New York, New York
There’s something about this city…
I was twenty-three years old when I first visited the Big Apple. I had landed an interview with the President of CBS Sports for what I hoped would be an on-air position. As it turned out, the only thing he could offer me was a behind-the-scenes job (for very little pay) so I opted to go the long, circuitous route to national television. It was a road that led through Chattanooga, and San Antonio, but a decade later I finally arrived again in the city that never sleeps.
Back then, I viewed New York as the pinnacle of a successful broadcasting career. The best of the best worked here. The old saying, “If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere” rang true, so I was determined to “make it here.” And I did— for a while. However after a few years, the bottom fell out and in one week’s time, I was not renewed on my national job with HBO Sports or my regional sportscasting position with the Madison Square Garden Network. Six figures to zero overnight. At that time I didn’t know if I would ever work again in my field and I was scared. But God used the career crash to draw me back to Him.
As my feet searched for a secure place to stand, I returned to the most secure foundation I knew, Jesus Christ. It was then that New York City represented something much different than a television mecca. It became the place where God reached down and rerouted me into His purpose for my life, to become a spokesperson for Him through books, blogs, radio and speaking.
I used to write about sports, but now I write about God.
So on this trip to Manhattan, I am enjoying time with a close friend and dear sister in Christ, Deb, who relocated here from Texas a year ago. But I am also alert and ready to share the good news and love of Christ anytime there’s an opening to do so. Just like the famous line in The Blues Brothers, “I’m on a mission from God.”
Yesterday, my friend and I spent at least an hour at the Bergdorf Goodman makeup counter.
Sounds frivolous—it was.
I’ll admit It was a lot of fun being pampered at a high-end store, something I rarely do, but I also saw it as a mission field. Each time someone dabbed concealer under my aging eyes, I prayed, Lord, give me an opportunity to share about You. I wasn’t shy about telling store employees that I used to work in television in their city, but I had a new calling now. I handed out ministry cards to several people. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”
Today when I go to New York City, I see scores of people who need hope, just like the hope I found here twenty-five years ago. “Faith comes by hearing.” They’re not going to get it through osmosis. New Yorkers, as well as people around the world, need to hear about Jesus. If we don’t tell them about Him, who will?
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Lisa’s new book, The Only Father I Ever Knew: How a Fatherless Child Finally Found True Love, is now available on Amazon. The book contains twenty-four attributes of God that are fatherlike. It not only features Lisa’s fatherless story, but sixteen other testimonies of other fatherless people who discovered the love of God as Father. https://www.amazon.com/Only-Father-Ever-Knew-Fatherless/dp/1724779273/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539431076&sr=8-1&keywords=the+only+father+I+ever+Knew