Counting Sheep

Why You Should Add Prayer and Meditation to Your Arsenal of Weapons

“The temptation to take the easy road is always there. It is as easy as staying in bed in the morning and sleeping in. But discipline is paramount to ultimate success and victory for any leader and any team.”
---Jocko Willink (Author & former U.S. Navy Seal)
 
Over the course of my career, prayer and meditation have become  great assets. The blessings He has bestowed are beyond measure.  Jesus Christ is the foundation of our firm. We owe everything to Him.  Truly.
 
In 2013, I was intentionally thrown off an elevated bus terminal at Denver International Airport. I broke numerous bones including my skull; and severely damaged my internal organs. Miraculously however, despite falling from over 40 feet, my spine and my neck received no damage.
 
That’s because angels sent from heaven guided my descent into darkness. In fact, they protected me from further harm before the paramedics arrived.
 
The emergency care team rushed me to Denver Health Medical Center in an ambulance in the dead of the night, where the trauma care team decided to induce a coma.  I was in the coma for nearly two and a half weeks, and it was a hellish ordeal.
 
I do not recall going to the hospital in an ambulance in the dead of night. My body may have taken that journey, but my soul went elsewhere.
 
They flew me to a serene looking treatment facility by helicopter on a bright sunny day. They’d strapped me to a gurney much like a wounded Vietnam combat soldier being evacuated off the front lines. The door was open, and I looked out as we descended.

​The facility itself was far from serene. The sins of my life had caught up with me, and they were taking me to what Italian author Dante described in The Divine Comedy as Purgatory. Quite literally, they were delivering me to the very Gates of Hell.

​I was isolated and tortured for those two and a half weeks. The pain was excruciating, and the mental anguish almost unbearable. During my last hours there, the devil’s minions tormented me as they prepared to open the Gates and send me into the depths of Hell.
 
As I lay there cowering in fear, a human figure approached my bed. At first, I thought He was death personified: a sinewy muscular figure most awesomely terrifying. So much so, that I turned away from Him and curled up in a fetal position.
 
Some time passed without incident. So, I glanced back at Him not knowing what to expect. There and then, I found Him sitting on the floor near my bed, and my fears subsided.
 
After that, I woke up in Denver Health’s ICU unit. I spent the next five months at that hospital, and another year and a half in outpatient rehabilitation.
 
This tragedy turned out to be one of the greatest blessings of my life. Jesus Christ had delivered me from Satan himself; and my relationship with Our lord and savior has grown closer since.
 
In this time of healing, I have begun to realize how impactful our thoughts truly are. Every thought we spawn goes out into the universe to some effect. Meaning that every idea we have produces energy through the Holy Spirit.
 
Consequently, meditation and prayer have become invaluable tools in my daily regimen. Through meditation, I’ve begun to distinguish my wild thoughts and my crazy thoughts from my sane thoughts. And through prayer, I give thanks for the blessings in my life and ask God the Father for clarity of vision, purity of thought and a true sense of purpose.
 
When meditating, I begin with a prayer and then clear my mind of all thought for as long as possible. As my thoughts manifest, I start to picture a narrow mountain top pathway. To my left is a cliff, and to my right is a thicket. Upon that pathway, I imagine my thoughts as sheep.

​My goal during these sessions is to guide every sheep gently down that narrow pathway into the loving arms of the Shepherd who awaits His flock. From there, He’ll tend to them and take them to market.

That said, it’s a difficult exercise to master. All sorts of temptations creep in, and I eventually wind up breaking my concentration. That’s when wild and crazy thoughts occur.
 
Every wild thought I have fattens my sheep. The longer I hold on to them, the fatter they become. Eventually, they waddle off the cliff, blurting out a hopeless last “Baaaa!” before falling into the vast unknown below.
 
As harrowing as that sounds, the fate of my crazy thoughts is often worse. Those thoughts send my sheep running into the thicket. If I become panicked and set off after that sheep without stopping to ask God for guidance, my lamb will become tangled up in the underbrush.
 
More and more, I am learning to rely upon Jesus to guide my sheep safely down the path toward their happy destiny. He alone ensures that my flock doesn’t wander off the cliff or end up prey for wolves in the thicket. And when my efforts are fruitful, he expands my resources to grow more sheep.
 
Whether you are an entrepreneur or an investor, the same should be true for you. Abandon your ambitions and channel your hopes, dreams and goals toward Our Father. Set your sights on Godly pursuits and follow the path Jesus walks. He’ll guide us well beyond what our limited imaginations ever thought possible.

​“And He said to them, Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”
---Matthew 17:20


Author: Erik Gagnon - Managing Partner, Chi Rho Consulting