In case you didn’t see it on Facebook, I wanted to make sure
that you knew that my older brother, Craig, was appointed
by Nathan Deal to be the director of the Georgia Film, Music and Digital
Entertainment Advisory Commission this week. Craig has been working in
film and video production for his whole career. He graduated from UGA’s
Journalism School and began working for AFLAC in Columbus in their media department.
He started his own company, Craig Miller Productions, shortly thereafter, and
moved his family and his business to metro-Atlanta. Craig focuses on
corporate and public film/video production and has developed and maintained
several large clients. Due to my band background, this short video
is one of my favorites. So needless to say, I am very proud of my big
brother for what he is accomplished in his business. But while doing all
of this, he managed to take care of his wife, Carolyn, and raise six fantastic
kids – four through college and two still finishing up – and four weddings,
growing the Miller clan even further. I love you, Craig. Thanks for
being a great big brother.
I just got back from Milwaukee
today. Caroline and I were attending the annual meeting for her company,
Northwestern Mutual. I have been several
times, and always leave entertained, well fed and glad that I am a
client. There are also multiple opportunities to be inspired, and one of
the speakers this year was Ben Carson. Dr. Carson is a retired
neurosurgeon with some great stories. He was raised by his mom, who only
made it through third grade, but she insisted that all of her kids get an education.
Ben was a below average student with an above average temper. His
temper got him into trouble frequently, including a stabbing incident that
could have turned out a lot worse than it did. After that incident, he prayed
for three hours acknowledging that he could not change himself and could only
change through the power of the Holy Spirit. That started a series of
events that were almost inconceivable. His grades and his temper improved
enough to earn him admission to Yale, where he excelled He took a
position at Johns Hopkins and became the youngest major division director at
the age of 33. He was most well-known for performing the first
successful separation of twins that were conjoined at the head. This has
to be one of the most moving stories of redemption that I have ever
heard. We were presented with a copy of his book, Think Big, which I cannot wait to read.
Several weeks ago, I ran into Ben Smith at a downtown church.
We were both there for the baptism of children recently born to our family
members. My first memory of Ben was when he and some other friends were
singing in the back of a pickup truck at a Friday afternoon pep rally. The pep
rally was for a Shiloh High School game where he and my son both
attended. Singing in the back of a pick-up truck wouldn’t be that
unusual, except that Ben was singing worship songs to Jesus – and students were
singing along with him. The pick-up truck band developed into a real
band called Unhindered and that group made a name for itself by singing at
local churches and youth revivals. The band then gained popularity
outside of Atlanta and toured regularly. Ben is now a worship leader at Bethel Atlanta Church in Tyrone and
continues to tour with Unhindered. I found this
video from 2007. Ben plays the keyboard and leads this song
vocally. He has an immense amount of musical talent, but his real gift is
leading people to a God that he loves very much. I am glad I know
him. If you have a connection to Ben, Unhindered or Bethel, let me know.
Caroline and I attended a marriage class at Veritas Church when we were members
there. One of the take-aways from that class was to commit to a date
night once a week. Our date nights aren’t usually very glamorous, but
making the commitment for just the two of us to be together at least once
a week has proved to be very important to us. This week we went to one of
our favorite dinner locations, Bonefish Grill – nice meal , but nothing out of
the ordinary until the waitress brought our check. The hostess
accompanied her and announced that another couple had paid our bill. She
pointed in the direction that they had been sitting, which was only a couple of
tables away. Part of me was embarrassed for not noticing who was there,
but another part of me was glad that my attention had been on Caroline.
The hostess said that they had called me by name, but had instructed her not to
tell me who they were. And they were gone. So this act of
generosity generated much conversation and speculation with the first big
question being, “who would have done this?” and the next being “what had I had
done to deserve this?”. The only answer I could come up with was
“absolutely nothing.” The next question was, “who would do this
without wanting to be acknowledged or thanked for what they had done?”
Paul said: “When you do something for someone else, don’t call
attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘playactors’ I call
them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting
compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get
applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think
about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your
God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you
out.” I expect whoever paid our check had read that before once or
twice. Praise God for treating me like that every day.
Over the past few weeks, I have noticed even more than usual
how the media loves to portray a laissez-faire attitude towards faith and
spirituality. “If it feels good, do it” seems to be the
mantra. And anyone who wants to take a stand on anything remotely
resembling God is not only ignored but sometimes vilified. Celebrities
that are acknowledged followers of Jesus are often quiet, and when they speak
out, are relegated to the back of the bus. In searching for an exception,
I remembered this moment when two of my favorite country artists got together
for this performance.
The response from those in attendance was amazing to me.
