In God We Trust

As I pulled into my parking spot at the airport my "ADD COOLANT" light came on. No big deal, I will deal with it when I get back at the end of the week. Four days later as I got back to my car, the light was still on, no big deal just coolant.

I live about 50 miles away from the airport and told myself that I will just keep an eye on the temperature gage and if any issues arise I will just add coolant.25 minutes into the trip home my Gage spiked and car became very hot, so I pulled off, found a QT it was the only thing open at midnight.

Unfortunately, the coolant didn't work, I knew the car would have to go to the shop. Early the next morning I dropped the car off at the dealership, picked up my loaner and off I went. It was about 3 hours later when I got the call..." Man are you lucky!!!, Your warranty expires in 3 days".

It turns out my car needed a new thermostat and electrical water pump, which was 100 percent covered by the warranty. I asked my service concierge how much would this has cost 4 days from now? The answer was $3125! WOW!

Lucky, Right??? Wrong! This sort of thing is very common when you tithe and honor the lord in your giving. Many people have the misconception that when you tithe all of your financial issues/struggles go away, that is not biblical nor accurate. The difference is that when you tithe the money or resources will always be there when you need it. When you do not tithe the money and resources will not be there when you need it.

God knows how to take care of those who honor him by obeying his word and who live according to his Godly principles. The Bible says in  2 Chronicles 16:9... "The eyes of the lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward him". Giving is an act of faith, can you give in the midst of finacial difficulty? Do you believe God is big enough to take care of you and meet your needs?

I'll never forget the time several years ago when we had two kids in daycare and one on the way it was Christmas time and we had just sponsored 3 little children who were not going to have a Christmas and we went a little overboard buying them clothes, bikes, the whole 9 yards just did not have enough to cover gifts for our extended family that year, we were tithers and we prayed and asked God to help us. A few days later we received a check in the mail for $1200 from some class action lawsuit that I didnt even know that I was apart of. My wife and I needed $1150 to cover the gifts. LOL. Coincedence? Luck? No-Just God being God!

Giving and acts of Faith will always catch the eye of God as long as it is done with the right motive!


For me this whole things goes to my biblical worldview and faith. What is the reason that God created us and what is the mandate/plan that he has for our lives?

GODLY LIVING AND GODLY GIVING!

Simply put, God blesses us for three reasons:

1. He is a joyful giver and a great father who loves his children.
2. To meet our needs.
3. To be a blessing to other people. Bless others in his name eventually they turn to him.

It amazes me the number of Christians out there who do not tithe! The moment we invite Jesus into our lives we grant him access into every area of our lives. The reason that Christan non tithers struggle financially (and they all do!) is because they are living in rebellion to God in the area of finances. 

My wife and I have these friends that are Christians but they live from one financial crisis to another. They have a curse on their finances because they refuse to tithe. They know they should tithe but they refuse, living in willful disobedience to God. Just when they think they have made it through one crisis another pops up again and again and again. eventually they will hit rock bottom.

God will allow (he doesn't cause it but will allow it) financial struggle into your life as many times and as severe as necessary to get your attention so you are forced to turn to him for help.

He has to bring us to the end of our own strength so we can find the beginning of his. That cannot happen friends when your living in rebellion to his word.

All God wants is your heart! Once he has your heart he has you. Its starts with your checkbook. The Bible says in Matthew 6:21    "Where your treasure is so is your heart!". The treasure our Lord is referring to here is two fold:

Time and Money!

 All one has to do is look to see where you spend your time and money to see what you love in life! What does your calendar and bank account say about you? Do you love truly love the lord by spending time with him? Do you truly love the lord by giving and blessing others?

We say we love the lord but spend more time watch Netflix then reading the Bible. We say we love the lord yet we have people in own families who struggle financially yet we never give a dime. 

This is why God blesses us, so we can bless others. There comes a point in your walk with the lord that you actually come to the point where you become a cheerful giver and you see how much better it is to give than to receive. 

We cant take it with us, right? Your money/home/car/watch collection/stocks/bonds/timeshare stays here when you die and enter into eternity. Don't get me wrong, those things aren't bad unless you value them over your relationship with God and Godly giving.

What helps me is my definition of wealth:

"having enough to meet all of my needs and the needs of others over and above my tithe".

As a Christan, the mandate on our lives is to love Jesus and bless others. We don't give because we expect to get anything back (that is a very dangerous theology called the Prosperity Gospel-God is not mandated to do anything for us, he and he alone chooses to whom he will bless. We do not command and order God to return our giving 30,60 and 100 fold). 

When you give to people-do not give with strings attached so you can control-that's not Godly giving. Give because you are blessed and want to bless others in the name of Jesus. 

If you a Christan non tither and have fallen on financial times, things will never get better financially until you do the following...

1. Go to the Lord and repent for not honoring him in the area of your giving.
2. Thank him for what you have every single day. (job/home/family/car/salvation). Doing this will allow you to develop an attitude of gratitude which is essential to your maturation in the area of giving and Christianity in general.
3. Write out a tithe check as soon as you finish thanking him in step #2.
4. Follow step #2 everyday.
5. Follow step #3 every time you get paid.
6. Understand the difference between pre/post tithe. Financial issues will come up- pretithe, the resources were not there to meet the need. Post tithe-the resources will be there to meet the need. I have lived it for 20 years-trust me.

I never worry about finances, I have had so many times in my life where I needed God to come big and he did every single time! Giving is an act of faith and our faith moves the hand of God!

My wife is one of the most generous people I have ever known. Literally every single week we are buying someone shoes, clothes, whatever needs that God allows to find my wife. I kid around that my wife is a giant magnet that attracts every need within a 5 mile radius to our doorstep. LOL. I love it, she inspires me with her generosity and I know that God is well pleased when we bless others. After all, we have what we have in life only because of God's generosity and grace in our lives. Who are we to not bless others in need?

 There were times in my life before I tithed that I struggled financially and that is a tough way to live. The stress and worry over finances can take years off of your life, destroy marriages and tear people apart. That's what the Devil wants, he will do anything he can to separate you from God. One of his major tactics is in the area of giving, if he can create a financial storm in your life maybe he can keep you from writing that check. Remember, giving is an act of worship and faith for the Christian. 

You don't have to live that way. You can decide right now to change. You can choose today to honor the lord with your giving, he stands at the door and waits patiently for you to invite him in, what are you waiting for???

"Hey Lady, Pick up that Cheeto!"

This past week as I sat in the Orlando airport waiting to board my flight, I happen to notice a woman who walked by eating a bag of Cheetos, she stopped right in front of the Jetway and began to look out the window and reposition herself, as she did that she dropped one of her Cheetos.

After she dropped the Cheeto, she looked down right at it and then looked around as if looking to see if anyone saw her drop the Cheeto, then proceeded to walk away like nothing happened leaving it on the floor.

As I sat there and watched this play out I was wondering if she was going to pick it up? It would have taken less than a second to reach down and pick it up. That got me thinking, why do people do what they do? Did she think it was cool to just leave it there? Did she give any concern that someone else would have to pick up her mess? If she didn't know she dropped it, okay. If she was handicapped and was physically unable to pick it up no problem.

I don't know why this Cheeto thing has bothered me so much, I just can't get over it, why didn't she just pick up the Cheeto? If she dropped it at home, would she have picked it up? If she thought someone saw her drop it would she have picked it up? Who knows. It's funny because one of the biggest qualities that I look for in business leaders is that they are willing to get their hands dirty and lead by example.

One of the tactics that I still use as I travel across the country and visit business leaders is I will drop a piece of paper and a pen when no one is looking and just walk away and come back and see if it is still there. As a matter of fact just a month ago, I did it in my office and I sat in the sales room and made a few calls and I watched two highly compensated sales business leaders walk right over that piece of paper and not bother to pick it up.

As I see it there are only 4 reasons why people don't pick up that piece of paper:

1. Attitude.You don't want to pick it up. (laziness, Its not your job, you don't care)
2. Oblivious.You don't see the piece of paper (you don't pay attention to detail-you miss small things-a killer in the business world)
3. Distraction. Unable to multi-task.You see the paper but your phone rings and you answer and forget about it or someone walks by and strikes up a conversation and you never get around to it.
4. You physically can't bend down to pick it up.

I have expereinced a tremendous amount of success in business over the last 20 years. I have been studying and reading people for a long time. What makes them tick, why they do what they do and here is my nugget of truth that I have found...

WORDS MEAN ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! 

Most communication is nonverbal in nature- your words can tell lies but your body language and actions tells everything.

What  do your actions say about you?

Here is what I know about people... "Everyone talks a good game", most people if you ask them will say "I am a Christan". herein lies the problem- these are just empty words unless they are accompanied by a life changing/transformational person who has truly accepted Jesus Christ into their heart as evidenced by the Fruit of the Spirit(love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness and self-control. True Christ like character is what we do and how we live our lives when we think no one is looking or watching. Here's the thing, when you a Christian you are always being being watched. God is watching as well as the enemy of our soul whom the Bible describes  perfectly in 1 Peter 5:8 "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

He prowls around and just looks for the open door of sin and rebellion into our lives, to gain a foothold. Unfortunately, these days he doesn't have to look to hard to find it-and that's just in church on Sundays. I grow quite weary of all the so called Christians who try to wear their religion like a merit badge yet act no differently than the rest of the world. At least the rest of the world doesn't profess one thing but live another. The Bible refers to these people as "double minded men, unstable in all of their ways".

Here is a real life example... about 8 years ago, I had a gate that needed repaired and I contracted with a local handyman who came to the house, gave me an estimate, told me his whole story had 11 children lived a few neighborhoods down from me and loved Jesus with his whole heart, he had the Cross conveniently displayed on his van and business cards.

He asked me for $125 deposit for materials, I was a bit reluctant as I did not know this man, but thought, he is Christan- no worries. That day was the last day I ever saw him or heard from him again. After about a week, I called the number on the business card and the number was disconnected, so I tracked him down on the Internet, got his home phone number and called his house. A man answered and said "oh, Jimmy hasn't forgotten about you he's really busy", not too busy to cash my check the same day he received it. Another two weeks went by and nothing, I attempted to call several more times but to no avail. Eight years later and still out my $125, but at least he loved Jesus!

Over my many years in business I have hired countless self-professing Christan's who I or someone on my team has had to fire for excessive absenteeism, dishonesty, stealing and a litany of other reasons. My personal favorite is when you interview them they list Sunday School teacher in the Volunteer section of their resume and then just stop showing up for work or quit without any notice. But hey, at least they love Jesus, right? 

It is not up to me to judge whether these people are Christan or not, but these people are everywhere, it is downright scary how many of these people are out there. I am sure at somepoint they know they are are dishonoring God but I think the more they sin, the longer they go that still small voice is tougher and tougher to hear to hear abd before they know it their sin has seperated them from the God they once served. The Bible refers to this as the Great Apostacy- we are living it right now! The turning away of Biblical Principles and from serving God to serving self!

What is going on in this country? A good time to add this- There are many God fearing, genuine Christians who do love Jesus and live lives devoted to him-they are both the salt and light of this world. We are not talking about them today. 

Something is majorly wrong here folks! You don't get to claim "Jesus" and live any life you want to live and do whatever you want.You cant go watch Internet porn, get drunk, cheat on your old lady, lie on your taxes, steal time and inventory from your employer, not tithe, deliver inferior products and services to your customers, gossip and slander the people you sat next to in Church last week.! Loving Jesus means you subscribe to a biblical worldview and you use the Bible as your guide in how you live and treat other people. It also causes us to live that Biblical character that Jesus and his disciples modeled for us in the Bible. That is not an easy life, it takes patience, sacrifice and accountability.

Here is my take: Matthew, Chapter 7

5Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

21Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Two things are at work here, The bible basically says many people will SAY they are Christians but it instructs us and gives us guidance on how to tell the difference..."By their Fruit" otherwise know as Their words, actions, their giving, etc. 

The second thing at play is the deception on behalf of those people who actually think they are  in the right relationship with God-but Matthew is very clear in verse 21-"They call me Lord- They think they know me" But those are just words and words without actions/faith mean nothing. I will throw them out as I never knew them. WOW!

We are living in a dangerous time and we have people playing a dangerous game. You are either in or out! Your words/actions/motives/giving/work tells us all we need to know about what God you serve! You either serve Jesus or you serve Self. By your fruits we shall know you.

Here is what I love about God, If you have backslidden and not been living the life God has called you to, you can repent of your sin today and God will forgive and restore you. But you must turn away from your sin, God will help you, sin is a struggle for everyone. 

How do we make a difference? We must first understand unlike the Cheeto lady we are always being watched. Everything that we do and say whether in public or private should bear fruit and witness to the Holy Spirit and the Word. We cannot overcome this world but Jesus already did. We must spend the time necessary to develop our relationship with Jesus every day through prayer and word study. If we aren't on top of our spiritual game there is no way we can help others. This requires turning off the cell phone or TV or whatever 25 things that clamor for our attention and get alone with the lord! This has to happen daily, without it we don't have a chance. 

We must be givers of our time/prayers/money on a daily basis to those people whom God has placed in our lives. We must be willing to confront Sin in a Godly, loving way and refuse to allow anything or anyone to take the place of God in our lives. 

Life as a Christian is a daily battle. We only lose if we quit. You have people in your life today, that are deceived, fooling themselves into thinking they are in a right relationship with Jesus, but they are not. Their fruit and actions say otherwise. Do you love them enough to speak up? 

We are called to model Godly living to those around us. People need to see the Jesus we serve in our words/motivations/language/giving/work ethic/ the way we treat others. We live to glorify our lord and to be his voice in this world. 

We are running out of time to be difference makers in peoples lives, every day is one day closer to eternity, what are you waiting on? Strive to be a Needle Mover for Jesus today!

I challenge you to find one person and make a difference today!

"He just needs to get a job!"

December 2003, I had been invited to speak at a Sales conference that my company was having in Nashville, TN. I had arrived in the early evening and was hungry so my boss (who had tagged along to get a few days away from his wife) myself and a few other colleagues decided we were going to head downtown to get some dinner.

This particular year, it was freezing, I remember being so cold walking those two blocks to the restaurant. As we were about a block away, I noticed a man who was laying on top of an air vent in the alley between the buildings. He was all bundled up and obviously laying on the air/heating vent to stay warm.

As we walked inside the restaurant and sat down, I could not stop thinking about that man and how cold it was outside. The story in the Bible of the Good Samaritan kept playing over and over again in my mind and I felt an extreme burden to help that man.

As soon as we placed our order, I looked over at my boss and said "hey, we are buying that guy outside dinner, it's cold out and it's the least we can do" before he could utter a word the waitress stops and interrupted me and said "I can't believe you are going to give that bum money! He is just lazy and doesn't deserve it, he could get a job, he would rather take handouts than work, I will not put in that order, I am sick and tired of those people always with their hands out".

Now before I could respond, my boss who didn't know the Book of Genesis from the Book of Revelation told her if she wanted a tip to hush and place the order. I ordered him a cheeseburger, fries, bowl of chili and piece of cake for dessert.

As we walked out I walked over the man, turns out he wasn't sleeping just curled up to stay warm, I looked at him, told him that Jesus loves him and handed him the bag and we walked back to our car.

As we got into the car we were parked on a one way street and had to drive right past the man to get to our hotel, as we drove by, we saw 3 other men standing with him, one had the fries, one had the bowl of chili, the other with the dessert and I looked at that man, who was now standing, he had the big cheeseburger in his hands and had a smile from ear to ear as he ate his burger.

Many things that we do as Christians, the world cannot understand or comprehend. That waitress displayed incredible anger and judgment as she thought that man was just lazy, unwilling to work, a bum.

Any time we step out in faith to represent the Lord you can be guaranteed that someone or somebody will have something to say about it and will not like it. These interactions should only serve to strengthen our faith and resolve. Living a life as a Christian is not easy and not for the faint of heart. The Bible is very clear that in latter days, many Christians will walk away from their faith choosing instead to serve the god of this world... Mammon and self instead of our one true God! When people serve the God of Mammon or self, they become incapable of blessing others instead morphing into becoming Narcissistic in thought, word, and deed. Totally shutting down the voice of the Holy Spirit in their lives, no longer displaying the transformation of a Christ-centered live as evidenced of the Fruit of the Spirit.

Our job is not to judge, that is God's job. Our job is to be difference makers in the lives of people God puts into our lives, whether they are here a mere moment, a few years or many years. As we mature in our relationship with God the Holy Spirit begins to open our eyes the needs of others around us.

The reason that we have more than we need is to be a blessing to other people. That is what the Christian faith is about, loving others because God loved us and putting feet to our faith and actually doing something to bless other people in the name of Jesus. Friends, it is one thing to see the needs of others but an entirely different thing to actually do something about it! That's the difference maker, DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

On the way back to the hotel my boss couldn't stop talking about how that guy had given his food away to those three other guys and how he felt really good because he was a part of blessing hose people. It opened an opportunity for me to share with him the story of the Good Samaritan and how God went out of his way to bless us with his son Jesus Christ on the Cross. I was able to plant a seed for the lord that day with my Boss.

Our giving and generosity can open doors of opportunity to impact people's lives and spread the good news of the gospel. We came with nothing into the world, we will leave this world with nothing but our relationship with Jesus and a future date with God to review how we lived our lives for him.

The battle we fight daily is the battle to be self-absorbed with our lives, issues and needs and skate past or overlook the needs of other people. When was the last time you blessed someone else? I know that God himself views the blessing of others as ministry unto him! He has a heart for the people the world looks down upon as not measuring up or being good enough. Too goofy looking, too short, too fat, too uneducated, too broken. While the world sits back and judges, the true followers of Christ step into action and become God's outstretched arm in this world.

Every day we draw a breath is precious, we are living on borrowed time which we do not have any control over. Live every day like today is your last. Hug your kids, tell your spouse you love them and be a blessing to others!

He is the Difference Maker

5 Time Region Sales Manager of the Year, 2 Time National Sales Manager of the Year, President's Club Award Winner and 7 promotions. As if it could have been anyone or anything other than God! The successes and victories over the years have not been a surprise to me. The game is a little rigged, the competition not fair. 

I have been successful because of God's favor and blessings in my life. Yes, I have to show up, work very hard, make intelligent business decisions and motivate my associates. The difference that I have seen in my personal relationship with the lord over the last 20 years is how we are molded into the image of Jesus over time.

I didn't start out successful, I started out with a chip on my shoulder and spent the vast majority of late teenage years and early 20's comparing myself to other people and becoming bitter when I perceived they had a better life than I did all while blaming God at the same time.

Then something changed- I began to change. As I spent more time reading the Bible and proclaiming and speaking out loud the promises of God, I literally began to view things/situations in a different light. My situation didn’t change, I changed.

The more time we spend in the word and in prayer the more we change and begin to see things differently. In most cases, when we pray we ask God to change our circumstances and situations but more often God changes us.

At the point of conversion or when we invite Jesus Christ into our lives as our Lord and Savior and ask for forgiveness of our sins, The Holy Spirit comes and lives within each of us. His job is to reveal the character and love of the father and to lead and guide us until the time we are called home.

The Holy Spirit is the difference maker in our lives! The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 2:26 "For God gives to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom and knowledge and joy." If that is not a competitive advantage in our lives, I am not sure what is!

In order to realize that competitive advantage in our lives and receive the wisdom, knowledge and joy that god promises us there are a few things required on our end and here they are...

1.  Stop the sin in our lives. Nothing will stop the favor and blessings of God in your life and business quicker than sin. We cannot expect God to bless us if we are cheating on our spouse, lying on our tax returns, gossiping about others, being deceitful in our business transactions. Sin stifles the voice of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
2. God has to be # 1 in our lives. If God is most important in our lives that will be shown in the amount of time we spend with him in prayer, supplication, thanksgiving and praise. God should be our first and last conversation every day.
3. Giving. Tithing and giving regular offerings is non-negotiable with God. According to the Bible everything we have belongs to God, he doesn’t need our money to spread his word, he gives us a free will and allows each of us to choose what we do with that money. I have been both a tither and non-tither in my relationship with God and based on my personal experience it’s a no-brainer. Show me a Christian who doesn’t tithe regularly and I will show you a Christian who has a luke warm relationship with God at best! We can also give of our time which is also very important.



My Scripture Cards

4. Speak the Word. God's word is powerful. The bible says that the "power of life and death are in the tongue". We have a choice we can speak the life giving words of God  over our lives and businesses or we can speak the world's word over them. Which do you think will have a greater positive impact? The moment that I began to speak God's word over my life, I changed. I saw things differently, become more patient, and began to evolve more into the image of Christ in terms of how I lived my life. The word of God as I spoke it out audibly over my life changed me. What I did was I went to the Bible and created Scripture cards on various promises of God for our lives and I wrote them down and created a rolodex of Bible promises that I have been speaking out over my life, family and business for the last 20 years. Mine have coffee spilled on them, been ripped, had 3 different kids drawing on them over the years yet they still survived and are used daily, There is nothing in my opinion that has brought me closer to the lord (except fasting) than using and speaking these scripture cards over my life. They travel with me everywhere, I now have two sets with over 350 different promises of God. I speak them out in the car, at the office, in the airport whenever I get a chance. They work! It takes less than an hour to create them.

As a Christian, God is on our side, he searches for ways to bless us and draw us closer to him. Think about that it terms of the advantage that we have over non-christians. Where do they go when the "storms of life beat upon them?" Who do they turn to when they are bankrupt and almost destitute? To whom do they look to for strategic business advice or favor when an important budget meeting, interview or Dr. Appointment has the ability to be life changing?

We have hope and faith that our God promises to never leave us nor forsake us! A clear and distinct advantage over the competition. A difference maker in our lives! When I think about this I think about an experience I had when I was in High School at a wrestling tournament.

Each year we had a 30 team dual tournament from across our state where we had Class A (the big schools) and Class B (the little schools) wrestle each other for the only time each year. There had been a huge rivalry for years between the fans of the different classes, each thought they were superior. We could not wrestling each other at Sectionals/Regionals/State because of the different classes so this tournament becuase it had many of the top teams was as close to being fully loaded as you could get without the State Tournament.

The dual tournament featured the top teams in the state in my sophomore year. The top in Class B was a small town about 100 miles from where I lived. Their entire town was consumed with High School wrestling, the whole place closed down and everyone traveled with the Team. It was eerily similar to the basketball movie "Hoosiers". Not only did this town have the top wrestling team in Class B they also had one of the top heavyweight wrestlers in the state who had already accepted a college wrestling scholarship to a division 1 school. Oh, what made this more interesting was this was also the town that my father had moved to when he remarried a few years earlier.

My brothers and I had travelled to that town many times over the last few years, so I was well acquainted with the wrestling team. For the last few years, every time I went to see my dad, I ran into someone connected to the wrestling team including my 3 step brothers who every visit proceeded to tell me that I ever had to wrestle "Marcus" (the best wrestler they ever had) I would be beaten quite badly and pinned within a minute.

My father was no stranger to wrestling as he had seen my brothers and I wrestle for years and he knew how good I was, but he had to hear it every day in his new community. This tournament was huge a 4 day meet, day 2 into the meet my team found itself in the same bracket as this team! It was on! The Top class A and B teams with the two best heavyweight wrestlers finally going at it.

That night, I got a knock on my hotel door around 9pm. It was my dad, he looked at me said “Son, I need you to go out and kick that kid's a _ s tomorrow, If you lose I will never live it down" When my team arrived to the gym, it was almost like overnight it had turned into a home match for this team, they literally packed about 1,000 fans into the tiny section that their team had roped off.

A 5 point throw in wrestling

Almost immediately, I was approached by Chris, a junior wrestler who lived next door to my father and step brothers. Chris was the 125 pound wrestler on their team. Chris looked at me and said "Marcus is going to destroy you today", I laughed him off and sent him away.

You see what no one else understood except me and my coach was that I was the much better wrestler, I had been on the biggest of wrestling stages, had beaten many wrestlers much better than him and his wrestling style matched up perfectly against mine. Marcus was 6'3" and I was 5'9"and the only chance he had of beating me was to not tie up and try to take me down and keep me on the mat. I knew Marcus was way too arrogant for that, He was going to try and "throw me" to make a big show of it. If he tried that would be his downfall. I wrestled year around and had a Freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling background and with my low center of gravity if he tied up he had no chance.

This would have made for a great Made for Television movie, as heavyweights ours was the last match. The score was 32-27 going into our match. We needed 6 points or a pin to win. If Marcus beat me or if I won by decision my team would have lost the dual. In order to win for the team, I need a 6 point pin.

As I walked out onto the mat, all I could hear was Marcus, Marcus, Etc. As we shook hands at center mat, he purposely held thehand shake longer and tried to squeeze, I laughed. I caught my dad in the 5th row eyes glued staring me down. The whistle blew and the rest was history...

The next thing I knew, my dad literally leaped from the fifth row landed on the center mat, practically knocked over the referee grabbed my arm almost ripping it out of the socket raised it as high as he could and then proceeded to "shoot the bird to crowd and said" I told you, I told all of you". Class act dad! Class act. LOL

He next looked at me and said "I am proud of you" the only time in my life my dad ever said it!

The match went exactly like my coach and I knew it would, Marcus wrestled the type of match that did not favor his style, and he put himself at a major competitive disadvantage against an upper body wrestler like me. After tying up with me, Marcus was launched for a 5 point throw called a "lift lateral drop" that saw his feet clear all 5' 9" of my height right onto his back and was pinned in 42 seconds. The match was over and so was the debate of class A versus B.

The Non-Christian world or the Chrisitan who is not living for God is a lot like Marcus trying to wrestle my style of match, its fruitless and puts them at distinct disadvantage although they are incapable of seeing it. I want to encourage you today as a Christian that we have big advantages over the rest of the world and those advantages began 2,000 years ago on a cross. Our lord willingly died without sin to give all who belong to him that significant advantage.

Have you given up your advantage as a Christian? When is the last time you went to church? Read and studied your Bible? Does your language line up with Scripture? Gossip about other people much? Do you tithe? Are you a blessing to others?   If you give up your advantage by not placing him as #1 in your life, you become no different than the non-Christian world and you will never truly fulfill the plan, purpose and destiny that God has for your life.

You have a chance to hit the rest button today if you have not made God the #1 focus in your life. Ask today for his forgiveness and that your priorities align with his will and he will be faithful to forgive you and help you.

If God has been #1 in your life, continue to allow your light to shine in the darkenss! Continue to thank him continually for his blessings and leave people better than when you found them because as we know..."He will at a day and hour which no man will you will not expect"!

"Jesus ain't got nothing to do with it"

As my name was called, I walked up from the back of the room, stepped forward and accepted my Sales Manager of The Year Award, the presenter asked me to say a few words, as everyone sat down, I quickly cleared my throat and said " As I look back to the tremendous year that we had in 1999, I can't help but thank the 40 sales reps that made this year happen, their hard work and dedication was truly a difference maker! I also want to thank my supervisor team that put up with all of the long hours and stressful days ensuring that we hit our sales goals, but most of all I would like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who has poured out his favor and blessing and without him none of this would be possible"

Before I could utter another word, a clearly intoxicated man sitting in the front row, looked at me, laughed, stood up and said: "Man, Jesus ain't got nothing to do with you winning this award, you just got lucky and had a good year!" and proceeded to laugh hysterically at his own comment.

Being pretty quick on my feet and being called out in front of several hundred  people I calmly and confidently said..."I guess you all now know, who this year's runner-up is, glad he's not taking it personally." The 500 people in attendance roared and the guy was totally destroyed. Thank you Lord for a great come back, LOL.

Can I tell you that the day you become a Christian and invite Jesus into your life as your lord and savior everything has to do with him! The non-christian world cannot understand that, without the Holy Spirit present in their lives they are literally incapable of understanding why everything should be about Jesus.

As a Christian, I have a biblical worldview which means that I view everything through the lens of what scripture has to say... How I treat people, How I live, How I give, How I raise my Children, My life's purpose and destiny, everything.

As a Christian, God has a unique and special call on each one of our lives. He has a plan, purpose and destiny that he created uniquely for each one of us before we even existed. God does not make mistakes, he did not make a mistake in creating you and he did not make a mistake in placing you in the environment where you currently find yourself!

Your environment is your ministry, God has placed you where he needs you, your family, coworkers, friends, relatives and acquaintances are members of your church and God has called you to minister to them on a regular basis. 

When your ministry with those individuals is finished God will move you or them on to different pastures. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:1 "For everything there is a season and time for every matter under Heaven". This includes People coming in and out of our lives.

Our goal as Christans should be to leave people better than when we found them, to shower them with the love and compassion of Jesus Christ and to be a living, breathing example of that love in this world. 

How do we do that? 

Here are 3 tips to help get you started...

1. You have to be living a victorious life in Christ, if you are not, all of your focus will be on yourself and you will be incapable of ministering to your flock.All of your time will be spent on your problems and issues, you will have nothing left for anyone else. How do you live a victorious life? Its actually easy, You make God #1 in your life and build a daily relationship with him through spending time in the Bible,  Prayer, Thanksgiving(Having an attitude of gratitude is vital-be thankful for what you have) and Worship. God should be the first and last person you speak with every day. When you spend quality time daily with God your whole life will change for the better. When you live a victorious life, people will take notice and will gravitate toward you.
2. You have to be bold. It's not easy to speak with non-Christians about Jesus. It was not easy to Get up in front of those 500 people and proclaim the goodness of Jesus Christ. Let your life be your witness and testimonial, if your doing it right, people will come to you and want to emulate what you have. That will open the door for you to share the reason for your hope, the reason why your faith doesn't waiver, why you are generous. God will see to that. Here is a tip... even the most hardcore non christian people out there will allow you to pray for them during a difficult time, the next time one of your flock says... my daughter is sick, I am struggling in sales, I need to find a new job, the radiator in my car went out and I don't have the money for it, offer to pray with them for a solution and if you feel led by Lord-help them meet their need!
3. Be generous with your time, energy and money. God's people aren't penny pinchers when it comes to helping those in need. God gives us abundance for the sole purpose of being able to bless others. If someone in your flock has a need, nothing says the "Love of Jesus" more than a check or your time to help meet the needs of others. Generosity opens doors and gets the attention of God. Let me share with you a story that perfectly illustrates my point...

For as long as I could remember, I have always wanted a luxury car, I actually used to prayer that one day God would bless me enough to be able to buy a really nice car. At the same time for the last 20 years I had a company car with fuel, insurance and maintenance paid for. I thanked God daily for that company car and over time I stopped praying for a luxury car because I thought desiring a luxury car when God provided a free car was ungodly. 

Last year, I happen to be talking with a guy I work with and he was telling me about his 17 year old son who just received his driver's license and his birthday was coming up and he really believed his dad was going to buy him a car. Problem was his mother had been in and out of the hospital ran up numerous medical bills, plus they have 5 children and they could not afford to buy him a car and they were struggling so-there would be no car for the boy. His dad was broken up about it and was feeling like a failure that he could not buy his own son a car. I offered to pray for him and we asked God for a solution to this situation. 

 A week later I was at my desk reviewing our fleet inventory and we had this vehicle (a Dodge Charger) that was going up for disposal. It was a General Manager vehicle that had reached its corporate of 120,000 mile life span, still ran good but policy was clear, it had to be disposed of. This usally involves putting it out to bid for local dealers. The dad also saw this list and called me and asked if he could bid on the car and buy it for his son. A perk that we offer to our associates. I said "sure, can you afford it and he laughed and said "no". Later that night, I couldn't sleep and kept thinking about this dad and his son, being the father of 3 children I totally understood where he was coming from-he wanted in the worst way to be a hero to his son and buy that car for his birthday. I couldn't let it go so I prayed and asked the lord if we should buy that car for this dad, 10 minutes later my wife woke up, and told me to buy that car, so the next day I bought them the car, the dad hid it until the birthday party and his son "wigged out"he was so excited. He couldn't thank us enough- I was very clear that it was God who blessed him not us.

In true God fashion, this not the end of the story, about 3 months later I received a promotion at work and as part of that promotion, I was able to buy a BMW 7 Series luxury car that is paid for from my monthly car allowance. 

We cannot out give God, when we blessed that dad and bought him that car God responded to our faith and blessed us. Much more important than me being able to drive a luxury car was the witness and testimony to that dad about the love of Jesus Christ. 

One day, we will all stand before God and will have to give account of what we did while we lived on earth. We are called the be the "Salt and light" of this world.

 Friends, there are people littered throughout your life today, that need your witness, they need your generosity, they need your encouragement, they need to see the Jesus that you love and serve. Please make it a priority to share that love with someone today, that is what our lord asks of us!

"Hey dummy, why did you take your helmet off?"

Freshman year of college, day four of two-a-day practices second day of full pads and contact. I was getting the best of our All-Conference nose tackle, who was one of the Quad Captains on our football team. The thing was that he knew it and so did the coaches, his job was to get triple teamed to allow the Sam and Will linebackers to roam freely and attack the ball. I was dominating him alone so our two guards were able to peel off and get to the second level and interrupt the linebackers. A big No- No if you are a defensive player.

I should have seen it coming but I head no idea. After a particularly successful 10 yard run right up the middle and after picking himself up off the ground yet again, our beloved nose tackle and captain took it upon himself to shove me in the back while I was walking back to the offensive huddle.

This was college football, it might as well have been prison, the rules are the same- you are new and fighting for your life and respect. So I walked back to the huddle and the coach looks at me and says, "What are you doing?", "Why didn't you hit him?". Shortly after practice he pulled me into the office   and explained to me that standing up for yourself and going right back at the older players was the only way to get respect. He told me next time it happens, I needed to respond.

The next time didn't take too long, it was the next day. First play of practice- 52 Center Trap; I destroyed him, he shoved me in the back again and walked back to his huddle. This time without thinking I took off running full speed, I literally left my feet and hit that man harder than anything I had ever hit in my life! His head snapped back and he dropped, as a matter of fact, he really dropped! He had to be helped off of the field and he was out for the next several plays.

I knew what was coming next, the coaches knew what was coming next, he knew what was coming next. IT WAS ON!!! As Captain and one of the leaders of our team, this insubordination from a freshman could not go unanswered. The fight was coming...

He trotted back onto the field, we didn't even call a play in the huddle coach walks over and says to me  "hey man, with your wrestling background, you need to get this to the ground, his reach is twice yours" He was 6' 4', I was 5'9". Okay, I got it. Ground = winning the fight, I could do that!

 As soon as we broke the huddle I could see him tightening his gloves and buckling the 4th snap on his helmet. As soon as I got into my stance he jumped off-sides and shoved me to the ground and followed it up with a few four letter adjectives he used to describe me. He then motions for me to get it.

Never one to back down from a fight, I willingly got up, I was ready to nail this dude, so I threw my helmet off to get ready, then it happened...

A minute or two later I was awakened by our trainer giving me that horrible smelling stuff to wake me up. I had a horrible headache and blood was gushing out of my nose and mouth. For a minute, while laying there I had no idea what happened, so I asked the trainer and he said you got headbutted!

What? headbutted? Really? After a few more minutes I was helped up, my nose was stuffed with cotton, and I saw the coach walking over to me. I remember feeling angry that this guy "wussed out of fighting me like a man"  now this guy, team captain or not he was going to get his, no coach on any team would put up with something like that. Or so I thought.

Coach walks up and he says... "Hey dummy, why did you take off your helmet?" looks at me, looks at trainer and asks "is it broken?" trainer says "nope" and says "get back to practice, no more fighting".

WOW. That was it! As soon as he saw me throw off my helmet he "leaped" into action from what I had been told. To this day, I have no recollection off the headbutt itself. Although, to date I have had two nose surgeries, LOL.

Twenty plus years later as reflect back on that incident, I realize that I lost my chance of winning that fight the moment I threw off my helmet and gave my opponent a sizable advantage over me, which he took full advantage of. That wasn't on him, it was on me.

We as Christians give our enemy a sizable advantage over us when we focus on our problems and not on God's faithfulness. I cannot begin to tell you how much of my coaching time is taken up by business leaders talking about their problems and how they are struggling. Lets face it when we hit tough times it is a natural tendency to focus on the problem and the desire to want to share it with others.

The problem with that is that it only compounds our problems, the problem with problems is not the problem itself but the length of time we suffer through that problem- that is what weakens us. Most of us are strong enough to endure for a short time but any longer than that we become stretched and despair begins to set in and we take to blaming God or others for our current situation.

The question becomes, as Christians how do we handle problems and situations that arise? How do we keep our faith in the midst of the marital problems, financial stress, low cash flow, and heath scares?

The answer lies within this scripture...

"We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony" (Rev 12:11). We must realize that the battle was won that day on Calvary through the innocent shed blood of our Savior. If we have the victory through the blood, how do we get it to manifest in our situations? First we need to realize that these problems and situations are allowed by God into our lives. We know that God will never give us more than we can handle otherwise he would be a liar..."There is no temptation, test or trial taken you but such is common to man, but God is faithful, he will not suffer you to be tested, tempted or tried beyond what you can endure but will with every temptation, test or trail make a way of escape " (1 Cor 10:13) These events are allowed to come into to our lives because they will draw us closer to God, in order to see victory we have to come to the end of our own strength so we find the beginning of Gods. We must take our focus off of our problems and place that focus or attention on the solution which is Jesus Christ. Easier said then done, right?

Our enemy would love nothing more than to have Christians holed up having a 24/7 pity party and sharing with the entire world all of their problems, why? Its very simple, if you lose your testimony, you lose your witness!


What I mean, is the single biggest reason you are still alive is because your ministry (the call of God on your life-whatever he has called you to do and be) is not finished, you still have work to do. If you spend your time focusing on your problems you have nothing left in the tank for other people.

That is important because as a Christian our lives are designed to be used as living and breathing testimonials of living victoriously through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If all we are doing is confessing our "issues" and living from one problem to another how does God get the glory from that?

Simply put, he doesn't. What God gets glory in is our faith and how we respond and draw closer to him in the middle of those storms of life. How I personally do that is to thank God for his goodness and to focus on the past answers to prayer that I have received.

How I do that is I go back and read my Answer Book. The Answer Book is something that my family and I have been doing for years. Every time we receive and answer to prayer we write the whole situation down in our Answer Book and date it. We do this to celebrate the goodness and faithfulness of God, to instruct our children in prayer and keep a record of our answers to prayer in order to use the next time those pesky storms of life flare up again.

I cannot tell you how freeing and life giving it is to go back and read our struggles from 2010 and see how God showed up and answered our prayer, it is literally a shot of faith in the arm that brings instant encouragement! Once I read the Answer Book, I just begin to thank God for his faithfulness and I always walk away lifted up because I realize that whatever problem or situation is the flavor of this month, God has brought me through worse than this. I just need to stay in Faith, confess the victory and wait patiently for the lord and  go about encouraging and blessing others in his name.

Your answer to prayer will come, I promise. Focus on God and his faithfulness, thank him in advance for your answer, if you do not already have your own Answer Book, start your own, you will not be sorry.

Once you begin to focus on God instead of your problems, your eyes will be opened and you will begin to be sensitive to the needs of others around you and you can get back to the reason you are still here... To bless and minister to those people around you who need to have the love of Jesus and the Joy of the lord that you experience daily.

This is truly where the Maturation process in our relationship with Jesus is formed, can we in the midst of our own struggles, issues and problems still allow the Holy Spirit to use us to bless other people? The young or immature Christian cannot get beyond their own issues to see the needs of others around them. They shut down, lose their fruit, stop tithing, going to church, reading their Bible and before you know it, they are living in sin and fall further away from the lord. This is one of the biggest reasons why Christianity has fallen on hard times in the world today. Too many Christians focused on themselves and caught up in the cares and worries of the world(otherwise known as the Laodicean Church spoken of in the book of Revelation 3:14).

God always shows up for his people! Creating your own Answer Book will ensure you never forget that in the future, It will help you increase your faith and witness in tough times, something all of us can use.

This guy again, really???

I have learned over the years that God has a pretty funny sense of humor. Here is how the story goes...

Back in 2012 when I was a General Manager, I hired a new sales manager based on a recommendation from someone that I really trusted at the time. It started out well enough but then after a few weeks this new sales manager began to rub me the wrong way, he was arrogant, obnoxious and a know-it-all. You know the type.

Well, it wasn't too long before Mr. Congeniality got himself in trouble with HR for putting his foot in his mouth. Before I know it we had a series of HR investigations ongoing and it was causing a major disruption to the rest of my workforce.

So I pulled the sales manager in and basically tell him to stop the insanity or else he was going the way of the DODO bird. In the midst of that conversation we began discussing his personal life and the fact that he was a born again Christian.

I begin praying for this guy and soon decide to take him under my wing to help him, so I schedule a series of one on one meetings for us to just talk about anything and everything, I really wanted to help him get some stability in his life. He had a bright future, was pretty good in sales and enjoyed teaching people.

During our first session together I begin to speak with him about God and personal relationships and the next thing I know I was being cut off and told..."You know I used to preach, my father was a preacher I know the bible from beginning to end, you don't have to tell me about Jesus".

"ummm, okay", so I tried another 3-4 times to get him to speak with me, trying to build rapport and coach him up, every single time I was met with being cut off, some rambling of "I know how to manage people, I can sell with the best of them" and misrepresentation of scripture to justify his lifestyle.

So, I stop trying and write the guy off as not coachable and eventually I initiated a transfer to another location-to let someone else deal with him. LOL. Or so I thought...

Five months later we made a strategic decision to close the location I was working in so I transferred to another location. My first day in my new location, in my office walks this same guy! Yep, he's back! Lucky me!

So, I sit him down, somehow hoping the last several months have seen a change in his personality. No such luck, the only thing that happened was he finally got a divorce and now he was "back in the game-watch out single ladies" was his direct quote. I again try to help him by talking with him about Jesus and how He expects us to live and how we treat other people. This goes the same way as last time only this time something else happens...

He begins to try and start coaching me-giving me advice on leadership, Christian principles and winning and just about everything else he can think of. LOL. He had found a small measure of success in his new location and it went right to his head and now wanted to give me (his boss) business advice. LOL.

I quit trying and begin to avoid him as much as possible as this guy is now driving me crazy!I even saw him out once on a weekend and hid behind a rack of shoes to avoid him. I know- not very mature or Christ like-my wife gave me the business over that one. Six months later, I get promoted to Region Manager and transfer to a new location. The first thing I did after thanking the Lord for the promotion was to utter a sigh of relief that I was getting away from this guy, finally!

Two months later, I am sitting in my office and in walks this same guy with a giant box. He walks right up to me, slams his box on my desk, knocks off my Ohio State Buckeyes football helmet pen holder and says..." Guess who?" I just got promoted to sales manager here and I'm in the office right across the hall!

Are you serious??? I couldn't believe it-I was angry-no way this guy again!!! I couldn't get way from him.

After I calmed myself and began to pray, The answer came... As a christian and business leader, God calls me to be the Salt and Light of this world. I don't get to choose who I minister to- God does! The people who God puts in your life are those he would have you minister to- regardless if you like them or not. This guy keeps popping up and 4 years later I still share the office next to him, because God wants me to minister to him. When that ministry is finished, God will send us in different directions.

As Christian business leaders we can get preoccupied and distracted with so many things, that we fail to slow down and realize that People mean more to God than anything. After all He sent his son to die on the cross for people. The people in your life right now, family, friends, business associates, customers, vendors, etc. are placed in your life at this moment for a specific reason. Whether you want to punch them in the face or not. Whether they are rude or not, it doesn't matter. The people we want to most avoid are the people that God wants us to minister to the most-you see God knows just how to stretch us.

God uses the foolish in this life to confound the wise. This is so like God- he loves and has a special place in his heart for the people the rest of the world throw away, the people we deem obnoxious, the uncool people or the ones who don't measure up to our level of success or sophistication.You know who these people are-God personally sees to it that you have a few of them in your life right now! Trust Me.

God wants to use you to draw them closer to him. Once I received this revelation and repented, and I figured out why this guy was still hanging around it freed me up, I began to see him in a different light, I no longer see him as obnoxious but I see him as a guy who needs to see the love of Jesus through me. It vastly improved our relationship. He hasn't changed a bit-last week he gave a motivational book and told me to read it. I am a National Sales Director and he is a Sales Manager, LOL, but I have changed in the way that I now see him and view our relationship.

Who has God placed in your life to minister to? How can you better display the love Jesus to that person? For all of the Christians who live and thrive in the business world, our ministry is to these people who surround us everyday while we are conducting business to show them how to live a victorious life in Christ and model for them daily how a Christian should live. Once they see that what you have is genuine, they will want it too! Guaranteed!

People will come and go into our lives but our goal as Followers of our Lord Jesus Christ should be to leave each and every one of them better than when we found them, while we have them. It is our opportunity to impact this world for Jesus, the whole reason that we as Christians still live and breathe.

Whose life this next week, will you commit to bringing closer to our lord through your ministry? And who will you leave better than when you found them?

The Letterman's Jacket

It was a chilly afternoon in February, 1990. I was busy cleaning out my locker, just the day before I had finished off my freshman year of wrestling. I had a solid season I went 38-6 with 29 pins, I was very excited as the next day we had our Annual Wrestling banquet where I was going to officially be awarded a Varsity Letter in Wrestling.

Now you have to understand back then being a varsity Letterman and wearing that Letterman's jacket meant that you had arrived, other guys would be jealous, girls would fall over themselves to hang out with you, it literally meant that you were "in". Any Sophomore, Junior and Senior would have given just about anything to win a letter and sport that jacket.

However; I was a Freshman and not yet attending the high school, our high schools back in those days ran grades 10-12, I was still in Junior high one year away from attending. So you see where I am going with this, right?

I was literally about to become an icon, a man among boys, a legend. No Freshman prior to this had ever lettered in a varsity sport in my school. I had been picturing it in my mind all season long, had dreamed about and talked about, I visited the sporting goods store numerous times to make sure they had my size, "oh boy was this going to be great".

Then, it happened! As as I placing my headgear into my bag, Coach Mortan walked by and asked if he could see me in his office, I followed him to his office and sat down. What happened next was pretty much a blur and all of these many years later most of the conversation still escapes me except the following words..." You had a great freshman year and bright future in front of you however; I will not be giving you a letter at Tomorrow night's award banquet, we don't award Varsity letters to Freshman",

At that point, I went numb, I reminded the coach that I had 50 letter points based on wins, pins, tournament placing etc. and to qualify all I needed was 40 points. He said it didn't matter, awarding a varsity letter to me would demean the program and all of the upperclassman who had been with the program for several years who still had not earned their varsity letters.  He apologize and told me to keep my head up and there was always next season.

I was devastated, I ran all the way home, slammed my door and just started crying. I laid there for the next several hours on my waterbed (they were very popular back then) and finally fell asleep. I woke up about 3 AM still devastated and quite bitter. All I could think about was everyone was expecting me to walk into school Monday with that Letterman's jacket- what a loser I was!

Then literally no more than a few seconds later I had this flashback to when I was in the church the previous week. I had this remembrance of a saying that I had heard my mom say thousands of times about how Jesus loves us and wants a personal relationship with us. But this past Sunday she said that God is a gentleman and will never force himself upon someone or into any situation but that he stands at the door and waits for us to invite him in.

I was 15 years old, I had grown up going to church but at this point in my life, we went because we had to, plus my Mother was the Senior Pastor and we lived in the church Parsonage which was right next door to the church so was it wasn't open for debate. LOL.

I grew up in Sunday School and knew all of the Bible stories but didn't really care, I was too busy having fun and screwing around with my friends.

At this point, it was about 4am and I was desperate, so I decided that I was going to pray and here was my exact prayer..."Lord, I always hear my mother talk about how wonderful you are and how you desire to have a relationship with us and that care even about the smallest details of our lives, so I am asking that if you do exist, I am want to make you a deal tonight... "If you give me my Varsity Wrestling Letter tomorrow night I will spend the rest of my life serving you and telling everybody about how great you are".


Immediately after uttering that prayer, I called myself an "idiot" and cried myself back to sleep. The next day was the worst day of my life up to that point. I dreaded the banquet that night and just felt sad and like such a loser.

When the banquet time arrived I was filled with butterflies, and just knew I wasn't getting my letter, I sat there for the next two hours while stories and special moments from the season were shared, video clips were being played and I just sat there literally biting my lip so I would not cry, I was devastated.

After all the awards and letters were handed out the coach took to the microphone and said..." I have only more thing to give out and I would like to award freshman _____ _________ with his Varsity letter! Wait-What??? I looked up and couldn't believe it! Did he just say it? He motioned for me to come up there and get it- I slowly walked up there in somewhat of a daze- did this really just happen? Coach looked at me shrugged his should and said..."I woke up at 4 in the morning and couldn't sleep, wrestling with this decision, congratulations!".

As I sat in the car on the way home still numb, I kept replaying these events in my head... No way I got that letter- this coach never goes back on anything he says, ever! Then it hit me, It wasn't coach-It was Jesus! He woke up at 4am , the exact time I made my deal with the lord, I immediately told my mom the whole story and what exactly happened. She told me that God had a specific plan and purpose for my life that one day he would reveal it to me but in the meantime, I needed to thank him.

Upon arriving home I sat my letter on my desk and began to thank the lord for answering my prayer and giving me my letter. As I was doing that I had a very strong impression/feeling that God was going to hold me to our deal, as a matter of fact, that is exactly what I heard in a strange sort of way-not an audible voice per say but a strange inner knowing from deep within side of me.

Less than a few months later at Summer camp, I invited Jesus into my heart and became a Christian and its crazy but literally during my confession and praying the sinner's prayer, I had a vision of exactly what happened that night that I made the deal with the lord about my varsity letter and I was reminded that I promised God that I would spend the rest of my life serving him and telling others about him.

That was over 25 years years ago and every so often that same night and deal that I made with God comes up when I am praying. After all this time, I am still amazed, that the same God who created the Heavens and the Earth, The same God who parted the Red Sea, The same God who delivered Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the the Fiery Furnace is the same God who hears and answers our small, insignificant prayers. WOW.

But don't you see? To a God who loves us and desires a personal relationship with us, our prayers are not insignificant. The Bible says in Job 22.27 "Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him and he shall hear thee". God promises us in his word that he will hear our prayers.

I am amazed as I travel throughout this country and speak with sales and business leaders who look at me crazy when I ask them if they pray over their sales, businesses and employees. "Why would I do that?" is the question that I am often asked. My reply is always..."Why wouldn't you?".

This is where we miss it- God wants to be invited into every area of our lives...our marriages, homes, finances, businesses, sales transactions, etc.

When we invite God in, we invite his blessing, favor, wisdom and protection. Why would we not want those things in every area of our lives?

I want to challenge all of you this week to personally invite God into a new area of your life where you have not invited him before-finances, marriage, other relationships, business, sales, any area. Or maybe you have an area that you have not invited God in for some time that has been on your heart.

In my 20 years in the business world I have seen God move mightily in my business, I have seen God change hearts, increase sales, reduce cancels, drive EBIDTA margins into 200% flow through on additional Revenue, calm storms from arrogant CEO's, and so much more. God has been free to move because everyday I invite him into my business and everyday just like that night over 25 years ago with my varsity letter He doesn't know how to be anything but faithful. I love Jesus!

I am attaching a photo of the Varsity Letter that I received that night for your enjoyment.

"For the Eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole Earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward him".

The best tasting Pretzels ever!

It was April, 1996 and I was standing in an airplane bathroom on a NWA flight from Minneapolis, MN to New
York City on my way to Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic, when we hit some crazy turbulence that literally created a mini panic on board and forced me to rush back to my seat.

While rushing back to my seat and trying to squeeze myself in I caught the back of the armbar of the seat in front of me and it caused a deep, lacerating gash about 2 inches long in my side, ripping right through my shirt.

I love to fly but I also hate to fly. Here is why... I very much enjoy people watching and traveling to different places and being on the go, but the thing I dread most is the tiny little coach seat. The good lord did not seem fit to give me the fastest metabolism in the world- a slight understatement.

I have a 22 inch neck and wear a 56R Suit Jacket! I like to think of myself as big boned or husky- but never fat. Actually I am just  big guy- I played Football and wrestled in College- so there!

Needless to say, in a coach seat, I get very uncomfortable, break out into a sweat and it is just a miserable experience for me and not to mention the poor soul unlucky enough to the seat next door. Now I fit in the seat and can put the arm rest down and buckle up- but that leaves me zero room to breathe and if the person in the row in front of my puts down their seat I'm really screwed. This particular trip I was with a group of folks from our church in North Dakota going on a mission trip. Keep in mind this was the DR before the DR became a world class tourist destination.

When you live in North Dakota, you have one flight option, fly out of Fargo to Minneapolis and to your destination, this trip was about 5 hours each way- a complete nightmare when your crammed in your seat, bleeding with a gash in the your side trying to find a happy place in your mind to prevent yourself from flipping out. I mean after all, this was a mission trip, I was here for the Gory of God to be a support and blessing to impoverished people in a remote jungle village, how christian would it be to flip out on a plane? LOL. That flight was brutal!

Well, we finally made it to the DR and I feel sick with a 102 fever the second I got off the plane, The flight and two hour bus ride through jungle literally made me sick for the first two days I was there. On day three I was feeling much better and we got to the business at hand which was scouting the area to find people hungry to show the "Jesus Movie". We were very blessed and led by the lord to find a small tiny village in the middle of the jungle that had a place where we could show the film.

Shortly after we watched the film, we met a very very young man, his wife and infant child. The man's name was Pastor Mao and he came from a nearby village when word traveled the "Gringos" were showing a movie. After spending some time with Mao he invited us to his home a short 3 mile walk in the jungle away :).

Upon arriving at Mao's home, I soon discovered it was an old, vacant building with only half of a roof and a door that did not close all of the way. We asked how he got here and he told us the story on how he believed that God sent him to this remote village and wanted him to start a church in this jungle community, We asked if he had any money and what were his plans, his response was that God was going to send "gringos" to him from a far away place to help build his church. Interesting, huh?

We were the first and only "Gringos" that were coming. After a time of prayer and deliberation, our pastor decided that we would help Mao build his church, so we made plans to return on a future date.

Shortly before we left, Mao asked if he could pray for us, while we were praying I felt an incredibly strong urge to give him some money out of my own pocket, I decided to give him $50 which in DR pesos was big coin, but I kept having this sense that I should give more "everything you have in your pocket" was what I was sensing. That would be crazy all the money I had left for the trip??? We still had two days left, plus $250 was a lot of money. What would I do with no money? It would be in poor taste to borrow, right? The sense that I should give him everything I had came again and I recognized it as a leading from God-so i did it, I gave him every last cent I had all $250.

At this time in my life I was fairly new in my walk in the lord and was just learning how to hear his still, small voice, so it took him getting my attention a few times.

Fast forward 24 hours later and we had one day left on the island before we flew home and all I could think about was the dreaded flight home and how miserable I was going to be. Literally I was up all night worrying about it. So I prayed and asked the lord to intervene for me.

The day of fight home arrived and I was walking up the steps to the plane, as I was headed back to the coach section, I handed my ticket to the flight attendant (back them you gave them your ticket on the plane) she grabbed me by the arm and asked me where I was going? I told her to my seat and she said your ticket has been upgraded you are in row 10-D. This is a first class ticket, sir! I couldn't believe it, all of the uneasiness that I was sure that I was destined for over the next 5 hours had me so rattled I never even bothered to look at the ticket until that exact moment!!! I looked down at my ticket and it said 10-D, I was the only person in our group to be upgraded to first class, I had no status, no frequent flyer miles, nothing.

As I sat down in my seat, I suddenly had that same feeling and urge that came over me only a few days before when praying with Mao that asked me to give him all of the money I had left and this time, A simple sentence come up from the inside of my inner being and here is what I heard...

"You can't out-give the lord, I know how to take care of my own!". WOW! God set me up, he wanted to bless Mao and used me to do it, this first class upgrade was his way of saying that he loved me, he heard the cry of my heart and despair that I felt about flying in the coach seat on the way home and like any good father, he wanted to bless me. He heard and answered my prayer.

One of my favorite versus in all of the Bible says..."The eyes of the lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those who hearts are perfect towards him".

God desires to show himself strong on your behalf, he wants to be invited into your marriage, your business deals, your sales meetings he stands at the door and wants patiently, looking for that invitation that can only come from you. What are you waiting for? Invite God into every area of your life-I promise you will never regret it! I don't!

Five minutes after I sat down in my first class seat, the stewardess came by and handed me a bag of pretzels, they were the best tasting Pretzels that I ever had. As a matter of fact, I kept that pretzel bag and that day placed it in my Bible where it has been sitting for the last 20 years, as a reminder of the faithfulness of  God. I have pulled that bag out often over the years as a fresh reminder that Jesus Rocks! You can see the picture of it on this blog.

Jesus is the man!