Joining Lipscomb’s Gathering on March 28 was Bill Lee, one of Nashville Business Journal’s “Most Admired CEOs.”
Lee began with pointing out that our parents’ mistakes and our own are the factors that shape us. We find ourselves through these trials, but those days are behind us. As college students, we are in a spot where our lives are in front of us.
Lee was saved in college and lived most of his life in a dream-state. He had a beautiful family, a sprawling estate and a great job.
He remembered and shared his wife’s reading a passage out of Job to him one day. In chapter 38, God tells Job, “I will take care of you.”
One day Lee found his youngest daughter crying in the field. He immediately asked her if her mother was okay, but his daughter said no and continued crying.
He found his wife had suffered an equestrian accident. She never recovered, which left Lee to take care of his four kids, himself and everything he worked to.
“I had entered into the darkest season of my life,” said Lee. He then remembered chapter 38 in Job. “I opened up the Bible to that chapter in the hospital room,” Lee said. “God told me, ‘Your circumstances change, but I don’t.’”
Lee saw God’s power through this time. Lee’s son attempted suicide shortly thereafter, but even so, Lee had the profound realization that God is in his life. He is in everything. “He will walk with you through everything,” said Lee.
Even through the most bitter days in life, Lee said there is “a sweet bread of hope that weaves itself through those dark days.” Those dark times were the most transformative days, and a part of Lee wants to feel that nearness of God again.
He remembers standing in the cemetery above his wife’s grave. “It was a surreal moment,” Lee said. “I wondered what she was doing, what she would say to me.”
Lee paused, then continued, “My life could end in 40 days or 40 years…life is really short. Life is short, so I better be about it, and the things that matter.”
After this tragic event, Lee launched into mission trips and has been traveling around the world with his family to make his life count. He said to remember that one day we’ll have a marker on a headstone too.
“Remember sixth grade? Didn’t that seem like yesterday? It goes so fast,” Lee said. “Pour your life into other people. Make it worth it.”
Photo by Anna Rogers