When you play the video turn up the sound!
Below is the Zcloud story from the book Choose To Win found on pages 206-211.
I BELIEVE!
How can I not believe?
I believe you can live a Choose to Win life, a life lived on purpose for a purpose. In fact, I believe we are all called for an eternal purpose. Many people from different faith backgrounds have asked me a simple question: “Why do you believe in Christ?” My answer is always the same: “How can I not believe?” And then I share with them Dad’s last few days on earth and a few of the miracles I witnessed.
It was Thanksgiving Day 2012, and it was going to be the first Thanksgiving that our family would not have our traditional family meal together because of Dad’s failing health. Our plan was to visit Dad, who was receiving full-time health care, and then eat as a family after our time with him. Dad’s Alzheimer’s was becoming severe at this stage of his life.
CHOOSE TO LIVE A LIFE OF PURPOSE
When we walked into his room, we knew immediately that something major was wrong. Dad was having trouble breathing as they worked on him, and minutes later we were rushing to the hospital. They admitted Dad and started doing everything they could for him. A little while later they called us into the private waiting room where nobody wants to go.
The doctor told us, “Your father’s condition is very serious. We have done everything we can, and we will know in about forty-five minutes if he is going to make it.”
Gut punch. Shock. I bet you have had similar news in your life and you can understand how we were all feeling.
Before I knew it, we were back in the waiting room with the doctor. “Your father is not responding. He doesn’t have much time left. Go now and be with him.”
Stunned, I sat there with my wife and daughter as the rest of the family went to be with Dad. After everyone but the three of us had left the room, I looked up to see the doctor holding the door open. “You’re the son, aren’t you?” he said. “I have seen this before. Go now and be with your father.” In a daze, I went down to be with Dad.
As we spent time with Dad, he started to rally, and the decision was made to move him into a room where we would have more privacy. They told us he would likely pass away in the next few hours. Dad was now comfortable but non-communicative.
The hours stretched late into the night when my sister Julie said she needed to show us something. She pulled out her iPhone and showed us a five-second video she had made a few weeks earlier driving home from visiting Mom and Dad. On the video was a beautiful cloud in the shape of a Z. It was perfect, as if a heavenly artist had put it there on purpose. None of us had ever seen a cloud in the shape of a Z before. We knew that very soon we were going to have to share the news of Dad’s passing, and we decided to make a banner for our website and Facebook featuring the Z cloud. What a beautiful way to remember Dad, we thought.
The next morning I texted a few of our close friends. Pastors Jill and Jay Hellwig, who both worked with us for years, came right away. They immediately began to pray over Dad, and you could feel the peace in the room. After a little while, Jill backed out of the room into the hallway. I was watching her as she left, and I saw her look up above the doorway. A big smile broke out on her face, and she began to laugh joyously.
“What are you laughing at?” I asked her.
“This is perfect!” she said. “The number over the doorway represents ‘new beginning’ in Hebrew.”
Four hours later I realized how perfect that number was.
A New Beginning
A few hours after Jill and Jay left, I got a call from my good friend Billy Cox. Billy was close to Dad and viewed Dad as a mentor and friend who had greatly helped him during his life. As I spoke to Billy, I could tell he was distraught, and I encouraged him to come right over. When Billy arrived, I could see the grief, concern, and worry on his face. He immediately grabbed Dad’s hand and began to pray silently. I saw Billy’s face relax as peace spread over his countenance.
After a few minutes, Billy turned to me and said, “Tom, I am so sorry I didn’t get your text right away. I was taking a nap—which I never do. I thought I had missed being able to say good-bye to your dad. I was taking a nap because a few nights ago I didn’t get much sleep and I needed to catch up. I didn’t sleep well that night because I was dreaming about your dad. Tom, I have never had a dream about your dad before. Have you ever had a dream that is so powerful it wakes you and then when you fall back asleep the dream starts again? This happened to me six or seven times. In my dream I was sitting at a table with your dad and I was looking at him and kept saying, ‘Zig, is it over? Is it over?’ And every time I asked your dad that, he looked me in the eye and said, ‘No, Billy, it’s a new beginning.’”
CHOOSE TO LIVE A LIFE OF PURPOSE
We were blessed with almost a week of time with Dad before he finally took his last breath. The next day we met with Jack Graham, Dad’s pastor, who would be doing the funeral. Pastor Graham pulled out Dad’s file, and in it was a letter written by Dad that contained a detailed outline of the funeral service. All we had to do was pick who was going to sing the songs and decide if we wanted someone to deliver a message. Dad had made it clear that his funeral was going to be a celebration and that the hope found in Jesus would be shared.
As we were leaving, I realized we had discussed the main service at the church but not the graveside service. The graveside service was scheduled for family and close friends at 9:00 a.m., and the church service would be held at 11:00 a.m.
“Pastor,” I said, “how should we do the graveside?”
“How would you like it?” he responded.
“Short and sweet, since everything is covered in the main service,” I answered.
“Perfect, I agree, and I will take care of everything,” Pastor Graham replied.
Later that day I called Julie on the phone to see how she was doing. “So happy for Dad, so sad for me,” she said. I can still hear her saying that. That is exactly how we all felt.
The next afternoon we were all with Mom at her place, getting ready to go to the visitation at the funeral home. “Hey, y’all, I have something to show you,” Julie said and pulled up the Z-cloud video. “I just remembered the video has audio on it. Let’s listen to the message.”
She replayed the video with the sound turned all the way up. The person on the radio in the five-second clip mentioned a Bible passage: 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18. We looked at each other and grabbed one of Dad’s Bibles to see what the passage said
Here it is:
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
We couldn’t believe it! God had given us the perfect message for exactly the right time. We went to the visitation filled with hope and encouragement, even though we were grieving.
First Thessalonians 4:13–18 spoke to our time of need. Verse 13 says to “not grieve as others do who have no hope.” Our hope is Jesus, and in Him is eternal life. Plus, the word hope has huge meaning for us Ziglars. 60 Minutes named Dad “the Merchant of Hope,” and Dad believed his primary message was to bring hope and encouragement to the world. Verse 14 was the perfect message, reminding us that Christ died and rose again so that we all could have eternal life. For good measure, verse 17 has the word clouds in it, a clear reminder to us that the Z cloud was put there by God for Julie to see. And this passage ends with verse 18, “Therefore encourage one another”—Dad’s greatest gift, the gift of encouragement. In fact, as I have mentioned, the Sunday school class that Dad taught for many years was called the Encouragers Class.
The next morning we were all seated for the graveside service. Pastor Graham walked out to start the service and said, “Let me share a Bible passage with you: 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18.” My sisters and I made eye contact—we couldn’t believe it! The same passage! When the service was over, I went to Pastor Graham. “Did someone by chance show you the Z-cloud video?” I asked. He had no clue what I was talking about. We all left and made our way to the church for the big service. It was beautiful, and Dad’s wishes were fulfilled.
HOW CAN I NOT BELIEVE?
I believe you and I were created for a purpose, that we are born to win, and we can live to win!
I believe, like Dad, that all of us are designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness. I believe that Christ came that we might have life and have it more abundantly and that Christ died that we might live.
I pray you are richly blessed and that God reveals Himself to you in a mighty way. I encourage you to spend a few minutes alone with Him, simply asking Him the questions on your heart. Listen carefully—I believe He has a word just for you.
Go ahead . . . choose to win! A life of purpose awaits you. Success, significance, and legacy are the results of good small choices done over and over again, and you have what it takes! Transforming into the person God created you to be is within your grasp. Start now from where you are with what you have and add just a little bit extra every single day, one small choice at a time. If you do, your legacy will ripple through eternity.
