Connection > Isolation + Division
My prayer journal entry from January 11th, 2021
10 months into the pandemic…
Outside of getting together with family, going to church, and doing podcast interviews, I hadn’t been to any group gatherings (primarily because there weren’t any). Would things be changing in 2021? Would this be the start?…
[Retyped and elaborated for clarity and context…]
Monday, January 11th 2021 9:02a NS4L office
Jesus,
I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for the Saturday evening with Shannon at the Keller Williams Gala. [My wife is a rockstar assistant to a great realtor that does a ton of the behind-the-scenes work like photography, social media, and a lot of administrative stuff. She impresses me with how she handles it all and is also a full-time mom to our two boys.] A dinner amongst other people at an event. Something that I haven’t done in the last year. Please keep everyone that attended healthy. It was great to catch up with [great friends] too. Thank you for that time. Thank you for the conversations and thank you for [removed for privacy].
[When I reread this, I think about the fear so many people had about gathering around others and how fear drove unhealthy conflict over vaccines (which had been out about a month at the time of this journal entry), masks, and more. I could write an entire blog on this topic alone, and maybe one day I will, but for now I’ll say this… We are built for connection. Satan does his best work when he isolates us. He strives to do so. We can’t let that happen. People need connection with one another and connection with God.]
LORD- I pray over this day. I pray it will be smooth. I pray it will be steady. I pray for happy customers. I pray that our team will be on their game. I start to feel overwhelmed thinking about chaos, lots of people, customers not happy because we can’t move fast enough to serve them, etc. So, I pray I will be a strong leader, an inspiring leader. I pray we will crush this day, steward what is yours extremely well, and make you proud. [I guess it’s a good thing if my concern is not being able to serve others as well as I want to?]
Let this entire week go smoothly and let this be the first day toward a great year for NS4L [New Scooters 4 Less] (and hopefully future ownership) [I was still holding on and praying that what I wanted is also what God wanted].
Thank you for letting us make it this far. There have been several times when I wasn’t so sure, but you always pull us through. [This point right here is why we shouldn’t ever worry. If we trust wholeheartedly in God, He lives up to His promises and we can trust that His plan is indeed better than our own. He always pulls us through.] Continue to show me the way. Continue to reveal the path to me. Open my eyes to what you want and where you want me to go. I’m so incredibly grateful to wake up, to be alive, to participate in this day, this week, this life. May I carry that gratitude all day today and all the time.
[As you’ve seen through my prayer journal entries, going back to this place of gratitude is something I do often. Gary Vaynerchuk, a well-known serial entrepreneur, often reminds people that the odds of becoming a human are 400 trillion to 1. When I hear this I think… “How could you not be grateful for the opportunity to be alive today? More importantly… How could you NOT believe in God?! He created YOU! Against all odds, you are here and He has a purpose and plan for your life! Are you willing to embrace it? Unfortunately, many don’t and let life pass them by!]
Finally, Maddox [my youngest, 7 years old at the time of this writing] has a little congestion and cough. Seems like it could be what his cousins had, so I pray it will go away rapidly. Heal him. Take care of our beautiful children please God. I love you. I thank you.
Collin
Today’s final thoughts
I’ve seen so much division in the last few years. We let the world successfully separate us and cause us to judge each other through narratives controlled by the elites (politicians and media in particular). Let’s not let that happen.
James 4:11-12 11 Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. 12 God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?
Wake up every morning this week and before you grab your phone to catch up on the worldly things… pray first. Thank God for allowing you to wake up. Thank God for the opportunity to be alive and to impact the people that cross your path that day. Ask Him to show up. [Quick story… this past week I paid off a 2022 scooter that had been on my credit line for a year or so. It was my oldest piece of new inventory and I felt led to go ahead and pay it off instead of waiting for the unit to sell. Less than an hour later, a customer called and paid for that particular unit in full for the fall semester. The moment was divine and I recognized it as so and thanked Jesus in the moment.]
I’m praying that each of you that reads this will have a blessed week ahead. Thank you for reading and for being a part of my journey.
Collin
If this is your first time visiting my blog, please read about it here and please subscribe. Thank you!
