Early this morning, I called Chet. “Brother Chet, if you could boil seven good minutes down to one word what would it be?”
“Understanding. The aim of seven good minutes is understanding,” he told me.
This was a Spartan spear thrown from around 2,400 miles away from Columbus, Ohio to Seattle, Washington. I expressed to Chet how I have struggled with this great need to be understood. I told him that I have only recently became aware of this need within myself.
We spoke for about seven minutes.
Tomorrow morning, I will once again get to sit alongside a band of BTL beings who are ‘lethal listeners’ and ‘truth tellers.’ If my math is anywhere near correct, I have gotten to do ‘seven good minutes’ with the BTL band – 257 times. That is about 30 hours. These mornings are special to me. Often, they become an arena where we share our deepest fears and our greatest victories. With extraordinarily little effort, I can recall, specifically, major obstacles that have come up in each of our lives. Hard things. Death. Sickness. Loss. Disappointment. Did I mention death? And there we sit – for an hour sometimes an hour and a half and we articulate through speech our deepest held beliefs about the world and each other. When it is over it feels like a good workout feels, one where everything goes just right and one where you even get a personal record.
Thank you band for 1800 good minutes.
I am a far better human being for it.
Cannot wait for the alarm to go off at 0430 tomorrow morning so I can get into the gym with my band.
May be fun, may be hard, may cry but for sure will laugh and smile and come out stronger.
TOGETHER WE TRANSFORM
Jim
1COR13:13
BUILT TO LEAD 
Brother Jim. You belong here. You are one of us. I felt the Spartan spear from Seattle. It landed here. Always together…
Amen, Chet. Brother Jim, you have blessed and impacted each one of us immeasurably. We are transformed as a result of your building us with love, as only TLC can do. Can’t wait for Band practice tomorrow!
Life is made up of a series of moments.