Pete Vanderpool - Equipped to Bless: Finding Relevance in the Stories of Your Life

EQUIPPED TO BLESS:

FINDING RELEVANCE IN THE STORIES OF YOUR LIFE

Published by Derek Press

1080 Montgomery Ave NE

Cleveland, Tennessee 37311

Unless otherwise identified, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version . Copyright
1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

All rights reserved. With the exception of brief quotations, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwisewithout the prior written permission of the copyright owners.

ISBN: 978-1-59684-735-4

eISBN: 9781483505626

Copyright 2012 by Pete Vanderpool and Wendy C. Brown

Cover Design by Wendy C. Brown

FOREWORD

Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart larger.
Ben Okri, Nigerian poet and novelist
Vice-President of the Caine Prize for African Writing

Mr. Okris words seemed to be the best opening for this sweet and gentle publication by Pete Vanderpool and Wendy C. Brown. Equipped to Bless: Finding Relevance in the Stories of Your Life is a work of art that can make the heart feel as if it is growing larger and stronger. As we recognize and empathize with narratives from that miracle called life, we find, or rediscover, the heart of our own stories, and we feel a desire to share them.

This collection of personal narratives, with a seasoning of folktale and full helpings of spirituality, is divided into three parts: The Treasure of Story, P.E.O.P.L.E. and Story, and Embracing the Relevance of Your Story. These sections provide a banquet consisting of appetizer, main course, and dessert. Yet each part is whole and filling, as if it were a meal in itself. We are guests at a wonderful banquet.

Sharing our stories, sharing ourselves, lovingly and fearlessly...the world needs to feast on such simple courage. The mind needs more stories like these, simple truths that are tools for our times, stories that urge us to live, and love, and grow, and continue.

Blessings and thanks to Pete and Wendy, two storytellers who are indeed equipped to bless.

Lynette (Lyn) Ford

Teller of Home-Fried Tales

To be a person is to have a story to tell.
Isak Dinesen

Jim should have died on the way up. The way down was not promising either. He purchased some glue and spray paint powerful enough to create a tremendous high, drove out to the country, and climbed a cell tower.

Going up, his hands trembled as he stretched them toward the next level. Rust from the old metal ladder stained his fingers as slivers of rough steel cut into his hands, but the anticipation of an inhalant high buoyed him upward. A strong wind passed by that almost called him to make his way back down, but hed had enough; broken promises, sour relationships, betrayal. Life had no meaning.

For over 14 years, his journey moved from the wacky high of inhalants to experiences that both catapulted and terrified him, and then finally to hallucinations and the dark screams of total drug addiction. All this hid one single fact. Jim felt alone and empty.

No one will even know Im gone, he said. When they find out, they wont care. Theyll probably be glad old Jim wont be around to bother them anymore.

At the top of the tower, Jim sat down, pulled out the Bible he brought along, and began to read:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He blinked hard and shook his head to dislodge the tear threatening to blur his vision.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil.

He closed the book with care and watched it fall out of his hands toward the ground below.

God, if you really are there, have mercy on my soul.

With that final prayer, he hoisted himself over the edge of the tower into a free-fall that should have killed him. His body slammed against steel beams, flipped over in somersault, and pounded to the ground. But he lived.

Jim woke up in the hospital a couple of days later. He suffered two broken ankles, a fractured third lumbar vertebrae, a split orbital socket, and his left eye popped out on impact. With precious little sight, he blinked his right eye and became aware of two shadowy figures.

Mom, Grandma, he said.

The two women trembled and held each other as they stood beside his bed praying, tears in their eyes, overcome with a grief they had carried for years. Jims physical vision would be marred forever, but that day he saw with bright clarity that many blessings had filled his life, not once or twice, but with regularity and intention. He was not alone. The two women by his bed were proof. There were many other people and stories of blessing that healing would uncover and time would later bring to his mind.

Jims life is a masterful design made up of individual experiences and daily stories that bless those who hear of him. Sometimes the stories that bless others are ones of loneliness, disability, or his journey back to health. On occasion, the blessings shared from Jims life escape into laughter or even song. Other times, he weeps when the details of his attempted suicide explode in him with gratitude. Big or small, the blessings he shares and thus receives through the miraculous tragedy, fills him with awe. His life does have meaning. It always has.

Finding relevance in our life, that sense of purpose that eludes us as time snowballs into years, intertwines with the fact that we are equipped to bless. The two are inseparable.

Equipped is a word that conveys the idea of having what it takes to complete or contribute to something. It is having enough equipment in the toolbox to complete a task. So to be equipped to bless means one is readied and arrayed with the stuff of life that is necessary to bless someone else.

This carries with it the concept of purpose. The person blessing is the one capablewith the tools of each unique storyto offer something of assistance, encouragement, confrontation. All of us have a unique storyone overarching drama filled with many single episodes or chapters. Some of the stories are short; others are long, funny, or sad. A few may even be frightening, but all together these stories constitute who we are, what we are becoming, and what the answer is to the big question we all ask: Why am I here? The equipped person is the one who can best pick up a piece of the puzzle of his or her life and place it in the right place in the puzzle of anothers life.

Bless is one of those words that we tend to feel more than we understand. Dictionary definitions of the word bless suggest, to make holy, ask divine favor for, to praise. These offerings feel religiously shallow to the degree of excepting the spiritual.

Too often, this word carries a sugary sweet sentiment that implies, I notice but dont want to get involved. A hands-off wish of goodwill comes with the word. Many religious groups have named it, claimed it, and clichd it so that its very beautiful meaning has drained and dried up.

To break the word down, consider the positive feelings when hearing or using the word bless: to be happy, encouraged, supported, to experience a lucky break, to bestow good of any kind upon another person or group of people. To bless another can be through a word, smile, hug, note, story, laugh, or even an umbrella in the rain or a hidden dollar bill.

Throughout this book, the word