Thursday, April 26, 2018

Risking It All

http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/04/24/waffle-house-hero-james-shaw-went-church-after-stopping-rampage
This week, an armed man entered a Waffle House and opened fire on patrons of the restaurant.  The patrons scattered in an effort to protect themselves from the gunfire - all but one.  James Shaw, Jr. was not ready to die or watch others die.  He wanted to keep an eye on the shooter, so that he might have a chance to survive.  When the gunman lowered his weapon to reload, Mr. Shaw charged him and wrestled the gun away from him, burning his hand on the still-hot barrell.  The gunman escaped but was later apprehended and arrested.  It gave me great peace to know that after the incident, the place that Mr. Shaw wanted to be was in church.  Praise God for his quick thinking and his willingness to risk his life to save others.  I wonder where he learned that.  Click here to hear his story.

Thursday, April 19, 2018

TED and Billy


https://www.ted.com/talks/billy_graham_on_technology_faith_and_suffering


Technology.  TEDTalks.  Jesus.  These are three of my favorite things, and who better to bring them together than Billy Graham.  I found this talk from 1998 where he combined his knowledge of the technology of the day with truths from the Bible over 3000 years old to deliver the most important message of all time.  At 79 years of age, Dr. Graham is witty, sincere, knowledgeable, emotive, self-deprecating and of course encouraging - reminds me of another guy I know who lived 2000 years ago.  I look forward to meeting them both face to face some day.  Set aside 26 minutes to be inspired.  You won't regret it.

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Running The Race

Each year for the past 5 years, I have taken the first few months of the year to prepare for a 5k/10k run at Lake Hartwell in May.  Last year was the first year I demoted myself to the 5k, but I do enjoy participating.  At may age,  the training is somewhat painful.  It consists of some dieting and some semi-regular runs.  The improvement day-to-day is slow but certain - and it is worth it to me.
 
I met with a good friend yesterday who works for a mission organization that exposes young adults interested in long-term overseas missions to what that might look like by placing them in midterm assignments in those countries.  They focus on reaching the people groups in the world that have never heard of Jesus.  This could be the single-most daunting task that Jesus left with us, and I love that one of my close friends is running that race.  For more about Cafe1040, click here.  Well done, Stephen! My good  and faithful friend.

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Sweating the small stuff

Being in real estate, I get a lot of phone calls that may or may not be directly related to the growth of my business.  People don't always call wanting to buy or sell houses.  A lot of times I get calls from people who need to find a good plumber or someone to get the leaves out of their gutters.  My nature is to view these calls as distractions and quite honestly, a waste of my time.   Sometimes, even when people are calling about buying or selling, the calls feel like distractions.  One couple was driving through Georgia on their way from Texas to Maine looking for a place to retire.  Lake Hartwell was one of their stops, and there was one house they wanted to see that was another agent's listing.  I was an hour and a half away, and didn't really feel like going on a goose chase that day.  They were persistent, so I reluctantly elected to meet them.  The house they wanted to see was not a match, but as I listened to what they were looking for, I thought of a more expensive house that I had just listed.  I asked them if they wanted to see it, and they agreed.  They seemed to like it, but when finished, they hopped in their pick-up truck to continue their trip to Maine.  I honestly never expected to hear from them again.  My son, Michael, works with me and usually works with our buyers.   Because of my willingness to meet them initially and his follow up for over 6 months, they closed on the house I showed them last week.  God asks us to be faithful with the small things, and when we are, sometimes we get trusted with more.  I try to remember that every time someone's toilet is clogged.