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Speak to Your Mountain
Dealing with the stress of our expansion, yes even when you walk with the Lord you have stress, has been an interesting process. I attempted to anticipate certain things by building spare parts into our program and teaching Jack and Joanne as much as I could over the last few months. But as we know, stuff happens in life! While they dealt with an errant generator, bad chassis battery and a bad brand new battery back up, I was dealing with a refrigerator that was not cooling.
Jack did a superb job of handling the issues on his end, while I started a conversation with a refrigerator technician online. After several test, it appeared the thermistor was bad, so I order a repair kit and a full replacement part just incase. The parts would be here on Saturday and Monday. My last thought was, “Lord help me deal with this.”
An Eternal View of Circumstances
Last year I came under heavy personal attack for taking a stance on a specific subject. I was called all kinds of names and lied about. My creditability and integrity were called into question. As I pondered how I should respond, the Lord whispered to me and said, “say nothing, I will be your defender.” That was hard, way hard. I’ve never been persecuted at that level, especially in full view of the public.
A few weeks later, the persecutor became the persecuted. This person made a very public mistake trying to help someone with a problem. They were caught and chastised by the same group that was used to chastise me. As I started to revel in their pain, (we should never do that, Proverbs 24:17 Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice,) the Lord again whispered to me, tell them he should be forgiven, it was an honest mistake and they should move on. I did and the situation basically died.
Embracing the Lean Times
There is a tipping point in your relationship with the Lord where you decide you are going to trust Him regardless of what life throws at you. I’m not exactly sure when that happened for me, but it has happened. It is the only way this type ‘A’ personality could let go of absolute control of my life and the situations I find myself part of.
I think back to how I would have reacted to the circumstances of my life, especially the last few weeks, before I walked with the Lord daily. I believe I would be an emotional wreck and highly suspect my team would have quit or would really be thinking about it. Yep, I could be that person! I am glad I’m not and I’m sure they are too.
Little & Large, Ken Costa
This is an incredible message, I highly recommend it.
Big events are often sparked by the smallest acts of kindness, obedience, and bold faith. In this message from Ken Costa, chairman of Alpha International, and author of the book, “God at Work”, he explains how God is a multiplier, and that every small act for Him will produce a large, invaluable reward. When we let Him in to our lives, our work, and our relationships, Jesus Christ changes everything.
Understanding Our Own Calling
A few weeks back I was listening to a message by Steven Furtick from Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC. This was part 2 of his “Crash the Chatterbox” series. In a portion of the message Furtick was talking about how God sees us as individuals with individual talents and specific abilities unique to who we are. At one point, He made a statement that was what I term as a ‘wow’ moment, “We judge our abilities against some elses calling.”
Throughout my life I’ve measured who I was by the standards of a given church, group, association or the world’s view. Instead of understanding my own abilities and the uniqueness of who I am, I strived to meet standards I was never meant to attain. I remember a statement a friend made when talking about how the military grooms leaders. He said, “They teach and train us like every officer will be the next chief of staff. This way the cream will rise to the top and those individuals will be the ones chosen for positions of authority.”
Resolving the Ownership Issue
Pride goes before the fall. I can’t remember exactly when I first heard that quote, but it has proven true. The actual scripture is from Proverbs 16:17-18 “17 The highway of the upright avoids evil; those who guard their ways preserve their lives. 18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Arrogance and boastful pride are two things I do my best to guard against. I have watched a haughty spirit destroy churches, business, racing organizations and successful people. At some point people think they are all that and a bag of chips. This is when they will falter and fall.
Finding Favour – Say Amen
All I can say is AMEN!
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