A little over twenty years ago, my older brother and I took on an entrepreneurial quest. It was an experience that left a deep impression (read "scar") on me and probably changed my thinking in a variety of ways.
My brother did - and still does - enjoy the great benefit of being self-employed which our free-market economy affords. So our joint venture was just another episode for him; for me it was a very singular event, I wanted to carve out a niche for myself and stay there. I was investing a lot of hope in this deal.
Though I have doubted it in retrospect, I thought at the time, that the idea of us partnering was inspired by God.
My brother and I had been spending a good bit of time together and I knew that he had an opportunity to buy a little retail business. At the same time, my work seemed to be at a dead end: I was selling life insurance except that the "selling" part never had kicked in. I was not a "fit" for that job and my performance (or lack thereof) was obvious. One day I had just left a meeting with my Sales Manager in which he had pointed out to me that very fact.
As I was riding in my car, muttering and pontificating to myself and to God in one of those half-rant, half-prayer conversations, when an idea occurred to me. I thought about it a few minutes and then ran home to call my brother (no cell phones in those days) and share it with him.
He needed capital and I had a little retirement account in which I was now fully vested. I could take that and invest it in his venture. We could purchase the retail business and I could run it. I had always liked retail.
And so it began.
We had a blast! My relationship with my brother grew and we were almost inseparable. We had "inside jokes" and shared stories. We worked days and into the nights. We learned new things, sometimes we argued.
But the short of it is that we were way underfunded and during something of an economic downturn, bankers didn't want to keep renewing our notes or adding more to our debt load.
Many of our accounts were on C.O.D. (cash on delivery - in other words they didn't really trust us). And finally, in less than three years, we had closed the doors.
We did not technically bankrupt but we spent quite a long time, settling with people we owed and paying off bills. I had gotten married during that time and it was very disheartening to get those "collection" phone calls in front of my wife. The entire episode took it's toll on my relationship with my brother; it started cracks in the foundation my brand new marriage; and it did damage to the way that I looked at myself and how I thought others viewed me.
The fact is, in my late twenties and early thirties I was fairly convinced that I had all but messed up my life. But there were lessons in there for me to learn. I think my brother learned some also. Those details may be a subject for another day except to say that I have learned first-hand that the borrower is slave to the lender.
That time in my life somehow propelled me into returning to college a couple years later. Some time after that, R. and I were able to enjoy a restoration of our marriage.
I said all that to point something out. I don't know if God orchestrated the events that resulted in turmoil, and I'm pretty sure I wasn't always walking lock-step with His plan. But He was able to take that mess and weave it into my life and bring something good out of it. He was able to use the consequences of my mistakes to teach me.
Consequences are one of God's teaching tools.
Now, let me tell you about something. This week, I had the opportunity to help out - through my philanthropy - a couple that was going through their own set of consequences because of doing goofy things. Oh don't be so surprised; you helped them out also.
Maybe you've heard their names recently. At the risk of embarrassing them for their utter simplicity - I will share their names with you: Fannie-Mae and Freddie Mac.
Yes, when congress bails someone out - make no mistake about it- it is you and I that are doing all the bailing. Congress just takes the credit.
For all of its talk and bluster the U.S. Congress has never once turned a profit. They do not make anything. They just take from us, send it out somewhere else and then take the credit.
But by bailing out troubled institutions, congress has circumvented the lessons of bearing one's consequences.
That's why they keep having to bail out institutions - because they will not allow them to learn. During the Savings and Loan scandals of the 90's, congress bailed out the S & L's. Earlier this year there were more bailouts and now the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
In Numbers 12 there is a story about Moses' sister, Miriam. This took place during the nation of Israel's wilderness travels. Miriam had some derogatory remarks about Moses' choice for a wife, and God heard it.
I think God saw that there was more to Miriam's complaint than just the expression of her opinion. She was possibly jealous of Moses - felt as if she should play a more important role in the organization.
It seems in those days, that God's punishment-of-choice was leprosy. Miriam caught a bad case of it.
Moses cried and prayed. Aaron cried and prayed (cause he had been doing a little trash-talking too).
And God said she would get better...after seven days. So they stopped traveling and camped in that spot, waiting for Miriam to endure her punishment.
She needed that time of enduring the consequences of her actions. She came out of that episode cleaner, wiser and with the right frame of mind.
When we were deep in debt, if someone had come along and offered to just bail us out completely - I probably would have jumped at the opportunity.
I'm glad they didn't.
No comments:
Post a Comment