Tortoise and the Hare

While working at the store during the days, I have been rereading some of the books that I have read in the past. The book that I am currently reading is "Retire Young, Retire Rich" by Robert T. Kiyosaki.

He retells a fairytale that his rich dad used to repeatedly tell him about the tortoise and the hare. If you don't know this fairytale, the tortoise and the hare decided to run a foot race. Of course the hare started out with a jump start and was off and running. The tortoise started out slow and deliberate. (Here's the link: http://www.storyarts.org/library/aesops/stories/tortoise.html).

As the hare raced along the trail, the tortoise paced himself and just continued deliberately down it. Eventually, the hare winded himself and decided to stop and rest. Soon after he fell asleep, the tortoise came and passed him by. Finally, the tortoise finished the race before the hare and the hare couldn't believe it.

He said that Rich Dad said that many of his friends had passed him by very quickly and laughed at him at his deliberate pace. Later in life, he surpassed all of their accomplishments and accolades. He said that he was proud to be a tortoise.

I read this last week and really didn't think much of this story because as a child, I used to sit and thank of ways that I could have been the hare and still won! But, there's a deep lesson to be learned from the fairytale.

LaDonna and I left out of town and are now in Portsmouth, VA visiting her best friend, Nadine. We went to church with them at the Grove Baptist Church and they had an amazing service.

When the preacher began his sermon, he had us read scripture, 2 Samuel 23: 8-10. His message was "Stand your ground". The scripture lesson is about King David and his three soldiers and the final chapter is about one soldier that was fighting the Philippians. The Israelites gave up and ran away from the battle, but this one soldier stayed and fought and fought.

When the fight was over, his hand had cramped around his sword to the extent that he couldn't let it go. In other words, even after the fight was done, he wasn't able to hold onto anything else the way he did the tool that saved his life.

His points were:

1. Stand believing in God. Don't give up because the race is not given to
the swift or strong, but he who endures until the end.

2. Stand believing in your purpose and divine ability. If God is for you,
who can be against you. (Ephesians 6: 16-17)

3. Stand committed to reaching your goal.

Now, I couldn't ignore this message repeated to me from a totally unique source.

People used to ask me, "Why did you come back to Michigan? Why did you come back to Pontiac? Why did you start Timbuktu Cafe, now, in the middle of a recession?" The best I can tell them is that God directed me to return. He told me to continue my purpose in this life, "To teach and to spread love". What better place to do that then back in my hometown?

Also, about the tortoise and the hare. A close friend of mine asked me back in 2001 when I returned from California and was living at my mother's house and waiting for my condo to be constructed, "Sean, don't you feel sometimes like, 'I should have my BMW by now?'"

That question kinda shocked me coming from that person. I realized, "you don't know me anymore", but I didn't say. I went away and came back a different person. I went out into the world as a "hare" and they think of things like, "Getting rich quick ... getting BMW's ... etc". But, I returned from going to Morehouse College, living in Japan for 2 years, going to law school, and living in London ... a tortoise.

Also, in the year 2000, I took 18 trips! You think I couldn't have bought a BMW?!

But, what I was doing by travelling, learning foreign languages, learning to dance salsa, going away to college, living abroad, travelling to Africa and many other places was to "expand my context" and "fill it with content". Most people do not take the time to do that. I spent years experimenting, exploring, learning, and expanding until I was able to return home again - renewed.

T.S. Elliot said, "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

Now, I have a strong sense of purpose of divine ability. So, I know that I'm doing what I am supposed to be doing. Moreover, just keep an eye on me if you want to see what a tortoise can accomplish if he maintains his course at his own pace - I will endure until the end.