Lessons From the Fast Track

On September 11, 2001 the whole world watched in horror as Tower I and Tower II were struck by terrorist led jet liners and crumbled to the ground. Each tower was built on a foundation consisting of 100,000 tons of steel and more than 200,000 cubic yards of concrete designed by an army of engineers dedicated to creating structures that were indestructible. What we all learned that horrific day is that EVERYTHING is destructible and life is a very precious and fragile thing that can be taken from us at anytime. History has several examples that reconfirm this fact. Take a look at the current state of the “Seven Wonders” of Ancient Times: • The only remains of the Tomb of Mausolus, built in 350 BC, are in a British Museum. • The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, once the center of the fertility cult of Diana, was destroyed around AD 262. • The Hanging Gardens of Babylon grow no more. Babylon’s ruins have been found along the Euphrates River, about fifty-five miles south of modern Baghdad. • The magnificent statue of Zeus was dragged off and burned. • King Ptolemy’s famous Lighthouse of Alexandria, in Egypt, crumpled during a fourteenth-century earthquake. • The Colossus of Rhodes was also destroyed by an earthquake in 224 BC. It was originally a giant hundred-foot statue of Apollo that spanned the harbor on the isle of Rhodes. • Only the pyramids of Egypt, built between 2700 and 2500 BC, before the time of Moses, have survived the ravages of time. This is a surreal realization that nothing, even the pyramids, will last forever. Since the fall of the twin towers in New York, we have seen an amazing triumph of human spirit, compassion and will in the rebuilding of the lives and structures affected by the tragedy. Just over twelve years later, on May 10, 2013, a spire was installed on One World Trade Center (also known as Freedom Tower) located at Ground Zero in New York City dedicated to the 2,977 men and women that were lost on September 11th. One World Trade Center’s foundation was constructed using 50,000 tons of high grade steel and 240,000 tons of 14psi iCrete concrete per the designs of the world’s best engineers making it the tallest, most durable structure of its kind in the world. One World Trade Center is built to last, but it will not last forever. Eventually it will be deteriorated by its environment. As illustrated over time, a foundation of brick and mortar (steel and concrete) does not last, but a human foundation built on faith lasts for eternity! In the Bible we are reminded: “So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” <1 corinthians,="" 13:13=""> Love is a gift that when truly given is unconditional, selfless and unending. Love endures even when faith has been lost to sight and hope to possession. Learning to truly love others unconditionally is the secret to finding peace in this life. This comes naturally to most of us with our family and friends but much more difficult throughout our careers. Think about it: • Have you loved every boss you have ever had? • Do you love all your co-workers or customers every day? • How about your day-to-day work...You love it every day? • How about Mondays….You love them all the time? If you are being honest with yourself, the truth is that some parts of your job you love, but some you don’t. There are some parts of your job you don’t even like very much. Well, welcome to the club! What about hope? It has its place in the work environment but cannot be the main ingredient that a successful career is built on. Of course hope found in Jesus’ promise of eternal life is the foundation of Christian faith, but hoping that you complete that report your boss asked you for or hoping you ship that customer order on time is not going to lead to career success! That leaves faith. Faith is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as, “strong belief in someone or something”. It is the belief of things unseen. It is easy to wrap our thoughts around the value of faith to each of us spiritually, but it is more difficult doing so when it comes to its role in our day-to-day work lives and long-term careers. To understand this role fully we will have to start with the origins of faith in our lives and follow it, or the lack of it, through to our present day lives. Doing so will provide a clear illustration of the critical nature of faith in all parts of our lives, especially our work lives. Faith development in our lives is a journey. I could argue that the journey starts well before conception through God’s crafting of our environment but to give us all a common starting point let’s start at birth. Our faith journey follows a progression of selflessness that progresses over the course of our lives. As our selflessness matures so does our spiritual journey and as a result, our faith. This can be illustrated as: As an infant we are almost exclusively focused on our own physical needs as we rely 100% on others to meet them (food, shelter, emotional, etc…). It is here that the foundations of faith begin. With constant reinforcement, we come to believe tomorrow’s physical needs will be met as today’s were. It is important to note here that this early foundation of faith happens at varying rates in cultures/communities around the world. With the current worldwide poverty rate at 22% and some areas of the globe still well above 50%, many do not know how tomorrow’s physical needs will be met.