A Voice From the Past

Oh I wish I were that old! This was a picture from when I turned 40, and my former colleagues at Barco in Xenia, Ohio got one of those birthday cakes and put it out in front of the building, and made me stand on it as cars went by and honked ... Good times really, much better times. This was 2000, business was booming, 9/11 hadn't happened yet, life was so much simpler and easier. But as usual, I digress.

Back in the late 1990's, Barco acquired a company in Xenia, Ohio, it was called EIS. I got involved at EIS from the beginning of the acquisition, which was 1997, eventually I went to work there full time, and stayed there until 2006. These were the best work years of my life. We worked hard, we were very committed, but in so many respects, EIS was like a family. In fact, when I first got there, in many ways, it was a family, or families. Various relatives worked there, husbands and wives, parents and children, various combinations of family members.

Which brings me to the point of the story, and one of the relatives, Sue Longland. Sue was an incredible person, always upbeat, always happy, always positive. She would carry a Curious George lunch box, she loved Curious George. Sue worked in accounting when I got there, and processed accounts payable. Her father, John Longland, was the Staff Scientist, a very intelligent, gentle man. They were incredible to watch together, Sue loved her parents dearly, and John loved his daughter dearly as well. Sue really struggled with what to do with her life. She had a greater purpose, she wanted to serve God. She also didn't want to leave her parents, but couldn't really find the right opportunity in the local area. Eventually, Sue left and went to work in Seattle, Washington, I think at a Christian school. I recently stalked her on Facebook, and she is working in Honduras, I'm really not exactly sure what she is doing, but I'm sure, she is serving God in some manner. I remember when Sue was leaving us, she said to me (or something like this), "with so many problems in the world, I really can't get that excited over processing accounts payable."

I hadn't really thought about Sue until recently, and it was by happenstance, one of those strange bits of serendipity. When our boys left for college, Laurel gave one of them my Bible to take with them. After I got over my shock and amazement of having my Bible given away, I found another Bible on our book shelf and started using it for my Men's Group meetings. I noticed there were several post-it notes throughout the Bible, and various verses underlined, I assumed it was one of the boy's Bibles from school. So, I used it for several weeks, until finally the other night, I turned to the beginning, and serendipity hit me head on. The Bible was one that Sue had given me when she left Barco way back in 1999, and I had forgotten all about it. As all of those memories flooded back to me, I read an incredible message in the front of the Bible from Sue that went like this:

"I admire you, my friend, as a man of integrity, humor, compassion, and hard work. I'll miss you, but with this book, I leave you my heart. This is the dearest thing in all the world to me (even dearer than Curious George!). I hope that this Leadership edition will help you be a godly man, both at home and at EIS.

I also hope that Jesus Christ will become more real and relevant to you as you study these pages. I've marked some of my favorite verses - hope you don't mind! Because of Him, Suebeedoo, Romans 10:9-10"

I thumbed through the Bible, looking at the pages with post-it notes, looking at the various verses that were underlined for me. Of course, they were some of the "greatest hits" of the Bible - "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly", "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast", and so on. And Romans 10:9-10? "That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved". And I was back at EIS, simpler, happier times, where work was family, and family was work, and a child of God would make our lives fun and more memorable with funny stories and a Curious George lunchbox.

The funny thing was that at our Men's Group meeting the other day, Eric Moore asked the question, "do you ever think that you've encountered an angel". Of course, I knew my answer.