Forrest Gump said “life is like a box of chocolates.”

Jake Merrick likened it to a big jigsaw puzzle.

“If you’re able to see the big picture, it makes the pieces make sense. If you get lost…you find yourself gazing at all these meaningless pieces. You have no reference point,” he said.

“They’re not meaningless, but you can’t make sense of them if you can’t see the big picture.”

Merrick was speaking to a group of nearly 60 Kingfisher Chamber of Commerce members Wednesday at a Biz-Connect luncheon hosted by the chamber at Cimarron Electric.

Merrick has - and continues to - wear a lot of hats.

He’s currently the host of “The Jake Merrick Show” each weekday morning on Freedom 96.9, a talk radio station.

Merrick is also a licensed minister and is a personal trainer as well as co-owner of a construction company.

Prior to his radio show, Merrick served a short time in the state senate.

He ran for the District 22 seat in 2020 in an election that was eventually won by Stephanie Bice.

She soon stepped down to run for a congressional seat and Merrick won a special election to fulfill her term in 2021.

His bid for re-election to the state seat failed in 2022.

That, he told chamber members, is just one of life’s many events that has shaped him and his outlook on life.

“I learned an important lesson,” he said. “I didn’t want it to bother me, but deep down inside, if I was honest with myself, it did.

“But it didn’t last long because I’ve always been about the bigger picture, the bigger mission.”

Merrick said a political future wasn’t something he sought, which, he said, guided him in his voting record.

“I went into office because I truly felt called. I’m in there on a bigger mission than a political mission. I’m there to vote my conscience, vote what I believe is biblical and constitutional regardless of party line,” he said.

He was met with resistance, saying if he voted in such a way, he wouldn’t win a re-election.

“I said, ‘Well, I’m not going to vote to try to get re-elected because that’s how you compromise and you fragment your soul’ and I wasn’t willing to do that,” Merrick said.

“So I wanted to vote on conviction, what I believed was right and true.”

And after losing his re-election, he said he “walked away with clean hands and a clear conscience.”

And, eventually, he said he was fine with it because he was viewing a larger picture.

“God then opened up a different door, another unexpected door, this radio station,” Merrick said.

“They were looking for a local host to have an Oklahoma- focused show and that’s what’s been on my heart for years.”

Merrick said one thing he learned is that things aren’t going to get fixed in Oklahoma City or Washington, D.C.

“The problem wasn’t at the Capitol, although there are some problems there,” he said. “It’s largely because we don’t own the local.”

He said taking ownership of the good and the bad on a personal level is key to success.

“When I own the issue, then I have to own the mistakes and the failures when it doesn’t go right, but I also have the opportunity of being the change. That’s the beauty of ownership,” Merrick said.

“Once you start looking local, at yourself, at your community, at your family and you start seeing the problem there, then you can start seeing the impact. You can own that.”

Visualizing the big picture starts with looking at the person in the mirror.

Once ownership of good and bad results begins, he said, the pieces start to make more sense.

“The big picture is critical. Once you see it, you can own these pieces. The struggle is okay because you know you’re going somewhere,” he said.

“Losing my re-election campaign was just so trivial in the big scheme of things. The opportunity of ownership… owning your life, the good, the bad, the ugly, the trials, the victories….all of these are in your control.”

He said it’s true in all aspects of life, including business.

“You’ve got to examine things with yourself, with your job, with your business,” Merrick said. “If it’s not going right, you’ve got to be honest. If you’re the owner or CEO, you have to say ‘that’s my fault; I take ownership of that.’

“Now we can talk about fixing it.”

Although he wears many hats in business, Merrick maintains he tries to live a simple life. The philosophy helps him.

“I can live in peace keeping the big picture in mind,” he said.

Merrick was introduced by Chamber Executive Director Shauna Rupp.

Prior to her introduction, Cimarron CEO Aaron Roark briefly addressed the group and touted Cimarron’s continued growth.

“It’s an exciting time at Cimarron and we’ve got 52 amazing employees,” he said. “I’m really proud of the work they’ve done.”