Monthly Archives: June 2013

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Which Relationship Is More Important?

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Have you ever known what you should do, but decided against it because it would affect a relationship you have with someone else? Have your relationships ever led you away from God, when hindsight would later show you the error of your path? Maybe you knew of a change you should make in your business, but it would cost you a relationship so you passed on it?

relationship

Nehemiah’s Situation

I have been studying Nehemiah in my quiet times and came across a similar situation to this. In this story, Nehemiah has come back to a Jerusalem that is in shambles. The city walls (crucial to a city’s well-being at that time) were completely destroyed and useless for protection. Nehemiah has come to lead the Israelites to rebuild the wall and begin to reestablish Jerusalem as the city God intended.

As he strives to complete this monumental task, he faces many obstacles. He certainly faced those who completely opposed the Israelites and any rebuilding they might attempt. This was to be expected.

Unexpected Opposition

At the same time, he also faced opposition from within the people of Israel! Some of the Israelite people actually turned on him and fed information about the project to a man named Tobiah, a leader of the opposition!

During those days, the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them. These nobles kept mentioning Tobiah’s good deeds to me, and they reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.
Nehemiah 6:17,19

Treasonous Behavior?

When we read about this from our perspective, their behavior seems incredibly treasonous. At first glance, I cannot imagine what they were thinking when they chose to undermine the work that Nehemiah was leading – work that was clearly God-ordained!

But when we read further, Nehemiah explains their rationale.

For many in Judah were bound by oath to him (Tobiah), since he was a son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.
Nehemiah 6:18

Relationship Confusion?

Their reasoning for their alliance with Tobiah was that they knew him, were related to him, or wanted to be known by him. Their relationship with Tobiah, whatever the basis for it, was more important to them than the work God was doing.

Of course, it is easy for us to sit here in judgment. It is not difficult for us to question their faith and criticize their behavior as weak. The problem is that these very words can come right back and be applied to us many times.

I Am Guilty, Too!

I will not accuse you, but I am certainly guilty of allowing personal or business relationships to cloud my vision or even alter my behavior at times. There are times I have wanted to broach a spiritual topic with a friend or family member, but decided against it in fear of ruining a relationship.

Other times, I have failed to speak up in a meeting here or there about something I felt God was leading me to say, simply because I was too concerned about what the others in the meeting might think.

I am sure there are even times I cannot remember or was not even aware of due to a blind spot where I disobeyed God or opposed His work in favor of another relationship. Maybe you feel the same way.

Jesus On Relationships

Folks, we need to remember the words of Jesus when it comes to situations like this. While we should not “hate” in the traditional sense, I think the message is clear…our relationship with Him comes first.

If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.
Luke 14:26

Are you guilty of placing other relationships ahead of Jesus?

What evidence do you see in your life, job, or business?

What do you think would be different if you chose Him instead?

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Have You Hit A Dry Spell?

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I am a couple months shy of my two year mark for this blog and for the most part, have yet to struggle for content ideas. For some reason, God has continued to provide thoughts, insights, and ideas on a regular basis that have turned into an average of three posts per week for almost 100 weeks so far! Unfortunately, I have now hit a dry spell and I am having a hard time writing posts!

dry spell

Dry Spell

Some of you noticed the frequency of my posts declining and have mentioned it to me. Others of you may have noticed, but have not said anything…maybe you see it as a break! Regardless, the dry spell has been going on for several weeks now and it has been bothering me. I have not yet said anything about it in a post, but it has been eating at me and I could not figure it out.

Reasons For The Dry Spell?

My first thought was that business was taking up too much of my energy and that I needed to work to correct that imbalance. While that may be somewhat true, I have come to realize that is not the main culprit.

Next, I thought that maybe I was in a dry spell because the blog has just run its course. Maybe it was only for a season and now it was coming to an end. While I was not excited about that thought, I had to consider it. Nothing is sacred if it is no longer something God wants me doing.

Finally, I began to think I just wasn’t trying hard enough. Maybe I was not drinking enough coffee before sitting down to write. It could even be that I needed to change my surroundings when I write. The more I thought about it, the more frustrated I got.

The Truth!

Just when I was about to give up, I came all the way back to the truth – where I started in the beginning. In fact, if you are having a dry spell in your own situation, you need to come back to this very same place.

As I said at the beginning of this post, God was giving me the material for this blog. If you have ever commented to me about the impact these posts have had on you, then you have heard me clearly state that I am not the one to take the credit. In fact, I have done my best to just stay out of God’s way as I write.

The truth is that God has been giving me this material AS I HAVE SOUGHT HIM. During my quiet times, periods of study and Bible reading, and my intake of other spiritual books and articles, God has pricked my heart and allowed me to see how certain situations can be used for material in this blog.

Seeking Him

Sure, many of my posts come right out of my experiences in our business. At the same time, these experiences have only been converted into posts because I have seen them through the lens of seeking Him!

When the posts have flowed most easily, it has been because I have been in a time of spiritual growth or reflection due to hearing from God through something I have read or heard. When I have even slightly struggled, it has been because my eyes or ears were not entirely tuned into His voice.

Root Cause Is Me!

So I say all that to say this…my dry spell is directly due to my lack of spiritual focus recently. I have not abandoned my quiet times lately, but they have not been sacred. I have allowed other things to interfere or distract me during the time I have allotted to spending time with God. I have not been learning. I have not been focused on feeding myself on the Word – and it shows.

I am assuming you have likely experienced this yourself. I also bet that, like me, you have gone through a list of other possible causes before you finally came back to the truth. Our dry spell experiences normally arise out of a lack of intimacy with Jesus, even though we often want to place the blame on something (or someone) else. The truth is that we are the ones at fault.

When Peter took his eyes off of Jesus, he got all wet!

The opposite is true for us…we get dry!

Fortunately, God is willing to rehydrate us! (Isaiah 44:3)

Ending The Dry Spell

While I am frustrated at myself for allowing this to happen, I am determined not to allow it to continue any longer. I know I will likely not jump right back into the depths with Him tomorrow – it will probably take a while. At the same time, I am willing to stick it out until I find that close communication again.

Blog or no blog, I simply cannot live without it!

What about your dry spells? Do you see the cause?

What methods have you used to end your dry spells?

What advice would you give someone to help avoid this?

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Truett Cathy Book Give Away!

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[title color=”orange-vibrant” align=”scmgccenter” font=”georgia” style=”normal” size=”scmgc-7em”]Free Book Give Away!!![/title]

Truett Cathy

Another Free Book Give Away?

You read that right! I am offering a free copy of Truett Cathy’s book, Wealth: Is It Worth It?!

How Do You Win?

If you scroll down just a bit you will see the Rafflecopter entry form which outlines a bunch of ways to enter the Wealth: Is It Worth It? giveaway. Just complete as many as you would like to be entered to win!

Why Am I Doing This?

I started this blog in an effort to spread the message of integrating the Christian faith into our businesses. I want to see more Christian business owners and leaders begin looking at their businesses from an eternal perspective and running them as platforms for Christian ministry.

While I know my posts are written toward this effort, I thought I would try to step it up a notch for 2013. My plan is to give away one book a month for the entire year! All I am asking from you is to follow the Rafflecopter instructions below. As you enter, you will be helping me to spread the word about this blog at the same time. We both win!

This Month’s Book: Truett Cathy’s Wealth: Is It Worth It?

Truett Cathy has experienced poverty and plenty. Though the founder of Chick-fil-A, Inc., prefers times of plenty, he hopes never to forget the lessons he learned growing up poor.

No overnight success story, Truett Cathy worked with his wife, Jeannette, for 21 years behind the counter of their single mom-and-pop restaurant before he opened the first Chick-fil-A restaurant at the age of 46. His latest book, Wealth: Is It Worth It? explores the opportunities and responsibilities that accompany success.

Enter The Give Away

Follow the instructions below to enter the Wealth: Is It Worth It? contest and then spread the word to others! The contest ends at midnight on Sunday, June 30th and the winner will be announced on Monday, July 1st.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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3 Lessons From “Follow Me!”

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As I described in my last post, Jesus has just told Peter that it was not really his business what John was going to be doing. Jesus made it clear that Peter had his own, unique call on his life. Jesus restated His call to Peter in this way, “If I want him (John) to remain until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow Me!”

Follow Me

Attitude Adjustment Needed!

When I heard this recently in a sermon, it stopped me in my tracks because I had been asking questions similar to those of Peter’s. I had been asking God why others were getting to experience the ministry opportunities I thought He had called me to perform. I wanted to know why my call appeared to have stalled while their’s was running at high speed!

The more I thought about Jesus’ words to Peter, the more I realized several ways I needed an attitude adjustment. The more I realized this, the more embarrassed I was at my behavior. I had been acting like a child.

Imagined Promises

First…sure, I had acknowledged His ownership of our business and began to try to use it to impact others for eternity. That’s great! I still believe that is what I am supposed to do. However, no where in that call was there a promise of the business prospering or succeeding beyond those around us.

Even though we were determined to use profits for eternal purposes, He never promised that the business would run smoothly and produce profits like we had experienced in the past. Nor did He promise that we would become a large-scale model for other businesses to follow. That may happen, but it was not promised.

Actual Promises

In fact, the only thing that He did promise was that He would be with us. He did not promise a lack of opposition (in fact, He promised the opposite), but He did promise that He would never leave us or forsake us.

As I thought about these things, I realized I had been following something similar to the prosperity Gospel. I was so frustrated at this because I KNOW better. Yet, that does not seem to stop me from making this same mistake over and over again.

I Can Be Blind

The second lesson I gleaned from this experience is that I can be pretty blind at times! Maybe you do not have this problem, but I have it in spades.

As I began to look around at the ministry God is already doing through His business, I quickly recognized that I was being greedy. While I wanted so much more to happen in that area, much already was.

Ministry Happening!

Our chaplain program is awesome and impacting 100 employees every week. We are sending out roughly 200 Bibles every month in the glove boxes of the vehicles we are selling. Employees are studying the Bible together before work and at lunch, learning how to have an eternal impact themselves!

As for a global impact on thousands, maybe not. However, God has used this blog to reach into India and impacted people there. People are learning more about how to (and how NOT to) do ministry in the marketplace! Maybe we cannot give as much as we want, but we are seeing a lot happen with what we do have!

Delayed Lesson

The third lesson from this experience came a week later, after my last post. In fact, exactly one week from the last sermon that hit me between the eyes, another one hit home.

The Scripture is found in Romans 12:15. Here it is:

Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.

We are often good about weeping with those who weep. We come by their side and bring comfort food! We cry with them and pray for them as they go through tough times.

Rejoicing Or Jealousy?

Unfortunately, the opposite is often true about rejoicing with those who rejoice. Too often, we look at others who are celebrating something – even in ministry – and we get jealous. Rather than celebrating with them, we pitch a fit and wonder why God gave THEM the success when WE should have received it!

As ridiculous as this is when I see it in someone else, I hate it even more when I see it in me. I should have been celebrating with those other business owners at the recent conference. Instead, I was questioning why God had not done the same for our business.

Don’t Follow Me!

Even putting this in black and white right now is painful. Obviously, I have not been the example I want to be. However, if it will help someone out there avoid this pitfall (and not follow me!), then I am happy (well, at least willing) to do it.

Can you think of another lesson I should be learning here?

Since Jesus said to you, “Follow Me!”, have you questioned Him?

What have you learned from that?