Writing Samples
Leading with Honor
Lee Ellis, Author Michael Dowling, Ghostwriter
Chapter 1: Know Yourself
November 7, 1967, 4:00 p.m. — Captain Ken Fisher and I rolled into a dive-bomb pass in our F-4C Phantom jet. As we swooped downward, our bird with turned-up wingtips, elevated tail, and deafening roar must have resembled a high-tech version of a prehistoric pterodactyl.
Tracers from the North Vietnamese antiaircraft artillery flashed by our canopy like giant Roman candles, their explosions encircling us with ominous puffs of gray and black smoke. Each represented hundreds of shards of shrapnel designed to mortally wound our beautiful beast. It was combat as it has been for thousands of years, just updated with the latest technology.
Our mission was to destroy the guns that protected the Quang Khe ferry near Route 1A, the main thoroughfare for transporting war materials to the Ho Chi Minh Trail. As our jet plunged toward the artillery positions at five hundred miles an hour, the earth enlarged in our windscreen as if we were adjusting the zoom of a telephoto lens. It was an eyeball-to-eyeball stare-down with the enemy, with each side expecting the other to die.
When you face enemy fire, you are at the point of the sword. Ken and I had been around long enough to know that the sword of combat cuts both ways; we had lost three close friends in similar situations in the prior two months.
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Healing A Hospital
David Herdlinger, Author Michael Dowling, Ghostwriter
Chapter 2: 911
On a warm day in January 2001, unseasonably warm even for south coastal Georgia, an unshaven man in a T-shirt and shorts entered the front door of the Southeast Georgia Regional Medical Center in Brunswick. He reached to take an informational flyer from the "Take Me" rack, but it was empty.
The visitor walked across the lobby and proceeded down a hallway, entering areas where he should not have been permitted to go. Finally, a nurse approached him: "May I help you?"
"I'm from out of town and I'm contemplating a move to this area," replied the stranger. "Can you tell me what kind of healthcare is available for my family? What's this hospital like?"
The mysterious man was Gary R. Colberg. That morning he had flown into Jacksonville, Florida, from Birmingham, Alabama, rented a car, and driven an hour north to Brunswick. Tomorrow the hospital's board of directors would interview him for the job of president and CEO. Gary regarded interviews as two-way conversations, and he had come a day early to do his homework.
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Ready, Set, PLAN, Go!
Joan Walsh, Author Michael Dowling, Ghostwriter
Chapter 1: Stuck In the Starting Blocks
Imagine you're watching an Olympic hundred-meter dash. Can you visualize the scene? The runners are pacing nervously around the starting area, stretching.
"Ready," calls the starting official.
The runners carefully place their feet in the starting blocks and crouch into their starting positions.
"Set."
Like coiled springs they wait, eyes focused on the finish line. The starting pistol is poised high in the air.
BANG!
They're off! A blur of finely tuned bodies catapults down the track.
But wait! One runner is still stuck in the blocks. He hasn't moved! There's something — could it be glue, or flypaper, or something — holding him back.
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What if that really happened? How would you react? I suspect I'd be inclined to laugh. What a funny scene — a runner stuck in the blocks!
But then I'd empathize with that poor runner. I wouldn't want that to happen to me or to anyone I know.
Actually, something similar to that happens to many of us at different times in our lives. We get stuck and can't seem to get traction. But I'm thankful that I'm often able to help people in this situation, because I'm a business coach.
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The World is Calling
Article for Regent Seven Seas Cruises
by Michael Dowling
"Far away places, with strange sounding names, Far away over the sea…
Far away places, with their strange sounding names, Calling, calling me…"
Do the words of that popular 1948 song stir your sense of adventure? Are far away places calling you? Places like South America, the South Pacific, and the Far East?
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Giving as Worship
Article for Money Matters Magazine
A publication of Crown Financial Ministries
by Michael Dowling
What do you think of when you hear the word "worship"?
Do you visualize a church service with hymns and songs of praise? That's an accurate picture, but incomplete.
Mark 14:3-9 and John 12:1-7 tell us about another kind of service of worship that occurred shortly after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. As our Lord was dining in the home of Simon the Leper, Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, took a jar of expensive perfume, poured it on Jesus' feet, and wiped His feet with her hair.
Talk about extravagant giving! That perfume was worth about a year's wages. But even more impressive than the pouring of the perfume was the way Mary poured out her heart. What an amazing demonstration of reverence and love!
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Walking by Faith
by Andrew DeVries
as told to Michael J. Dowling
Standing six-foot-six, I had always been a good athlete. In fact, at age 55 I had just tried out for the Michigan Senior Men's Olympic Volleyball team, and there was a good chance I was going to make it.
But tragedy intervened! While riding my motorcycle I was struck by a car! An ambulance rushed me to the hospital where the doctors delivered the devastating news: my left leg was shattered and would have to be amputated.
As I lay in the hospital bed looking at the ceiling, everyone around me was making plans for my life without a leg. But a young physician's assistant by the name of Sarah Scholl said, "Andy, what kind of golf balls do you play?"
At that point talking about golf balls seemed idiotic, but I replied, "Titleist Pro V1." The next morning when I awoke there were flowers in my room. In the middle of the flowers was a 12-pack of Titleist Pro V1 golf balls. Sarah had bought them for me, and in the process she had given me a glimmer of hope.
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