Devotional
An Encounter With God
Are you seeking an answer to a situation in your life? Then you must get alone with the Lord and seek Him with all of your heart. You must come to the end of yourself. Once you are beyond your own abilities, that is when the Lord can do His greatest work. This is what I have encountered time after time when I needed an answer to a situation. I first had to realize that I could not do anything in the natural to change the issue or find a solution to a problem.
We just experienced this with a weekend where we needed to find an additional camera operator. I tried and tried, for over a month, to find this person with zero results. Just when I was about to call the race promoter to let them know we did not have a solution to cover their event, the date for one of the races on that weekend was changed eliminating the problem.
Entitlements
I was raised on the belief that you give an honest days work for an honest days wage. If you are unwilling to put forth the effort to do a job correctly, then do not bother to do the job at all. You must be willing to ‘sign your name’ to anything you do that all would know you did the job. Not so you would gain some type of man made glory, but that you would be seen as a person of integrity and accountability.
Paul tells us In Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. The world owes us nothing. The government owes us nothing. The sooner our society understands the famous words of President Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” the sooner we will rebuild a country in ruin and change a mentality of entitlement to one of values and ideals.
The Flight of Geese
One of the most difficult things in the world for men to do is to ask for help. Be it directions or roofing your house, we have a tendency to believe we can handle it without anybody or anything helping us. Can I tell ya, just in typing that statement I see the stupidity in believing it as a truth. We were not meant to do life alone in any endeavor.
I remember having a talk with our youngest son in January of 2013. We were at the local Kroger gas station filling up the motorhome after our trip to Texas and Oklahoma to pick up and install our new satellite dish. Some months earlier, He had broken up with a girl he had dated for several years and was going to marry.
Being Choked by Wealth
I have spoken in the past about surviving success in my life be it personal or professional. Today’s devotional is about that subject.
In our society, I have found if you are not lacking (material or financial needs) you are not looking for the Lord. That’s sad…it would be like only loving your spouse or showing them attention when you needed something. My wife is my best friend, my life long companion, I could not imagine treating her that way. But this is the way people treat our Lord. They only think of Him when they need something.
Just Say Jesus
Romans 10:13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
The song, ‘Just Say Jesus’ by 7eventh Time Down, has been on my heart for 2 days. The video is the post directly under this post. I’ve included the lyrics below.
We’ve been through many trials this years. Some personal, some business related. Many of the problems have been easy and others have been very hard. There were times when we did not know if our company would survive the day. In all of these things I called on the name of Jesus. Not because it was my ‘last resort’, but my first thought.
The Value of Words
Your word is your bond, that is how I was raised and it’s how I raised my children. If you tell someone you will do something, you do it, period. Yes, there may be the odd occasion when you can not do what you said you would do, that should be the extreme exception, not the rule.
We had 2 contracts where the conditions on a few of the races changed after the agreements were signed. The changes cost us $6000. I had already given my word on the price, I eat the $6K.
Made in His Image
Yesterday I received news of the passing of a friend from Oklahoma. He was a contract instructor in the US military training system and had been my instructor many times during our annual simulator training. As I thought about him, I wondered…did he know the Lord? As I grow older, the death of those I’ve known during my life is becoming more common. It makes me realize my days left in this world are shorter than those I’ve already lived.
Each day we have an opportunity to be Jesus in the life of those around us. Not the preachy Christians many see today, but a true example of Jesus, loving God and loving people. Jesus accepts us right where we are…no predisposition, no criteria to meet, simple and straight forward acceptance. This is how we must act towards those we see each day.