I've been encouraged!

I almost called it quits on my air conditioning business. I've had a few jobs go bad, everyone told me I would, and I've lost a bunch of money... well it's a bunch to me anyway. I was going to let a few of my warranty jobs run out then cancel my insurance and call it a day. I get discouraged easy when I make a mistake doing a job, or when it takes longer than I thought, or when I don't make the profit that I thought. Well last week a brother called me up and asked me to do a job that I bid for him... a year ago. I told him I'd really rather not and tried to get out of it the best I could but he insisted that I do it. He really wanted me to do it. We worked out the details and I took it. This time though I decided I wasn't going to let myself get stressed out, I decided I was going to take my time and most important... Take my son along. Gage, age 8, came with me all three days of this job. He helped me and encouraged me through all of it, I also decided to have a friend from church help out. I learned two important things this weekend.
1st remember why I started HVAC in the first place. One day me and my sons may have a business that supports two generations. I want to be able to work along side of my boys! Fully self employed with 2 or 3 or 4 or more employees, how ever many boys we have! With a support staff of a loving wife and daughters back at the office! That's something to stick through the stress for.
2nd don't be afraid to ask for help. My son was a huge help to me, just having him around kept my stress level down, plus I wouldn't work myself too late into the night with him there (know when to call it a day). Also, my helper from church saved me at least two days of labor at the job site. He was a hard worker and very resourceful.

A family that works together....

Today was a great day! Amazing, and fun. I went to my normal Men's Meeting this morning, it is a discipleship meeting that I've been going to for a few months now, I had a few errands to run while in town, got home around 10, and then my family got to work. I loved it. First, my three oldest children changed the brakes on my van (with a little help from me). A 10 minute job, with the proper tools, took about an hour and a half, it was well worth the extra time. My kids were excited about helping, and had fun doing it. I wanted this to not only be a time of training for my children, not to be mechanics but for team work, following directions, hard work, organization, and joyfulness.

After we got done with the van, we went straight to work on our garage.... I haven't seen the floor in there since my father in-law passed on the ownership of it to me. We worked on it all the way up until 7:00 p.m. My kids worked soo hard and diligently. It brought joy to my heart to see them work together with mommy and daddy without complaint, without asking to stop and go play, and with such sweet spirits. This did more for me than it did for them I'm sure. The LORD helped me humbly guide my children throughout these labors instead of barking orders at them. I love a good days hard work, but this was different, this was with a purpose, we were able to show our children love and guidence with joy, it didn't even seem like work.... until we sat down.... now mommy and daddy are feeling the effects of all the hard work. Maybe I can get a back rub outta this too! Click here for more photos

So how Have I done this Week With my CQ

I was looking up the definitions for the word honour as it is used in the KJV Bible and I came across a website where a man was giving what the word meant to him. He said that honour was what he gives and doesn't seek. Honour is holding a door open for someone to show that you esteem them more than yourself. Honour is giving up a place of precedence to someone to let them know that you value them above that place, and above self. Now I read this guy's definition and I liked it but I think it lacked something.... Humility. Ironic. I saw pride in it, will worship, an outwardly show to make up for an inwardly lack. Sounds like me. Sounds like a man that hounoureth himself and lacketh bread. The reason I say this is because I know what it's like to grab ahold of a truth and be sold out to it. When I got saved, there was no thought processes going through my mind telling me I had to do this or that to "show" that I was saved... The thoughts I had were to please the God who saved me. I would tell others about Christ not because I thought that made me look saved but because his spirit compelled me to. I think that if I am going to grow in this area I need to not focus on the "acts" I can do to be humble, but the truth's I need to grab ahold of to be compelled, sold out, put into subjection to his will.

Humility

This is the Character Quality that I'm currently working on in my life. I've seen the damage that my pride is causing in my life and marriage and am not willing to leave this course uncorrected. I was reading in my devotions the other night and came across a verse that I've read several times before but never understood, but this time God wouldn't let me just fly by it. The verse is Proverbs 12:9 "He that is despised and hath a servant is better than he that honoreth himself, and lacketh bread." I've noticed that when I come under conviction about something I will impose my will about the matter onto my family, especially my wife. I don't often leave room for debate or input, I just go all out. I've also noticed that this usually comes with at best a half hearted response from my family and at worst all out resistance. I don't blame them. They are not donkeys that need to be moved about by bit and bridle, they are spiritual beings that need to be moved by the spirit. If the Holy spirit convicts me of something from Gods word it is my job to help my family catch the vision of it, not to force them to believe something they don't see, because then that won't last. The way I interpret that verse is that a man who has a perverse heart and whose life shows it is better than a man who acts as though he is holy and righteous when his life doesn't show it. That is me when I force my "will" on my family to honour myself, to have a show at righteousness. When I catch a vision for something for God, I will not need to force anyone, they will catch on with enthusiasm, they'll want to see what daddy sees. Sometimes I'll be convicted of a sin in my life and will react with a great change and force that change on my family, but if they don't see the evidence first in my life too them I'm just a man that honoreth himself and lacks bread...