Could You Be the Next Rick Geller?

Stop! Don’t Google Rick Geller just yet. Instead think about the various people you have encountered and ask yourself, “Could I risk my gut feeling on someone making different decisions than they have in the past?” “Is it possible that in this case the past performance is not an indicator of future predictability?”

Maybe you would need to take personal inventory. Not of all the stipulations you would make were such a decision placed in your lap. Instead, you may want to think to a time when someone did not take your past into account. They did not stop to preach at you. They did not insist on lecturing you before making the decision. They did not exact some sort of promise from you before trusting you.

It could be you may be too quick to conjure the maxim, “Fool me once shame on me. Fool me twice shame on thee.” Grace and mercy require that you risk being a fool on both counts. It is not fun. I may be embarrassing.

Or, it may be life giving. Who is Rick Geller? He is the police officer who trusted his instinct and a young troubled teenager. Rick is the fellow who assessed the demeanor of a young man while the house in which he lived was being scoured for drugs. He is the person who told his supervisor, “I don’t think he did it.”

Could you be the next Rick Geller? If so, you may be just the person the next Caron Bulter needs. Now retired, Rick Geller is the person who stood in the gap, trusted his instinct, and now calls and texts Caron Butler during the NBA season to encourage the once troubled teen.

Many will watch to see what Caron Butler will add to the potent trio of Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka as the NBA playoffs progress. It really won’t matter. He has already added value to the risky decision Rick Geller made.

Could you be the next Rick Geller?

This post is a web version of a piece that originally appeared in my column in The Tuttle Times yesterday. (5/8/2014)

Featured Image

About the Author
Husband to Patty. Daddy to Kimberly and Tommie. Grandpa Doc to Cohen, Max, Fox, and Marlee. Pastor to Snow Hill Baptist Church. Graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Reading. Photography. Golf. Colorado. Jeeping. Friend. The views and opinions expressed here are my own and should not be construed as representing the corporate views of the church I pastor.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.