I hate learning lessons the hard way.  Is there anyone who does?  I think I may have met a few.  Of course we all know that we grow and gain invaluable understanding when God teaches us a lesson and we finally get it, some sooner than others.  This past month, God had a few lessons for me to learn whether I liked it or not.
Staying up late during deadline week just comes with the position of publisher.  It is expected and necessary for the paper to get out on time.  But this month, no matter how much espresso, Red Bull, or Coke I drank, I could not stay awake.  I was out cold.  Talk about frustrating.  Every night I prayed, “Lord, do you know how much I have to do?  Please help me stay awake.” I hoped that would work.  Instead, He wanted to teach me to rest in Him and He would provide.  Even when my strength fails, He never fails.  He is faithful no matter how much we have to do.  Sure, I knew that, but I guess I had to believe it.  So, as you can see, the paper came out again, as always.  First lesson learned – God is more powerful than caffeine.
Over the last several months, we have been wrestling over bringing back our monthly Business with Purpose networking breakfast.  Ever since we took a break last year, we have heard, “When are you going to bring back the monthly breakfast?”  So, we decided to step out in faith and bring it back.  We made the commitment, but we didn’t have a speaker.  At the very last minute, our good friend Carl Foster from Grace FM called and said he had the perfect guy – Mark Koch, author, speaker, and film producer of “Lost in Space.”  Because of God’s faithfulness, the first business breakfast of this year will be October 8th (see page 6 for details).  Second lesson learned – God always comes through and sometimes with a sense of humor.
Ironically, the topic for this month’s breakfast is the third lesson re-learned – God has to be first, family second, and business third.  He is faithful to warn us to set our priorities in order when they get out of order.  I got a copy of Mark’s new book, “The First Hour for Men,” which is a 30-day study guide for setting priorities right in your life.  Why do most of us tend to stray from giving God our first?  We are so quick to judge how easily the Israelites forgot what God had done, but we forget how much we are just like them.  It can be as quick as from Monday to Friday that we allow ourselves to get out of whack and forget who God is and how worthy He is of our time and attention.
I said in the beginning that I hate learning lessons, but I do love what I learn from the lessons.  God will make us lie down so He can prove Himself trustworthy that He will provide.  God will always come through no matter how late in the game it is.  And God will always get our attention when we don’t have Him as first priority.  I admit most of what I learn is from mistakes.  Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed.  I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”  I pray it doesn’t take me 10,000 times to get it right.
Please share with us your lessons learned this month, no matter how big or small, so we can inspire others in our October issue. E-mail me at [email protected].