Appearance isn’t everything

“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7

God was speaking about one of David’s older brothers in this verse. Samuel thought that this fine young man must be the one God has selected to be the new king after Saul. Samuel made that assumption based on his person thoughts. I can only imagine that he was thinking our new king needs to be Strong, Courageous, Brave, Handsome, Tall, Muscular, and Smart (In no particular order). What Samuel didn’t realize was that David was all of those things he just wasn’t developed yet.  

    How often do you feel like you don’t have the skills necessary to do something, or for that matter anything? Personally, I feel that way a lot. When I was younger I remember being afraid to do something because I might mess it up. If I tear it apart, I might not be able to put it back together then what? As I got older, I realized that as long as I paid attention to the little details there wasn’t anything that I couldn’t do, simply because I knew that God was there. I knew that God would give the necessary skills and knowledge to complete the project. Much like he did with David.  

    David had the courage to go up against a man who was close to 9’9” tall with no armor truly no weapons just some small stones and a sling. David also knew that God was with him, he could feel it. He knew that he was standing up for what was right, he was defending God. David’s oldest brother the one mentioned in the scripture didn’t have the same courage. To be honest I don’t think I would have had the courage either. The point is that God new what David would develop into. He knows everything about everybody; he doesn’t judge us by our cover. He looks closely at us to discover our true potential.

Prayer

God, today we come to with open hearts and open minds. We ask so much yet we give you so little, still you continually bless us. Lord, we ask that you would help us to see not only our true potential, but also the potential in others. Help us to look past their outward appearance and look deep into their hearts and our hearts. Do not allow our eyes to be the hindrance that causes us to stumble. We pray that you help us to believe in yourselves. Even your son had troubles moments before being takin into custody. He asked that if it be your will to remove the trouble before him. God he trusted you, and so do we. We know that you know what is best for us. We ask that you give us the faith of Daniel in the lion’s den, hope of Moses in wilderness, and the heart of David always putting you first. Lord thank you for your insight and wisdom, than you for your help in our everyday situations. Thank you.

Amen

Prayer

Lord, today we come to you with HAPPY hearts.  We are so grateful that you give us the opportunity to change the lives of those around us.  We are grateful that you give us the wisdom to change our lives and the lives of those around us.  And you make it so simple. We can do it with a single smile. God today I would ask that you help us to smile more. The next time we see someone down, help us to smile for them. The next time we are down, help us to remember that you gave us the best gift ever. The ability to know you, your son, and the holy spirit. God, we are so grateful for everything you give us.

We ask all these things in your Precious Son's Name

Amen

A Little More

 The other day I got a call from one of our clients.

I love talking to our clients so I always smile when I answer the phone.

“Hey Dan, one of my drivers is pulled over and they are saying that our permit doesn’t cover what we weigh. Isn’t that why we hire your team to make sure that these things don’t happen!”

My smile immediately vanished.

I was shocked because my team is amazing. and it’s not like them to miss something like 20,000 lbs on a permit.

So, I asked him, “Who have you been working with, and who was the one who called our team to get the permit?” 

To get to the bottom of the problem I needed the details.

They gave me the details.

My next call was to my team. Then after I got the details I got them started on getting new permits to get the problem fixed. I’m a solutions guy, not an excuses guy.

But I NEED to know the real reason why it happened so that we can fix the issue.

My next call was to the driver so that I could see exactly what happened.

I knew he was going to be upset. He was pulled over and they were going to give him a HUGE ticket. I wouldn’t be happy either.

so……

I made sure not to smile when I made the call.  I had a serious look on my face. As we chatted I learned that he was the person who gave his weight to our team. I asked where he got the weights from and how in the world they were off by over 20K lbs!

That’s when he told me that he might have gotten the wrong scale ticket from the weigh station where he originally weighed.

Immediately my heart leapt with joy, this is NOT our fault!

Now to get the problem resolved and get this driver back on the road was my only goal.  I was not going to assign blame or make anyone feel bad. 

Hey, we all make mistakes. I do it multiple times every single day.

The owner of the company shot me a text. I'm getting permits from the big guys. They won’t make these mistakes that cost me time and $$$$$.

No problem.  Let me know if you need anything. We are here to help.

Well……..

After they called the “BIG Guys” they called me about 30 minutes later.

Hey, we can’t get an Idaho permit until Monday. It’s Friday night. And we need to drop this load off tomorrow afternoon.

I told him that I would NOT make any promises.

But my team went to work!

Guess what????

We got the permits that the “BIG Guys” couldn’t get.

My team had the Idaho permit in less than 20 minutes. For the right weight this time.

Here’s the point of all this.

When things don’t go right, smile. I have taught my whole team this.

That right there is how we got the permits. They smiled as they worked and it didn’t take any time at all.

Ok, there might be a little knowledge that went into this too. Lol

Next time you need anything DOT, don’t call the “Big Guys” , call the team who can get it done!

Dan Greer