Life's Detours

Do you remember the movie, "The Bucket List" starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman?

I mention the movie, because it gives me an anchor in terms of what I want to write about today...

The movie starts out with Edward (Nicholson) and Carter (Freeman) getting life changing news about their health (having both been diagnosed with cancer).

In the hospital and at life's cross roads they write out a "bucket list" or things they would like to do before they "kick the bucket" (a euphemism for death)...which becomes the focus of the remaining days of their lives.

I am sure that they never saw it (cancer) coming and that they never would have thought that this "detour" would change them and the way they see life forever.

You see both of them were busy with the routine of life, a billionaire businessman and a genius mechanic, but neither of them was really "living" life.

They searched for its meaning as they pursued their dreams of travel and adventure, only to realize that what they longed for the most, what made life worth living was their relationships with their families.

They realized that the adventures of life are more meaningful if shared with family.

Like Nicholson and Freeman, eight years ago today our whole family experienced a life changing event, one that would change our lives forever.

You see my mother had an accident July 12, 2001, one that would require brain surgery leaving her in a coma until this day.

Those of you who have been with the company long enough know the worry, the fear and the struggle the family had to go through...those months at the hospital.

Like Nicholson and Freeman, I realized that I had been living life the wrong way...this detour allowed me to realize the value and the importance of the relationships we have with each other, more than the busyness of life and also my relationship with God.

You see we all have a God sized vacuum in our hearts, a yearning that we try to fill with money, pleasure, material things - like Edward and Carter, I realized that as God's creation my heart's desire is to have a relationship with family and with Him.

The detour that we experienced as a family has allowed me to see beyond the bottom line of business and has allowed me to cherish the relationship I have with them at the office and at home.

So whenever, I feel lost in life...I go back to this detour and spend time by her bedside and I remember what life is all about...it's about relationships. Relationships with our God and our family.

I realize that there are no detours with God, only roads that build up our character and our relationships.

If you are in the middle of life's detours...in your search for answers, focus on your relationships.