Ambassador of Kwan
I love movies and one of my favorites is “Jerry McGuire” with Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr. I suspect most everyone reading this blog knows the movie but if you don’t I highly recommend watching. The dialog between Jerry McGuire and Rod Tidwell “Mr. Show Me the Money” is great and includes many memorable lines. Here’s how I came up with the title for the website and also what it means to me.
Recall in the movie that Jerry and Rod are having one of their meaningful dialogues. The situation after losing all of his clients, Jerry is trying to hang on to his last client which is Rod Tidwell. Rod had just finished a game and was getting out of the shower and was explaining what he wanted. Rod tells Jerry, “You’ve been talking! You’ve been talking about my contract but what about all these other guys like Jerry Rice and others, they’re making the big money.” This is when Rod drops the word “Kwan”. After hearing the word Jerry responds back to him, “Kwan! That’s a great word. Is that your word?” Rod responds back, “Hell yes that’s my word. It means love, respect, community and the dollar too. The entire package. The Kwan!”
Then later in the movie Jerry is questioning Rod and says “Hey, we are friends right?” And Rod hesitantly says, “Yes we are friends”. Jerry says, “Well if we are friends this is what a friend would say to you. I will tell you why you don’t have your $10 million dollars. You are all head versus heart. Out here you are all about heart but on the field you play with your head. If you want the Kwan you have to start playing with your heart.” Rob responds, “ Jerry, I don't want to be your friend anymore!”
Then roll forward the movie to near the end after Rob played without a contract for the entire year (very risky). Rod finally gets the contract he had been wanting and he is talking on ESPN and doesn’t want to get emotional. Rod is thanking people that helped him get to the contract and then he remembers to thank Jerry. After a long pause, Rod says, “Jerry McGuire! Thanks to him. He is my ambassador of Kwan.”
I am like Jerry McGuire, I loved this word. “The Kwan.” It has always stuck with me since the first time I saw the movie with Melinda. In 1998 we actually moved to Orange County, CA and lived in the same area where this movie was based (Newport Beach). Honestly at this time in my career I was a lot like Rob Tidwell. I made many decisions with my head and not my heart.
Recently I did further research on this word and it is actually spelled “Quan” and means “coin”. During the Zhou dynasty (1122–221 BC) the coin official was an important functionary in charge of currency. Descendants of a coin official adopted the character as their surname. However, another character, meaning ‘all’, pronounced identically, came to be used more often as a surname. When I originally saw the word in an old script back in 2009 it showed the spelling as “Kwan”. As some of you know, back in 2009 I started a blog that lasted for a while but I got busy with work and family and didn't keep updating the site. It was called Seekingkwan.
In my first blog I explained the story like I did above and explained why I chose the word and what was missing in Rod’s incomplete definition of the word kwan. We are all seeking something. Thus “seeking” was the first word that I wanted to use. Certainly love, respect, the dollar and community are important things but Rod was missing one very important thing. The main thing. He was focused on earthly things only. Things that perish. Rod was missing what was promised to us by Jesus who died for all of our sins and if we believe in Him we shall have everlasting life. If we don’t have Jesus we are not starting with the right end in mind. We are not starting on solid ground, we are starting in sinking sand. We need to start thinking about things above with our head and our heart. As our Lord said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Matthew 22:37.
My goal for Seekingkwan.com and these stories and dialog we have is to help draw us all nearer and closer to our Lord Jesus Christ. To help us all feel the assurance we have with Christ and that we honestly know and love Him and what He did for us all. We all have stories to tell from our individual life experiences and I hope these stories help you in your daily walk and allow each of us to finish strong in our life no matter the circumstance or situation we endure.
Seekingkwan is all about starting and finishing with the right end in mind. He is the true Ambassador of Kwan.
May the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26
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