The Serendipity of Compliance

Serendipity—“The faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.”

Compliance—“The act or process of submitting, conforming or adapting to a desire, demand, proposal, or regimen as required or requested”

Yesterday, Steve Ridgell spoke to our church. I first heard Steve Ridgell speak when he came to do a youth meeting at my home church in Winnsboro, TX back in the summer of 1978. 

I must admit, I did not want to go. This took place over the last free week I had of the summer. I had just resigned from my job sacking groceries at Brookshires–a very important job I might add–so that I might enjoy one last week of vacation before football two-a-days started. However, for the sake of compliance, I attended our youth meeting. 

The first thing I heard Steve do was teach a Bible class. I thought to myself, “Okay, this is not so bad.” 

Next I heard him preach a sermon. Then I thought to myself, “Hey, this is really pretty good.” 

Before too long, I was attending, not because of compliance, but because of desire. Through serendipity, my compliance would lead to a life changing experience. My relationship with Christ was restored; additionally, I grew to be very close friends with Steve Ridgell. He became my mentor and began to disciple me. This influence helped me decide to become a preacher, which was to ultimately become my profession. I know many in Christianity are not big fans of compliance, nor should we be. 

Sometimes, though, compliance can be a good thing. I know I am thankful that as a 17-year-old in the summer before my senior year, I was compliant. It changed my life.

Five Things I Think I Think

(with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. So, anything happened at Penn State last week?

Wow, how quickly things change. When I was writing my “five things” last week, Penn State was barely on the radar. Now the winningest college football coach of all time has been fired. How tragic it had to end this way. 

I saw over the weekend that Barry Switzer reacted in an interview in this way: “Having been in this profession a long time and knowing how close coaching staffs are, I knew that this was a secret that was kept secret. Everyone on that staff had to have known, the ones that had been around a long time.” 

I never thought I would see the day when Barry Switzer would chastize Joe Paterno on matters of morality—and be right.

I saw a story yesterday where Joe Paterno was compared to a character in a Greek tragedy. That is probably an apt comparison, but the ultimate victims of tragedy are the boys. I know my prayers go out to the families of the victims. 

2. As I've mentioned last week in a tweet, someone had a great idea for Penn State—hire Tony Dungy. That would restore respect to the University. His reputation is impeccable—perhaps greater than Paterno’s was at its peak. Not only that, I see Dungy’s hire as coming the closest to recruiting better football players than any other coach I can think of.

3. I have begun reading Walter Isaacson's biography on Steven Jobs. I say “reading;” actually, I checked out the unabridged audio book from the public library. Let me sum up in one word my opinion about 1/5 of the way through–spectacular! Just an absolutely fascinating and incredible read. 

My favorite unknown tidbit so far–as a young man, Steve Jobs attempted many faddish diets. One of them was a fruit diet that supposedly eliminated any problems with mucus; moreover, it supposedly eliminated body odor. Consequently, Jobs became convinced he only needed to bathe once a week. Furthermore, he was convinced he had no need for deodorant. 

There was absolutely no other human being on the planet who agreed with Jobs. Consistently…constantly… to his face… behind his back, people complained about his body odor. Keep in mind, this was occurring while Stephen Jobs and Steve Wozniak were founding Apple.

You think you've got problems? Consider this–you want to introduce a product that will change the world, and you've got bad body odor.

4. I find myself wanting to see the movie J. EDGAR. Perhaps if I knew more about it, I would not.

5. Thanks Steve and Marsha Ridgell for visiting us at Shiloh this past weekend. Steve, you hit it out of the park in your seminar on “Sharing our Story.” You've got a great ministry at Herald of Truth. Marsha, you've got a great ministry in the Kingdom of God.