Patience
“When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by the Nile, ‘
Genesis 41:1
According to historical experts, Joseph spent about 10-12 years in prison.
Talk about patience. Spending that much time in prison and still never giving up on God. He knew that God had a plan for him; he didn’t know what it was though. I’m sure that he never thought that he would be brought out of prison to see the Pharaoh’s and then interpret a dream for him and almost immediately placed as second in command over all of Egypt.
Then to top it off Joseph had to tell Pharaoh, “I cannot do it,” “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.” This took so much faith. He told someone who didn’t believe in God that God is the only answer. In these times, Pharaoh could have had him killed just for saying those words.
Still, Joseph never stopped having faith in God’s plan. Even when I’m sure, he didn’t understand why everything was happening. He had patience, perseverance, and trusted God to protect him.
Joseph had no idea that God was about to use him to save so many people, including his very own family who sold him into slavery, to begin with.
After pharaoh received the interpretations of his dreams from Joseph he asked all of his advisers, “Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?”
God was the reason that Joseph was sold into slavery instead of being killed by his brothers. He was the reason joseph rose quickly in Potiphar’s house and the reason Joseph would not sleep with Potiphar’s wife. God was the reason Joseph was thrown into prison, and why he was made leader over all of the prisoners. He was also the reason why joseph could interpret dreams, especially the cup barer and the bakers. Now god is the reason why Joseph was remembered and brought to pharaoh and why he will be placed as second in command over all of Egypt.
Are you seeing a pattern yet?
God is the reason for everything. It is our choice of who we give credit to, if we keep our faith, and how we choose to live (godly or a life of sin).
Joseph chose to live life of God. At every turn, he had the choice to choose sin. He could have chosen to sleep with Potiphar’s wife, or to take credit for the ability to interpret dreams, or anything else that he was blessed with.
Instead, Joseph chose to live a God first life.
Prayer
Lord today we come to you yet again to ask for courage. We would be extremely grateful if you would grant us the courage to live a god fist life. We know that you allow us to make “bad “decisions. We pray that you would help give us the guidance and courage to make great choices. Help us to choose to keep our faith. Help us to choose to give you credit. Help us to choose to do what is right by you, every time, not just when it’s convenient for us. Lord, we are thankful that you give us such great examples to learn from. Your word is full of examples, both good and bad. Just as our life is full of examples. Help us to model the life joseph lived by always giving you credit for every aspect of our life.
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
