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Happiness…a lagging indicator…

I am so tired of hearing people say, “I just want to be happy!”

Whether they are struggling in a relationship or a difficult job or situation, the plea is always the same…if this one thing would just change, everything would be better and then they would be happy.

So why is it so difficult for some people to be happy?

I believe it’s because they are focusing on happiness (the end result) and not the actions that must precede it to be happy!

Happiness is not a destination. It is the result of consistent actions that you took that resulted in you being happy. No action… equals…no happy. You must take an action.

Happiness is the lingering fragrance of an action that you have taken…and sometimes that fragrance may take some time before you notice it…but take heart…you will…if you continue to take action.

Love the consistent actions you take and happiness will find you…guaranteed.

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Where do you go?

I was driving to work early one morning and I had to stop for gas. As I stood there beside my car listening to the sound of gas flowing through the hose and spilling into my empty tank, I thought… isn’t it interesting that I have to drive somewhere to get gas so I can keep going. Then I thought…

Where do I go to get filled up?

Some people I know go to a bar to get filled up by drinking. That glass of wine or beer after a rough day gives them the feeling of being relaxed and trouble free, but also comes with many negative by-products.

Some people go online to get filled by social media. The feeling of getting “likes or hearts” on a post or photo is enough to make them feel seen or appreciated for a while, but it’s only for a moment.

Some people go to the gym. A good sweat and workout make them feel better…and better about how they look. Then they walk out of the gym and blend into the world that looks beyond them.

Some people just work harder and longer hours. It’s like all those hours will someday be recognized and appreciated by someone else. And they are, just not in the way you think…

Some people go out into nature (I do too), and they feel a sense of awe and renewal and peace. But it is more of a “spectator sport” in my opinion. That sense of awe I’m feeling is usually for the creation…not the creator.

The point is…we all “go somewhere” to get filled up. We all have realized that we can only go for so long and so far on our own… and at some point…we run out of gas and need to once again go somewhere to…fill the tank.

But the point is also this…it´s really important to know where to go and what we choose to put in our tank. In fact, it’s critical! Where we go and what we choose to “plug into” to make us feel full, important, relaxed, loved, seen, appreciated, or whatever it is we might need…matters.

It matters because it does more to you than just fill you up…it affects many aspects of your mind, your spirit, and your body. It shapes how you view yourself, how you view others and how you view and interact with the world as a whole. It matters…because you take all of that with you.

For me…I go out on the water by myself in my kayak. It’s where I can talk to God. It’s where I can confess how much I don’t know, don’t understand and can’t control. It’s where I can pour all of myself out…and then a funny thing happens… I begin filling up.

I begin filling up with peace, with certainty, and with joy. It happens each and every time. I pour out…I get filled up.

I go to the water and I plug into God.

Jesus knew this when He said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing.” – John 15:5

I know where my strength comes from…and it doesn’t come from me or anything I can eat, drink or do…I need to empty…so I can be filled. I get filled by a relationship…a relationship that I cherish and has been made possible for anyone that needs it… or wants it.

Clunk…I guess the tank is full!

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Bootlace lessons…

I was tying my boots up this morning like I usually do and I noticed that once again, there was one section of the lace that was wearing significantly and was ready to break. This is frustrating to me because they always wear out in one place… on one lace… and then I have to throw them both out.

I would go through a pair of bootlaces about every 3 months. So I got frustrated and specifically went on Amazon and ordered these high-tech boot laces (made of something like Kevlar or something ) and they were supposed to be extremely strong and last much longer than any others…well not so much…

I started thinking…are these laces trying to tell me something?

I’ve got identical laces that are 54″ long. Each lace is threaded through similar holes and is subjected to similar stresses, yet only one spot on one lace has routinely experienced significant wear.

I see this frayed spot on the lace every time I put on my boots. And each time, I silently ask it to hold on…one more day… The funny thing about frayed laces is this. Once you get them laced up…the frayed area of the lace gets hidden! To the outside world…nobody can tell that I’m just a few strands away from a “boot blowout.”

Is this like my life?

Could I have one area in my life that is wearing significantly despite the health of everything else? Are my boot laces trying to alert me to the fact that I need to do some personal assessments to check the relative health of all the different aspects of myself?

I think so. I think it is also true of most of us…we don’t have to dig too deep into our self-analysis to find an area of our lives that need some attention and repair. Left untreated…we all just maybe a few strands away from a blowout…

As my favorite pastor, Andy Stanley says, “Pay attention to the tension.”

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Separated…

Last week I was watching the local news and there was a story about an experienced diver who was out in the Gulf of Mexico diving and got separated from his boat. (Read the story here). The resulting ordeal led to the man treading water in the open Gulf for 24 hours until he was eventually rescued. I’m sure when the diver went out that day, he never intended to become separated, we never do, but sometimes it just happens…

The story hit close to home with me… It reminded me of the time I went lobster diving with my friend Hal Flowers in Key West. (Yes, another Hal story…) This time we were out in the Gulf checking on some of the lobster traps he had previously set the weekend before. It was just he and I and we had been working the area for several hours already and it was getting close to the end of our day.

We had just anchored the boat over the spot our coordinates had indicated the traps were located. We both geared up with our dive masks, fins, and tanks and both went over the side of the boat.

Once in the water, I immediately noticed that the current had picked up significantly and was making it difficult to swim. Our plan was to swim against the current out past the trap locations and then turn back and swim with the current back to the boat as we checked on each trap.

As we moved out away from the boat, about 30´under the water, the current was not only making the swim difficult, it was making the visibility very difficult. Hal and I swam together and at times he would venture off and explore the underside of a rock ledge for random lobster gatherings as would I. But despite the decreasing visibility, we tried to keep together…or at least where we could see each other.

As I continued to swim, I was also keeping tabs of my remaining oxygen. The struggle against the current was causing me to work harder and as a result, I was using my oxygen at a rate much faster than I wanted. In fact, I was worried. It was that low…

As I continued to swim and check my gauge, I soon realized that Hal was now out of sight. I couldn’t see anything past about 5 feet in front of me and the current had changed directions and was really swirling and kicking up the sand. I felt like I was swimming in a snow globe!

I looked at my gauge and I was now in the red zone. I was running out of air. So I swam to the surface hoping to get a bearing on the boat and just swim back to it and wait for Hal. But when I reached the surface, the weather had also changed drastically. A storm had rolled in and the wind and waves were kicking up and the boat was nowhere to be seen. I looked in every direction and as the 5-foot waves bobbed me up and down there was no boat to be seen.

So I reluctantly went back down to about 20 feet and started swimming with the current. I had absolutely no idea where the boat was…I was in trouble…I was just riding the fierce current and wondering when I would take my last breath of air.

I couldn’t see a thing and just continued to swim with the weight of increasing panic closing in on me as I readied myself for what I was going to do once I ran out of air…which would be very, very soon… I thought that I would surface and inflate my buoyancy vest and then just wait it out…whatever “it” was going to be. I wasn’t panicked…but more of a feeling of dread was coming over me…

I looked at my air gauge and this time it was empty as I tried to limit my breaths to only short ones when I absolutely needed them. I continued to ride the current in a direction, not of my choosing…then…through the swirling green water… I saw something…

Off in the distance, I saw what looked like a rope extending from the surface down towards the bottom to an anchor. I anxiously reached the rope and took hold of it just as I took the very last breath the tank had for me…and I ascended to the surface not knowing what was on the other end of this rope…

When I came to the surface…there it was…OUR boat. The greatest sight I’ve ever seen in my life and of course, there was Hal on the boat asking…”Hey man, where did you go?”

I didn’t answer…I just pulled myself back in the boat…now…a very different person.

When I look back on that day, I realize several things…

1. I wasn’t a “believer” then, but I knew right then and there…I was carried back to that boat by something much stronger and much more powerful than that current. 2. I knew that I had screwed up by losing my dive partner, but I also knew that had not been alone. 3. I was still a long way from accepting my Savior, but that didn’t stop Him from saving me.

Years later, and now a Christian, I was reading the Bible for the first time, and I came upon this verse…

“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” – Deuteronomy 31:8

I may have been separated from Hal on that day…but now I know, I was never alone…and knowing this truth… has made all the difference …

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I will not have a spirit of fear…

This morning I was thinking about all that is going on (and wrong) with the world…senseless shootings, deadly flu outbreaks, worries about the economy, about our government and about our future in general…lot’s to fret about…for sure…

Then I thought back to an event that happened to me many years ago…

I had been invited by a good friend, Hal Flowers, to accompany him driving his boat from Naples to Key West. Not that Hal asked…but I was not an experienced captain… As a matter of fact, as a kid, my grandfather let all my cousins sit on his lap and drive his boat and year after year… my turn never really came around… I guess he knew something…

Anyway…on the appointed day, Hal and I filled the boat with gas, checked the weather and left the marina in Naples and soon got out into open water and headed south. It seemed simple enough…just keep the land on your left! As we moved south, eventually we passed the southernmost point on the west coast of Florida and eventually lost sight of land entirely. Welcome to the Gulf of Mexico!

After hours of driving and several hours left to go, Hal was tired and wanted to take a nap. So he set the Loran (which is basically a GPS for boats, but it didn’t have a screen, just coordinates, and an alarm was programmed to sound if you got off course). Once the coordinates were set, he handed me the wheel and gave me these brief instructions, “just keep the boat within these coordinates. I’ve programmed the Loran to the tower at the entrance of Key West harbor. But if for whatever reason we miss it, we want to miss it to the East, because if we miss Key West Harbor to the West, we’ll end up in Cuba.” And with that, he went below and went to sleep.

So there I was, in the open Gulf of Mexico, no land in sight and trying to stay between two invisible coordinates that made no sense to me. I looked behind me and the wake of my boat was not in a straight line, in fact, it looked like a drunk driver was at the helm. Then moments later, the alarm of the Loran went off! I adjusted course and the alarm went off. Then a while later, it happened again, and again I adjusted course. This kept going on for almost an hour and each time the alarm went off, it took me longer and longer to course correct and silence the alarm. This continued until finally, I could no longer find my course! The alarm sounded constantly…I was freaking out!

So what did I do…? Did I wake up Hal? Nope. I turned off the alarm and kept driving.

I drove for several hours on my own, no Loran, no direction, no sense of where I was going and all the while, desperately looking for land and praying I wasn’t headed for Cuba. I had goofed up…big time. I knew we were in trouble…then Hal woke up…

He came up top and said, “Everything ok?” I took a deep breath and readied myself to confess the fact that we were lost and I was a horrible captain, and admit I was an idiot to turn off the Loran, and that I can never be trusted to do anything like this again…and as the words began to come out of my mouth…Hal looked over the bow of the boat and directly ahead of us and said, “cool!” And directly in front of us, I could just make out on the horizon… what looked like a tower… The tower at the opening of Key West Harbor!

So why did I think of this story this morning?

I guess I was thinking about all the things that have been on the news and in conversations with people everywhere I go. People talking about things to be afraid of…and I guess I’m just tired of it.

The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:7:

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

When I think about this verse…one thing comes to mind…God didn’t give me a spirit of fear…and I don’t want anything that God didn’t give me…period! So that begs the question…if God didn’t give me the spirit of fear… who did? Hmmm?

I believe fear and worry pull us away from God. When we are afraid of things, we feel helpless, isolated and powerless…it renders us useless. Unfortunately, this has become a common message of this world…to be afraid.

The reality is, each time we find ourselves feeling fearful or worried, the alarm bells should be going off in our minds that we are moving away from God and the course He has planned for us…and that’s not a good place…for sure!

That doesn’t mean we should throw up our hands and leave it all to God! No, we should certainly be wise in thinking ahead and planning ahead…we just don’t need to be worrying ahead!

This quote sums it up perfectly by an incredible woman named Corrie ten Boom:

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of sorrow, but it empties today of strength.”

So, when these feelings of fear, anxiety, and worry begin to sometimes take root in my mind, I need to discipline myself to immediately ask myself, “Where is my focus?” Am I thinking about God? If not…I need to…

I need to “fix my eyes” and “cast my worries” on the only person that can do anything about them.

Whether it’s guiding my life…or guiding my boat… to the opening of Key West Harbor.

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Slow Down…Minimum Wake!

This morning as I kayaked out into Tampa Bay, I saw this sign for the first time. I’m sure I’ve seen the sign in the past…but it wasn’t until today that it took on a new meaning.

We are now in the heart of the holiday season and our culture is under siege by marketing companies trying to make us feel a certain way and act a certain way…and it usually ends with us parting with our hard earned money in exchange for the false promises these companies tease us with.

The funny thing is…we all know better…

We all know what works for us and what fills our hearts rather than emptying our pockets…we know this…

So, my hope and prayer is that for this holiday season, we will all try to slow down. Let’s try to be intentional about not only what we do…but why we are doing it.

Here’s an idea… take each of the following suggestions and do only one a day…then at the end of the day, ask yourself how that made you feel. Give it a try and add to the list as well!

  1. For one day, use your phone only to only talk on it!
  2. Look strangers in the eye and smile at them.
  3. Watch the sunrise and say “thank you.”
  4. Handwrite a note and mail it.
  5. Take something to Goodwill.
  6. Round up all your loose change and drop it in a Salvation Army bucket.
  7. One of my favorites…go to the mall at night and just walk around and enjoy the lights.
  8. Buy a couple of gift cards and put each in an envelope with a note of encouragement and just randomly pass them out to strangers that you’re drawn to.
  9. Turn off the TV at home and just play your favorite Christmas music.
  10. Allow other people to “go ahead of you.”
  11. Sit down quietly and write down all the things you are grateful for…also include all the people you are grateful for.

We all have so much in this culture, yet we often feel so lacking… Maybe all we need to “do” is to slow down and enjoy what we have always had…the time… to truly appreciate it all…

Blessings to all of you!

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Hurricane Lessons…

Living in Florida requires me to learn about hurricanes. As many of us know, a hurricane in the Northern Hemisphere rotates in a counterclockwise direction. Also, if one was to look down on the hurricane from above, the area of the hurricane (traveling North) that can potentially do the most damage is the Northeastern quadrant. Here the winds are at their highest and most destructive as we all saw with Hurricane Irma.

Now let’s change gears a bit and look at our life. My Guatemalan friend, Oscar Garcia shared with me his view of life in a simple diagram and I have taken his idea and added to it.

Here ya go:

Our lives are divided up into four main quadrants. And let’s say for example that we believe we will live to be 100 years old. So, the first quadrant encompasses years 0 to 25 years of age. The second quadrant is from 25 to 50 years of age. The third quadrant is from 50 to 75 years of age and the fourth quadrant is from 75 to 100 years of age.

Each quadrant is characterized by a primary focus that people in that quadrant are striving to achieve. For instance, those people in quadrant one (age 0 to 25) are focused primarily on Learning. From learning to walk, years spent in school pursuing a degree and also learning about life and the skills needed for living. That is the focus of Quadrant one.

Quadrant two people (25 to 50) are primarily focused on Earning. People in this age quadrant have completed the majority of their schooling and are putting that knowledge to use in the workplace making money. This is the group that also begins to use their earnings to buy stuff like homes, cars as well as investing and saving. Earning money is the primary focus of people in this group.

I’ll come back to Quadrant three…

Quadrant four people (75 to 100) are Returning. They have lived a full life (good and bad) and are focused on returning their knowledge, their time, their assets to those they love and causes they care about. They value giving back and giving of themselves. These and the people of Quadrant four.

Now for the Quadrant three people. These people, (50 – 75 assuming the person lives to be 100) are potentially the most damaging…to themselves and potentially to others. The primary focus of people in this group is Yearning. They are in a season of reflection. They are looking at their lives with “new eyes” and beginning to deal with new challenges that many resist. They are beginning to experience the aches and pains of their aging bodies. They are beginning to suffer relationally as couples experience the “empty nest syndrome.” They are beginning to experience a workplace where they are no longer relevant and valuable. They are beginning to reap the rewards of good financial management or suffer the pains and anxiety of bad financial decisions from earlier years. The view ahead is sometimes overshadowed by a longing to go back and change the decisions they made years before. This is the primary focus of people in Quadrant three, the yearning to go back and have a “do over.” This is why this period has the potential to be so damaging.

So what is one to do?

First, is to realize that all people must go through all four quadrants. Don’t get hung up on the age ranges, they will change, but instead, try to understand and embrace the quadrant that you are in and try to make the most of it.

So if you are in Quadrant one. My advice to you is to learn! Learn everything you can learn about utilizing all of your skills and talents. Don’t waste these years! Go as far as you can go scholastically and immerse yourself in learning. Begin to explore ways people will pay for the knowledge and skills you naturally possess. Don’t worry about making mistakes! Make many of them now and learn from all of them!

Quadrant two people need to have a plan. Make sure your plan involves discipline. You are in your prime earning years and without discipline, our culture will rob you of your future and your finances by appealing to your short term desires! Find ways of investing your earnings. Millionaires are made by investments, not by savings!

Quadrant three people need to focus. They can’t change their past…but they still have time to impact their future. They need to accept where they might be in life and focus on what their next step needs to be. They need to make “smart choices” in all areas of life. They need to invest in things that will provide for them long term. That can range from investments to relationships and the community involvement. Take off the mask and let other’s see the real you.

Quadrant four people need to share. Share time. Share knowledge. Spend time with those you love. Share yourself and make it a point not to leave any question unanswered or conversation un-had. Ask good questions of those you love. Have meaningful conversations. Make it a point to make each moment of every day count.

You see, I’m currently living in Quadrant three. It’s tough. It seems like every day I’m trying to play catch up…or trying to keep up! But I’m determined not to give up. Tough is fine for now…giving up or giving in is not an option. Quadrant three “can be destructive.” It’s where the strongest winds are. These winds can do damage if you get in their way and are not prepared, or they can propel you forward…if you are correctly positioned and prepared.

Yep, hurricanes have taught me a lot recently. I certainly respect them and am aware of the damage they can do. But if you have a plan and take action at the appropriate time, chances are you’ll come out just fine…even if you’re on the Northeastern quadrant.

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Cross Currents…

Each morning at dawn you’ll find me in my kayak on Tampa Bay. For me, it has become part exercise…part church. It’s a place where I can silence my mind and just listen to the rhythmic sound of my paddles quietly entering the water with each stroke. Beginning each day on the water brings with it new surprises. Some days the water is like glass…perfectly quiet and smooth. Some days the winds create a slight chop in the water which makes paddling a bit more challenging. Also, as I navigate out of my neighborhood and into the open bay, I am sometimes met with different water conditions based on the intensity and direction of the wind. Like life, changing conditions are around every corner.

What I’ve also come to learn from my early morning kayaking is how deceptive a cross-current is. It’s one of those currents that approach my kayak not straight on or from behind…but at an angle. Those are difficult because when I look at the chopping waves of the cross current approaching my kayak, I can get disoriented from the direction I am trying to paddle and my kayak ends up moving in the direction the current is moving…rather than remaining true to my intended heading. It literally makes me dizzy if I look at it!

So, what I’ve learned to do is to ignore the current entirely… and instead, pick a single point on the shoreline to paddle towards. Single point of focus. This way I can maintain my heading…

Hmmm…that sounds like good life advice as well!

All too often, we find ourselves going through life and without thinking about it, we find a “cultural cross current” acting on us. Unlike the currents that hit you head on (which we can all deal with)…or power you from behind (which we all love), these currents are deceptive. They are sneaky and are constantly trying to divert you from your intended heading.

So what if you don’t have a heading?

That is a problem… Without a single point of focus off in the distance to move toward, you’ll most likely soon find yourself way off course! Why? Because that’s what the “cultural cross current” wants. It wants to take you off course…even it has no real place to take you to…it just wants to interrupt your heading.

I have seen this play out in real life all too often. Many people I know have been taken off course by a variety of “cultural cross-currents” pulling them away from their path. They are so common to us, we barely recognize them, so let me list a few just so you know where to spot them:

  • Most TV shows
  • TV Commercials of all types
  • Music
  • Movies
  • The News
  • Drugs and Alcohol
  • Some friends…and even some family
  • Social Media and cell phones in general.

Currents are a fact of life and when you’re on the water…currents are a part of the environment. We can’t fight them…but we also can’t (and shouldn’t) ignore them and their potential impact and influence on our heading.

Pick a spot out on your horizon…and row steadily towards it…and most likely…you’ll be fine.

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Submitting…

As a kid, I used to watch a TV program called “Kung Fu” with David Carradine. I watched every episode in the early 70’s… “my impressionable years.” I remember one particular episode when Kwai Chang Caine (the Shaolin monk played by David Carradine) said the following:

“One should always be the willow that bends with the wind rather than the mighty oak that breaks in the storm.”

Evidently, that episode made an impression on me because that act of “bending” or “submitting” is what has been on my mind over the past few months…so I guess it’s time to write about it.

In our culture, “submitting” is not something that we celebrate as a strength. When I think about it, I believe our resistance to submit is the basis for the majority of the problems most of us wrestle with today in our relationships. We are taught at an early age to “stand up for ourselves” and to “speak our truth” and “not to back down”, and I believe all those things are true and valid. I also believe many of us have associated the act of submission with giving up…and it’s not…it’s simply “giving in.”

Giving up is much different than giving in. Giving up is admitting defeat. Giving in is yielding to someone you care about in order to reach a higher gain. It’s losing the battle to win the war.

Pastor Andy Stanley gave a sermon on marriage a couple of years ago. He said that a strong marriage is marked by mutual submission. Each person yielding his or her preferences for the benefit of the other. It’s taking the focus off of my wants and acting on what they might want. Not defending my point of view, but really trying to understand their point of view. That’s great advice but it’s incredibly difficult!

At times we all act like 2-year old’s defending positions that in the grand scheme of things…mean way less than the value of our relationships. Yet we still fight on!

Being married, I’ve practiced the art of “submitting” just about every day. From TV program choices to furniture placement in the home to how the toilet paper goes on the roll right down to where to put the sponge in the sink. All these things are opportunities for me to suspend an opinion and just focus on on the betterment of the relationship. You know… it works…it makes me a better husband… and it makes our relationship better.

Giving in is not giving up. It takes way more strength and love to suspend your wants just because you love someone else more.

If you don’t believe me..read Matthew 26:42.

“He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

Submitting changes everything…for the good.

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The Power of “and”…

10 years ago, I was working in San Diego building the Rock Church. I worked with an interior designer on the project and she taught me a valuable lesson.

Her name was Robin Wilson Carrier and she would always listen to my suggestions about what we should or should not do on the project with regard to design. I would often have this great idea and I would be excited to tell her all about it hoping to convince her to incorporate my idea into her design. She would just sit there and listen to me smiling and when I would finish talking, she would nod and say, “and… we might also think of…,” then she would go on to share her much better (and professionally trained) idea…and at the end of the conversation…I felt heard and I felt good about her decision.

The key thing I learned was the power of the word “and.”

So what is so great about that three letter word? When I was a kid, I would spend my Saturday mornings watching, “Schoolhouse Rock.” From that show, I learned that the words “and, but and or” are conjunctions. Remember, “Conjunction junction what’s your function? Hooking up words and phrases and clauses…” anyway…

The use of these three conjunctions are very similar, but the effect they have on others…can be quite different.

For instance, when we use the conjunction “but” connecting two thoughts, we are many times negating the first thought by introducing the second thought. It’s like we are saying “you’re wrong and I’m right.” We hear it all the time on TV news programs as the talking heads on the TV scream and yell at each other trying to make their point.

Similarly, when we use the conjunction “or”, we are usually offering a choice. These choices generally take us in opposite directions. Up or down, good or bad, chicken or fish. Either this or that. What we are implying is that neither choice is necessarily bad… just different.

Then, there is the “and” conjunction. I think it is the “feel good conjunction.” It “validates” the first thought as being important, yet offers more…an additional thought! Using “and” makes people feel better. It is a “unifier” and I believe if we consciously used “and” in situations where we typically use “but”…we would all be a lot better off.

So why do I think about these things…?

Well, I have struggled for several years with the ultimate direction of my professional life. I spent 30 years in the Construction industry and I thought I was good at it. However, as the years wore on, I felt like I lacked a sense of purpose for my efforts and I blamed that feeling on the industry. Project after project would come and go and I never felt any connection to the “why” I was doing it.

About this time, I began to go on mission trips and serving people in other countries. It gave me everything I was looking for! It gave me purpose and filled that huge void that the construction industry could not.

So I struggled for years wrestling with two primary beliefs:

  1. I loved the personal satisfaction that missions gave me, but in order to have that, I would have to give up making money and totally rely on God to meet my financial needs.
  2. I was to follow God and serve people in missions or work in the secular world with a normal job.

I never thought about using “and” until recently…

After returning from almost two years serving in Guatemala, I moved to Jacksonville, FL for a short time. While I was there, I was constantly searching for what God wanted me to do. What was my next step? Ministry or Construction? Ministry or Start a Business?

One day, I attended a C12 meeting and the answer to that question became clear. The C12 organization is comprised of CEO’s within the community that are Christians and run their businesses using Christian based values. It was during this day-long meeting that I got to speak with, and listen to Christian leaders that identified their businesses as their ministries. They did so not in an overt or heavy-handed way but simply living out what they believed. What a concept! Ministry was their business and their business was their ministry! I got it!

Fast forward to now…

Now, I am back in the construction industry building projects and… lovin’ on people as I was able to do in Guatemala and Africa. I see ministry opportunities in my workplace everywhere! I see chances to encourage people and to help people each day and that new perspective has allowed me “live on mission” and earn a living doing what I’m skilled at doing.

My workplace is my ministry. God didn’t make me give up anything…He added to…!

I have learned…and am finally living… the power of “and.”

Thank you, Robin!