"Run Away"
A ShareValue investor who was a Vice President of a super high-end technology firm called me one day. A friend of his was involved in a consulting project, with a ninety-million-dollar ($90,000,000) fee, that had hit the wall. It involved ten million square feet of office space in New York City. They needed a solution to their problem before this Real Estate deal could close.
My friend informed me they were looking for someone who understood technology and New York Real Estate Law. I told him I understood the basics of Real Estate Law but not about New York Real Estate Law specifically at all, but I would do what I could. He informed me that they were in a time crunch as they had only an hour or the deal was dead, and they would lose their ninety-million-dollar ($90,000,000) fee. I asked him when they would like to talk and he informed me he had them on hold waiting.
Their lead man briefed me on the issue at hand and it so happened that I knew the exact solution to their problem. I explained as succinctly as I could. They thanked me for the help.
About a month or so later this same friend called me with another issue, and I asked him about whatever happened to the other guy with the ninety-million-dollar deal? He was shocked that they hadn’t got back to me as they had been able to close the deal. He asked me again if I was sure that I had not heard anything, and I told him that I had not and jokingly said that they had not even sent my wife and I to dinner.
He was appalled and asked me what I wanted. I told him that it was my understanding that their deal was dead in the water when they called me. He confirmed that was correct. I then stated that it was my understanding that my solution was the cure, and they then made ninety million dollars. He confirmed that was correct.
ShareValue needed a million-dollar ($1,000,000) boost to finish our development, so I asked for one million dollars. He asked me to give him a few hours. He called back a bit later, stating there were no funds at all available to me as they had all been dispersed.
He then asked me, what else could he do. I informed him that I wanted to meet the man who was the head of the family trust who had purchased the ten million square feet of office space. He asked me to give him a couple of hours.
A short time later he called me back informing me that I had an appointment on Fifth Avenue in New York the day after tomorrow to meet with that man.
The plane was approaching New York City when I got a sudden vision of a church that was in New York. I asked the Lord, “What is that about?”
He replied that He wanted me to go to that church as He wanted to tell me more about the World Trade Center Visions. For a millisecond I thought, “Now, how am I going to find that church in such a big city, but then I stopped thinking that, as it was ridiculous.”
Jim Ford had agreed to go with me to meet the man and I was to meet Jim at this apartment first beforehand. As the taxi pulled up to Jim’s place, I saw it. Jim lived over a church on Gramercy Park Avenue and there it was, the church from my vision. I was instantly terrified.
Our meeting went really well as it turns out the man’s wife was from Southern Missouri, and we knew some of the same people. However, he too wanted to wait until we got our initial development done. He wanted me to stay in touch and expressed interests in a twenty-million-dollar ($20,000,000) placement.
I spent the night at Jim’s thinking all night long about the church below us. Finally in the morning, I told the Lord that all this was too far above my head, and I just didn’t think I could handle it. I couldn’t make it fast enough to the airport praying the whole way for God to forgive me, as I ran away.