Create Our World

What are you missing that is right in front of your nose?

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Fills 800 Bathtubs

I ate dinner with my new friends, Jesus, Kelly, Trey, Paulina, Nick, J.M., and Lisa on a second floor deck over-looking the channel leading to Lake Michigan.  We dined on pizza at a restaurant in downtown Grand Haven.  As we dined I noticed over Kelly’s shoulder that on the hill across the channel, numerous jets of multi-colored water were shooting in the air.  Rotating, Blue, Green, Swirling; the water was making patterns in the air and although the Dixie Chicks were playing on the speakers in our restaurant, I could make out another tune slightly.

Grand Haven, Michigan is home to the “World’s Largest” (possibly disputed, don’t tell Grand Haveners though) Musical Fountain!!!

I had heard the words, Musical Fountain, and although I had been in town almost a week, this was my first glimpse of it.  Jesus and the others were astonished!  They would not have noticed it, had I not mentioned that there was a lot of water shooting around across the way.  

ChipRowe.com states, “The Fountain draws 40,000 gallons of water for each performance, or enough to fill 800 bathtubs. It’s pumped from the river to a 12-inch-deep basin. It’s then pumped through a 16-inch main at the rate of 4000 gallons per minute (a garden hose delivers about 10 gallons per minute). Eight thousand feet of pipe, 300 valves and 1300 nozzles are used to shoot the water 100 feet into the air. The equivalent of a thousand 100-watt bulbs illuminate the flumes. The programs were initially coordinated by computer punch cards. They allowed for 1,875,352,500,000,000 variations that would take 20 million years to perform.”

Below us, crowds were gathered and watching the fountains.  Some had binoculars.  Others had blankets where they sat with their family.  

Musical Fountains are Everywhere!

How often do we take for granted the people, places, or things that we see everyday?  So that most of the time we don’t even notice their beauty or uniqueness.  

There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child.  There are seven million.  ~Walt Streightiff

I watched a lot of children play in the waters of Lake Michigan over the past week and I strive to see the world as a child see’s it. To look around curiously, to play, and to be more concious of the world around me and strive to live in it.    

What is your musical fountain?  You can change it.

Create Our World.

Ben.

“You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing.  What!  Is it nothing to be happy?  Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long?  Never in his life will he be so busy again.”  ~Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762

My new friend, Jesus.

“Beginning today, treat everyone you as if they were going to be dead by midnight.  Extend to them all the care, kindness, and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward.  Your life will never be the same again.” – Og Mandino

 Really, Yell at People!  Get their Attention!!!

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My new profession, Window Washing.

That is how Jesus and I became friends.  

I was walking out of the Jumpin’ Java coffeehouse in Grand Haven, when “Hey, Brother!!!” 

I thought he was calling his little brother at first.

“Where you goin’, Brother?”  He was talking to me.  

Jesus took me in and got me some dinner and offered me a bed at his place.  His friend, Summer was giving me great tips on how to make money as I go.

“You can make 100$ a day window washing.”  She explains if I get myself a squeegee and a bucket of wash and go around the local shops, it can be a lucrative biz.  She also talked about her travels and an organization called WWOOF.

World Wide Organization of Organic Farms is an organization that connects organic farms that need workers with travelers that need some grub and a place to stay.  Depends on the place as to what your responsibilities will be.

“You could work 10 hours in Texas or 5 hours in Arkansas.”  It all depends on how hard the farmers work.

Jesus Loves You

Jesus drives me out to his diesel, yellow Mercedes he is selling and drops me off near 96, a major highway where I can probably get a ride.  

“NADA!!!”  He sees a woman driving a large van with big red sunglasses on.  ”I think I might have just hooked you up.”  He says and jumps from the car to go talk to Nada.

Nada is going to Grand Rapids (I am headed to Greenville and Grand Rapids, MI is right on the way) and after some intial hesitation about picking up a hitchhiker (AHH!!!) we are headed to Grand Rapids and talking about her family.

***

Kelly has worn these bracelets since she was a kid and Jesus wants to build a treehouse.

Yell at People!!!

 Not actually yell at people, but I respect and somewhat envy Jesus’ style of meeting people.  Just yell and talk to them!  

It can be hard to meet new people in America today.  We sit in cafe’s, coffee shops, restaurants, theatres, or whereever, just a few feet away from each other, but it is against some social faux pas’ to strike up a conversation.  

I like talking to people!  To feel like a part of a community!

I am going to try and “yell at people” more.

***

I am going to be spending time with my father and mother over the next couple weeks but the posts are going to keep coming.  Thanks to all whom have been reaching out to me and sharing Create Our World with others!!! It makes my day everytime!!!

Create Our World.

Ben.

“Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, “Make me feel Important!”  Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in Life.” – Mary Kay Ash

 

“I am only one, but I am one.  I cannot do everything, but I can do something.  And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.” – Edward Everett Hale

Madeline, Dar, Joe, and Katie

 One giving person makes a difference.

***

To the Beach!

Joe made a difference to me.  

“Where ya’ headed?” I believe is what he said when he approached me in a coffeeshop on Washington Avenue in Grand Haven, MI.

Joe is a long distance swimmer, father of three adorable daughters, husband, neighbor, and an owner of a business that has something to do with surgical equipment (he didn’t want to bore me with the details).

Joe offered to drive me to a laundramat that day, to wash my clothes before my wedding on Saturday, but he was torn.  About a half an hour before we were to meet up, a Coast Guard boat had screamed out of the channel with it’s siren roaring.  Three children had apparently been washed from the pier.  As we walked towards his truck, Joe explains that he felt compelled to go down to the beach to help if a rescue is needed.

He swims two to three miles a day and is probably the best swimmer in town.  

So, we scrapped hanging out that day and he made haste to the beach.  

Family for half a day.

A couple days later we met up.  He fed me oatmeal covered in homeade strawberry jelly and almonds. He insisted I get my clothes washed and dryed, that I shower, “Take your time, enjoy it!” and we hit the local coffee shop for coffee and swapping stories.  

Joe was also the star of my recent movie, “Hitchhiking Tips from Our World,”  which we filmed down on the very pier where the youngsters had been washed off (they were okay, I hear).  As we walked along the pier, Joe was picking up trash left over from the masses that attended the Coast Guard Festival.

We finished with lunch of ham sandwiches and zuccinni at his home with his wife, Dar, his mother in law, Madeline, and his youngest daughter, Katie.  I felt like I was part of the family.  

***

One person makes a difference.

When I think about the problems of our world or the negative attitudes of the people of our world, I sometimes feel overwhelmed.  But, when I am picking up trash with Joe or meeting his family and sharing a meal; when I meet one person doing good because it feels good.  I am filled with hope.  

Thank you to Joe and his family and to all the other Joe’s of our world!

Do you know a man/woman like Joe?  I would love to hear the story, please email me at 2createourworld@gmail.com or post it on our Facebook Wall.

Create Our World.

Ben.

“We can do no great things, only small things with great Love.” – Mother Teresa