BE PREPARED TO SHARE

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

I was working from my home office yesterday when I got a call from a good friend, the media lead at CEDARVILLE University.  He said the college was hosting a TOWN HALL with former Fox News lead Eric Boling regarding the Opioid/Addiction challenge.

I had met Eric briefly in Washington DC last March.  At that time, he was only 6 months removed from losing his boy, a Division 1 athlete to overdose.  Sadly, his son was one of those who “one pill” was the wrong pill.  What he thought he purchased from a friend was a XANAX targeted to help him with mid-term anxiety instead was laced with deadly fentanyl and took his life.  So, Eric, now affiliated with Sinclair Broadcasting, is traveling the country advancing the conversation regarding the fight, the fight that we have been fighting here in Ohio for nearly 8 years now.

So last night about more than 500 folks weathered the chill and and hear from Eric and others, including myself, former Lieutenant Governor, Mary Taylor, Dr. Sweeney Dean of Cedarville’s Pharmacy Department regarding the issue.

It was quite the honor to say the least. It was a national broadcast.  As I like to say it was an EPHESIANS 3:20 kind of moment.  I was going to attend the Town Hall as a guest of Dr. Sweeney.  I never thought I would be on the stage.

Never.

But what ENCOURAGED me so much was that no one from the broadcast team, not Eric, not the producers, no one, constrained me from sharing my faith and how the LORD has and continues to orchestrate my recovery.  In a culture where faith has been muzzled, ridiculed, and misrepresented, the crisis of addiction is a place where folks KNOW that faith is the “secret ingredient” to recovery!

So why share this?

Maybe you watched it. 

It is not about the show, it is about the opportunity.

When given an opening to share your faith, don’t hesitate. Oddly enough I told my friend Marisa who along with my wife Beth were there to “cheer me on” that I didn’t want anyone to remember me in this, but rather be affirmed that FAITH is a difference maker.

Billy Graham said it this way, “Our faith becomes stronger as we express it; a growing faith is a sharing faith.”

I will be honest; my faith is frail most of the time.  I continue to have goofy thoughts and make questionable choices that clearly disappoint GOD.  

I know it.  

But GOD continues to put me in places to share Him despite all of that.  I think because He wants my faith to get stronger. 

He knows I need it.

But I still don’t get it.  I don’t.  I wouldn’t trust me with the message.

Never.

But I am learning that when the doors open, it isn’t about me, or my track record.  It never had or has anything to do with me and everything to do with Him. We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that the extraordinary overflow of power will be seen as God’s, not ours. – 2 Corinthians 4:7 (TPT)

Friends each day we are ALL given opportunities to share with folks about how the Lord is impacting us.  Even when we don’t feel like we could make a difference given our failures, GOD does trust you. 

He has always used the broken and flawed. 

I am proof of that; sinner number one like Paul surmised.

We just need to be ready to share when the opportunity presents itself. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are… 1 Peter 3:15 (MSG)

The question is will we? 

Akita said:

Each of our stories, have a golden treasure for a specific need.” 

Have a BLESSED WEEKEND!!!

Love all of you

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE