Game Changers

I've been thinking I want to start blogging more seriously, but I want to consolidate some stuff I've written on Facebook with my blog. Here's one of those:

Game Changers

by Steve Fouse on Friday, March 12, 2010 at 4:42pm

I have been thinking a lot lately how suddenly a person's life can be radically changed by a single occurrence. Something happens, and everything after that is different. If that something hadn't occurred, things might have gone on as usual for a long time.

A great example of this on a national scale occurred on September 11, 2001. I remember thinking on that day that those acts of terrorism had changed everything. While that might have been an exaggeration, it is true that life is very different now from what it was before that.

Sometimes things happen in life that are so unexpected, so shocking, that they take your breath away. And after that, the future is changed.

I started thinking about Game Changers again several months ago when I learned that a guy I have known all my life, and who at times has been my best friend, had been arrested and was in jail awaiting trial for a most heinous crime. He eventually plead guilty, so it's hard to believe that he didn't do it, although for awhile I tried to imagine scenarios in which the whole thing was just a big mistake, a misunderstanding, and that everyone would realize that soon, and then things could go back to the way they were.

That didn't happen, of course, and now he is in jail because of something he did that changed everything. It changed the way he is seen by everyone who knows him, it changed his ability to make a living, it changed everything about his future. In some ways, it even changed the past for me, because if he could do THAT, then maybe he never was who I thought he was. Sometimes the stark reality of this Game Changer is still more than I can grasp.

More recently, a guy I had worked with for about ten years suddenly lost his job. He was a competent, hard-working guy whom I enjoyed knowing and working with. Suddenly, though, a real misunderstanding from his past precluded his continued employment. One day he was there; the next day he was gone. This was only a couple of weeks ago, so I still sometimes forget that this has happened. Then when I remember , it shocks me again. How is he going to make living? If not for this one thing, he would have continued working for years to come probably. If this freaks me out, imagine what it must do to him.

In July of 1991 or '92, I participated in a 5K race. I had been running for awhile, but I had never run in a race before. My goal for the race was not to finish last. Since it was July in Oklahoma, it was HOT. The result of that race was that I suffered a heat stroke and was in the hospital for several days. My wife (who is an RN and knows about these things) tells me that I could very well have died that day. I am grateful to God that I did not die that day, but I often think about the fact that I could have. It makes me thankful for every day since then, during which I have gotten to live a wonderful life with Dana, to see our children grow up, to get to know their spouses, and to know our grandsons.

Before this becomes too maudlin, let me get to the point. Nothing is certain. One unforeseen, completely unexpected event can change everything that comes after it. We worry about things that might happen all the time, but the things that really blow us away are the ones we never see coming.

Knowing this makes me resolve to better appreciate each day, all its blessings, and the challenges it brings. Tomorrow may bring a Game Changer.