No snitching— Part 1.

“Mind your own business, work with your own hands.” 1Thessalonians 4:11 KJV

Part 1. Tuesday (9-5), Part 2 COMING SOON. I’ll tell you more about this critical turning point in my life, and how I believe it had such a powerful effect me and Randy and my entire family.

Amazon groceries just delivered.

Denver—Next month it will be 52 years since I started violating this rule from Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonians. It is one of the earliest teachings of the Christian church, 

“Mind your own business, work with your own hands.” 

I believe my violation of this rule and Randy’s resulted in his early death a few weeks ago, and it contributed to our father’s very early death in 1979, he was only 54. 

Today the Internet and the glorification of celebrity in our western culture has resulted in a nearly universal violation of the principle that threatens to literally destroy the world.How? Let me tell you a story about this:

There were 10 wise and 10 foolish entrepreneurs gathered at their local chamber of commerce waiting for a noon meeting with a venture capitalist. His plane was late.

The foolish entrepreneurs were forced by emergencies to return to their various garage businesses startups they were trying to scale. The wise entrepreneurs had plenty of time to wait because they worked with their own hands and minded their own business.

“Tell the venture capitalist about our business,” pleaded the foolish entrepreneurs. But the wise entrepreneurs refused.

52 years ago I learned a behavior, and I believe Randy did too, that has led us to where we are now, Randy in his grave and me caught in a garage business I’m trying to scale.

I remember that morning, the first Monday after the end of our football season.

It was early. The bright blue cloudless Colorado sky was behind the massive silhouette of Denver Thomas Jefferson High School. I found a parking space and walked up from student parking seeing the bright sky and dark school, a vivid iconic image that I’ve revisited over and over and over since then because of what happened that afternoon. 

What I’ve only recently remembered, with help from a good psychodynamic therapist, is there are no other students in the, for me, iconic picture. I was late again. Classes had started. 

Amazon just delivered, time to eat breakfast before a jam packed day. Tuesday (9-5), I’ll tell you more about this critical turning point in my life, and how I believe it had such a powerful effect me and Randy and my entire family. (3-2-18 note: the part 2 never happened until today. I'm telling the rest of the story each day, starting today, on Good News Grassroots, see it on https://www.Facebook.com/John.S.Wren

I’ll answer questions posted here or on https://Twitter.com/IDEACafe Tweet there with #IDEACafe now or anytime to be part of the conversation. 

John Wren