“Behold I command thee, take courage, and be strong. Fear not, and be not dismayed: because the Lord thy God is with thee in all things whatsoever thou shalt go to.”  Joshua 1:9

For my wife’s birthday our youngest son gave her a three night stay at a bed and breakfast in Intercourse, Pa. with her favorite husband of course.  For those who do not know about Intercourse, Pa. let me tell you a bit about it before you get the wrong idea.  It is a small town located near Lancaster, Pa. if not in the heart of Amish country it is definitely an artery.  It is said that the name was changed from Cross Keys to Intercourse because of the many roads that meet and run through the town.  I can see that but I tend to believe that the Amish have a very wry sense of humor.  It is located between two other towns – Bird In Hand  and Paradise.  It is also near a town named Blue Ball.  Funny people those Amish.  Very hard working people who have to be admired for their tenacity in living a lifestyle so contrary to the rest of our society.  It is a beautiful part of Pennsylvania and if you have never visited it you should consider spending some time there.

When I drive I do a lot of thinking and we drove a lot around that area.   My mind always works in a pattern that starts with things I need to do or want to do to things I have started and not completed which is a source of aggravation to my very patient wife and irritation to me.  I then start reviewing my life and looking at how I have become this person.  After reading an historical marker explaining the name Intercourse I became fixated on the word crossroads. It is a beautiful descriptive word.  To many it has become a cliché but your life is made up of many crossroads and when you ponder on your past and you are honest with yourself, seeing these crossroads and understanding how the choice in direction you had taken, has you driving down a road in Intercourse Pennsylvania.

Some people seem as if their lives have been like a turnpike.  No crossroads just entrances and exits. For others it is like a maze that you find in those puzzle magazines that your parents would buy you before a long car trip.  For most, like mine, our lives are somewhere in between the two.  The former may be easier but it is very boring (unless you have a lot of maze puzzles to entertain you) and the latter is satisfying if you make all the right choices but who does that, so after a while it gets frustrating as you keep getting blocked and have to turn around.  You do have the option of only staying with the easy, basic mazes that are designed for beginners but then you are as bored as the turnpike rider and want to exit.

So there we are driving down Rte. 772 and I am pondering the many crossroads I had come to during my stint here on Earth, in America, in Pennsylvania and while I am pleased that my decisions resulted in far more correct decisions then wrong; I am haunted by some of my wrong turns that were really wrong and it took a while to get back to the right road. But I was blessed with making my first major, major decision the right decision – marrying my girlfriend who was still sitting next to me in the car.  I don’t want to sound like a Hallmark Anniversary card but having a spouse that loves you, forgives you and understands you is the greatest blessing a man or woman can have on earth or anywhere.

It wasn’t the big serious wrong turns that was the focus of my thoughts but rather a realization that I have come to the same crossroad many times and always made the wrong turn.  Unlike the others which were like sharp U-Turns these were more like a Y intersection where it only took a slight turn of the wheel and it didn’t take much thought or effort.  For the most part I have chosen the path of least resistance.  Some always said it was because I was lazy (and at times I am very lazy) but it is fear.  As a child growing up I never developed a sense of faith in myself or in God because the world had grabbed my attention. One day I was secretly planning Priesthood and the next I was Hugh Hefner (didn’t know of him but my best friend shared his fathers Playboy magazine and this 7 year old was off to the races).  I do not blame anyone,  my parents God bless them, they did the very best they could under some difficult circumstances.  If there is blame it is on me because as I grew older I intuitively knew what I was doing.  Maybe it was being the fourth child of six that created a shyness that took me a long time to overcome (most of it anyway) or having three older siblings to do things for me anytime I wanted.  My mom told me that I didn’t start talking until I was four and she believed it was because all I needed to do was to point and grunt and my brothers or sister would jump and get it for me.  I guess there was a sense of entitlement that took hold of me.  If I grunted and pointed now they would only think I was suffering a stroke – so much for entitlement.

Entitlement is fear’s offspring and if you are not careful it will grow within and then you are lost.  I am not at the point where I feel entitled to anything in fact it is just the opposite.  I recognize the fear that holds me back.  Recognizing it and defeating it are two different things however.  The most consistent way to beat fear is faith.  Faith in God and faith in yourself.  I have known that for a long time but for 25 to 30 years I slid that core belief to the recesses of my mind as I became more “of this world”.  My focus was made askew by what I thought was enlightenment when in fact it was a dead end road and being the fast learner that I am; I feel like I have been standing in front of the dead end sign just staring at it waiting for it to change.  During that time God had kept several lifelines connected to me through several good friends that still do not know how important they have been and still are to me.

I am not a Bible scholar.  I do not read it as often as I should but I do read it every time I need to and it always has the answer for me.  As a pre-teen and through my teenage years I would always be reading a history book or a biography of someone great, not always but usually an American (Winston Churchill is one of my favorites but then he is half American!)  Contrary to the popular (worldly) opinion America has been blessed with great leaders and people that should be emulated. The common thread that runs through all of them is their deep belief in God and in their own destiny.  Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Andrew Jackson, Grant and Lee and in more modern times  George S. Patton and Martin Luther King.  All great men who led a great people.  Far from being perfect, their foibles and mistakes have been used to discredit the good that they accomplished.  They had a unshakeable faith in God and in their destiny to accomplish great and good things but they also knew that they had good and great individuals behind them and their greatness was only the reflection of the people they led and the faith they had in God.  All had great fears that they faced daily and they defeated their fears and succeeded.  Through prayer and quiet contemplation they knew their destiny and had faith in their success.  It is not to say they never had doubts but they conquered their doubts and fears through their faith.

During my “middle (or muddled) time” I had stopped reading the history of our great men and turned my attention to more worldly subjects much to my determent and that of my family.  It is dumbfounding how easily one can be knocked off the road and lose the focus and drive that directed you.  The enemy is very sly and far more intelligent then are we and do not forget how much time he has had to practice his trade.  But how wonderful it is when the light of recognition bursts in your mind and the fog dissipates!  It has been many years that I read anything on Patton, who is second only to Churchill when our victory in Europe is studied.  During the holidays I was drawn to purchasing a book by Michael Keane titled George S. Patton – Blood, Guts, and Prayer.  After reading several in depth biographies; this book could be considered cliff notes to them.  But the author captures the true essence of one of the most complex men in our short history.  He knew his destiny from an early age and whenever things would occur that would knock most people off course Patton would go to his knees and pray and he would reaffirm his knowledge and destiny.  A great book for inspiration and lessons in leadership that is a long forgotten art in our so called leaders of today.

Another great American leader is MLK.  As a boy growing up in the sixties I was somewhat aware of the civil rights movement.  My father was a law and order conservative so he viewed King as a trouble making rabble rouser.  Change was something caused by the commies and King was therefore a commie sympathizer, especially when he came out against the Vietnam war.  As I aged I learned more about King and the more I appreciated the man and the black Americans who suffered through Jim Crow.  Yes his faults were many but he rose above them with his focus on his destiny and his faith in God.  His assassination blunted black and white relations to the point where I am not sure it is repairable on a national scale.  His absence created a vacuum that was eventually filled by Jessie Jackson, who instead of being a leader in the mold of King became the shakedown artist publicity hound who only wanted to enrich himself and his family.   And now as he has retired to savor his riches his self appointed replacement Al Sharpton makes Jackson look like a saint.  The only thing that Sharpton and his horde have in common with Dr. King and the participants in the civil rights movement is the color of their skin.  To compare Dr. King and the thousands of truly brave and good Americans who faced down the Bull Conors to Jackson, Sharpton and the thugs who only know Dr. King because of a holiday is a travesty and libelous.  King would go to his knees in prayer for guidance and strength. Sharpton only hits his knees to pick up his many pieces of silver.

Patton and King.  Two Americans who appear to be diametrically opposed but in truth were very similar.  Their accomplishments far outpaced their failures.  They both had detractors that were out to derail them from their mission and they both overcame through two powerful forces;  belief in God and prayers and a belief in themselves and their destiny.  They are just two examples in our American history that we can learn from – again for some of us.

Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
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“A man must recognize his destiny. If he does not recognize, then he is lost” Patton