Less Traveled Roads

Events in my life are really taking "Less Traveled Roads". This fall, out of no where, I got a call from a client church. The Minister asked me if I would speak to his church on Sunday Night. I was surprised because they had only seen me in an Architect role and they did not want me to talk about the project, but any topic I chose. I must say it was very enjoyable.

Not too long ago, I was asked if I would like to speak at one of the sessions of the State School Board August conference in Ok. City. It will be a session about an education design case study.

Then out of no where I was asked to be one of the speakers at the Muskogee Chamber of Commerce Success Expo on May 12. This one is a stretch. It is in the block called Personal Development and my talk will be, "Paul Revere, Kevin Bacon & FaceBook." I will mix music & PowerPoint to try to make this fun, because these kinds of seminars can be dull and boring.

My most challenging offer came from Randy Willingham of Harding University. He holds what he calls "Prayer Calls" were he gathers three or four people to talk (by conference call) on a topic and people can dial in to listen and comment. It is a phone version of an Internet conference! Up to 1,000 people can connect. On May 5 I will be one of the presenters on the subject of dealing with personal loss. I will tell the story of the events surrounding my daughter's death and some of the things and people that I encountered afterword. Then Randy Willingham, Kevin Youngblood, and Brian Tarpley will go deeper into this area. It will be a unique experience to say the least. If any are interested I will make the phone information available on a later post.

These varied and different opportunities sure make life interesting and it brings to mind one of the points I am studying for my chamber talk. We are on this earth primarily to "connect".

Connect with God, Connect with family, Connect in business, Connect socially, musically, by story, by joke, by involvement, by whatever. When we die, they will only talk about our connections at our funeral.

I just got some new ways to connect!