Amen

• God, please grant me . . . , in Jesus name, Amen.
• God, please care for . . . , Amen.
• Jesus, heal . . . , Amen.
• Jesus, I'm so tired . . . , Amen.

I was taught as a child that this word means, "So be it".

A guest speaker was introduced a while back when I was 'interviewing' churches. Beth Guckenberger lives in Cincinnati and is Co-Executive Director of Back2Back Ministries.  She is also an author and was speaking about this very familiar word.

Her newest book is called Start with Amen.  Although I've thought of buying this book many times, I have not.  Feeling a bit guilty about this, I will be going back to Amazon one of these days, hopefully soon.

Power in Unlikely Places

Recently, I was asked to spend a couple of hours in front of 40 sales people and assorted work-place dignitaries and guests.  Originally, this was to be a training session for the business system implemented 16 months ago.  Let’s just say, the launch started out poorly and that major issues continue even today.

It’s critical that things are done correctly at the start of the work-flow process if one expects to have reliable data when the work-flow stops.  Additionally, the system in place is completely unforgiving.  Mistakes are costly in the form lost productivity.

Month after month, as we struggle to get a handle on this system, tempers have been known to get a bit difficult to control.  Salespeople struggle in efforts to work with customers.  They frequently feel that our new system is preventing them from doing what they do best, and change is not welcome.  Finance struggles with conformity and uniformity.  Every rule exception creates systemic havoc.

Winter Storm Warning

I stopped in the grocery store Friday afternoon for just a couple of things.  I did not stay.

It was somewhere between 1:30 and 2PM when I drove into the lot.  Puzzled because there seemed to be no place to park, I made the aisle rounds and eventually was able to direct the nose of the vehicle into a vacancy at the far end of the property. 

I didn’t stay because it was evident that the few items sought would not be worth the wait.  Again, I wondered at the crowds.  It took a couple of seconds for enlightenment.  Cincinnati was under a Winter-storm warning beginning at 4AM Saturday morning.  The warning would be in effect until 7AM Sunday morning.

Wake Up!

"Thankfully, that heat blast from the car bomb wasn't a few inches closer, or I'd have a perpetually surprised look on my face after having my eyebrows burned off.  Even in my shitty life, I can find small mercies to be grateful for." (A Shameless Little Con by Meli Raine)

There is something you're praying for.  It might be for you.  It might be for a child, friend, co-worker or parent. It sometimes consumes you.  And, admit it, sometimes you feel abandoned. You feel that you're talking to the ceiling.  You wonder if you've lost your mind asking an invisible deity to help you when you hear nothing but the silence of an empty room. You begin to believe that He gave up on you.

A free book from Amazon and a sermon combine to remind me that I am not alone.  Jesus didn't die on a cross to give up on me.  He died FOR me.  He said MY name before He said, "Yes, I am willing to suffer and die on a cross."