We were on our way to dinner …. and we saw it.  Look closely in the picture, hundreds of people with cell phones catching the moment.  But what was the moment?  The moment was a car that went out of control up a hill, through a fence, and into a resort pool.  One picture is the car, and the other is Charlie watching the car via crane come out of the pool.  All of this… high impact from low predictability… created the moment.

Years ago is when I heard the quote of the formula — high predictability = low impact, low predictability = high impact.  Makes sense right?  If you assumed it would happen, it is kind of a so-so moment.  If you had no idea, wow!   I think this is a formula for relationships for sure, meaning, keeping the relationship alive, thriving, and even having to guess.

This is the 3 by 5 card with a note in the fridge leaning against the milk, this is the getting your spouses tooth brush prepared with toothpaste and laid out in the morning, this is the breakfast in bed, the service man who makes his homecoming unannounced, or even a car in the middle of a pool.  It can be small or big, but it was not predictable.

The 2nd golf tourney I ever organized had a “gallery hole.”  It was a par 3, it was deep in the recesses of the course.  As golfers would round the bend to this par 3 there was a crowd, there were ropes, there were “quiet signs,” and there was a sound system with announcers and of course — hundreds of patrons!  (All high school kids and Young Life Leaders.)  The review of the tourney — amazing.  The reason?  The unpredictable “gallery hole.”

OK, enough.  You get it.  Now the question is what will you do about this formula?  How will you put a “car in a pool” today?  I remember when I was newly married and Marni was in this large women’s bible study.  I had an appointment near the church she was in bible study, so I thought, “I’ll bring here a Starbucks.”  As I entered the room it occurred to me… teacher is teaching, hundreds of women, Marni is center of room (of course).  I weaved my way in, put the coffee down, and started to leave…. the speaker stopped.  “Hello, can I help you?”  (Not what you want to hear.)  Marni said, “It’s my husband, he brought me coffee.”  This could have been like the moment when, “you had me at hello.”  The sighs in the room….

People – this is not rocket science.  Who do you love?  Who are the people that around your life are the ones that make it go?  Get out there and do something for them that is unpredictable — just not a car in the pool!