Hello Inner Blog Circle! I don’t know about the rest of you, but I sure am enjoying this early spring we are having in March (minus the Coronvirus pandemic). You might have gotten the impression from me that I like warm weather, from me sharing about my Tahiti Trip. This post I will be sharing is from my recent short trip to Florida less than 2 weeks ago. It won’t be about my day to day adventure. But it will be about a very special, feel-good moment in which I reconnected with an old mentor from years past. I look forward to my story inspiring you if you have either been mentored or been the mentor.
It was late Saturday evening and I had arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I had never been to Florida so this was a new experience for me. I was looking for a nice affordable weekend getaway to a warmer climate as I had been putting in many hours before on major projects. I checked in to my hostel around 11:30 pm, so as soon as I got into my bed, I fell asleep quickly and slept in fairly late. I was preparing myself for what would be a sentimental and somewhat nostalgic day. I was going to meet up with a man who was a mentor to me when I was in late high school, early college era. He was the pastor of my church’s youth group. Some of what I am about to share is what you might call a “religious” experience. For me, it’s reality and I can’t help but be thankful for how my life changed. So please don’t shy away from this part. I encourage you to still have an open mind and spirit, just as you do when it comes to the business and life realms.
Now that I got my little disclaimer out of the way, when he first met me, I was a very insecure, and directionless teenager. But due to the prayers of my family, friends, my old youth pastor and what I believe God himself did in my life, my depression and securities left me, and I received love and direction for my life. Chad is my mentor’s name. Pastor Chad/PC to me. He was my youth pastor as a teenager and my leader after I graduated from high school and allowed me to become a youth leader in an awesome youth ministry that touched many young kids’ lives and raised up several big leaders (not including me). So for the first time since he and his family moved from Pittsburgh over 8 years ago, he and I were going to reconnect. I was driving from Ft. Lauderdale in my rental car to Lake Worth, where the church the pastor’s at is located (Journey Church). It was about a 45-minute drive so I had to budget my time appropriately. What helped was his church has 4 services every Sunday, which made it easier to connect with him and his family.
Finally, after a somewhat long drive, I arrived at his church campus and parked my car in the lot. I spotted him standing outside the front doors of the church along with his wife and 2 young kids, greeting people as they came in. I walked up to him and we all embraced after 8 long years of not seeing each other. I couldn’t believe how much their kids grew up, with their daughter Arianna being 10 and their son Judah being 5. The last I saw Arianna in person was when she was 2 and I had never met Judah before, so it was slightly surreal to me to see them after following the family grow up on social media over the years.
After we met up, Pastor Chad and I set out to grab a cup of coffee at the nearby Starbucks. During the car ride there, we began to get caught up with life and ministry and our conversation continued in Starbucks. He shared his thoughts on church and ministry in a way that actually pleasantly surprised me. And I’m sure what I shared surprised him as well. I feel like I was quite wide-eyed and cheesy-grinned the whole time because I couldn’t believe I was sitting at Starbucks in South Florida with my old youth pastor.
We then headed back to the church where he was leading a men’s small group. I got to meet the other guys in his group, hang out and provide input during the group. He also had a special announcement to make with the guys about his role, that hadn’t yet publicly told the church yet so I got be in for that as well. He then asked me, “You hungry man?”. “Yea you?,” I replied. So we then went out to a nice restaurant by the lake in Lake Worth, where he told me that had great seafood. We continued to get caught up on people back home in PA that were a part of the youth ministry we served at, and even more details about our lives. I anxiously gleaned in more about his newer up and coming position in another organization. I shared with him how much his investment into me meant after a time of realization which I’ll share in my final point to this post. After our time at the place, he then drove us around the area to show me notable places like Rod Stewart’s house and the house where President Trump stays when he comes down to Florida. He then dropped me off back at the church campus where my car was and we then parted ways. But before we did, we embraced out of gratitude for the precious and rare moment of reconnection. I got in my car in awe of what just took place.
Now in my last segment of this blog post, I want to sum up my whole experience that goes back to the title of this post “Recognizing when you’ve been invested into”. As I stated earlier, he started being a youth pastor to me when I was in high school, and then was my leader when I became a youth leader after high school since I still lived in the Pittsburgh area, I was able to help out. But the truth is, I didn’t realize how much I learned from Pastor Chad while I was a leader. Obviously I was much younger when I started, 18 years old so there was a maturity curve for me to overcome. But it was all the in’s and out’s and even the pressures that come with being in church or any extensive organization like he was with us leaders and then the kids. I saw how he handled and ran things within the ministry but I don’t think I appreciated it to the fullest until I had my opportunity to lead a church youth group in a very similar role to his. I was a youth leader at my previous church for almost 4 years like a youth pastor. I got to see a group grow in numbers and the kids grow spiritually. But I also got see a team of great leaders grow which is always important in any organizational setting. I can honestly say there wasn’t a time during the season where I questioned if I could really do the job. And that is no way a brag on me. No, I’m giving credit to how much I learned from watching and serving under Pastor Chad from years before. He deserves that credit and my gratitude for his example and personal investment into me so that I could live the life that I would want to live and lead others in the most positive way. It was then during my Florida trip that I did something which I believe is a necessary principle in life: Recognize when you’ve been invested into.
Stay tuned for the next sharing of another unique experience from my trip to Florida!
Much Love
Joe Gardonis