Decision is anything but ordinary

Every once in awhile, an email humbles.
It shakes up your perspective. It challenges you. Maybe it even inspires you.
Like the one I received from Bryan Clark a few weeks back.
Bryan’s been a part of the newspaper business for 30-plus years, but for about 20 years before his retirement he worked for the California Newspaper Publishers Association.
In that role, he managed the annual Better Newspaper Contest; and that’s how we met. For reasons that are hard to explain, I made the trek out to San Francisco between half a dozen and a dozen times as part of a “blue ribbon panel” judging that contest.
Bryan ran the show. He rounded up the judges, he kept us on track and he chose the restaurants for lunch and dinner.
(Grand Hotel in the theatre district was a favorite for lunch, an impressive place in an old bank building. It had wonderful French onion soup and a fine croc monsieur, a Belgian dish that’s essentially a combination of French toast and a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.)
Wherever we ate, Bryan made sure to get food to take back to his wife, Jane, who had suffered through years and years of a chronic and painful illness. I never knew the details, but I knew that it would eventually prove fatal and that it often involved middle of the night trips to the emergency room.
The last time I made the trip out to judge the CNPA contest, Jane had finally passed away, though Bryan persevered for that round of judging.
But he’s retired now, and most of the judging — for better or worse — is done online.
So I was surprised to get an email from Bryan in July.
“Dear Jack,” he wrote. “In just a few short hours I will be leaving for Africa. After 45-plus years in the publishing business, 20 of them at the California Newspaper Publishers Association, I am beginning a new chapter in my life. …
“The first page of my new chapter is a mission trip to Rwanda with Valley Church in Vacaville (my home church of some 30+ years). Some of the team will conduct eye care clinics in two locations and dispense eyeglasses.
“Other team members will work with local children’s ministry leaders to teach worship, evangelism and discipleship as we jointly host as many as 200 children in a vacation Bible school.”
Then came the kicker: “After our team leaves to returns to home, I will stay behind…
“This is the first trip of what I hope to be many as my retirement unfolds into one of coming alongside missionaries around the world. My passion and compassion is to help these folks take the message of the Good News throughout the world. I also plan on visits to newspapers around the world and am looking forward to continuing to learn and be a part of the publishing industry.”
He then asked for prayer support and financial support if that was possible.
And like any good citizen of the 21st century, he’s set up a website where he’ll post stories and photos about this latest, most extraordinary chapter in his life.
Humbled and encouraged and inspired by Bryan’s example, I expect to keep track of what he’s up to.
You might want to as well. The site is located at: https://bryan-clark-2g26.squarespace.com.
Don’t go there looking for great literature. Bryan’s a guy whose newspaper experience was largely in the area of circulation and promotion.
Instead, I suspect you’ll find the thoughts and reflections of a guy who would call himself ordinary who has simply chosen to do something very much out of the ordinary.
And that is truly humbling.