The business of good luck

While driving home from the grocery, I was scanning the AM radio when I came upon a program that was deep into a discussion over how to have good luck in the Chinese New Year.

I would have continued on or switched to FM but the resource speaker or guest was asked about what would be the correct way of designing stairs especially since the traditional formula is by counting based on “Oro, Plata, Mata” which if I remember correctly stands for “Gold, Silver, Death.”

To this the speaker countered that in the “Chinese way,” the count is Good, Good, Bad, Bad.” He further went on to say that people should NOT have spiral stairways and should avoid placing them in the middle of the house because it is bad luck like having a dagger in the middle of your heart.

Before I could listen any further, I was already back at the farm knowing that I had to write about all this annual trend, tradition or madness like lemurs or mice jumping into the sea.

The truth of the matter is we all sell what we passionately believe in. Whether it’s a weight loss pill, the latest best seller, the handbag that every woman wants to be seen with, whatever side we are in politics or impeachment, even religion. The question or proof lies in the visible evidence not just in part but in the whole claim.

Like many of you, I spent the greater part of my life, exactly 36 years, listening and trying out many of the so called good luck charms, tricks and spells. I’ve nailed a horse shoe to the barn, bought several rabbits foot, hired a Feng shui master or Geomancer, nailed a palm on the front of the house, boiled pots full of water on New Year’s eve, filled my pockets with coins, bills and foreign currency. I’ve worn polka dots and gold, I even put on gold necklaces like Mr. T.

Yes I even burned incense at several Chinese temples, read fortune cookie scrolls, and had a priest bless my decrepit solitary car in the 70s. Heck, we even used to slit a few animals as blood sacrifice during construction projects. All of that in a period of 36 years from the time I was born when they used to clip stampitas on my diaper and hung a rosary by my crib.

The strange thing about it is that I never really felt like a “lucky guy.” On many occasions, I felt like I was a member of the Cascades singing the song for someone else. To be fair, I had some amount of good luck, but certainly not from any effort on my part. I’ve driven into a concrete wall, was shot at 3 times, ran over by a drunk, fell from the roof of a moving land cruiser and a host of other experience that must have brought me near the light but I was too smashed to even remember it. Through the years, I’ve called that kind of “good luck” as divine intervention where GOD prevented the devil from pre-terminating my contract and my mission for GOD.

Compared to my first 36 years, the last 20 have been the “fantastic second half” I have always talked about. In the last 20 years, I found GOD as in having a personal relationship with him, married my wife, made peace with my father, had an unexpected career shift from corporate life to mass media, embarked on a car restoration hobby that became both a blessing and a testimony of GOD’s grace and restoration.

I also managed to find the property GOD led me to find and built a house that was mortgage free and has been a blessing including a spiral staircase made of stainless steel and hardwood. To top it all I have such a wonderful, beautiful daughter who shares much of my passion for the games of life.

I certainly had an overflow of good luck (which we call grace) because I listened and did what GOD led me to do. I made peace with my Dad after 15 years of squabbles because GOD said, “Honor your Father and your Mother so all may go well with you and that you may have a long life.”

GOD said make peace with your enemies, after that GOD used them to bless me in a business transaction that helped me buy my own property. When GOD gave the green light to marry Karen, I was blessed with the biblical definition of a Godly wife.

Instead of spending my money on good luck charms, I give ten percent to my church in the form of tithes. Because of this GOD has always met my needs and have filled my barn to over flowing. Now I have an over flow of pigs and chickens and even old cars from good friends who can’t bear to sell them as scrap metal.

These are just some of the ways that have brought me GOD’s Luck. God Bless you all and a Happy Chinese New Year.