You can do anything.

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.”

Matthew 20:26-28

All too often we look at someone’s appearance and don’t see what God sees.  

Heck, I do this with myself every single day.  

When I look in the mirror I might see someone too young to lead a team. Or an aging person who has passed their best opportunities because I was to scared to listen to God.  

Sometimes I see a guy who looks too tired and worn out to keep moving.

But that’s not what God sees.  

He looks past the outward appearance to see what’s really on the inside.

Someone who never gives up.  When they are told “No” it really means that I try even harder to make it happen.  A person who has the knowledge to do anything I want. 

He sees the person he designed. The person he shaped me into. 

God did the same thing when he chose David to be king.  

If we go back and read a few verses before this one you would find that Samuel really thought that Jesse’s oldest son was going to be chosen to be king.  

Probably for a few reasons.

He was strong, had distinguished features, and he looked the part.

What Samuel couldn’t see was his personality.

After God said, “Not this one” I’ll bet Samuel was a little disappointed.  

He went through all of Jesse’s children and God said, “Not this one.” to all of them.

Then Samuel asked, “do you have any other children?” 

Jesse told him,  “One more he’s out in the field with the flocks.”

They sent for David and the bible describes him as, “Ruddy”!  

Ok, Then it goes on to also describe him as “God Like” too.

But you see God never judges a book by its cover.  Why do we judge ourselves as well as others by our appearance? 

Have you ever seen someone in a suit and thought wow that guy/gal must be important? 

Or seen a person walking down the street in jeans with holes in them, and an old T-shirt and thought glad I’m not like him.

Our outward appearance doesn’t affect what God has in store for us.  It doesn’t change what he wants us to do. 

The only thing that changes that is our decisions.

Do you listen to God and know that we can do anything? Or do you listen to your inner critic and not get off the couch because “you’re not good enough?” 

Today is your day to take action!

Get up look in the mirror and see the REAL person God shaped you into.  

The Vibrant, outgoing, gorgeous person he designed has been right there the whole time.

Just like David was there the whole time.

Prayer

God today we come to you to say thank you.  Thank you for designing us exactly the way you did.  Thank you for hiding our potential until we could handle seeing what you had in mind for us.  Thank you for giving us the strength to move forward when you need us to.  God, we know that our vision isn’t as good as yours.  We don’t always see things the way you need us to. So we ask that you would help us by giving us a dose of your vision today. Help us to see the person you designed us to be.  Helps us to know where you need us to go and who you need us to touch, with your word.  God when you chose David you knew what he would grow into even when Samuel couldn’t see it. God, you are amazing and we know that.  We know that you love us, and want us to grow into the person that you truly intended us to be.  Open our eyes to see our potential, and give us the strength to pursue it.

Thank you for everything that you give to us.  And yes God that includes our untidy hair, overgrown beard, dirty clothes, God everything.  Thank you!

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