Hero Lunch

I had lunch with one of my heroes yesterday. You were probably thinking that I ate a hero for lunch weren't you? No, I didn't. I had lunch with Barak yesterday. If you've never heard of him you MUST visit his blog, web page, or myspace. If you've been to lift, you've seen some of his work. He had more influence on me than any other peer I had in middle school or high school. I met him in 7th grade in our youth group's drama team. I was in 8th grade and he was a junior in high school. We weren't super close, but I really looked up to him. Until I met him and the other guys, I was actually pretty shy. Acting and being funny was the way our social group established identity and who would be the alpha male. (at least that was my perception as a young teenager)

Barak was the only guy that could get me to double over with the mild out of the nose kind of laughter. Perhaps, I'm a sucker for dry humor, but I really thought he was brilliant.

During our lunch together we chatted about old times, current projects, life, and throwing hot coffee in the face of our server. Barak has a funny way of showing that he likes people. I came to realize that most of us don't really understand our impact on others. I'm reminded of the whole dropping of the pebble in water example. At first the ripples are small and as time goes by the rings get bigger and travel further from their point of origin.

Don't sell yourself short on the impact that you have on others. People are counting on you and your actions/inactions matter. My friendship with Barak set in motion my activities in high school, my major in college, and in a round about way, my carrier. All of that from a few conversations, team meetings, and youth group things together.