PICKIN UP THE PIECES OF YOUR LIFE
It is never too early – It is never too late
by
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Excerpt from Chapter Eight
“FROM FOOD STAMPS TO A CORPORATE JET”
“...About one week out from the event a couple of us who were in training were given our instructions. We would travel to Chicago, pick up rental cars at the airport and then be drivers for the company’s executives. We would stay in a premier hotel in Chicago for several days making sure that the suite was taken care of with food and drinks for meetings. It would be the first time I was away from Mary and Peter and I really didn’t want to go. This is where stress became anxiety, fear and doubt. I began to question if I should go or just quit. Why? Why would I leave a good job and a several days in Chicago, just don’t ask. Regardless, I was able to battle the out of control stress and away to Chicago I flew.
Did I forget to mention, that my mode of transportation was not going to be a commercial aircraft? This is the interesting part; 5 months earlier my family and I were on food stamps just hoping, praying and believing for a good job and income. The day my wife drove me to the airport, it was a private airport and the aircraft I boarded was a corporate Jet. It was beautiful, sleek, white and blue and I was going to ride on that jet to Chicago. This was amazing to me…At the end of the week I flew home to my family on that same corporate jet and again sat in wonder at what was happening to me. Several times after that I flew back from Minneapolis and Grand Rapids to Ohio on that same jet with customers and stayed in a beautiful guest house the company owned. I know there are those who didn’t think twice about flying on the jet or staying overnight in the guest house, but I was and will always be amazed at where God brought me from and where he had positioned me…”
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About the Book
I was involved in a project called Start> Becoming a Good Samaritan. As the author of the book and curriculum, I had the honor and privilege of working with some of today’s foremost Christian thinkers, authors, and pastors on the subject of what it takes to live out your faith as a modern day Good Samaritan.
Imagine spending time with Philip Yancey, Chuck Colson, Desmond Tutu, John Ortberg, Eugene Peterson, Joni Eareckson Tada, Rich Stearns, and Kay Warren—just to name a few—talking about practical, real ways to live like a Good Samaritan. It was insightful, instructive and inspiring. But most of all it was approachable and real!
What does my experience working with these very prominent Christians have to do with writing the forward for Jim’s book? I’ll use those words again—“approachable and real…”
—Michael Seaton; Author—Start> Becoming a Good Samaritan (excerpt from foreword)
About the Author
James W. Johnson, Ph.D. has had a career that has traversed the private, public, and non-profit sectors. He is principal of James W. Johnson Ph.D. & Associates LLC. He’s been married to Mary for forty-four years, and he is the proud father of Peter, grandfather of Eloise and Gabrielle, and has a wonderful daughter-in-law, Esther.