Have a little faith

Roy said a little prayer before he entered the conference room. As he had expected, the atmosphere in the meeting room was tense, as Roy has told me. The Client’s face was sour. Roy looked at his colleagues’ frantic attempts to explain away their mistakes. Thousands of brochures with those mistakes had been distributed to stores across the city. The Client was furious, and the account was one of the vital ones to the advertising agency where Roy worked as the Account Director.

The Client looked in Roy’s direction, “Hey Roy, you’ve been quiet. What do you think?”

Roy said, simply: “We screwed up.”

His team was shocked, “Wait… Roy, we didn’t…”

“We screwed up. Plain and simple.”

The Client was taken aback by Roy’s candid response.

Roy asked the team to leave the room. He told the Client, “Yes, we screwed up. But if you just give me a day, you have my word, we will get the brochures reprinted and delivered to the stores by tomorrow noon at our own cost.”

The Client heaved a sigh, “Actually, my boss sent me here to sack your agency. We are furious.”

Roy said, “You have every reason to fire us. But, if you give me a day, you have my word, we will make good the mistakes. I already have the printers standing by.”

“Ok, wait.” The Client left the room and called his boss, He came in after a short while, “My boss said OK. Not because of your agency. But because of you, Roy. I’ll hold you to your word. So, go ahead.”

So, Roy immediately mobilized his team to rectify the error. He saved the deal. John, the Managing Director, was delighted. Back at the Agency’s office, John summoned Roy into his room and complimented him.

At the end of the conversation, Roy shot an unexpected question to John, “Hey John, just want to ask you something. Where do you see me in 5 years?”

John was caught off guard. “I don’t know. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”

Not quite the answer Roy was expecting. But he shrugged, “OK.”

He walked out of John’s office unsettled. Something didn’t feel right. He was relieved that the Client trusted him, but that ought not be the way. The Client should trust the Agency, the team, not just one Roy — and why wasn’t there anybody else who was willing to be honest and admit the simple truth?

That day, Roy prayed to God for guidance guidance about all that he had been through and what his next steps were going to be. A few days later, he typed out his resignation letter and submitted to John.

John was startled, “Was it something I said or did?”

“Not at all. I want to become a full-time magician and I think that the time has come.” John thought it was ridiculous. He found it hard to believe that anybody would think that. Giving up a stable, highly-paid job to do what? Card tricks and balloons?

But Roy, putting his faith and trust in God’s guidance and wisdom, thought there had to be more to life than just working in a corporate world. He insisted, and John relented, “OK, I’ll let you go. But I’ll keep your desk for 6 months. If at any time the magic thing is not working out for you, you can come back.”

Did he have a plan on how to survive performing magic, which had been his passion all along? As business-savvy as he was, he didn’t really have a plan at all. He called up every agent he knew, telling them he’s now into magic full time.

Jobs came in, but not quite enough initially. At that time, he was still in debt, paying off his housing and car loans. He firmly held on to his faith in God, and sure enough, God opened doors to work beyond Malaysia. Later, as timepassed, he even got to work overseas, in Japan, Korea and China. He came back eventually, and continued to work hard excelling in his artform and industry. By the year 2000, he was financially blessed enough to be debt-free.

He credits his success to God. “I once performed in a very noisy dinner event, with 2000 people drinking and chatting. As I performed, they became quiet. So quiet that I could hear a pin drop. They were listening to me and paying attention to my show. Wow! I certainly cannot do that. That wasn’t me. It could only happen with the help of God. God helped me even in this area.”

Roy has always been a devoted Christian, “God would never give you hardship that you cannot overcome.”

But if you know how devoted Roy is towards the craft of magic, you would probably give this human his due credit. He builds his own props. He writes his own patter. He could even turn the most boring “counting tricks” into comedy. And he shares his experience and knowledge with younger magicians unreservedly.

As a person, he is righteous, true to the Christian teaching “Christ in me”. He doesn’t use foul language, doesn’t drink, would never do anything un-Christian. Hence, he earns people’s respect and trust. His success, of course, drew envy too. Again, he fought that off with prayers. The gossip would die off naturally.

Amongst his work credo is this: “I want to learn something new everyday, even if it’s something very simple.”

For years, he dreamed of having his own show theater. While it remains the one major goal he hasn’t achieved, he no longer chases it. He has come to accept that if God did not allow it, there must be a really good reason why.

Roy’s 66 years old now. Never resting on his laurels, Roy is currently working on a lecture tour.

He never did return to that vacant desk in the Agency.