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 do we rebuild this, and how do we do it quickly."

Berni Dymet: Isn't it interesting: God gives you a dream, and so He's talking to you about how to rebuild it and so on. And other people come along; I don't know quite what they were thinking as to how they were wanting to encourage you by almost tearing you down.

Peter Irvine: Well, they work from their own limitations. They only listen to all the negatives in life, and they pass it on, and people have got to learn to input positively as well. Sure, you need correction and good advice on decisions. But it's getting the right advice and getting around positive people because these things can be overcome. You know, we never blame God for things because He doesn't bring these, but today we have a better, sophisticated operation which would not have been possible if we still had that operation.

Berni Dymet: And God said, I mean Jesus said in John 15 that whatever branch bears fruit God will prune.

Peter Irvine: And, in fact, we would not be able to take on the operation, internationally, and be 261 stores today with that operation, operating out of that premises.

Berni Dymet: Why is that? What did the fire give you, in a sense?

Peter Irvine: Well, it...through some difficulty we got out of the lease. We had to go back in there for warehousing. But today we have a separate, larger building for warehousing that we were doing everything in, in the old premises that burned down, and our roasting facility is bigger on its own than that premises, and we have more offices than that building had. So, we've actually probably doubled or nearly tripled in size of space and people since being in that particular building and that building would not have been satisfactory today.

Berni Dymet: Did you have a sense that you were somehow being spiritually attacked or was this just, "Well, the thing has burned down. Let's just get on with it?”

Peter Irvine: Well, well, we had a lot of people telling us that it was our competitors, any range of things, you know, Satan's attack, molitoff cocktails thrown in there, there was no evidence of any of that. You know, who knows, but there was no source to the fire. It was just one of those things that happens, and we had to move on. You can't see these difficulties as an end to the dream, as an end to the calling.

Berni Dymet: Well, some people do, of course.

Peter Irvine: I imagine that they do, and I can see why because it is very confronting. You don't sleep for two days, your mind goes through all types of scenarios. But, you know, when you have that word I mentioned the other day that God says, "You are going to do something different, and it's going to be OK," then you know that there is something greater. My partner was overseas, it took several hours to get to talk to him because his phone was running hot as was mine. Our church was terrific, they rang and said, "Anything that we can do? You can use our offices to have meetings, interview franchisees, what do you need? What help do you need?

Berni Dymet: That's great. You must have had quite a reinvigorated prayer life over that time.

Peter Irvine: Yes, I think it was in a phase of daziness, but there were a few prayers.