Making the Call by Lance Easley

Author:Lance Easley [Easley, Lance]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781624168536
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2013-07-26T00:07:00+00:00

POWERFUL WORDS

“When going through tough times, ask yourself, ‘What am I supposed to learn from this? What part of this experience can I use to help someone else? How am I supposed to be a different person tomorrow because of what I’m going through today?’”

—Stan Bickley

16

UNEXPECTED POSITIVES

I believe that “The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand” (Ps. 37:23-24 NLT).

But when you’re in the middle of a crisis, sometimes it’s hard to remember that there’s a bigger, better purpose for your life. From being given the chance of a lifetime to officiate in the NFL... to becoming the most hated man in America? Hounded daily by reporters, eager to catch me in a slip or an unguarded moment? Hunted and pursued by disgruntled fans?

It’s difficult to find the positive in the midst of the hurt! However, as soon as I was able, I reminded myself of God’s promises to His children and began to look for good things to come out of this experience. Though it has been easier to spot those blessings after things calmed down, nevertheless I was able to identify some genuine blessings that came during this oppressive time.

The first powerful positive was recognizing the number of caring, concerned friends, family, and colleagues I had. It would have been easy for friends and colleagues to ignore my situation (or even pretend to not know me, and I would have understood!). Instead, they gathered around me, encouraging me, and sharing wise, encouraging words—in fact, I’ve shared some of these in the “Powerful Words” you’ve been reading before the start of each chapter.

The next powerful positive was the way God used my circumstance to bring new acquaintances into my world, creating new, important relationships that would never have existed except for “The Call.”

Among these I count my friendship with James Brown (“JB”). It was arranged by longtime friend, Steve Finley, so it’s a great example of both positive benefits. It began with a note left on my door that asked me to contact CBS—The NFL Today—explaining that JB, Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason, Bill Cowher, and Shannon Sharpe wanted to interview me.

Since I had changed my voice-mail message to direct inquiries to Steve Finley, I handed this communication off to him as well.

When Steve and I discussed what would be gained by doing any media appearances, my sole desire was to let my friends know that I was all right. So much had been written, blogged, tweeted, and parodied about me that I was sure many people who actually cared about me had no idea how to separate it out. Steve said I needed to be very selective about which interview requests I accepted. He urged me to limit myself to only a couple. If I was cautious, he said, I would be able to use a couple interviews to reassure folks without looking like I was trying to grab “fifteen minutes of fame.

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