(Word count = 1,074 words plus 53 words for About the Author)

As I climbed the stone steps to Westchester County Center, I turned back to my daughter Kelly behind me and smiled to her saying "This is going to be great!   I feel it."   Perhaps my optimism was the full parking lot we just left across the street.   Or, perhaps it was my having heard very positive things about Bishop T.D. Jakes, the featured speaker at the "Westchester One in Praise" event, or my having very much enjoyed the stories in one of his best-selling books, "Follow the Star" that I recently read, from which I learned that he is founder and pastor of Potter's House in Dallas, one of the fastest-growing churches in the nation, where he pastors an interracial congregation of more than 26,000 members.   Or perhaps, I was just ready to hear a healing message of change and hope, especially on that Friday night - Good Friday.  

As we entered the free event, we were swept through two columns of cheerful clapping women in red capes, who greeted us and handed us booklets.   In a few seconds, we were inside the enormous arena among over 5,000 people, already standing, applauding, and singing, as they were inspired by the ministers on the stage a few hundred feet away.   I looked around me and the second floor seats were also filled.   The place was already filled and electric.   Having my video camera running from my right shoulder, some of the ushers may have thought Kelly and I were media people and shepherded us into the front section and found us two seats made apparent when the throng was asked to sit.  

The Good Friday celebration, called "Westchester One Praise in Praise" was organized jointly by three churches in Westchester County (which is north of Manhattan) in the towns of New Rochelle (Union Baptist Church - Pastor Reginald Hudson), Mt. Vernon (Greater Centennial AME Zion Church - Pastor W. Darin Moore) and Mamaroneck (Strait Gate, The Church of Westchester - Bishop Wayne L. & Pastor Dianne Powell).   These pastors and others took turns sharing their messages with the congregation. Each one different, yet part of a whole.   Each one powerful, yet gentle and kind.    The excitement intensified as the choirs sang beautifully and the performers danced gracefully and reenacted scenes from the Passion, down the aisles and onto the stage.

Then Bishop T.D. Jakes went to the microphone.   For the next 2 hours I was mesmerized by him and his message.   He interacted with the many pastors at the right side of the stage, with whom he told several parables and stories, all weaved into an amazing quilt of a talk for the people who were as glued to him as I was.   "Reposition yourself!"   "Make small changes in yourself and you will see big changes in the world around you."   He said to "reposition."    Amazon has just started selling his new book "Reposition Yourself - Living Life Without Limits," which could become a best seller very quickly.

I let myself listen instead of doing my usual analytical routine and second-guessing.   I listened to him tell me about the small change that Saint Peter made in the boat with Jesus' encouragement to cast his net to the other side of the boat.   Instead of dragging in an empty net, he then dragged in a net filled with 133 large fish.   And his net did not break.   It held up.   Bishop Jakes explained that many of us gathered there may be experiencing recurring failures in our life, especially us who are middle-aged.   Things seemed to be going wrong.   Careers dead-ended.   Businesses closing.   Families breaking apart.   Substance abuse.   Health problems and death.   Even when we finally have a decent catch, our net tears and we lose it.   But we should not despair.   For indeed a small change we initiate in our own life can bring about big positive changes in our lives and the lives of those around us.   It is not too late even if we are in our fifties or sixties or later.   It's not as important how you start.   What's important is how you finish.   Everyone in the room seemed to all of a sudden see their lives as just beginning.  

Bishop Jakes explained that what we all need to is to reposition.    He gave examples of changes in his own life.   And we can reposition if we believe that change is indeed possible.   Sometimes it takes us "shifting" from the "natural" to the "supernatural."   We must shift from operating from a set of circumstances that are drowning in the reality of   "can't do it" (like we don't have the right credentials, or sufficient money, or smart enough).   We should shift to a situation of believing that God can act for us in helping us to make things happen.   After all, when Jesus arrived at the scene where Lazarus was dying, Jesus at first was operating in the "natural" and then he shifted to operating in the "supernatural" when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.   So too, we can see the wondrous power of God around us and call on it to help us in our lives.   Bishop Jakes then motioned as if he were throwing a net far from a boat, this time to the other side.   As he pulled in his imaginary catch, the pastors by his side focused on the floor and then at each other, smiling big grins as if they all were seeing scores of large fish flopping about the stage.   The crowd was exclaiming, "Yes, I can shift!   I will reposition myself!"  

For some people it may entail forgiving someone and through reconciliation getting past the prior arguments in order to move on.   For others, it may mean being born again or rededicating themselves to a spiritual life and shedding destructive habits.   Some will focus more on giving to others and less on themselves.   Others will do as the bishop suggested - write the book that wants to come out, play the song you have inside you, start the business you yearn to launch, reach out and love another, begin something important.   Reposition yourself!   Right now!

As we left the center, shaking hands and exchanging best wishes with so many new friends, I was quite thankful for sharing in such a powerful message, and hopeful for how I could share that message, changing my own life and the lives of others around me.

About the author:

Frank Sisco is a CPA and Personal Financial Specialist and writes on topics related to life and money.   You can contact Frank by email at ideasmoney@aol.com in order to express your opinion about this article or to obtain copies of prior articles.   He resides in New Rochelle, NY with his wife and daughter.