked about David Brasfield’s warning that without the recurring revenue that comes from ongoing business relationships, my consulting practice would fail. My project-based business would not make it. Realizing he was right forced me to change my entire business model; I became more of an active advisor to my clients rather than an occasional project-based consultant.
The experience with Mike and his podcast got me thinking about random encounters.
According to Ask.com, the average American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime. We have literally thousands of encounters with people—ranging from random encounters at, say, an airport, to more intimate, long-term relationships with family and at work. Often, encounters can pose either an opportunity or a risk, but the chances of our acting on these encounters are minuscule because there are just so many of them. Most people just come and go in our lives.
But sometimes, random encounters have a lasting impact.
Growing up in Macon, Georgia, I was a “cradle Catholic.” In my early years, my brother and I used to joke that if the lights were on at church, we were there. Weekly Mass attendance and regular confessions were a part of our lives. As I approached eighth grade, we began to skip Sunday services from time to time. By the end of my eighth-grade year, we were not going to church at all. For me, that was a dream come true. That meant we could sleep in on Sundays. Clearly, for me, at that time, my faith was not important at all.
Then in my 11th-grade year, two friends and I were washing cars in the driveway one afternoon. We heard a car stop at our house, and I looked over to see a Catholic priest getting out of his Volkswagen. I wondered, “Why is the priest coming to our house on a weekday afternoon?” So we all quickly straightened up and prepared to see what he had in mind.
Father John Cuddy introduced himself and said he had seen my photo in a recent high school football article in the local newspaper. He looked me up and saw that my family and I were members of the parish. (I remember that I was surprised we were still listed as members of the church.)
He said he just wanted to come by and meet me. He then invited me to a Bible study the next week. He called me the day before the study and personally invited me again to attend. For some reason I’ll never figure out (except now I know it was the Holy Spirit), I went to that Bible study. Next thing I knew, I was reading during the church services and active in our parish.
By the time I graduated high school, I was seriously thinking about a future in the priesthood. This from a boy who just 18 months earlier had no faith!
What I learned is that there was a seed of desire to connect with my faith. And what I now know is that what could have been just a random meeting on a weekday afternoon planted that seed so I could grow in my faith.
Over the years, I’ve told people that I am a business coach who takes a whole-life approach. Those who are familiar with our 7Fs of True Success know that Faith is one of the 7F’s. For that reason, I believe my business coaching has a ministry component to it.
So today, I salute Father John Cuddy and give thanks that he took the time to come see me. Had he not, I’m convinced my life would have had a totally different trajectory.
But that random encounter changed other lives, too.
My wife, Susan, and I are deeply committed to youth ministry. She and I both were greatly influenced by youth ministers who helped shape our faith. These days, we work to help our children and others have the same opportunities to grow their own faith. So, again, that random encounter with Father Cuddy continues to impact my life and the lives of those I love.