Skip to main content

Possibility Thinking

In this episode - Possibility Thinking . . .

Dateline - November 22, 1987. “Doctor Schuller, Lori, and I have decided to marry and I’m wondering what’s the “Possibility” of you performing our ceremony?”

With a broad smile, Dr. Robert H. Schuller winked at me and said, “It’s a very good possibility. However, my schedule is rather busy, so you will need to contact my secretary to make the arrangements.”

So, the next day, Lori called.

“What date are you considering?” She asked.

“October 22nd, next year, possibly a morning ceremony.”

“I’m afraid he’s out of town that day. The earliest he is available is 6:00 pm.”

“That’s fine, we can work with that.”

After confirmation with Dr. Schuller’s secretary, Lori called the events manager for weddings the following day.

“Who is your Pastor?”

“Doctor Schuller.”

With a professional demeanor, but apparent disbelief in her voice, “You do know Dr. Schuller does not perform wedding ceremonies anymore? Also, our time slots for weddings and receptions are limited to: 9:00 am, 11:00 am, 1:00 pm, 5:00 pm, and 7:00 pm.”

Lori calmly said, ”Please call Dr. Schuller’s secretary, he is scheduled to perform our ceremony at 6:00 pm, on October 22nd.”

“Oh, 6:00 p.m.? . . . We will take care of all the arrangements.”

Let’s back up. I’ll never forget Lori’s concerned expression and the question she asked after we decided to marry: “Which pastor, of the 15 ministers on staff, do you think will perform our wedding ceremony?”

“Why, Dr. Schuller, who else?” Was my immediate and confident response.

“How do you think that’s going to happen?”

“We ask him.”

Since our introduction to Dr. Schuller and his pragmatic approach to possibility thinking in 1986, we have been commuting every Sunday from Santa Monica to Garden Grove to attend services.

In addition to his sermons, we began reading Dr. Schuller’s books. One of the most influential is Move Ahead with Possibility Thinking, first published in 1967. We were becoming new people—Possibility Thinkers.

Are you a possibility thinker? Do you look for reasons why something can’t be done instead of searching for ways to achieve it?

My listening friends, Possibility Thinking does not happen overnight. It takes time, faith, and the daily discipline of putting good, clean, positive, powerful thoughts into your mind.

I’ll admit, before 1986, I’d never heard of Robert Schuller or The Crystal Cathedral.

I diligently worked to build my self-esteem during my early days as a young educator. The “positive thinking” movement was in full force. My favorites were Zig Ziglar, Dennis Waitley, and Earl Nightingale. While listening to cassette recordings, they mentioned this television pastor who preached Possibility Thinking weekly on The Hour of Power.

Honestly, his name slipped through my conscious thoughts until Lori showed me the Los Angeles Times announcing that Dr. Norman Vincent Peale would be speaking at The Crystal Cathedral.

I’m proud to say that on October 22, 2025, we will celebrate our 37th wedding anniversary. That moment changed both our lives forever . . .

I'm Patrick Ball. Thanks for listening. See you in the next episode.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular of All Time

The Gopher Problem and the High Powered Solution

Vacationing in Maine this week, just a short drive down the coast from Freeport, it is hard not to think about the outsized impact one frustrated outdoorsman had on the gear we all use today. Bad equipment can ruin a perfectly good day on the water or the trail, but it takes a special kind of vision to turn cold feet into a century-old empire. This is the story of the company we now know as L.L.Bean, but more importantly, it is a masterclass in integrity, learning from failure, and standing behind your work. In 1912, Leon Leonwood Bean faced a persistent problem: returning from expeditions in the Maine woods with cold, wet feet. Instead of complaining, he got creative. He had a local shoemaker stitch waterproof rubber soles onto the flexible leather uppers of a hunting boot. He called it the Maine Hunting Shoe and mailed a flyer promising perfect satisfaction. Then reality arrived. Ninety of his first 100 pairs failed when the rubber separated from the leather. Not an effective product...
Post a Comment
Read more

Beyond Facts-The Deep Dive

✨ In this episode, Beyond Facts: Reimagining School–in the Age of AI . . .   This week's podcast is a bit different; it's another example of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can offer tools to creatively enhance your analytical presentation of information. We took this week's blog and copied it into Gemini with the question, “If a story is to work, it must, on some level, create an illusion of escape and also achieve a goal simultaneously. Does this apply to my blog post that follows?” What's created is not just an analysis of the writing, but an AI-generated discussion produced “On the Fly” - Enjoy! Did you know that the word "school" comes from the ancient Greek word scholē , which originally meant "leisure"? Not a rigid schedule or droning lectures filled with "facts," but free time for thinking and conversation. To the Greeks, learning happened best when life slowed down—when you had room to reflect, to ask questions, and to wrestle ...
4 comments
Read more

The Rhythm of the Woodpecker

The morning in Vista often begins under a heavy, gray marine layer that rolls in from the coast, pressing a damp, muffled stillness over the neighborhood. At 4:30 a.m., the driveways are still full. The local commuters are either blissfully unconscious or stumbling blindly toward their showers, clinging desperately to their last shred of peace before the nine-to-five grind claims them for the day. I, on the other hand, am voluntarily wide awake in the dark. When your agenda consists of absolutely nothing, it is critical to get an early start. Inside the house, the quiet is profound, broken only by the sharp, mechanical click of the kettle as it reaches a rolling boil. I stand at the counter, watching the dark ground coffee bloom as hot water hits the French press's stainless steel. The smell is sudden and heavy—a deep, roasted-earth aroma that cuts through the morning fog. I push against the plunger’s gritty resistance, pouring a cup that radiates dark, stinging heat against my pal...
Post a Comment
Read more

Stamps and Snow

In this episode, Stamps and Snow . . .   You don’t usually walk into the local Post Office expecting a time warp . . . but here we are. All we wanted were stamps for this year's Christmas cards— yes, the old-fashioned paper ones that require licking, sticking, and hoping the Postal Service is feeling ambitious this week. But holiday errands have a talent for slowing you down, almost like the universe whispering, “Relax. You’re not getting out of this line any faster anyway.” So we waited. And while we waited, we talked (Are you surprised?). Because the Post Office is one of the few places where people still look up from their phones long enough to talk . . . Maybe it's because they're holding packages. It’s the modern town square: part civic duty, part free entertainment, part sociology experiment. The discussion began with holiday specials streaming on Netflix, Paramount+, and other services during this time of year. One gentleman who has lived in Vista since 1958 told us,...
3 comments
Read more