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ALMOST MONDAY THOUGHT 2/8/10

February 7, 2010 on 10:29 pm | By John Ingrisano | In Faith & Forgiveness, Motivational Thoughts | No Comments

God’s Odd Blessings

This one’s longer than usual.  Sorry ‘bout that.

My mother used to say I could fall in a pile of horse manure (not the exact words) and come up with a rose between my teeth.  I’m not the only one. 

Last Friday, I did a platform presentation at a client’s annual meeting in Pennsylvania.  The plan was to fly in on Thursday, do my dog ‘n pony show on Friday morning, fly out Friday afternoon, and be home, safely snuggled in my own bed, Friday night. 

God had other plans … again.  This time He decided to “bless” half the nation (and me personally; yes, I take these things personally) with one humungous blizzard.  After a series of misadventures reminiscent of the movie, “Planes, Trains & Automobiles,” I finally made it home Sunday afternoon.   

The rose between my teeth?  I got to meet some fantastic people along the way, most notably a fellow speaker with whom, by happenstance (yeah, right, Lord), I shared a limo from the airport on Thursday and also shared part of the return trip adventure, including paying a delightful hotel cook $100 to four-wheel us through unplowed highway roads to the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania airport after the snowstorm shut down the shuttles and cabs.

His name is Mike Schlappi (no, not the cook; the speaker).  He’s an Olympic Gold Medalist (basketball), businessman, husband and father, marathoner, snowmobiler, scuba diver, etc.  He’s also a man with a humongously huge positive attitude.  (No, not the silly-grin, butterflies and everything-is-beautiful kind, but one with substance behind it.)  Still, no big deal, right?  (Well, except for that Gold Medal part … oh, and the marathon stuff, too.) 

The big deal part is that Mike has done all this from a wheelchair, after having been accidently shot in the chest by a friend when he was 15.  His presentation got a standing ovation — several actually — as a genuine inspiration to never quit, to never give up.  (His book is titled, “Shot Happens: I Got Shot.  What’s Your Problem?”) 

The rose part for me?  With my schedule blown to Kingdom Come, my luggage circumnavigating the globe in the opposite direction, my underwear on the verge of breaking a record for how many days and ways it can be worn, and all the usual stress of disrupted travel, I had the opportunity to laugh, talk and travel through part of my journey this week and this life with a terrific, everyday guy who had done (and continues to do) some pretty amazing things.

But I admit that, to me, I am not so much impressed with Mike Schlappi because of his pretty amazing accomplishments.  I just got the biggest kick out of his magnificent, positive attitude, as well as his candid honesty.  (Part of his presentation addressed his bouts of self-pity and how you can have some pretty lousy days even if you work to have a good attitude.)

I like Mike for a number of reasons, one of them being that he landed in a pile of horse manure at age 15 and yet keeps coming up with a rose between his teeth. 

My point:  God always blesses us …  just not in ways we might originally choose.  For me, it was a blizzard that delayed my return home and gave me an opportunity to meet Mike Schlappi.  For Mike?  I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but I’d say it was a bullet in the chest at age 15 that gave him the opportunity to rise to his own personal great heights and to inspire, motivate and make a big difference to the thousands of people he touches. – jri

“Faith is not something we have but

something we do.”

-         Barbara Shlemon Ryan

(Living Each Day by the

Power of Faith)

John Ingrisano

Daily Connections

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Algoma, WI 54201

February 7-8, 2010