Make the call...

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God,

they are the sons of God

- Romans 8:14, Bible

  

Sometimes…maybe more than sometimes, we need a little help.  Often it doesn’t really take much, or at the least it doesn’t appear to take very much.

It had been one of those days…a fair number of things to do, but the ‘…get up…’ seemed to have gotten disconnected from the ‘…and go!’

The call…

“Hi, Ted Dreisinger,” I said.  “Hey Ted, it’s Joanna.”

Joanna! Every time I hear that voice, my heart warms right up.  You know the feeling…the one you can’t quite put into words, because it has gotten buried deep enough that it’s just a part of you.

The context…

“What do people call you?” I had asked.  “They call me ‘Coop,’ ‘Jo,’ ‘Jo C.”

“I think I’ll call you Joanna,” I said at our first meeting, and that is what I have done over the last six years or so we have known each other.  Joanna, a young woman who entered my life, and before long found her way into my heart…there is a difference, you know…there is a difference.

The first call…

“Hello, my name is Joanna.  I’m a friend of Scott’s.  You and I met last year with a group of Scott’s students.” 

Joanna? Joanna? In truth, I couldn’t place her.  “Hi Joanna,” I said, “What can I do for you?” 

“I’ve been working with Scott for the past couple of years, he’s leaving the university and I think I need a little more.  Would you be interested in mentoring me?” she replied.

“Well, hmmm, ah, I don’t know.” I thought to myself.  While I had done a fair amount of this in my life, it was my first ‘cold call.’  I was faced with one of those ‘yes’ and ‘no’ situations, which have become familiar in the landscape of my life.  You know: ‘no’ – nothing happens; ‘yes’ – maybe nothing, BUT possibly something.  That afternoon, I decided on the ‘yes.’  So, I said, “Why don’t we meet for a cup of coffee and see whether we have a fit?” 

“Scott told me you were an early riser,” she replied, “How about Saturday morning around 6 at Einstein’s on the corner of Crooks and West Big Beaver in Troy?” 

“Great,” I said, “I’ll see you then.”

What’s behind the door?

I had no idea what was coming, who this young woman was, or whether anything might develop.  The only thing I knew for sure was Einstein’s made a pretty good cup of coffee.  In the early morning hours…I like a good cup of coffee!

I got in a little before six…it was dark, and as the clock struck the top of the hour, in walked a tall, athletic looking, and as I would find out pretty quickly an extremely bright young woman.  It was an easy identification…we were the only two in the place.

Over the next several months we met biweekly and I came to appreciate how thoughtful and inquisitive this ‘human curiosity’ machine was.  We went through a series of business exercises and like the unrelenting draw of gravity’s pull found ourselves becoming friends…real friends.  The neuro-bio-psych people say, for people to develop relationships, they have to agree to jump into the same ‘Limbic Brain’ boat and let the common, uncharted current take them to a new destination. 

Our conversations drifted to life and humanity, and religion and politics and more.  As many a writer has said, in many ways…we found so much more in common than exception.  Yes indeed, you might say we found a collective ground of love and respect, and it was very good.  It was, by most accounts a strange mix, an old white guy from the Midwest and a young inner city African American woman…but here we were!

That was then…

The years have passed, and since we have been in Southern California, Joanna has visited with us several times.  Circumstances have changed some.

Joanna no longer lives in Detroit, but Germany where she is a buyer for Daimler-Benz.  She took a junior buyer job in Detroit and did so well, Corporate invited her to come to the home offices to work…and there she is.

For some universally cosmic reason, Joanna felt led to give me a call.  Why?  Just because!  For an equally universally cosmic reason, I needed a boost for my day.  However that thing works…she followed the leading, picked up the phone at the end of her day – 9 hour time difference – and called just to see what was ‘up.’  Before her call, it wasn’t me – ‘up’ that is.  After the injection of human spirit?  I was ready to go.

Looking for the point…

Many years ago, when someone drifted through my mind, I wrote or called them. Usually it was uncomfortable, because I really didn’t have anything in particular to say - I would just reach out.  It doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does, I still follow the gentle tugging in my mind.  While I don’t really understand how this works, I know that it does and almost always has enriched me in some way.  I have often found the recipient responded that the card or call was just what they needed.

Last week, I was the one in need…Joanna made the call.

We are all part of the fabric of humanity…we are all connected in many ways we simply do not understand.  One never knows when someone in our world of connectivity needs a bit of support...a smile, a word of encouragement, a note, and yes a simple call.  Sometimes those things change everything.

If you have a thought…why don’t you drop a note or make a call…you may never know what it meant…then again, you might be pleasantly surprised!

- ted