The $5.00 Airline Ticket

There is no more important principle to learn as an entrepreneur than that God will lead you. In all my years of traveling and pursuing my dreams, that is the only constant I can communicate to you.

It is really not an overwhelming principle, but one learned by taking small steps, seemingly insignificant steps when you feel you should. We have all heard about that wee little voice in our head which seems to nudge us at the right time to make the right decision. Who knows how it all works. But work it does if you let it. 

I relay this story to you not so much so I can brag how wonderful I am. How faithful I am. Because I am not. I am just like everyone else who constantly seems to fall short of what we know we are capable of. And yet, I have found hope in those small accomplishments when I have listened to the small prompting which tells me that I need to act. Yes, act.

While God’s world is about listening, it is really more importantly about acting. Taking action. When we act on our nudges, we endorse the presence of God within us. We acknowledge that those promptings have a significance to our lives.

Once again, I relate this story so you might see some similarities within your life. That you might re-evaluate the promptings you have had in the past . . . and failed to act on. That you in the future might, just might, give them a chance by acting on them.

And here is the key: this is a process. There is no magic formula to learning to listen, to discern. Rather it is a process where you act on certain impulses and observe their outcomes. The more you are willing to act on the small nudges, the greater God will communicate the bigger ones to you. So simple, yet so complex.

For you see, life is there for the asking. God is there to help you. But He cannot do it alone. He needs you to be His accomplice. So, He can lead you to the life that He wants you to lead. The life that deep down within yourself you know you want. That is the nature of God.

So, as I try to relate this story to you, I will try to acknowledge my shortcomings, but if it sounds so wonderful to you, don’t forget it all started with a $5.00 airline trip.

******

Every year there was a BookExpo which was the largest booksellers’ event in North America. I had been attending the convention since 1999 when I began to think about expanding into book publishing after thirteen years of publishing my Owl Media Guide’s Nevada Media Directory reference book. That year BookExpo was in Los Angeles, and I attended. In 2004, it was to be held in Chicago. At the time, I lived in Las Vegas. I knew I needed to attend, but the previous month had not been financially rewarding. I kept wondering when I would be able to have enough money to make a reservation . . . and to go. Three weeks before the event I still had not made a reservation.

During this time, I had been monitoring a megachurch’s website in the Chicago area called Willow Creek to see if and when my former Senior Pastor was going to be teaching. He had left our Las Vegas church nearly a year before. He had been a strong influence on bringing me back to church and inspired me to becoming a better person by being an authentic person himself. I checked daily for weeks . . . imagining what it would be like to fit in church and the BookExpo. More on that later.

Well, the BookExpo ran from Wednesday night through Sunday the week right after Memorial Day. I was coming closer to losing the best chance at an airfare. I constantly played out scenarios in my mind about how to get there and the cheapest possible way to spend time there.

On a Friday night about two weeks before the show, I was sitting in my living room in Las Vegas. I still had no money. I kept thinking that I was not going to be able to go. And then it hit me . . . rather it nudged me.

Go check out reward travel . . . tonight.

Well, I did not have enough reward miles to get a ticket . . . I was 150 miles short for an AmericaWest airline ticket. I wasn’t even close for a United ticket . . . 8,000 miles short. I knew I could buy miles to make it over the edge, but even that would cost me $50.00 for the reward ticket.

“God if I only had $150.00, I could buy a ticket and save my miles. Yeah right, I am going to get a ticket. What kind of ticket could I get for the $7.00 I have in my bank account,”I said.

Nudge. Go online and look.

So, after procrastinating for awhile, I went to my computer and went to the AmericaWest site. I punched in my reward number and selected flights. I got to the point I selected some tickets which would at least get me to Chicago and a shot at seeing my pastor on Wednesday night before the Book Expo started. 

Hmmm, maybe this was going to work.

I went all the way to checkout. I thought I outconned the system. I was going to get my ticket to Chicago.

Then the dreaded screen came up.

YOU DON’T HAVE ENOUGH MILES FOR A REWARD TICKET. 

YOU CAN PURCHASE MILES FOR $50.00.

I no longer was king. My lack of miles had been discovered. They had tantalized me to the point I thought I was going to get away with it. And then the door shut in my face.

“But I don’t have $50.00. Make an exception. I am so close. I won’t tell anyone.”

The screen did not magically change and grant my wish. Maybe, God had forgot to tell them it was OK to give me the ticket.

I closed out the browser and started over again. Afterall, AmericaWest should have another chance at giving me the ticket. A fresh chance.

So yes, I started all over again. That’s right. I logged back into the site, punched in the dates and city, selected the flights, and pushed Order Tickets. I knew God had enough time to communicate with them. He is omnipotent. Click.

I was horrified by what I saw on the screen next.

YOU DON’T HAVE ENOUGH MILES FOR A REWARD TICKET. 

YOU CAN PURCHASE MILES FOR $50.00.

“Huh. Didn’t you get the memo from God? He sent me one while I was on the couch to get my tickets.”

The screen did not flicker. The infamous blue screen from Microsoft did not overcome my computer.

I did what any sane person who do. I haughtily got up from my chair, walked over to the couch, sat down, and turned on the television. But my mind kept saying:

“God, what’s the deal? Are you testing me? Well, I passed. I went over to the computer and tried. But God you didn’t do so hot. I got no tickets. Omniscience. I thought you knew the mileage requirements for a reward ticket. At least now you do. Thanks a lot.”

“Or is the Devil teasing me?”

Who cares? Let’s get back to watching the boob tube. Enough of this nonsense. And that is where I left it for the next hour.

“Go get your ticket.”

Yeah, right. I continued watching TV. I would tell you what I was watching, but I don’t remember. Time marched on.

“Go get your ticket.”

In defiance, I stood up. Sure, makes sense. I am sure the rules have changed in the last hour. What was I thinking? They say insanity is marked by doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I was being mocked. Well, I am going to do this. And show the world. I went to the computer.

Guess what. AmericaWest’s site worked very well and, on the screen, came:

YOU DON’T HAVE ENOUGH MILES FOR A REWARD TICKET. 

YOU CAN PURCHASE MILES FOR $50.00.

Third time is the charm. Duh. Well, life is not always the way we want it to be. Call the white jackets. I am ready to be admitted. Not really, but I was feeling melodramatic. Self-pity flooded me.

“Go get your ticket.”

I can’t say why I did it. But when insanity has been declared, you look for different answers. I decided to let United Airlines mock me too.

I punched in my ticket request knowing I did not have enough miles . . . about 8,000 miles short to be more precise.

I went through the routine of picking days and times . . . trying to see my pastor and get to the BookExpo and out of town as fast as possible. I tried the red-eye on Tuesday and the 6 a.m. on Wednesday so I could get into Chicago for church and leave late Sunday after the show. Four days in a hotel max.

Having crafted my timetable of efficiency and expediency, I hit enter.

Rejection is never a pleasant experience. United was not buying this itinerary. I added a day at a time trying to get a ticket.

“No thank you,” said United. “Try again.”

I had the church’s website in one window. United in another. BookExpo in another.

I must have played with it for fifteen minutes trying to get something to qualify for a ticket . . . I would have even been satisfied for a reasonable ticket, even though I had no money to buy it. Some small victory at least.

“Go get your ticket.”

At this point in trying, I was at the Saturday before the BookExpo opened (5 days in advance) and the Tuesday after BookExpo (2 days after the event closed). Ten (10) hotel nights. Ten (10) days of car rental.

Yeah, this is smart. This is going to work. Oh, what the hell! 

Click.

I don’t recall what actually happened next. It was either “Select Your Seats” or “Confirm to Continue.” Or something. It was one of those moments that time stands still. You can’t believe your eyes. You wander if you are hallucinating. But there it was.

“As a way of introducing Ted, our new airlines, this United Airline’s special promotion requires only 15,000 miles.”

Miles Used: 15,000.

Total Amount Due: $5.00.

$5.00. Five Dollars. 

Where is that decimal point? Count the zeroes. Breathe. Don’t touch the keyboard. Remain calm.

I had 18,000 miles in my account. 

And then my mind turned a new way. Yes, I will be honest with you that the following occurred. I am not proud of it, but I do acknowledge it.

“Well, that’s great God. $5.00 for a ticket. Such a deal. Ten days in a hotel. Ten days in a rental car. That $5.00 is going to cost another $1,000.00 to pull off. I have $7.00 if I combine both of my bank accounts. I think I am going to be short.”

All this to the God of the Universe. The provider of all things.”

“Go get your ticket.”

Well, I really have nothing to lose . . . except for $5.00. I opened another window and logged into my bank. I transferred $4.00 from one account to the other. I now have $6.72 in my business account.

I enter my business debit card information in United Airlines site. I click Order and hold my breath.

The hourglass appears. My blood pressure is rising. Tension is in the air. After what seemed an eternity:

Congratulations! Here is your Confirmation Order number and Itinerary.

I am going to Chicago.

“Got your ticket?”

I inwardly smile.

“Yeah, I’ve got my ticket.”

I was just looking in the wrong place. Not exploring all the possibilities. Doubting myself. Limiting the God of the Universe.

And yet, setting all my self-doubts aside, I tried. I acted.

******

Several weeks later, I sat in Willow Creek Church on Sunday morning.

Faithfulness was the topic. How faithfulness was a quality of a follower of God. How we need to be faithful to our word. Faithful to our family and friends. Faithful to God.

Tears filled my eyes. My heart swelled with emotion. I thanked God.

All this because of a $5.00 ticket.

The next time you are thinking of giving up . . . not stretching yourself . . . retreating back into your comfort zone . . . Remember a guy out in the desert who happens to meet someone through an open door.

Have you ever had that moment when you thought you could go no further? When one more step was going to kill you?

When I first started this journey of self-exploration, I did not know that was what I was on. Rather, I was a burnt-out man who did not know who he was or where he was going. Having defined myself by what I did occupationally, I found myself in a remote desert house seven miles from town on a dirt road. I did not have a reason to get out of bed in the morning because I had no place to go. No one was dependent on me . . . no one called me. In fact, except for my father, no one knew where I was.

After being involved in so many different occupations and lives, suddenly I was in a self-imposed exile. I wasn’t sure who I was. I never stopped my world enough to even consider that question. But I digress, or is that regress, a little.

My journey to this self-imposed exile was not planned by me. Not even contemplated by me. It was the result of a series of events which stopped my world.

About six months earlier, I arrived in Austin, Texas, to meet with a man who possibly could help me expand the market for our tote bags in the Southwest. It was 1979. As I arrived at my hotel, my uncle had decided to impress the clerk by phoning the front desk to inform them that Willie Nelson was at our house awaiting my call. Willie Nelson was a huge star, especially in Texas. The front desk person was very impressed and promptly told me when I arrived. Smiling, I nodded my head and proceeded to go along with my sudden increase in stature.

After the meeting the next day, I toured President Lydon Johnson’s Presidential Library on the campus of the University of Texas and thought about how much the world had gone through during his presidency. I had really just gone as a tourist, but it affected me.

Anyway, the next day I flew to Phoenix to meet my uncle and a family friend who had a strong connection with a large convenience store chain. When we got to the hotel from the airport, I just decompressed. I had had enough of everything . . . especially the demands on my time and expectations of being able to make this into a successful company . . . and it wasn’t working.

I did not want to go to the dinner meeting that night and almost stayed in the hotel. My uncle finally got me to go. The evening was a fascinating mixture of business, and unknown to me, an introduction to some family members. The next day we were off to California.

I had heard about a place called Two Bunch Palms in Desert Hot Springs. I booked a room for two days there during the week. It was a wonderful, soothing resort which helped to restore me. But what happened next was expected. My world stopped . . . and I was never the same.

While walking to the main building, my uncle and I passed a room whose door was open. He was always outgoing, so he popped his head in the door and found two young women playing a board game. He thought he had struck paydirt. Somehow, he got himself invited in and dragged me with him.

At the time, we were making tote bags out of recycled gourmet coffee bags . . . very socially conscious although that part was an afterthought. He casually mentioned that to the two women. One said she owned a boutique in Joshua Tree, California. She suggested I might come up there and show her our bags for the store.

And thus, that is how I met Sally.

As we sat on the king-size bed, the four of us played some board game. Sally talked about the magic of Two Bunch Palms and revealed she had studied Polarity, which is a therapeutic healing technique. After an hour or so, we departed, but before we did, Sally gave me her card and said to contact her the next time I was in the area to show her our tote bags.

About a month later, I was on airplane headed for Palm Springs to see Sally, but the tote bags were not the main reason.

---

My uncle and I returned to San Francisco where I was running the company. We were not having great success with selling tote bags.

We had negotiated with a man in Chinatown who had a sewing company to produce the bags for us. He would give out machines to women in the community who would sew the bags in their homes and bring them to his shop.

The warehouse that housed the coffee bag material was in San Rafael, which is across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. I would go back and forth checking with them on stock. At one point, we ran out of lining material for the insides of the bags. As I had done before, I flew down to the Garment District in Los Angeles where I would find suppliers for the material. This particular trip was a morning in, evening out.

I flew into Los Angeles and immediately went downtown. I found a store which had exactly what I needed at a price I could afford. We put the bolts of cloth into the rental car, and I started to return toward the airport. Since it was early, I decided to stop for a late lunch. My choice would be one that changed my life forever.

I decided to eat at a small seafood restaurant which was owned by a friend of a former, maybe current, girl friend Laurel. I loved their food, and for some reason since I had only met the owner once, I never thought anyone would recognize me. I was wrong.

After eating and just before I left, the owner came out and said hello to me. I told her I was in town for the day and heading back to the airport. She asked me if I was going to call Laurel. Now, this was before cell phones (yes, there was an era where you had to call someone, and they had to be sitting in their home and pick up an instrument which had a cord running to the wall). This was the era I was in.

I told her no and that I was only in town for a few hours. She said that was too bad and then gave me a hug which was unusual. I thought nothing of it at the time. The woman was pleasant. She was nice to me. I left and went to the airport on my way back to San Francisco.

---

A few days later, I had a growth on my inner thigh just below the buttocks. It was not infected. It was not discolored. It was just a growth which slowly kept growing. After nearly a week, I was barely able to walk. There was no medical explanation for my condition. I knew that I had to do something or else I was going to be in big trouble.

Desperate, for some reason, I felt led that I should call Sally.

One of Sally’s gifts was she was an intuitive, although at that time I really did not know what that meant. What she said to me floored me. She said what I had sounded like an energy block. OK. Cue in the Twilight Zone music. But the next question could have soiled a strong man’s pants.

“Did anyone recently hug you? Someone you really didn’t know. Someone who seemed outwardly pleasant to you but was really very angry with you? As if you had betrayed the trust of a friend of theirs?”

“No, Sally. I can’t think of anyone who fits that description.”

“Are you sure?” Sally asked. “This is very important.”

“Well, last week, I stopped at a restaurant owned by a friend of my former, maybe current, girlfriend . . . and the owner came out to say hello. She did ask me if I was going to call Laurel. But she seemed to understand when I said I was only in LA for a few hours.”

“And when did this growth start?”

“When I returned from LA. A few days later.”

“Interesting. Well, I think I can help you if you want to come down. But I would not wait too long if you want to keep that leg.”

“You got to be kidding me.”

“No, I’m not.”

Two days later I was on a plane to Palm Springs. Barely able to walk, I drove up Highway 62 to someplace called Joshua Tree, California. And my whole perception of the world was about to change forever.

After my years of training in medicine and years working in a hospital with patients, I was not prepared for what I experienced with Sally. After forty-five minutes, the swelling was gone. I had experienced a healing that would soon transform my life forever and lead me on a journey that I am still on today, forty-three years later.

---

What I want to convey to you is that a chance meeting in the desert was not a chance meeting at all. When I look back and see the various points on that trip where I wanted to have a pity party and give up, I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if I did.

What if I decided to ditch the people who were waiting to meet me in Texas and Phoenix? What if I had decided that I was much too important and stood them up? What if my crazy uncle had not peaked into an open door in Desert Hot Springs and start a banter with two young women? What if we just stayed in the room and never ventured out?

Perseverance does have its rewards. Following through does have its rewards. Being true to your word has it rewards . . . they might not be earthly, but rather heavenly.

So, the next time you are thinking of giving up . . . not stretching yourself . . . retreating back into your comfort zone . . . Remember a guy out in the desert who happens to meet someone through an open door.

Let me repeat that, in case you missed it.

Through an open door.

Who proceeded to walk through that door.

Who accepted the invitation to play a naïve board game and get to know two other human beings.

Who were smart enough . . . or maybe intune enough . . . to keep their door open so a searching young man might wander by . . . and have his life changed forever.

Perseverance. Don’t shortchange yourself. But rather stretch yourself. And one of the best ways of doing that is to be of service to another.

When you want to give up . . . stop the music . . . think of that poor guy or girl who may be walking by your door . . . hoping someone will notice them . . . and their pain . . . and keep the door open for them.

When we focus on ourselves, we miss that we are all here to serve others.

Push through your pain so that you can show others how to escape theirs.

I thank God every day that Sally had kept her heart open . . . for I might not be here today. 

My prayer is for you to return the same favor to someone you may meet on your journey through life that needs your help . . . and will receive it because you left your door open.

And invited them in.