Skip to main content

What To Do First to Make a Profit

The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat  ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're  not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director.  Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year.  God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started inve

It was the best of times...






...it was the worst of times. What a mixed week. But tonight we had a bright spot...PRETZELS! Tonight, pretzels were a gift of God.

Church is great and usually when it is, home is stressful. Then when home is great, church gets stressful. It seems life in it's entirety is not ever just totally peachy keen. It can't just be one wonderful ball of wax... and I for one don't like that balance of good/bad. I keep praying for that ever elusive wonderful ball of wax!

I decided I was going to re-claim enjoying my children after the stresses of the last two weeks, and do something fun even if it killed us. I say that because you know how you have all these great plans of how you are going to have some "family fun" and then the kids do nothing but fight or disobey and you think, "I'm an idiot to plan this." But not tonight. I was going to INSIST on fun. It was one of those days where I said, "Look kids! We're going to do something fun, and you're going to LOVE IT or I'm going to choke you!!!" Well, thankfully tonight it worked. And there was no choking involved. Praise Jesus.

Back story...

Last night I was so incredibly tired that I didn't have energy for anything special in me after getting home from work. I had wrestled with the computer the night before. You know how Jacob wrestled with God? I wrestled with a Hewlett Packard. I was trying to upload something for work and it wouldn't do it. I was mad. I said, "I WON'T LET GO UNTIL YOU BLESS ME! NOW UPLOAD, YOU UNGODLY MACHINE!" (Pastor T, if you are reading this, please don't chastise me about not having a MAC, thank you.) Anyway, I was mad and wouldn't give up. So I sat there until I forced it to upload at 3:30 am. "Aha! I gotcha!" I trimphantly declared to the PC. Then I went to bed and got a whopping 2 and 1/2 hours sleep before Jordan came in and woke us up and had an blow up argument with his father before school. What a blessing. That's just how every parent on the planet wants to start their day. So after getting home from work yesterday, I did...more work. I never finished at the office so found myself doing some more, albeit laying down with my laptop, upon coming home. Then did some jacuzzi time with Savanna and went to bed. But I promised something better tonight.

After cleaning up supper I went for a ride on my bike. It was so nice to be out there at sunset again. It's my favorite time. While I was gone Jordan completed his 8-page paper that I made him write as one of his latest disciplines for one of his recent infractions. It was on five attributes of Jesus. He did a good job. In his closing paragraph he wrote, "I think that the punishment placed upon me by those in authority over me has really taught me a lot about the Bible. And like you have told me a million times before, it's a lot easier to do things with a happy heart than an ungrateful heart or something like that." Hopefully he did learn something. I figure if I force the Word into him enough, it will seep out at some point. Since he had completed his punishment, he could come out and do something with us. When I got home from the bike ride, Jordan, Savanna and I made homemade soft pretzels. I found the Auntie Anne's recipe off of the internet. I promised Savanna last night that we would make them. Last night they tried their own recipe that they found from somewhere else. They wanted me to help but like I said, I was exhausted so I said no. They were on their own. Well, the pretzels last night were horrible. One bite and they went in the trash. So we redeemed things tonight and I helped them with the recipe I found. It was fun to make them, they did not argue, and...the pretzels turned out FANTASTIC. Even Dustin who is a soft pretzel expert liked them. Then it was on to watching Idol.

Every time Larry and I preach a lot on marriage and the family we go through this stress. Every time. Last year when I preached at a few places that invited me to come and speak specifically on that topic, it was unbearably tense in our house each time. I can preach on the Holy Ghost, tithing or the fruit of the spirit and nothing significantly bad happens in our home. But just let me preach on marriage or parenting and shazam!!!!! All H-E double toothpicks breaks loose. Well, we've had two weeks from you know where and I almost said, "cancel this dumb desperate households series, and these three marriage conferences we're doing! It's not worth it!" Instead I decided to call a few intercessors and let them know I needed them to stand with us. They are. And we'll just keep going forward. I know it's an attack of the enemy but it's just so hard to go through it even though you know what it is and where it's coming from. Last year I came within an inch of calling several places I was asked to come preach (on this topic) and say to them, "you know...would it be too much trouble for me to preach on something else?" But I just hung in there. I'm glad I did. It was worth it. Not that our family doesn't have stress any other time. Certainly we do. But on these occasions it just seems to triple.

Never before have I realized so much the importance of specific prayer. Just when I think I do, something happens that lets me know I've only scratched the surface. It's the best and worst of times, but prayer is the key to getting us through, as well as forcing fun sometimes!

Comments

I'm with Pastor T! Macs rule! LOL!

Popular posts from this blog

Some people will never understand this...

And that's okay. Just let us be as we lavish love upon the fur-kids of the world. It doesn't mean we don't care about people. We do care. In fact most of the people I know who are great pet lovers are also the greatest philanthropists. If you're not a dog lover, you might not understand the overwhelming intensity that many of us felt about Tank's reunion this past week. You might think we've lost our marbles. That's okay, we think you've lost your heart. ;)  Before I go on with this post, let me say that we were delighted that CBS 10 posted the video and article about Tank and his Celebration Church reunion yesterday. Click here to watch it. (But then come back!) If you haven't realized it, there is a revolution in America about dogs. Dogs have always been loved and known as the most loyal companions ~ "man's best friend". But things have gone way beyond this. Dogs aren't just dogs or friends anymore. They are family me

Fifty Shades of No Way

This weekend, the Fifty Shades of Grey movie will be released and millions of women are expected to flock to the theat er s.  I will not be one of those women.   As a leader of women , some have asked me about this movie. The following is my thoughtful response. Fifty Shades of Grey has topped best-seller lists around the world. The book series has sold over 100 million copies worldwide, and been translated into 52 languages. It set the record as the fastest-selling paperback of all time.   Is Fifty Shades of Grey just a harmless book or movie? Although n o one seems to be debating this fact, let’s first establish that it’s pornography.  And not just porn, but a genre that is even more dangerous for women. The book glorifies a female character that is controlled and abused by her partner.   Who is excited about this book and mov ie? Hmmmm….you might be surprised. Many women and girls in our churches have read it. Sadly, I am even aware of

Relevant Church doing something...

incredibly RELEVANT!

I just heard some news today that really inspired me. A church here in Tampa, Relevant Church is doing a new thing this month called the "30 Days Sex Challenge." (I've never visited the church but Pastor Trinity - our children's pastor - has visited or has met some people from this church and he was very impressed.) Realizing that this is a major element missing from some marriages (the frequency factor) their lead pastor, Paul Wirth, has issued a challenge for all the married couples to have sex for 30 days in a row. At the same time he has issued a challenge for all unmarrieds to completely abstain from sex. Of course we know the Bible says that those who are unmarried should not have sex in the first place but the point is, a lot of unmarried's aren't obeying the Lord's command to abstain and this is just one pastor's way of trying to get them to see that indeed, there is a better way! (God's way!) At the same time, many married couples are not