Commitment’s Reward
Paul still couldn’t believe his eyes, yet, there was the proof in
front of him. An engraved invitation lay on his desk indicating that
Paul’s presence was requested in order to meet with one of the
richest, most powerful men in the country – Thursday, 11:00 a.m..
At first, he thought the whole thing might be a hoax or an
elaborate joke. So, he had pulled out the phone book, found the
number for the man’s headquarters, called, and confirmed that, yes,
indeed, Paul Johnson had been invited for brunch at the downtown
offices of Jeffrey Martin Thrace III and should Mr. Thrace be
expecting Mr. Johnson on that occasion?
How could he say ‘no’? Of course, he would attend.
The invitation also had mentioned something about an award of
some sort was going to be presented. However, being a relatively
modest man, Paul did not inquire into that facet of things – besides,
he only had a few more days to wait before everything would be
revealed to him.
Around 9:00 a.m. on Thursday morning, Mr. Thrace’s office
called informing Mr. Johnson that a limousine would be by to collect
him and bring him to the scheduled brunch. How considerate Paul
thought – picking him up certainly wasn’t necessary, but the offer
was a very nice gesture ... very much appreciated ... so, why not?
This kind of thing had never happened to Paul before. In
general, he lived a fairly austere and disciplined life ... quite plain
really, and, therefore, Paul didn’t run in the sort of circles where
brunches, limousines, awards, or the rich and the powerful were
common companions of his.
However, every so often, Paul saw nothing wrong with ‘living’ a
little, as long as things didn’t get out of hand. Besides, Divinity does
work in mysterious ways, and, perhaps, the invitation might
represent an opening that would permit Paul to gain access to new
opportunities which would enable him to begin to spread the Word
of God in new ways and among other groups of people.
Paul had nothing against rich or powerful people. The laws of
normal statistical distribution demanded that someone had to be rich
and/or powerful and what were these laws of probability and
statistics other than God’s Artwork made manifest.
More importantly Paul thought, sometimes people were so
caught up in concentrating on all the things the rich and powerful
possessed that few people ever stopped to reflect on what these people
might not have – such as peace of mind or a sense of purpose beyond
their businesses and affairs of office. Perhaps, Paul could be of some
small service to such people ... nothing big, just a subtle presence
that, sooner or later, might help induce someone to move a little
closer to his or her Lord.
He couldn’t image what the award was all about. Yes, Paul’s
religious center did offer a limited amount of help within his own
small neighborhood, but hardly anything approaching Mother
Theresa’s efforts or struggles.
Possibly, his weekly newspaper column was having more of an
impact than he realized. If so, that, certainly, would be a welcome
surprise – especially, when, so often, he wondered if there was
anyone out there who was paying attention to what he was writing.
At 10:30 a.m., the limousine arrived. Paul was ushered into the
vehicle by the chauffeur, and Paul was whisked away to the 11:00
a.m. appointment.
Once he arrived at Mr. Thrace’s flagship building, he was taken
to a private elevator which went straight to the penthouse suite. The
100 story journey was quick, quiet, and smooth.
When the door of the elevator opened at its destination, Paul was
met by Mr. Thrace’s personal secretary and led through a complex
of rooms before entering a door which opened to a huge, beautifully
done office. Coming toward him was Mr. Thrace who wore an
elegant blue suit and a very warm, engaging smile.
He said: “Thank you, very much, for coming Mr. Johnson. I’m
sure you are a very busy man, and I appreciate your having made
time for me. Please, let’s sit over here,” and he directed Paul to an
area which was set off by several plush leather couches and matching
easy chairs.
They sat down and Paul took a brief visual tour of the office
before returning his attention to Mr. Thrace. “This sure is quite an
office you have here, Mr. Thrace, and I must say I am rather
nonplused about being invited, but I do want to thank you for your
kindness.”
Mr. Thrace moved his hand back and forth, as if to say ... ‘really,
this is nothing’. He, too, quickly gave his office the once-over and
said: “Well, this place is not as nice as some others in the city that I
have been in, but we like to call it home,” and he smiled in a sort of
self-effacing manner.
Mr. Thrace continued on: “I hope you don’t mind Mr. Johnson,
but I have taken the liberty of ordering for both of us. I’m sure there
will be a number of things from which you can choose, even if not
everything is to your taste. In any event, the food, such as it is, should
be here shortly.”
Paul nodded a gracious ‘not at all’. He sat back and, once again,
surveyed the room.
Mr. Thrace interrupted Paul’s inspection with: “I’m going to get
right to the point Mr. Johnson. The reason I have brought you here
is because of my daughter.”
Paul was caught off guard: “I’m sorry, you said your daughter.
I don’t understand.”
“Well, Mr. Johnson ... ah, do you mind if I call you Paul? and,
please, its Jeff.”
“Of course, by all means, and, Jeff it is,” Paul added with a self-
conscious laugh.
Jeff said: “The last couple of years, I have been pretty worried
about my child Stacey. She’s 17 and been going through a lot of
things as do most teenagers, and, well, I’m sure you would agree,
Paul, we live in perilous times.”
Paul replied: “Amen to that, brother.”
“In any event, my daughter began to pick up some very
disturbing habits and ideas – at least, to me and my wife these things
were quite disturbing and upsetting. We couldn’t control her because
like all of the Trace lineage, when Stacey sets her sights on a certain
goal, well, there’s almost no stopping her.”
Paul nodded his head. A thought ran through his mind as to
where this all might be leading – a request for an intervention of
some kind.
The conversation was interrupted when a portable dining table
was wheeled in and maneuvered to the area where Paul and Jeff
were sitting. Stainless steel covers were removed from several of the
dishes, Mr. Thrace was asked if there was anything else he wished,
and when the answer was “No, thank you, Miles,” the man left the
room.
Jeff invited Paul to help himself. A few minutes of silence
followed as the two filled their plates with selections from among the
various dishes.
Paul began to eat and listen. Jeff spoke between bites.
“Things had pretty much reached a crisis point with our Stacey.
She was arguing with us all the time. She was rejecting the values
which we had tried, as best we could, to instill in her during her
formative years. She was behaving in ways that, quite frankly, Paul,
were very alarming, if not downright offensive, to my wife and me.”
“I hear you, Jeff ... believe me I hear what you are saying,” Paul
commented.
Jeff nodded an acknowledgment of Paul’s words and continued
on: “We took her to see counselors. We put her in, and took her out
of, a number of private schools, and none of this worked.
“Stacey’s heart and ears were closed to us. My wife and I were
desperate.
“We didn’t know what to do. We didn’t know where to turn. We
didn’t know with whom to talk about this.”
“Our friends were kind of keeping their distance from us.
Moreover, they had told their kids to stop hanging around Stacey.
“I can remember something I read a long time ago – I forget
where ... in college maybe. It was a story about a stone that was
placed in a garden, and over the years the stone began to take on the
beautiful smells of its surroundings. However, somewhere along the
line, the garden got destroyed and the stone which had been part of
the garden was used in the construction of an outhouse and, with
time, the stone began taking on the smells of its new residence – the
whole idea being, I guess, that people, like stones, absorb some of the
qualities of the people with whom they associate.”
Paul smiled. “What a wonderful analogy,” he said. “I believe I
will use that in one of my upcoming talks.”
Jeff continued on: “Well, as bad as things got, and just when we
didn’t think things could possibly get any worse, the bottom kind of
dropped out. Stacey became more and more removed from us and
pretty much everything we had struggled to teach her over the years
... I’ll spare you the details of all that happened.”
Paul gave a look of commiseration. “Jeff, please, is there
something that I can do to help out here?”
Jeff’s face, which had been distorted with pain, suddenly
brightened. “No, Paul, you have already done it. That’s the miracle
of this whole sad state of affairs. You have managed to turn our
Stacey around. She’s a completely different person since you’ve
entered the picture.”
Paul was confused. “I don’t believe I know or have ever met your
daughter, Jeff, so, I’m not quite sure how I could have altered the
situation any.”
“Actually,” Jeff said, “your help came in the form a combination
of things – part of it involved the talks you give down at your center;
part of Stacey’s transformation came as a result of your weekly
newspaper column, and part of it was the result of discussions that
Stacey had with young people whom you have influenced.
“Stacey, finally, has returned to her old self, again, thanks to
you,” Jeff said with gratitude.
“This is why I invited you here today,” Jeff added. “This is why
I wanted to present you with an award of recognition – and,
incidentally, there is a check for $100,000 dollars which accompanies
that award. “
Jeff reached into a briefcase which was laying on a small table by
his chair. He pulled out a framed parchment, a check, and handed
both of them to Paul, saying: “Both Mrs. Thrace and myself wish to
say: ‘thank you from the bottom of our hearts.’
“Quite frankly, we would be willing to pay ten times that much
if it would help ensure that you could continue to do your good
work.” Jeff leaned back against his chair and watched Paul look at
the framed award and the cashier’s check before remarking: “We
are so impressed with the way things turned out, we were hoping that
you might be willing to talk to the children of our friends as well,
who, recently, have been indicating that all is not well in Shangrila as
far as their youngsters are concerned.”
Paul shook his head and kept saying: “I’m overwhelmed. I had
no idea.”
A brief silence ensued. Finally, Paul put the award and the check
to one side and asked: “Was there anything in particular that I said
or that she read which may have been of particular importance to
Stacey?”
“Paul, actually, she mentioned quite a few things,” replied Jeff.
“But, the words which come to mind are: “dogmatic, rigid,
intolerant, unforgiving, sexist, narrow, hard-hearted, divisive,
inhumane, and egocentric.”
Jeff seemed to be going through the list to see if there was
anything which had been left out. When he was fairly satisfied that
the list was complete, he said: “That’s about it.”
Paul was totally lost. “I guess I don’t understand what you’re
saying Jeff.”
“Pretty simple, really,” Jeff replied. “You see, Paul, my wife and
I are atheists, and Stacey was becoming very interested in spirituality
and this interest of hers was causing a lot of havoc in the Thrace
household until you came along.
“You were so arrogant and overbearing about who was going to
Hell and who was going to go to Heaven, and you spoke so
disparagingly about anyone who didn’t believe as you did, and you
were so judgmental about everyone and everything, and you were so
inflexible about issues of right and wrong, and there was so little
room in your lexicon for words like ‘love, kindness, compassion,
forgiveness, tolerance, patience, and empathy’, that Stacey got totally
turned off to the whole idea of spirituality and she is back in the fold
as a fully committed atheist.
“So, once again, Paul, I doff my cap to you, and we are
wondering if you would have any free time to be able to come out to
our house this weekend to give one of your talks to the children in
our neighborhood? We’ve got a lot of atheist friends who are
becoming very nervous about their children’s budding interest in
spirituality, and we are sure that you are just the remedy for our
dilemma.”
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