"
Do not neglect to extend hospitality to strangers for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it."
Hebrews 13:1-3 The Amplified Bible
The older I get the more I become convinced that we as human beings are connected in ways that we often don't even realize. That what may seem like chance meetings with individuals are not a mere coincidence but rather destined to happen, orchestrated by God. Yet we rarely recognize these encounters for what they truly are because we are too wrapped up in the grind of daily living. I also believe that sometimes we miss out on blessings or blessing someone else because of our failure to identify what may seem trivial as actually being something divinely ordained in our journey through life. The ramifications of these encounters we may not always fully understand in this life. But, much like the MItch Albom's best-selling novel "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" illustrates, we all will fully understand the meaning of everything in the afterlife, and the full story of every segment of our time here on earth, including those "chance" encounters
You may or may not be familiar with the parlor game known as "The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon". If no, please allow me to give you a brief explanation. "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" is a game where you try to connect any actor to Kevin Bacon through film co-starring relationships in six steps or less. It's based on the "small world" theory, suggesting that anyone on Earth can be connected to anyone else through a chain of acquaintances. The game originated from a 1994 challenge at Albright College and gained popularity with the help of the Internet Movie Database.
Well, I feel like MY life could pretty easily be a non-Hollywood star version of that game. A big reason for that is I'm a gregarious person who can, and likely will, strike up a conversation with just about anyone. I have also worked in the public eye and been a public personality most of my adult life. With that comes the opportunity to meet countless thousands of people from all walks of life. Add to that the fact that I may not know a lot about any one thing, but I DO know a little about a lot of things, which means I can generally carry on a conversation and find some kind of a common denominator or shared experience with almost anyone. Plus at 66 years of age I have been around the block more than a few times increasing the number of individuals I have encountered over a lifetime so far.
I'm about to tell you three "small world" stories of incidents that happened to me. While none of these resulted in any earth-shattering, life changing results in my life, they DO illustrate the fact that in a world inhabited by over 8 billion people, Planet Earth is a whole lot smaller than we usually think.
Do You Know Where California Is?
Back around 2007 my wife D'Anna and I decided to enjoy a relaxing getaway in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, which is a roughly about a forty minute drive from Lancaster, Wisconsin where we lived for fifteen years. Prairie is Wisconsin's second oldest city, established in 1687, with a current population of around 5500, and sits along the Mississippi River and is part of a beautiful drive traversing the bluff region of the Badger State.
W had just checked into our room at the Country Inn and Suites when D'Anna asked if I would go to the front desk and ask for more towels. I, of course, obliged. When I got to the front desk there was a gentleman in front of me. The young lady behind the desk asked the man "Did you enjoy drive up from Missouri?". He replied "Yes", at which point I asked him if he knew where California, Missouri was. The guy turned and looked at me with wide eyes and said nothing for a few seconds. He then said "Are you kidding? I'm FROM California!". Well, California is a small town with about only 4500 residents, included in that number are a pile of my Lee kinfolk. I began rattling off some of their names, "Do you know David Lee, Steve Lee, Cathy Lee?", to which this guy replied with the names of some of my other California cousins. California, Missouri is a 6-1/2 hour drive from Prarie du Ciein, Wisconsin. So tell me, what are the odds of being at the hotel front desk at the same time as this guy, asking a questions and finding out this gentleman knows my cousins?! Yep, it's a pretty small world.
Keweenaw Kowboy
In the Fall of 2018 I took a job as Executive Drector of the historic Calumet Theatre, located in Calumet, Michigan, part of the beautiful Keweenaw Peninsula in the remote Upper Peninsula of Michigan. One of my many duites with this position was finding sponsors for this non-profit venue.
One spring day, after an area winter record breaking 362 inches of snow in Calumet, I was in downtown Houghton (the Keweenaw's largest city with a population of 8500) literally pounding the pavement going from business to business. As I headed up Sheldon Avenue towards the Portage Lake Lift Bridge, enjoying the pleasantly cool sunny day, I come upon a man and a woman walking the opposite direction on the sidewalk. The man is wearing a cowboy hat and boots. We smiled and exchanged greetings as we began to pass each other and I started to open my truck door the man says "You from Texas?", as he noticed the Texas plates on my Texas Edition Silverado. I had yet to get my MIchigan plates. I responded "Yes, sir" and he shot back to me "Where in Texas", because, as it turned out, he was a Texan, too. I told him I had spent time in Austin and other parts of the Texas Hill Country, but had grown up, for the most part, in the Houston area. Naturally I asked where he was from and he replied "DeLeon".
Now I have only been to DeLeon, Texas once in my life. This occurred during a brief stint I had as General Manager at a non-commercial radio station in nearby Dublin, Texas. The owners of the station, Sam and Lanelle UPshaw, lived in DeLeon, which has a population of roughly 2300 locals. I had to ask, given the small size odf DeLeon, if he knew either Sam or Lanelle, to which he responded "I went to school with Lanelle's brother". Now tell me, what atre the odds of me running into this couple, at that precise moment, on the small town sidewalks of Houghton, Michigan and finding out we have a mutual acquantance from even smaller town DeLeon, Texas which was over 1400 miles away?! Astronomical almost if you ask me. Yep, this small world seems to get even smaller the older I get.
Tia Bertha
My Great Aunt Bertha Garza Robinson was my Great Uncle Curtis' second wife. She was a diminutive , extremely vivacious Mexican woman who also owned one of the best Mexican restaurants ever anywhere in Texas, much less Houston. I grew up frequenting (with my folks and other family) her restaurant location on Southmore Avenue in Pasadena, Texas (a south suburb of Houston), directly across the street from the Southmore Hospital, several miles from our house. She had another location, during thee 1960s, in downtown Houston. This location was in an opulent old home that was beautiful, and if you went upstairs you would find a flowing fountain near the top of the stairs.
Aunt Bertha's food was umatched. Her puffy tacos were to die for, but my personal faborite was the Tostada Compuesta. It was magic. Aunt Bertha's restaurant was country singer Mickey Gilley's favorite and she had a huge framed portrait of Gilley at a later location on the very edge of downtown Houston, nearby the area where the George R. Brown Convention Center and Daiken Park, home of the Houston Astros, now reside. Gilley loved Aunt Bertha and her food so much that he wanted her to open a location inside the world's largest honky tonk and nightclub, Gilley's (immortalized in the movie "Urban Cowby"), but she declined the offer. If you ever dined at one of Aunt Bertha's restaurants you would be treated to her dancing and playing the accordian. She would greet patrons just like family, and if you were a regular customer or family, she would grab yoth your cheeks plant a big kiss on one of them. She was one-of-akind., and I miss her and her incredible food.
In 1995 our family made the move to Southwest Wisonsin where I had accepted a position as Program Director and Morning Show Personality (as "Duelin' Luke Dalton") at WGLR Radio. Sometime during my tenure there I went on a sales call to Dubuque, Iowa (just across the Mississippi River from Wisconsin) with one of our Account Executives and all-around nice guy Jim ("Sully") Sullivan. We mdet with the Dubuque County Fair Board about the entertainment talent they were booking and the station's involvement with the fair.
On the way bavk to Wisconsin we stopped at Chi Chi's Mexican Restaurant. While taking our order the waitress asked if we wanted hot or mild salsa with our tortilla chips. I responded "hot" as I knew being up north that their "hot" would be mild to me. Sure enough when she brought it out it turned out to be so mild I could have drank it with a straw. If their ain't pepper seeds floating in the salsa, because the seeds are what pack the heat, then it ain't hot. I learned that early on with my Aunt Bertha's hot sauce which would put hair on your chest and grabbing for your water or iced tea with one bite!
As Sully and I enjoyed our meal we started talking about the merits of various Mexican restaurants. He then begins to tell me the best Mexican food he had ever eaten was at a little hole-in-the wall spot on the edge of downtown Houston, where a little Mexican lady came out and played the acordian. I paused for a minute and and thought "No way!", and exclaimed to Sully, "That's my Aunt Bertha's restaurant!". In the nation's fourth largest city and a metropolitan area home to millions of people and hundreds of Mexican restaurants, my friend had walked into my Aunt Bertha's place! This small world had suddenly become microscopic with this revelation!
While none of these stories reinforce my spiritual hypothesis of no chance meetings, it does illustrate how connected we often times are with people we have met or have yet to meet. But regardless of that, every single day of our lives we can make a positive difference in someone elses. It could be as simple as just a smile and kind word to a stranger. Calling a friend or family member just to check on their well being. What may seem like a small gesture to you may be a huge deal for the recepient. It costs nothing to be kind and the rewards are great. In a world that is sadly evolving into a hate-filled society, even within the confines of America, be the light that shines despite that.
The Bible says in Matthew 5:14-16 "A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. "You are the light of the world. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven" . If you are a Christian like me, we are called to do that, and I have found the most effective way to be an aspostle of Christ is not by preaching at folks, but by them seeing in you and I the attributes of Christ. In our demeanor, in our kindness and generosity, and just the simple act of doing good for others with no reward or recognition expected. As I stated in my opening chapter of this blog, never under estimate your influence on others. Never regret having a good heart. Everything good will eventually come back to you MULTIPLIED. "Let us not become weary in doing good,for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." - Galations 6:9. I know this to be absolutely true, manifested in the way so many of you have stepped up for me with your words of encouragement and love during my cancer journey. For that I say God bless each and everyone of you and thank you Lord for being true to your promises. Amen! Go out and make tis small world a better place!
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