Have Courage
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
Matthew 20:26-28
Courage isn’t something that comes easy to everyone.
In fact, courage is really hard to muster up sometimes. Remember as a kid you had to get tons of courage to ask your dad for something? Or when you wanted to sleep over at your cousin’s house you had to get the courage to ask both parents.
What were we afraid of?
The simple fact that we could be told “NO” or “Not tonight.”
AS we got older we had to gain the courage to ask a girl or guy out on a date. Then even harder than that, at least for me, was the first kiss.
Then as the relationship grew, getting the courage to go look at engagement rings.
But it didn’t stop there, did it?
NO!
No, I had to be sure that she was the right lady I wanted to spend the rest of my life. Then I had the courage to ask her to marry me!
Did it end there?
Your right, NO!
Next was getting the courage as a couple to decide to have kids. Finding the courage to decide where to live, what house to buy.
Do you get the picture yet?
The fact that we have to keep mustering up the courage to make decisions every single day never ends.
It took me forever but there is something that I learned that I’m thinking might be able to help everyone else with being more courageous.
That’s prayer.
Every Time I need to make a large decision, or heck even a small one. I ask God for his guidance.
I ask him to help give me the courage to make the right decision. The choice that is best not only for me but also for his plan with me.
Do you think it was easy to start God First Life? A non-profit that is going to help spread the word of God.
The answer is surprising, YES it was easy.
God guided us through the steps so effortlessly, because we gave it to him.
Courage is something that all have to have, every day.
Today we want to encourage you to have the courage to show the world God in the way that you live your life.
Live in a way that if you were put on trial for being a Christian, there is no way that the verdict could be anything but GUILTY, they are a CHRISTIAN.
Have the courage to show everyone around you, yes even complete strangers that you believe in the one and only ALMIGHTY God, the holy spirit, and his Son Jesus, who was persecuted, and died for our sins.
Prayer
Lord God, you are amazing. We are so blessed that you have chosen us to spread your word to the world. God as we build our tribe of Christians help us to encourage them to have the courage to give everything to you. God, we know that you are the only God. we know that you are all-powerful. You created this awesome wonderful world that we live in, and God you created us. We know that you can give us powers that are unthinkable. The power of courage. The power to show the world you. The power to live a God First Life. God, you are amazing. Lord today we come to you with open hearts, minds, and bodies and pray that you would give us guidance. Guidance to do what you need us to do. God, we know that you have a plan for us. Please give us the courage to carry out your plan effortlessly. Help us show the world who you are by the way that we live our lives. God, you know us better than we know selves. So please help us have the courage to give it all to you. Lord thank you for everything and every way that you bless us. Please give us strength.
In your precious son’s name, we ask all of this.
Amen
Will you pray with us?
Mankind throughout the world throughout our current situation
All Law enforcement and emergency response personnel
For all military personal serving our country and their families
Those in Leadership positions throughout the world
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
