What causes you to think about CaringBridge?

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Don’t you just love popcorn? It’s one of the food groups I simply can’t resist. But what if it made you sick?  Really sick?

I dread the situations that cause me to think about CaringBridge…you know, the web site which connects people who are seriously ill with prayer-givers sending their healing wishes?  Last Monday, I woke early to get my work done so I could attend the Minnesota State High School Soccer Tournament at the Metrodome.  On my way to my seat, I bought a box of popcorn for dinner. Innocent enough…it’s one of my happy routines.  Half way through the box I noticed my tongue swelling.  Serious allergic reaction.  By the time I got to Urgent Care my tongue had swelled so much I couldn’t talk or breathe through my mouth. Bummer.

You know that song by Matt Kearney: Closer to Love…it has that one line: I guess we’re all one phone call from our knees. For about two minutes, I wondered if they were going to have to make that phone call to Melinda and my kids. The look in the nurse’s eye told me this could be a “serious bummer.”  She jammed an Epi Pen into my arm and Benadryl into my butt cheek. Within minutes my tongue began to shrink, but the drugs knocked me silly.  While prancing through cotton candy, thoughts of CaringBridge floated across my mushy brain.  “Funny…the founder and creator of CaringBridge is the speaker at my breakfast series next Friday,” I thought.

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Sona Mehring is one of the coolest people I’ve met along the goodness journey.  She’s the founder and creator of CaringBridge.  Her story is compelling…and the CaringBridge mission far exceeds my popcorn incident. Melinda and I have walked the journey of friends and loved ones with CaringBridge as our life line. How about you? The web site has made it easy and socially acceptable to eavesdrop on those who really need our prayers.

The Good Leadership Breakfast this Friday is the last of our Fall series. We’re so excited to have Sona Mehring as our speaker that we are willing to overlook the fact she and her sons are Packers fans.

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I hope we can all listen unfiltered to her courageous, inspiring, entrepreneurial tale. As grown-ups, our life experiences often cause us to limit our possibilities with artificial constraints. With a simple act of helping a friend, Sona launched one of the most inspiring social-entrepreneurial ventures in our lifetime.  It’s a Thanksgiving story worth hearing early.

Good leaders find the silver lining in scary, life-threatening experiences. And every once in awhile they act on an idea that changes how society works.

Please consider joining me for breakfast this Friday, when Sona Mehring — the founder of CaringBridge — is our speaker.  Register here. Don’t worry, we won’t be serving popcorn.

Please take moment to share with me your most touching CaringBridge moment…I’ll pass it along to Sona on Friday.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]