God Moments are great. Especially when they are 24 years in the making. I love the God First Business Group. The people represented in it are incredibly giving and are doing all they can to Lead Like Jesus in the marketplace.

Stuarts story has nothing to do with business, but everything to do with relationships and diving moments. It’s worth reading. Check this out:

This morning I went to a Christian networking breakfast meeting. After the meeting, as I was heading to the door, a guy called out to me and motioned for me to come over. I said, “Me?” and thought to myself I don’t know him-what does he want. He said to me, “Stuart Rigdon, you probably don’t remember me. I’m Dave Humphrey and we went to Stillwell Jr. High together.” I cringed inside. “You probably don’t remember me because I was the type of guy you wouldn’t want to hang around with. I remember some kids were on a band trip and they were drinking and some guy stood up for what was right. I was no where near the Lord at that time, but you made an impression on me when you stood up for your convictions. I saw how kids ridiculed you, hit you and made life hard for you but you stood firm. I reminded my fifteen year old son just the other day about the Stuart Rigdon story. I’ve told my kids the story before. You see my son was being picked on by some other boys in the neighborhood and I told him that he needed to stand up for what was right just like you did. I‘ve thought about you many times over the last twenty four years. Sometimes I thought this kid was stupid, but I knew you weren‘t. You made an impression on me that I haven‘t forgotten. You don‘t know how that single event has changed other people‘s lives.”

When he started talking, I was in tears. You see this event happened when I was in the ninth grade and it caused a tremendous amount of frustration for me. I was picked on, beat up on, ostracized and ridiculed. I never played in the high school band because I couldn’t bear the thought of being picked on unmercifully. I even went to a trade high school in tenth grade for most of the day, just to be away from my peers. This single event changed everything for me. It kept me from playing the saxophone in the high school band, which I would have loved to do. It caused me to question my convictions and made me scared to even go to school. For years I wondered if I could have handled the situation differently. I questioned, “did you do the right thing?’ I know that I did. I was asked by the band director, if something had happened on the trip that he needed to know about and I told the truth. Sometimes that gets you into a place you never thought you would be. But as Dave reminded me- I stood up for the truth. I didn’t hide and shirk away and tell a lie or tolerate a lie. I held to my convictions even though at the time I never imagined how that event would affect me.

I cried though because after twenty four years God allowed a divine appointment to show me that it was okay. I told Dave that it was him that I needed to thank, because in him telling me how that event had affected his life, I received a release. A release from a deep seated, pushed down, hidden away pain that had hurt me to the bone and had kept me from doing some of things I loved the most. I just kept thanking him and he was thanking me. It was just so awesome. I drove back to work just thanking God for His love and compassion, for His desire to heal me even after twenty four years. I am amazed by His goodness, His concern and care and His perfect timing. Just think what I would have missed if I had not gotten up out of bed this morning and gone to that breakfast. God’s timing is right on time. It’s His time schedule and not our own. We may never know until we reach Heaven how our lives and the events in them have affected others. What we view as coincidence or circumstance or pain can be used by God to bring about great and mighty works in the lives of others. Imagine that!

We love you Stuart!

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