instinct again told me to stick to the
plan, so I prepared to be there for at
least one hour. I decided to purchase
Graham's book early to avoid the
queue, if at all. A few minutes later,
people started flocking in and filling
up the place. As if I were dreaming,
there were hundreds of people
within a short period of time. And
of those hundreds of people, not a
single face looked familiar.
everyone was allowed to freely
move around, so I suddenly found
myself in one of the living rooms. I
sat down for a few minutes but was
anxious to get up and move around
a bit more. As I stood up and turned
slightly, I realized that right next
to me was none other than Bishop
T.D. Jakes. Let's get this straight: Fran
Capo may be the fastest talker, but
I'm the fastest blinker. Well, for the
first time ever, my blinkers turned
off for about 10 seconds as I stared
in disbelief. Just exactly how long
had the Bishop been standing next
to me without me knowing? What
a [pleasant] surprise! Anyway, I
reach out my hand to greet him and
I quickly respond, "I've been to
Potter's House. And I met you there."
But he doubts that. I respond with
a different answer, "I'm working
with The Longest Swim. I'm on
their team." He acknowledges that
but doubts that's where he first saw
me. Now I'm puzzled ... where
else would the Bishop have seen or
met me? "Bishop, you saw me on
the cover of Equanimity Magazine!
That's where you saw me." I pull
out my business card to show it to
him. Bingo!
Although I usually carry a voice
recorder with me, I didn't have one
this time. Besides, it would seem
inappropriate and awkward for
me to pull it out and ask Jakes for
permission to record an interview
while waiting for Graham to arrive.
Of course, this was my only chance,
so I proceeded to ask him if he
would be interested in doing an
interview, but for a later date. He
gladly accepted and told me to
contact his Administrator at Potter's
House to arrange for an interview.
have a "one-on-one" session with
myself. Why did I wait three years
to ask Jakes for an interview? Why is
he on my "to do" list for later? As it
turns out, I do not have the answers
to these questions other than that
I underestimated myself and gave
excuses for no apparent reason. "Ask
and you shall receive," the Bible tells
us. So, why don't we?
ministry to schedule an interview. I
wasn't able to reach anyone, but I
left a voice message. A few weeks
later, the ministry contacted me to