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Podcast episodes before, during, and after hearing God and moving our family from Redding, CA, to New Hope, PA. Navigating transition, delay, unknown, family needs, disappointment, and final outcome.
Episodes
Tuesday Dec 31, 2019
Tuesday Dec 31, 2019
Welcome to the conversation! In this episode, Janine and I share about the short family vacation we just returned from and why it was (IS) so necessary. We also unpack the challenges we had to overcome, the outcomes, how we made it work financially, and some of our favorite family vacation activities!
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Teenage schedules (work, babysitting, wrestling practice, tired at end of day...)
- My workload getting a new book launched. Do I have the time to go away? Will this be relaxing and refreshing for me....?
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One of our kids had a cold coming on just as we were leaving. She was going through a box of tissues in a couple days. We took the risk to go and grabbed some over the counter medication to help with our prayer. She came right in 24hrs.
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The rooster! We were in the middle of a city but were woken 2am, 4am and 6am each day by the neighbors bird. Not fun!
- Stress of big city driving that brings out the worst in people and takes a bunch of unnecessary energy to manage!
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First ever Failed Ice cream experience
- Different expectations of our highly independent family members of what to do on vacation. Janine had some intentional conversations with each of us about this up front. For me this was remembering that although the city wasn't an ideal vacation location for me personally, that if I could adjust my expectations, the payoff would be worth it. And it was.
- Urban Adventure Quest - a little bit of 'amazing race' a little city exploration, a lot of fun. In cities all over the USA. $50
- Subpar mini golf - we always have a fun (competitive) game on vacation.
- California Science Academy
- Parkwide Bike Rental - HIGHLIGHT renting a four person bike (that the six of us could fit on)
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Taco Cat card game - Hilarious family fun. $10
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You’ve Got Crabs card game. A LOUD family fun game. $16
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Nertz card game - for the price of a few decks of cards.
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Chickapig board game. $25
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Trekking the national parks board game. $50
Brought to you by Gulf Coast Recreation, your playground expert.
Tuesday Dec 24, 2019
Tuesday Dec 24, 2019
Welcome to the conversation! In this episode I take you behind the curtain to learn how I hear God and process my part in working with what He is saying for 2020.
Every Wednesday the Heaven in Business team meet for an hour and pray for all those in our influence. This looks like hearing from God what He is saying and then agreeing with Him and declaring that. It's not a big check list pleading God to do something. At the end of each session together we attempt to summarize what we have been praying via Facebook.com/HeaveninBusiness and this is emailed out to all our online community members.
This week coming in for the meeting I had a picture in my head of how to lead the prayer. I was reminded of the story in Matthew 16 where Jesus has just fed a few thousand people with a couple of loaves of bread and some fish. They end up with more left over than they started with - cool business model! Then they jump into a boat and realize that they forgot to bring lunch. Jesus says something like "What's up with you guys?!! Didn't you just hear what happened? Didn't you see the results? At least remember!" In other words, forgetting lunch was not going to be a problem in light of just witnessing 5,000+ being fed from practically nothing.
The image I had was to lay out my whiteboard with in thirds with SEE / HEAR / REMEMBER. I then wrote under each section (with the team) what we were seeing happen, hearing happen and the key testimonies God was bringing to remembrance. We then looked for themes in all of this and turn those into practical strategies for 2020.
Here's the key points:
1. What am I hearing?
Multiplication is our word for 2020. What if we realize 10 years growth in one year? Are we ready? What do we need to do in order to be ready?
Providence of God. He is God; we are not. He does as He pleases. He is saying in this moment "Get out of the way." It's not whose side He is on; it is about us getting on HIS side. "Listen and follow."
"I want a move of God" heard from leader of a business network.
God doing things in a sudden moment. Turning of tables. Turning around of situations that have been going on for a long period.
Resulting alignment.
Phrase "Prepare Him room" from a message spoken by Steve Znachko. Push out the walls. Get ready! Click this link to go to youtube message recorded at Antioch church in Indianapolis.
2. What am I seeing?
Piece's and people are lining up - either in opposition or the dots are lining up to move forward.
Impossible situations = opportunity for faith to growth (conditional on right perspective)
Three testimonies of enemies becoming 'Friends' in order to move forward
- Mozambique Dec 2019 (Heidi Baker) with the statement "You only have authority where you have love."
- Pharma Industry giving advice to competing company
- Trafficking ring leader with God saying He has an alternative future for him
3. What do I remember?
"Now it's my time" testimony of a couple wanting a baby. They tried everything and ended up losing a child one week after birth. When the doctor said "It's impossible. We have tried everything," man felt hot oil run down his neck and heard God say "Now its MY turn."
Provision. We had a couple extra bills in the last week that within 24hrs were taken care of through surprising source.
Two, two-year conflict situations had a turn-around. One was anniversary of it happening a couple years ago. Other was last week. In each situation there was hostile takeover behavior and the tables were turned. One situation ended up going from "how do we surive this lawsuit without being bankrupted?" to owning 100% of the company at the judges order BECAUSE the partner was so arrogant and ignored basic court procedure.
So what does it all mean for us in 2020?
Key phrases:
1. I want a move of God - I don't want simply what I can do in my own ability. I want to see and experience what God can do.
2. Prepare Him room - not just a heart/spiritual thing but in all of life.
Action:
- Who am I currently looking at as an adversary that God has actually commanding that I see different because they hold a key to my next steps?
- Look at my priorities and schedule and relationships and make sure that I protect my connection with Jesus at the center of everything.
- Think big picture what could happen if 10x growth and make steps NOW to setup systems, structure, processes and needed placements so that we are ready.
- In all things, in middle of mess, pause and worship, declaring what God has said in the face of the opposite.
Check out upcoming travel - Lexington KY in January 2020 and Florida in February.
Listen out for new book "Finding Hope in Crazy Times" coming out February 2020.
Brought to you by Gulf Coast Recreation, your playground expert.
Tuesday Dec 17, 2019
Tuesday Dec 17, 2019
Welcome to the conversation! In this episode I give you the introduction and one chapter from our new book. This will be published February 2020 but you get a sneak preview (or pre-listen) of what it is all about.
The book is called Finding Hope in Crazy Times - Daily Stories of Hearing God.
Here's the chapter that I read on this episode...
The Importance of Delay
We live in a world of “instant.” You can have coffee in an instant, meals in an instant, and information in an instant. Many things that in the past took time to build, purchase or grow can now be purchased fully developed. We have become accustomed to things being done quickly, and we are no longer required to wait for virtually anything. We become impatient if we have to wait in line for more than a few minutes in a grocery store or at the coffee shop. Our whole world has taken to inventing ways to circumvent things that take time to develop naturally.
But there is beauty in delay.
Within months of arriving to America, God began to talk to our family about giving us a house—literally “land in this land.” In a natural sense, this was laughable. We had no income of any sort for the first three years and the money that we brought from New Zealand was fast being used to support our growing family. But we had great faith and took God at His Word. We connected with a real estate agent and began looking at houses in the area. It is hard to set a budget when you don’t know how God was going to provide, but we looked at all sorts of houses and made a plan for what we would do when God sent the resources. We spent hours talking about what sort of income we would need to support ourselves and we wondered out loud why God was taking so long to bring the promised income and house finance. During that time, I had an advisory team that offered to help me get a business visa and quick income, but it was through a different source than the one that the Lord had talked about. I seriously thought about it for a few minutes before looking at my wife, who simply asked me, “What does Jesus say?” I sadly but clearly knew we had to turn down the offer.
The “delay” continued for FIVE YEARS. Five years may not seem long to you, but it is forever when you are longing for God to do what you thought He was going to do quickly. Those years were some of the hardest years of our lives. Yet, we can also look back and see that they were some of the most glorious years, years full of growth and expansion. They were years when we learned to trust God to a much higher degree than we had ever had to trust Him before.
An inheritance gained hastily at the beginning
Will not be blessed at the end.
Proverbs 20:21
Let’s face it, we all like it when God comes through quickly, where there is a small gap between the promise and the fulfillment of that promise. The truth is we often grow the most and have our character exposed and developed the most in the waiting. I am not a naturally patient guy. I like to get started on things before I even finish the planning stage, but I have learned to value the waiting period because it is where I most often meet God. I know that if God had given us our house right after He promised it, I would have missed out on all the growth opportunities that I experienced along the way.
As I waited, I was confronted with all the areas that I thought I trusted God but really didn’t. I got a chance to truly learn to trust Him. As I waited, I discovered a whole lot of mindsets around God’s desire to bless me, and I triggered a bunch of fear associated with money:
- Have I failed to steward the resources we had in the past?
- What am I missing that I should be doing?
- Will we have money for next year?
- What if something goes really bad?
- What about retirement?
- What have I done to deserve a gift of a house? Am I crazy believing like this?
- What would people say if they knew I was believing like this?
- How could I receive a gift like a house when I have friends who don’t even have money for rent?
- I must work harder for this…
- Why am I second-guessing everything God has said?
Every word of the Lord is tested, refined,
and proven to be pure.
Proverbs 30:5 (paraphrased AMP/KJV)
In the midst of the delay, I certainly had plenty of opportunities to learn to wait patiently, trusting that He knew the timing better than I did. Our hearts were tested and proven in the process, something that can never happen overnight. Sure, it’s frustrating. Sure, we’d still like it to be faster. But when we set our hearts to embrace what He had for us to learn in the wait, we found ourselves refined like gold. God’s word has always proven true. Eventually we did get the house and it was a sweet celebration – the delay only made the realization of the dream so much sweeter.
I have four wonderful children. They have all inherited my sweet tooth, and so they love treats. When they were younger and would come to me and say, “Dad, can we hang out together and go on a date?” it was more often than not because they wanted ice cream. I was the vehicle to get them what they wanted. I would confirm this if I said: “Nah, let’s just spend time together without treats.” Once I’d found out their true motive, more often than not, I wanted to treat them anyway. As a good Dad, I don’t always say “yes” when they ask for treats. Sometimes I say “no” for the benefit of their teeth and health. And sometimes I say “wait” knowing that if they wait, it will have so much more value for them. Sometimes I ask them to wait because I know they are not yet ready for the thing they are asking for. God is a good Father, who gives us the gift of delay for us to get to know our own hearts. Embrace the gift, there is treasure in the delay.
Prayer:
Father, thank you that you own time and you orchestrate it perfectly.
Help me to be patient in the delay.
Help me discover the things you have for me to learn in this season that I could never learn any other time.
Grant me the faith and patience as I wait.
Give me eyes to see what you are doing in my life as I wait for the promise.
Show me the things that you have for me to do in the waiting period.
Thank you for loving me enough to not give me everything I ask for.
Going deeper:
- Where do you have a delay right now? How are you responding?
- What mindsets and behaviors are being revealed in you by the delay?
- What gift is God wanting to give you in the midst of this delay?
- Who are you finding Him to be in the midst of the delay? (God your provider, God your comfort, God your healer?)
Today’s Action:
Thank God for the delay. Intentionally look around your life and identify character growth or other changes in and around you that would not have happened if you got what you wanted in an instant. Share these with someone close to you.
If this has been of value, please don't hesitate to share, post comments and let us know your feedback.
Brought to you by Gulf Coast Recreation, your playground expert.
Tuesday Dec 10, 2019
Tuesday Dec 10, 2019
Welcome to the conversation! I used to think it was love to overlook or cover an offense done to me. Isn't that what the scripture teaches? I was taught to believe the best and cover all wrongs done to me. Through my lens and personality that looked like sucking it up when I was hurt and avoiding pushing back or confronting. I would rarely let people know how I was truly experiencing them or how they were affecting me.
Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins (forgives and disregards the offenses of others). 1 Peter 4:8. See also Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up contentions, but love covers all transgressions.
Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, it’s hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything (without weakening.) 1 Corinthians 13:7.
Jesus Himself taught something seemingly different...but I didn't really take notice of this: "Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector." Matthew 18:15.
What was the result of my cover up? After decades of 'legally' avoiding confrontation my wife kindly said to me one morning “You are dead emotionally…”
Whaaaaaaaaaat????
Yep. Dead. Every time I overlooked or covered an offense, it cost a little piece of my heart. Over decades of this behavior (plus other painful life experiences that added to the process), I ended up with an empty heart. Dead emotionally. I would do all that was necessary - physically being present, but i was not available emotionally. It is impossible to ignore or cover up a hurt without it costing you something.
The scariest thing is I didn't even know myself!
It thrust me onto a journey of learning a whole other level of guarding my heart…
- I learned that love covers a multitude of wrongs… and so does money, position, power and FEAR! What I was calling LOVE was actually FEAR.
- I learned that love CONFRONTS a multitude of wrongs WITHOUT letting go of connection
- I learned that you cannot forgive when you haven’t acknowledged the depth of pain that has occurred (what are you forgiving them for?).
Some of the resources mentioned in this episode are:
- The Business of Honor by Bob Hasson
- Keep Your Love On by Danny Silk
- Crucial Conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high
Another great resource that helped me is content you will find by Brene Brown. Check out her books, especially Daring Greatly.
Brought to you by Gulf Coast Recreation, your playground expert.
Tuesday Dec 03, 2019
Tuesday Dec 03, 2019
Welcome to the conversation!
I like to take action quickly. This applies when helping others and to investment opportunities. A business friend of mine needed help with his cash flow for a short period of time. So, being a good friend, I didn’t hesitate to lend him some money because “A good man deals graciously and lends…” Ps 112:5
However, the situation turned out to be a lot bigger than a simple cashflow problem. My friend was not able to repay as he intended and that left me in the awkward position of having to have a painful conversation with him and with my wife.
So where did I go wrong? Shouldn’t we always respond to the needs around us out of generosity and brotherly kindness? When you feel compassion shouldn’t you just act?
It turns out the answer is NO. Compassion is only part of the equation. Check this out:
“A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion. Surely he will never be shaken…” Psalms 112:5, 6
To guide your affairs with discretion means that you make the decision carefully, cautiously, with wariness. You have your eyes wide open and do the due diligence.
I didn’t. I was simply moved by the situation. If I had showed more discretion I would have asked more questions… BEFORE lending or investing. It doesn’t mean that my decision would have been different, but it would have saved a lot of the surprises and pain.
Jesus commanded us to be as shrewd as snakes AND innocent as doves (see Matthew 10:16).mSnakes don’t blink; they sleep with their eyes open.
It is easy to be as innocent or even naïve as a dove but we are commanded to be BOTH innocent AND shrewd (showing sharp powers of judgment). I know I need to grow in the shrewdness!
So here’s what I’m learning:
- Do the due diligence.
- Ask the hard questions and/or have people around you who will.
- Trust God has more than one opportunity for you to part of the solution and/or investment.
- Be patient, not motivated by the pain of someone else’s problem or the fear of missing out.
And ultimately…
- Read the full instructions before proceeding!
Brought to you by Gulf Coast Recreation, your playground expert.
Tuesday Nov 26, 2019
Tuesday Nov 26, 2019
Welcome to the conversation! In this episode I share some great news about our miracle house story then unpack my secret source of staying full of hope in the crazy up's and down's of life. Through the last few years we have had CRAZY times - wildfire, snowmageddon, relationship conflict, intense health battles, financial difficulty and more... In this episode I share one of my journal entries that Janine and I have turned into a devotional that will help YOU find hope in crazy times. We have taken 30 of these journal entries over the last couple years and turned it into a book that will be published Feb 2020. If you want to get the jump on it and receive some free chapters, add your email to our newsletter on AndyandJanine.com.
Brought to you by Gulf Coast Recreation, your playground expert.
Tuesday Nov 19, 2019
Tuesday Nov 19, 2019
Welcome to the conversation! If you are facing an overwhelming challenge, this episode is for you. Whether your situation is health, relationships, night terrors or something else outside your control, listen to find out how to access the power to do what you cannot. In the episode I share some personal stories and those of friends of mine who have accessed power to change the weather, end a 30 year dependency on medication, restore health, end night terrors and more. At the end I refer to a great followup resource book called The Power of Communion : Accessing Miracles through the body and blood of Jesus, by Beni Johnson. You can grab a copy on most online bookstores.
Brought to you by Gulf Coast Recreation, your playground expert.
Tuesday Nov 12, 2019
Tuesday Nov 12, 2019
Welcome to the conversation! The person you are serving or working with right now may be the key to your future in a couple years time. Pay attention! In this episode I join the dots between connections I have made over the last few years and how they have opened doors and further connections that astound me. You are a masterpiece being carefully pieced together to display a phenomenal picture of the goodness of God. Enjoy the process!
Brought to you by Gulf Coast Recreation, your playground expert.
Tuesday Nov 05, 2019
Tuesday Nov 05, 2019
Welcome to the conversation! In this episode, Janine talks about the challenge of being in pain and without power while I was in Bali on a business trip. As my family was navigating no lights, I happened to send through a video expressing how much I love them.... with bright lights, rooftop swimming pool and amazing view in the background. Hmmmmm... How do you walk the tightrope of celebrating others victory while at the very same time having compassion for people in the midst of difficulty?
Brought to you by Gulf Coast Recreation, your playground expert.
Tuesday Oct 29, 2019
Tuesday Oct 29, 2019
Welcome to the conversation! In this episode, Janine and I talk about how we find and keep joy, especially when life is challenging. We also have a surprise guest and I gave a two minute summary of The Book of Joy featuring Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama. May you find joy in ALL of life
Brought to you by Gulf Coast Recreation, your playground expert.