Hi gang,

It’s been a while since I’ve been inspired…well, at least for me.  Some of you may be thinking, “oh great, here he goes again.”  I’ll remind you as always, the delete key is available for you at any time.

Some of you know I’ve become a Shazam junkie…it’s a neat little application on the iPhone that allows you to capture music you want downloaded for your regular listening pleasure.  So whether I’m at a Stars/Mavs game, standing at the gas station, walking through a store, or just sitting in a crazy restaurant somewhere that plays its music too loud, I can hit a button and within a few seconds have the title, artist, and iTunes reference to whatever’s playing over the speaker.  It’s very cool.

One such song was “You Found Me” by The Fray.  As I do on emails where I reference anything, the words are at the end of this message.  Probably most, if not all, of you have heard this song…you may even know that it says “God” on at least 2 occasions in the song.  It’s an interesting tune that I found a neat history for on Wikipedia.  Essentially, the artist wrote the song while experiencing one of those times in life where every piece of news seems to be bad, and on a very personal level.  I think we’ve all had those times.  I think an interesting overtone of the song is this theme that this guy was “found” – but just a little too late.

When those circumstances came along in life, did you sit back and wonder where the divine inspiration was in your life?  Did you question even the very existence of God or any sort of omnipotent being?  Did you even get so frustrated, you wanted to do what this artist said he wanted to in the interview – which was an imaginary confrontation with God so he could “take him out”?  I’m sure we’ve all had some sort of experience with this…on some level.

Okay, so three easy paragraphs in, and some of you see I’ve hit two out of three topics and wonder where facebook comes in…it’s easy.  A little over a month ago, I got in on the movement.  Tonight, I think I have 76 “friends” – or people who at the very least I remember their name.  Some of them are copied on this email tonight.  I wanted to share with you what this one tool has done for me that so many others have failed to do.

One of my 2 best friends growing up was a guy by the name of Tony.  I envied this guy like nobody’s business.  I mean, he was one of those smart AND good looking guys.  It drove me nuts…I mean, I could take him out on most of the intellectual stuff…but it was always a competition.  But he had the chicks.  Oh my gosh, this guy had ’em lined up.  Oh yeah, he was athletic as hell.  The guy played every sport well…even though he looked lanky sometimes in his method.  The dude could shoot, he could catch a football, he was fast, he played both sides of baseball well.  There was nothing this guy couldn’t do.  Oh, and Tony’s mom was Tex Schram’s secretary, so he had the ability back in the pre-Jerry-Jones days to take us out there and workout where the big guys did.  It was insane.  He was the best friend a young guy could have.

For 14 years I’ve lived less than 20 miles from Tony and we’ve not seen each other since the night of his wedding, and before meeting through Facebook a few weeks ago, we had only talked maybe 3 or 4 times.  We got hooked up on Facebook (FB) recently and I talked to him around the first of February.  He and his wife Lisa were expecting a long-awaited little girl…Tony was ecstatic.

On Monday, February 16th, my mom, who still attends the church I grew up in, received a funeral notification in her email box.  Tony and Lisa had experienced what no one wants to ever experience…Ella Grace had died in the womb from a complication and thus went the dream.

The song repeats the phrase “Where were you” at the beginning of many phrases.  And while many of us experienced a head-spinning realization, Tony and Lisa, I feel sure, were asking that same question.  Nobody has answers, folks…but I gotta hand it to my friend for one other thing.  I emailed him a very personal email after the funeral service…mostly apologizing I couldn’t have been better about being there the past 13-14 years.  In an email back to me, Tony said one thing that stuck me in the heart (in a good way).  The gist was this: “I may never know or understand why God took Ella from us this way, but if losing her means getting an old friend back, then at least I’ll understand there was a plan.”

The chorus repeats, “You Found Me, You Found Me” –

How?  How does a man in the middle of so much turmoil find that kind of presence or peace?  I think I’m starting to understand a little better.  I remember a guy in daycare, Steve Robinson I think was his name…he’s a missionary now…a real one.  Nobody funds him…he just does it.  Steve used to sing that song “They’ll know we are Christians by our love” with passion like nobody you’ve ever seen.  For my non-Christian friends out there, it’s just a song that really says there’s no need to TALK about our faith, but more, we need to ACT out, or WALK our faith.  That kind of presence will show people who we are…basically, an actions speak louder than words kind of song.

Three times in the past month, I got the chance to do something special…2 instances where I was able to help an elderly person right in front of me (one fell coming out of the American Airlines Center, and another who had a flat tire), and the third through FB.  When that email came from Mom, I jumped on FB and alerted all my old high school friends what had happened.  Immediately, those out of town began sending Tony support messages.  There were at least 5-6 of us at the funeral.  I don’t mention any of these to brag, but more to explain what I’m coming to understand.

The weave between knowing there’s a God, a song, and Facebook is pretty simple.  Really, the existence of God is within all of us.  We have a chance every day to lend a hand, to make someone’s day, to heal, to cleanse, to do whatever it is we want to do.  The choice is ours…and that’s where, for so many years, I’ve not made all the right choices.  Maybe I didn’t make terrible choices or anything like that, but choosing not to put effort in to keeping a friendship alive was not the best choice.  Choosing to take it easy rather than work at something a little harder is probably not the best avenue either.  They say to give what it is you want to receive.  The Bible even says Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You.  Do you do that?  I don’t…I kinda live this privileged life that says, “hey…you do unto me first and then I’ll pay it back.”  We end up in a whilrwind of people wishing for something nice to happen that never comes.  These days of inactivity lead to years of resentment, building…building…building…until one day….POP.

Here’s my encouragement for you: The next time one of those fleeting thoughts enters your brain of something nice you could do or say to another person…CAPTURE IT! Then do it.  Don’t worry what the person will say or think of you.  Don’t do it for reaction or anything else.  Just do it.  I promise you, not only will they know who and what you are…but finally, you might know the very same thing about yourself.  You will unlock a door that may have too long ago been sealed shut.  And you know an easy place to start?  With old friends…maybe folks you’ve not talked to in a while, or some you talk to every day.  When is the last time you told them thanks for their friendship?

I firmly believe, if you want to feel good in your life, you have to put a little bit in to making life good for those around you.  And everyone loved the movie Pay It Forward because it’s a message so many of us grew up with, but you know what…it never hurts to pay it back sometimes too.

So on that note, I just want to say…
Tony, I love you, man.  I’m sorry…so sorry for your loss.  I don’t ever want to lose you again, though, my friend.  Thanks for showing me what this was about – whether you knew you did or not.

You found me.  You found me.
Peace
Tim

****
You Found Me
by The Fray

I found God on the corner of 1st and Amistad
Where the West was all but won
All alone, smoking his last cigarette
I said, “Where’ve you been?”  He said, “Ask anything.”

Where were you, when everything was falling apart.
All my days were spent by the telephone that never rang
And all I needed was a call that never came
To the corner of 1st and Amistad

Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me
Lying on the floor, surrounded, surrounded
Why’d you have to wait?  Where were you?  Where were you?
Just a little late, you found me, you found me.

But in the end everyone ends up alone
Losing her, the only one who’s ever known
Who I am, who I’m not and who I wanna to be
No way to know how long she will be next to me

Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me
Lying on the floor, surrounded, surrounded
Why’d you have to wait?  Where were you?  Where were you?
Just a little late, you found me, you found me.

The early morning, the city breaks
And I’ve been calling for years and years and years
And you never left me no messages
You never sent me no letters
You got some kind of nerve taking all I want

Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me
Lying on the floor, Where were you?  Where were you?

Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me
Lying on the floor, surrounded, surrounded
Why’d you have to wait?  Where were you?  Where were you?
Just a little late, you found me, you found me.

Why’d you have to wait, to find me, to find me?
***