Category Archives: Life

When you need God to show up and show out

Family, Life

Sometimes in our lives we need God to show up and show out. Show up with his grace and peace and show out with his favor and blessings. In these times, we need God to fix things and to protect us from embarrassment and harm. This is precisely what the 23rd Psalm means when it says, “he (God) will prepare a table before us in the presence of our enemies.”

As I look back over my life both personally and professionally, there have been times when I needed God to show up and show out. Many of those times I needed the answer in five minutes. Ha. Most of these past reflections involve business decisions, money, investments and career moves where I found myself needing God’s wisdom, understanding and most importantly, his grace to cover me.  It sounds strange, but many times I felt like I needed him to rescue me,,,, from me.

As I remember fondly some missteps, I realize that I have failed more times than I care to count, yet God stood by me and continued to put his hand on my back and guide me through it. I basically failed twice in the restaurant business and once with a land investment company. The funny thing about a failure/setback is that it stays with you and becomes a factor in how you proceed with new opportunities. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s called wisdom that helps us not make the same mistake again.

God cares about even the smallest aspects of our lives and not just the big ones. He desires for us to call on him frequently and often. He looks at me as a son just I look at my daughters and there is nothing I would not do to help them. Many times, I have needed God to show up and tell me what to do. The greatest heroes in my life are the people who looked adversity in the face and relied on God to show them the way. KT

Facing the Giants

Career, Life

There was movie that came out in 2006 called Facing the Giants. It was a faith based movie about a high school football coach trying to find the way to get his team winning. It is not a pure sports movie like “Rudy,” or “Invincible” etc. but there is a real message to this movie. The message is to find the “why” in what we do. Not just focus on the who, what and when. Everyone reading this blog should find the “why” in relationship to our work, family, career and hobbies. In short, if the “why” is powerful enough, the “how” becomes clearer. If it just to make money any buy more things, good luck with that.

My eyes watered a little bit last night watching that movie because in 2006 when the movie came out, I drove up near the college one of my daughters was attending to watch the movie with her. I thought the movie was helpful to me and maybe would be to her also. So, last night as I am watching, I remembered 12 years ago setting beside my daughter, searching for the why in my personal career and spending a special moment with her.

If you can find the “why,” the how, what and when becomes much more clear. KT

Shadow of Death

Life

These is an interesting phrase in the 23rd Psalm that says, “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” The 23rd psalm is perhaps the most beloved passage of scripture in the bible and this psalm is one of hope, encouragement and recognition of God’ protection and provision for believers.

If you think about this verse, it is a word picture of someone walking through a valley and fearing when they see a shadow. Not because they actually “saw” something to be fearful of, rather, they saw the “shadow” of something to be fearful of.

This scripture is a metaphor meaning that many people imagine or fear things or events that most likely will never happen. They live in a constant state of fear. Have you ever had a bad dream of something happening to someone you love? You wake up and ask yourself, where did that come from? Well, a bad dream is kind of like a shadow in a sense. It causes fear of something that hasn’t happened. If you read the whole 23rd psalm, it is basically saying that if God cares enough to keep the animals safe and fed, he will much more take care of you.

Several things about shadows that are worth noting. First, a shadow is not the real thing. Secondly, it always looks bigger than it is. Third, a shadow never hurt anyone and lastly, all you need to do is keep walking forward and you will step out from under the shadow.

If I were a commentator (which I am not,) I would translate this passage to say the following; “Yea, so what? there will always be temptations to let a shadow or a dark mood overcomes us and temp us to be fearful, but I put my trust in the God of creation and I choose to walk without fear.” KT

The Edsel Automobile

Career, Life

Sometimes in life, a failure can be the catalyst that puts you where God wants you to be. In my personal life that is exactly what happened when I failed miserably with the restaurants back in late 80’s. It was because of that failure that opened the door to hotel brokerage. The guy I bought the restaurants from also sold hotels and he felt so bad for me over the restaurants, he showed me how to sell hotels. That was the thing that kept me and my family from bankruptcy and losing everything we had.

Many people view a failure as the reason to not try anymore and a small percentage of people view failure as the perspective needed to get where they are supposed to be.

One of the most interesting corporate stories of failure is Ford Motor Company’s launch of the Edsel automobile brand in 1958. The actual story is long but I will try and keep it brief.

In the early 50’s the board of directors at Ford wanted to create a new automobile brand that was separate from Lincoln and Mercury.  Not just a Ford nameplate, but a whole new brand like Buick or Chrysler. They leveraged the entire future of Ford Motor Company.  Ford ordered massive market studies and consumer interviews to determine the look, function, feel and name of a new automobile brand that would resonate with the public. By 1955 the board voted to name the new automobile brand after Henry Ford’s son’s name, Edsel who was the president of Ford from 1919 till his death in 1943. They began to build the assemble plants and develop dealers to sell the Edsel and the first cars were finally brought to market for 1958 the year. This launch was reported to be the most expensive automobile launch in automotive history. They spend 350 million on launching the Edsel brand and in today’s dollars that would be 2.9 billion. Ford brought on 1200 new Edsel dealers across the country that built new showrooms and sales facilities and Ford was finally ready to unveil the new car to the public. It was an extravaganza like never seen before in the automotive industry.

They launched the car for the 1958 year and shut down production in 1960. Three years! As it turned out, they brought a car to market that was what the public said they wanted in 1955, not 1958. It turned out to be the ugliest car on the road and the front grill looked like a horse collar. Buyers would walk in the showroom and take one look at the Edsel and go across the street and order a new Chevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile or Ford. It was a disaster. The car was longer and wider than most every other car on the road and sales were just a fraction of Ford’s expectations. The cars leaked, sputtered, rattled, broke down and felt like you were driving a boat.

It was the worst financial failure of Ford Motor Company’s history to this day. Shareholders, competitors and many economists thought that Ford had failed so badly that they may go out of business.

Well, Ford licked their wounds and came out with the Ford Falcon in 1960, Galaxie Victoria in 1961, the restyled Thunderbird in 1961 and of course the Mustang in 1964 that forever changed the automotive world.

So, what is the main point? This is it.  Sometimes, failure is just failure. Other times failure is the key to you finding what you should really be doing. KT

When you are out of options

Life

Many times, people wait to call on God for wisdom until they are out of options. Meaning, they tried everything they could within their own power or influence and turned to God for help as a last result.

I am far from the example to follow in this regard but I do try to call on God early and often for his wisdom in dealing with even the simplest issues. Years ago, we were getting ready to go camping and I had an issue with the water line on the RV. I was in a hurry and sweating and not getting anywhere trying to fix the issue. In life, you sometimes have an epiphany (illumination, realization or discovery) and that day laying under that RV was one I will remember for the rest of my life. I stopped what I was doing and whispered these words in a prayer. “Heavenly father give me your wisdom according to James 1:5 on how to fix this RV and I receive that I have your wisdom.” That was it. Simple prayer. I did not hear an audible voice but in my spirit, I heard God saying – “go to that second drawer on the left behind the wire and there are 3 c-clamps and take the red one and wrap it around the waterline and secure it on the frame.

I had the issue fixed in 3 minutes but at that moment something swept over me that I will never forget. I knew in that instant that God not only cares about the major things in our lives but he also cares about the small things if we will only ask. That day changed how I think about God and the way God looks at me.

I could give you many examples where I have called on him for wisdom even with the small things and I can tell you, he cares about every aspect of our lives. KT