Minutes of Meetings with God
and with Myself

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Changing the World ...

Susie and I set off on our week of vacation with one basic goal in mind:. going someplace where it would be warm and sunny. We decided to drive wherever we were going, and that decision pretty much determined that we would go South. It would take too much time to drive someplace out West where it would be warm.

We stopped the first night to visit friends in Indiana. The only thing warm there was our friends= welcome and hospitality. We then set off in serious search for warm weather. The forecast for the Carolinas was not hopeful, so we made a bee-line for Florida. It was in the sixties throughout northern and middle Florida. It was a long and tiring drive, but we didn't stop until we hit eighty degree temperatures. That happened in Fort Myers.

Our first full day in Fort Myers, the temperature dropped ten degrees. We began to think we might have to head for the Florida Keys. Thankfully, the temperature began to rise the following day; we decided we would stick around the Fort Myers area.

That turned out to be a good decision. We had wanted to spend some time on Sanibel Island again. Ultimately we were able to get a reasonably priced condo on the island for three days and nights. On the island, we went shelling. We both got a good case of "The Sanibel Stoop" from bending over so much to look for sea shells. We found some nice ones... Tiger Eyes, Olives, Stove Pipes, and others. We did not find one Sand Dollar, which was the shell we most wanted to find.

We walked through the island's Ding Darling Bird and Animal Sanctuary. We saw five alligators, lots of cranes, and other tropical birds. We soaked up lots of Sun. Susie made sure we used the right kinds of Sun screen and Sun block so we wouldn't get badly burnt. Each dayfor our exercise, I would jog and Susie would roller-blade . Then we had to eat a lot so we wouldn't lose too much weight.

One evening, we went to a restaurant called "Mr. T's" for a light meal and a big piece of "Mud Pie." On another evening, we went to a beachside restaurant called "The Mucky Duck" to watch the sunset on the Gulf of Mexico. One memorable night, we went "whole-hog" and ordered a pizza that we took back and ate on a screened-in porch of the condo. What extravagance, what luxury!

As much as I liked Sanibel Island, the most impressive part of our visit to Fort Myers was visiting Thomas Edison's winter home and spending time in the museum there. Thomas Edison died famous and beloved, but there was no hint in his early years that either would ever be his. Edison's father was abusive. One of his father's blows to the side of Edison's head (when he was a pre-schooler) left Edison partially deaf.

Edison was expelled from school in the early grades because he was thought to be retarded. Edison taught himself general science, mathematics, botany, biology, chemistry and physics. He worked numerous jobs on the railroad, including being a telegraph operator.

Even in his youth, he had many new and innovative ideas that he tried to share and implement. Doing so generally got him fired from his jobs or, otherwise in trouble because he had a knack for seeing and doing things so differently from others that they could not or would not understand. For decades, Edison, the lowly telegraph operator, did not "fit" in.

However, Thomas Edison became one of the people who made major changes in the world. His ideas and inventions affect the quality of life of every one of us. And all from a person who was "kicked-out" of school for being "slow."

The legacy of Thomas Edison started me thinking about another person who changed not only the world, but all of creation. He was a carpenter from a backwater town in Palestine. He was a person whom people badmouthed, refused to understand, and belittled. Yes, we're talking about Jesus.

Jesus not only taught but lived love, forgiveness, healing and generosity. He taught that every person is important and every person is blessed with something to share with others. His was a totally different way of seeing people.

He was abused and tortured to death for his efforts, but he changed the world, and God in his Resurrection changed all of creation. Jesus, through his teaching and living, has effected the quality of our life and the way we live. Jesus did what no one else could or would do for us. The simple carpenter from Galilee, through his life and death and Resurrection, built a gateway into the Kingdom of God. That gate is open and from inside he beckons us to "come this way".