Sam , US, Business Tycoon

April 23. Sam Walton. Walton opened his first retail store in 1945. Not a Wal-Mart or a Sam’s Club. It was the first Ben Franklin, which grew to a 15-store franchise.

If Ben Franklin executives had agreed to Walton’s proposals to open big retail stores in small rural areas, the Wal-Mart chain would probably not exist. Walton left the Franklin chain and created his own empire, built on the managerial principle that retail prosperity requires close links among suppliers, shareholders, and employees. He opened his first Wal-Mart store in 1962 and on this date in 1977, Illinois became the tenth state to have a Wal-Mart store. Throughout this journey, Walton made a lot of choices. Today’s story is about Sam when all the choosing is about done.

The choices we make today yield the consequences we face tomorrow.

Seventy-four-year-old Sam Walton lay in bed fighting for his life. “I blew it,” he thought, and he sighed clear down to the footboard of his hospital bed. In the background, a cardiac monitor beeped mostly rhythmically.

It had only been weeks since President George W. Bush, Sr. flew to Walton’s home and presented him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Walton’s career accomplishments ranked high, but now, alone with his thoughts, Walton came face to face with his own mortality.

For more than a week, Sam had been in the hospital, surrounded by whirring machines and conscientious nurses. It mattered little to any of them that this titan of business had founded the retail chain and expanded it to become one of the largest companies and employers in history.

Without warning, illness had reduced Walton to the human-and-humble state of completely relying on others. Suddenly, the treasured moments his family and friends stopped in to offer a smile, a hug, or a prayer—these were more valuable than anything else he ever accomplished in life.

In the chilling stillness when he was alone, Walton thought about the steep price he’d paid to be one of the world’s wealthiest men. He hardly knew his youngest son, had spent a lifetime neglecting his own family, and was privately in a marriage with a woman who’d stayed with him out of principle. How had he let this tragedy happen?

On , 1992, medical staff called Sam’s family. It didn’t look like Sam was going to make it. This would be Walton’s last day in the hospital, and his final day on Earth.

As closest family filed solemnly into his room, Sam’s friends and business associates gathered prayerfully in the waiting room nearby. Hospital staff silently made their way in and out of the room, intently monitoring Sam’s declining condition. His family held hands and prayed, and the tempo of the beeping heart monitor slowed. Stuttered.

The room fell silent.

Everyone gathered around his hospital bed.

Sam struggled to whisper his last three words, “I blew it.”

“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8: 36, NIV).

Take a moment to prayerfully check your calendar, and your schedule will tell you your priorities. The choices we make today yield the consequences we face tomorrow.

Hayes, Thomas C. “Sam Walton is Dead at 74; the Founder of Wal-Mart Stores.” Obituary in . New York Times.com. April 6, 1992. https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/06/us/sam-walton-is-dead-at-74-the- founder-of-wal-mart-stores.html

Story read by Chuck Stecker Story written by John Mandeville, https://www.johnmandeville.com/