My friend Louis Sportelli was fond of saying we will be the same person in five years as we are today except for the people we meet and the book we read.

While that quote originated with motivational speaker Charles Tremendous Jones, Dr. Sportelli brought it home to me.

That was more than two decades ago but I never forgot it.

I have often observed how new people encounters can enhance our life. I’ve found that even a short encounter can often teach me something.

It’s rare that I don’t learn something new whenever I talk to someone. Maybe it will be simple information such as where to find the best repairman. People contact is often a source of good information. I seldom walk away from a conversation with someone without learning something new.

Then there are those special people who always have something worthwhile to tell us.

My friend Fran is one of my friends who enrich me with every encounter I have with her. That was true when I first met her many years ago and it remains true today. She seems to have a deep well of knowledge.

It was Fran who told me it would be worth my while to join Emmaus, a women’s church group. Joining has been one of my smartest moves. I am always amazed at how much I learn at every meeting.

This week, in my role of a meeting facilitator, I mentioned that we never know how we will gain from every speaker but it will happen. It always does.

This week two speakers, Becky and Kim, were sharing their experience walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain, or in English, the way of St. James.

They detailed their walking a network of difficult routes leading to the shrine of St. James.

Before I heard their talk I never wanted to climb those challenging routes. After I heard their hardships and misadventures I certainly would never want to do it.

Does that mean their talk was a waste for me?

Far from it. It influenced me in major ways.

What impressed me was their goal to stop making their own plans and listen to what God wanted. They carried it so far that they didn’t make reservations for where to stay each night. They trusted in God.

Incredibly that meant at the end of a grueling day they found there were no rooms, no place to stay anywhere, and the next town was far away.

So what did they do?

With total trust, they relaxed with a drink and asked the bartender where they could find a place to sleep. I could never relax under those circumstances.

I get anxious when things like that happen to me and I can’t picture their total trust.

To tell the truth, the older I get the more stressed I get when things aren’t running right.

My daughters keep telling me: “You were never like that before. You get too stressed out now.”

I tell them I was never this old before.

I would have been really stressed not to have a place to sleep. They were totally calm, trusting the Lord would provide an answer.

Listening to Kim and Becky talk it was a big lesson for me in trusting, not panicking.

After they talked to the bartender he directed them to a small house with seven beds in one room. They got the last two available beds. But there was no such thing as privacy.

When Kim had a dream she said she was told in the dream not to continue on their planned route.

They listened to the warning in the dream and seriously altered plans. They later learned if they didn’t get out of the area right away they would be stuck then for a long time because fires were making it too dangerous to be there.

While I will never do the Way, I can do my own version of it by walking in the morning and doing my gratitude walk.

Do you know how hard it is to keep my mind on listening to Jesus instead of doing all the talking?

I have a lot to learn, even at my advanced age. I welcome every opportunity to learn from others.

Sometimes listening to others can be life saving. It was Dr. Sportelli who gave me information that truly saved my life.

A long time ago when I was 44 I was getting scary symptoms. I couldn’t hold a bottle without dropping it and couldn’t walk without falling.

I knew I had a problem but I was stunned when the doctor told me I had a brain tumor and needed surgery right away.

The first thing I did was to call Dr. Sportelli for help. He’s a chiropractor not a surgeon but I figured he was connected enough to help.

When I told him I needed brain surgery he had a strange response. He said I was “lucky” because his friend just came back from Switzerland where he learned a new procedure for brain surgery.

I trusted Dr. Sportelli’s advice and never had a moment’s regret. The result was that I was back in work the week after surgery.

While not every friend can save your life, every new friend has the potential to enhance your life.

Email Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcast.net