Today we are going to talk about trusting God’s timing, not ours.
Boy, do I have stories about how things happen in God’s timing and not mine.
But for today I would really like to tell you about my journey to starting a business with God.
Even if you are not into business I promise you will like this story.
I’m sure that you have heard parts of it. but for today I am going deeper than I ever have before.
Let’s start with the way that I was raised.
To start with I would like to say that I love both of my parents and that they did an amazing job, especially because I was a particularly “hard” child to raise. I was not like either one of them.
I bucked the system every chance I got, and I would argue with a fence post. AND WIN EVERY TIME! Mostly I would argue until everyone was tired. Yes, even the fence post. Lol
The thing is that my dad was pretty vocal with his opinions like I am. ( if you love a good laugh follow him on Facebook.)
I heard lots of this phrase growing up, “I would NEVER want to own my own company because then I have to worry about everyone else’s paycheck. I wouldn’t want all those families depending on me to find work.”
And for the longest time, I clang onto those beliefs too.
Up until about the time I was 30ish I said the exact same thing.
I would never want to own a business. I want to show up to work, do my job and go home.
While I can see why my dad thought that way, it was not the way God designed me.
And that’s OK!
Isn’t it great that God DESIGNED us all differently?
Here’s the thing.
God needed me to learn lots of lessons so that I could be an AMAZING leader not only for our company but also for our tribe and my family. (Not sure what I mean by a tribe? Read the devotional on tribes)
Anyways……..
God used different roles and positions to shape me into the person that I am today.
And if my dad had not instilled that thought in my head as a teen, that I don’t want to own my own business. Then I would not be the person I am today.
As I look back on the roles that God has put me in they all shaped me.
When I worked for Coke he was teaching me the basics of mechanics for vending machines, and to be 1005 honest he was humbling me. As a teen, I was pretty arrogant.
We took this test in high school that told us what roles we would be a GREAT fit for. (PS in my opinion this is such a bogus test.) When I got the results from this test it said that I should consider being a vending machine repairman.
That was a huge SLAP IN THE FACE for me at the time. (See the issue, I looked down on certain positions. Not the way I am today.)
So, God placed me in a position as a vending machine repair guy. A GREAT job with GREAT people. Working for a GREAT company.
Next, he placed me in a position of manual labor and gave me my first taste of leadership. I worked in a feed mill (Basin COOP) and within the first year, I was almost fired several times, argued with my direct supervisor (who is now a GREAT friend), and was able to hire 2 part-time people to help me with bagging.
One of them is still one of my best friends to this day.
I’m sure that you can ask Brian, but my leadership was lacking, just a little. Ok, maybe a LOT!
After that, he placed me in several different positions with different companies where I learned tons of different things that he needed me to.
The big problem was that I KNEW I meant to be a leader, but I was not able to secure a TRUE leadership position.
Then one day I finally came to God and said, “Alright God, I am missing something. I know that you are preparing me for greatness. I’m going to let you take the reins from this point forward.”
I chose to be satisfied where I was. But if God showed me an opportunity I would not hesitate.
So he told me to start looking into becoming a CDL tester.
“God I spent my whole adult life trying to get away from trucks, why would I do that?”
But…..
I listened.
I called the state of New Mexico because I was working in NM at the time.
I found out that in order to become a tester in NM you had to be part of the government or a school.
While I did work for the government. This was not something that they would have gone for.
So, I started researching Colorado and found out that it was possible. all I had to do was jump through about 10 million hoops.
I prayed and then started jumping through hoops.
It took me 1.5 years from when I started researching until I was finally accepted into a CDL testers course.
The funny thing is that I didn’t see this as a business. God blinded me for a reason.
Then I went to work for this awesome company, Crossfire. They hired me to start a CDL training program.
I worked for Crossfire for 5.5 years. I loved the culture, and the owner was amazing (I still have a great relationship with Ezra Lee.)
While I was working for them my role changed from a non-traveling position to one that traveled a LOT.
You should know that up to that point in our marriage the longest I had been away from Jenna since we got married was about 2 days and that was only once or twice.
When my role changed I was excited and scared all at the same time.
My first trip was a 2-week tour from Durango, to El Paso, to west Texas, to San Antonio, and then back up to Colorado.
I am sure that some of you are like, what a wuss.
I am a WUSS. Lol.
That was the hardest thing I had done in a long time.
But the more I made weekly trips to places the easier it got.
Until it got harder because I realized that I was missing my kid’s life. I was a weekend Dad and that’s not what I signed up for.
I changed what I did while I was traveling.
To begin with, I was watching shows on planes and listening to music in the airports. At night in the hotel, I would call Jenna to chat for an hour then watch more TV.
I changed from that to listening to business-related podcasts while taking notes and reading books.
At night I started working on plans for finding ways to be home with my kids and Jenna more.
I built a website for the company Jenna and I created.
I built product lists and prices. I did tons of research to figure out pricing and what the need for the customer really was.
I would sign off from work at about 6 or 7 pm and then work until midnight or 1 am on our business. It was SLOW.
It took me over a year working this way to really get a good footing and even then it was scary as heck to launch it into the world.
Jenna could see that I was getting more and more excited about OUR business.
Finally, I went to the owner of the company I was working for and sat down to chat with him about everything.
We talked about what I was doing and I thought for sure Ez was going to fire me.
Instead, he gave me a few books to read and said, “as long as you are not doing this on my time, I love that you want to start a business. Just make sure that you don’t lose track of what you are doing here for us. And make sure that you build GREAT relationships!”
Throughout my journey, Ez would continue to give me AMAZING advice.
My whole point of this is that I was not ready to be a business owner until I endured all of these other situations that God placed me in.
He needed to shape me.
I knew that I was made for LEADERSHIP but I never thought I would lead so many people.
The movement of Eclipse DOT and God First Life is amazing, and I KNOW that God is not done teaching me yet.
Looking back if God would have placed me in a leadership position at a young age I would have most likely never started Eclipse DOT or God First.
I would have stayed where I was.
God KNEW that I was made for more.
Just like you are.
So believe that God’s timing is WAYYYYYYY better than your timing.
Because if it was on my timing I would have been a leader right out of high school and never have been the person I am today!
God is GREAT all the TIME
All the TIME God is GREAT!
