When Disappointment Comes // Living Your Dreams, Part 15

When you set out to live the big dream that you have for your life, doubtless there’ll be some disappointments along the way.   In today’s program I’m joined by a special guest – Peter Irvine the former Managing Director of Gloria Jeans Coffees.

It's great to have your company again today. Over the last three weeks, we've been working through this whole issue of living out the dreams we have for our lives. Some of us are timid about our dreams, others don't know how to get started; others fall by the wayside when the going gets tough. This series of fifteen programs, I believe, will really impact your life. If you'd like to listen to them again, you can do that on-line for free at www.christianityworks.com, and if you'd like to order them on CD, you can do that on-line as well, and I'll give you a phone number to call toll free if you'd like to do it by phone. This is the last program in the series of living out our dreams, and I really wanted finish up with the subject of dealing with our disappointments as they happen along the way.

I'm joined again today by Peter Irvine, the Managing Director of Gloria Jeans. Peter, welcome.

Peter Irvine: Thank you, thank you, Berni.

Berni Dymet: I guess you've had your share of disappointments along the way. The one that, for me, jumps out, because it was splashed all over the news, and it was on the morning T.V. show when I got up in the morning, was the day that your warehouse burned down.

Peter Irvine: That's right. Well, it was three minutes past midnight on October 3, 2002 that the call came through.

Berni Dymet: Are you sure?

Peter Irvine: I'm very, very precise. I looked at the clock. My wife actually got out of bed to answer the phone because I take a while to wake up. She said, "We need to go to the warehouse because it's on fire." I thought, “Well, am I dreaming?” She said, "No, you're not." And I thought, well, I better get up. Then, I've always learned, no, don't just put something over your pajamas. You better change; you never know what you are going to confront. So, on the way there, we were praying, "Lord, what do we do, we've got 92 stores open. They are going to be expecting stock, and we've lost everything?”

As we got closer, we saw a little bit of smoke and thought, oh, it's not too bad. As we got there, the office area was alight. And within about an hour or so, the whole place was alight. I sat in the car park away from the building and said, "Lord, what do we do because we've got a big problem?" And He said, "Well, your green coffee beans that you roast are stored elsewhere, your cups and leads are stored somewhere else, and you can fly product in, and you have your people. So, after about another hour…

Berni Dymet: So, all of this was happening in the car while Rome was burning?

Peter Irvine: Yeah, that's right, in the car park actually. I sent my wife home to get a jacket because it was quite cold around that time of night. But I wasn't anywhere near the fire. I thought we might get product out, and it would be burned and singed but we got nothing out of the fire. The Lord said, "You know, we need to get back here in the morning because the guys are going to arrive early to start roasting, and I wanted to be the first there." So, when I came back all the helicopters were overhead, thirty one fire engines; and I thought, “this day is going to be a little bit different from what I thought it was…”

Berni Dymet: Not your average day at the office.

Peter Irvine: That's right. So, we marshaled the troops together. I did all the media interviews. We met at my home; my neighbour's home, a friend's home from church who insisted we use his office. People were everywhere to start rebuilding. There were a lot of police interviews, fire interviews that I had, so the guys took over the whole thing, and it is a good having a good team who are motivated and to be able to say, "Well, it was never thought, this is not going to happen."

Berni Dymet: What caused the fire? Do we know?

Peter Irvine: It was just they believe an electrical fault. It was cleared, and within a very short time we had all the insurance money which is a miracle in itself, I understand. But, you know, the disappointment, there is not only that, but within just a few months, people were telling us, "Do you realize that businesses your size never survive fire loss?”

Berni Dymet: That is encouraging. That is particularly encouraging.

Peter Irvine: It is very encouraging, particularly, when that came from close friends and also other business-type people. And I said, "I was glad you were not around just after the fire because it wasn't in our minds, our minds considered, "How