Currently listening to 14 Europa (Earth’s Cry, Heaven’s Smile)    Carolyn Ditch has passed on her gratitude and heartfelt thanks for the beautiful posts honoring Jim. We gave you a blank canvas and his community of friends and loved ones turned out to paint a beautiful portrait of a great man and a life lived with purpose, dignity, grace and humility.

For those who were not able to attend his services, it will come as no surprise that there was standing room only at the Church.  Larry Jackson, Jim’s friend and the CEO of Long Beach Transit gave a touching, thoughtful, and fittingly humorous eulogy at times bringing all of us to tears, and other times laughing.

As I sat through the services and listened to Larry share stories of Jim helping the careers of virtually everyone he encountered throughout his time at Long Beach Transit, and as I replayed in my mind the comments that had been left on Jim’s tribute page I thought of a column I had recently read that challenged me to think of about our impact on others as we live our lives. The author suggested that after we are gone from this earth no one will remember us based on the status of our achievements, we wont be remembered for our title, how much money we made, how big of a house we lived in, or what kind of car we drove. No one will remember the size of diamonds we wore, or where we bought our cloths, where we vacationed, if we traveled first class or coach. The measure of our lives, the imprint we leave on this earth, will be whether we made a difference in one child’s life.

You would only need to see the adoration in the eyes of Jim’s grandchildren to know that he certainly had made a difference in their lives, but Jim went so far beyond that, he made  a difference in the life of everyone he touched, he mentored, he inspired, he provided words of encouragement and imparted self confidence, he challenged you to excel, to reach for higher, and he opened the doors of opportunity and led you through.  He did all of this with no thoughts of self gain or benefit, no desire to be thanked or acknowledged, he did it all with amazing grace and humility. One of the things that I was always in awe of with Jim was that he was always more interested in you then himself.  You need only to read the comments left for him to understand the depth of his commitment to others.

So I am challenging myself, and everyone who reads this blog, to commit to making that difference. Start by making sure you make a difference in one child’s life. Then lets go beyond that, lets strive to make a difference in many lives, to add hope or laughter, provide inspiration, open a door, or lend a helping hand, lets genuinely care more about others than ourselves and do it all with no expectation of self gain, or even to be thanked, but because our imprint on this earth should be one that matters, that makes a difference. 

This weeks song I am sharing with you reflects the sense of pain and joy that results from saying good bye to Jim last week.  Pain for our loss, but joy in the thought of Jim in Heaven, without pain, rejoicing with the Good Lord and setting out on his newest journey and making a difference in his new Home. The song by Carlos Santana is called Europa (Earth’s cry, Heaven’s Smile) click on the link at the top of this post and check it out…