Do you? DO YOU?

Scene: 1st Reconciliation Prep meeting, run by my mentor, Kathie. In the Church.

Kathie: "Then, right before you go to Reconciliation, we'll ask you to renew your Baptismal promises all together. [Explanation.] Would someone like to come up here and read the first part out loud for everyone to hear?

Precocious 2nd grader: Raises hand.

Kathie: Come on up.

Precocious 2nd grader: Looks at the paper; the first line is "Do you reject Satan?" Begins to read, and very confidently asks, "Do you respect Santa?"

Curtain.

A Most Fortuitous Plane Delay(s)

So this weekend, I went to go visit the grand metropolis of Peoria. Why? Because I am applying for a job with Caterpillar. Actually because I wanted to see the lovely lady(ies) of P-Town.

My flight from Philadelphia was originally scheduled to leave at 2, but then I got an email saying that it was delayed until 3:40. When I got to the airport, it became 4:45. Then when I got to counter, it became 5:45. Things were not looking so good. The agent started looking for some other flights and there was a flight to Detroit where I could spend the night in Detroit and then leave in the morning. OR I could go to Memphis then Chicago and get a rental car.

The guy behind me in line said that he was going to Peoria too and that we should get the flight to Chicago where upon arriving his company would pay for a rental car. Obviously two thoughts flew into my mind. 1) I want to go see Anna ASAP and will do whatever it takes to get there. 2) I have no idea who you are and I don't want to end up dead in the backfields of Illinois. I chose the former.

We introduced ourselves and then he asked if I wanted to grab a beer. I couldn't turn that down and when he said I could use his money vouchers; I thought "this might not be so bad after all". We talked at the bar about sports, jobs, family, etc. when he asked me what I do. I told him a bit about Echo, which prompted the question, "So you're Catholic then?" I affirmed and he responded, "Well it looks like we're going to have a good conversation in the car then. I have a lot of questions for you". (cue ominous music)

So we get in the car and start driving when we begin our convo. It turns out that he didn't grow up Christian at all, but joined a non-denominational church for his one-year old son. I told him that he should be commended for the effort and desire. He thought Catholics were just a big club that no one could get into. I told him about how Catholics are universal despite race, age, background, country, etc and how you could go to a Mass anywhere in the world pretty much. We talked about Islam and salvation. He talked about not wanting to be baptized because he's afraid of failing. I quoted Merton and recommended C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. He never read the Bible. I told him to give it a shot by getting a beginner's version or a commentary. We talked life.

At the end, he said, "You know- I really think that God put us here to talk." I agreed. Had our flights never been canceled, we would have never gotten the chance to talk about our lives and faiths. He might have gone his whole life thinking that Catholics were just snobs and I would have never learned where I should take Anna to dinner, stand up for our faith, and get free chicken tenders at the bar in the Philadelphia airport. We exchanged emails and the belief that God is good.

I got in at the house at midnight...and well that's a story for another time.

This is Freaking Awesome

Anyone have 10,000 hours to spare?

I recently finished reading a book called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point, Blink) and its about what makes people successful. It's a fascinating read. Gladwell argues against the belief that individuals by their own sheer force of will or genius make it by themselves. Rather, people are successful because of cultural legacies, how their parents seized opportunities, or even what month they were born in. He writes on what makes Asians good at math, why it was good to be Jewish in the latter part of the 20th century, and how a man with a 200 IQ has done nothing notable besides be on the game show 1 v.s. 100.

One of the points that Gladwell makes is that people who are successful in life are those who put in a lot of time in their field so that when opportunity arose; their abilities and events culminated into something phenomenal. For example, Mozart started composing when he was 6 years old. His first compositions weren't all that great (what great things did you do when you were 6?) but he kept working at it so that when he was 21 years old-he was composing the masterpieces that we still hear today. Or the Beatles were playing in concerts in Hamburg non-stop until they hit it big. Or Bill Gates spent all his free time on a computer in the library purchased by a mom's club. So how much time does it take to be successful? 10,000 hours.

The question, therefore that I ask you, is what are you willing to put in 10,000 hours in to become an expert in? Have you already put in those 10,000 hours? Are you on your way?