Lucky Pennies

Greetings from Tulsa, and I hope your Easter weekend was
blessed. As I pulled into my office's parking lot this morning, I
couldn't help notice a shiny penny laying heads-up on the ground
beside my car. "A lucky penny," I said with a smile, and bent
down to pick it up.

When I was a child, my father would always point out lucky
pennies laying on the ground, and I always picked them up and
added them to my collection, maybe eventually saving enough for a
pack of baseball cards and a stick of bubble gum (anyone else
remember when you could actually buy something for a nickel?).

But at some point in my life, I either stopped looking down for
lucky pennies or stopped picking them up? What inside of me
changed? As a child I believed in luck, but as an adult I only
believed in myself. Luck had nothing to do with my success. It
was all about me.

Then about 10 years ago, I started noticing things that would
happen for which there was no earthly explanation. For example,
when my family and I got hit by an 80,000 lb. tractor trailer in
our Expedition, we were all rushed to the hospital. My wife had
broken her ribs and leg, I escaped with just some bruises, and
the kids were remarkably unharmed.

Luck?

At the time, people who saw the accident said they saw me smash
through the rear right passenger window (I was not wearing my
seat belt), and that I was barely hanging on to the car door
before the car stopping spinning.

Luck?

Only moments before the accident occurred, I had jumped from the
front passenger seat to the back to quiet my one year old son who
was crying from his doctor's visit. The truck hit the front
passenger side and crunched and rammed it into my wife who was
driving. Had I stayed upfront, I would have died on impact.

Luck?

When my daughter was being examined in the hospital, they
removed and handed me her gold necklace and cross. I placed it in
my wallet, but when I got home, it was missing -- lost forever.
We had purchased it at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, and I
had always considered it to be like a lucky penny for my
daughter. But now it was gone.

My wife tore my wallet apart, and it was indeed missing. We
surmised it had fallen out of of my wallet or pocket at the
hospital and that it was lost forever. We were all sad about
losing it. We felt unlucky.

Then about two weeks later, I walked into my home office to grab
my wallet so I could run some errands. My wallet was standing up
and was partially opened like a book I might have been reading.
Hanging over it was my daughter's necklace and cross.

I screamed and went running for my wife.

"You found Alex's cross!" I exclaimed. "Where did you find it?"

My wife looked at me quizzically and told me she didn't know
what I was talking about.

We walked back into my home office together and stared at my
wallet with the necklace hanging over it like a jewelry store
display.

Luck?

As you take your daily walk, always be looking out for the lucky
pennies but remember where they come from.

And if I can do anything to help you along the way, please let
me know.

All my best,

Steven

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