A group of blind people gathered in a hotel room this morning to praise God and pray, and we all walked out of there with clear vision. Seriously though, I know the blind people joke is horrible, but we must have heard jokes like that hundreds of times during the early years of owning our "Budget Blinds" business. Customer after customer would open the door and say something cheesy like, "It's the "blind" man, honey...but don't worry, he found the door!" :)
We are in Orlando this week, at our annual Budget Blinds convention. For the second year, Dan has organized a prayer meeting for anyone who wanted to get up early and come together. This year, we lifted up the founders of our company and other key players; we prayed for the Obamas and other leaders of our country; and we prayed for each other and for the courage to go boldly back into the world and light it up.
We talked about ways to share our faith within our business. Some pray for opportunities--divine appointments--just before they arrive at each consultation with customers. Others ask each client if they can pray for them or with them. Others look for a reason to strike up a conversation about the Bible, and they find that people are really searching right now.
It's refreshing to meet Christ followers from across the country who are devoting their business lives to the Lord. Our lives can look very different and yet, we are all very similar. We go through trials, we experience joys, we have the same basic needs, and are all made in the image of Jesus Christ, our great God and Saviour.
There was a lot of talk and prayer this morning about sharing our faith, about the missionfield that we have in this business where we meet with customers in their homes, and about using this economic slowdown as a time to get our focus where it needs to be, on the Lord. It wasn't until the end that someone mentioned the theme Corporate chose for this whole convention. It's usually something like "the sky's the limit" or "A B C's for Success". This year, the theme is "Go BOLDLY!"
And now there's a group of us who see that theme as a charge, from the Spirit of God who was in that room with a group of believers this morning, in a different way from the rest of the conference attendees.
You may not be a blind person. Maybe you're a foodservice person or a kid person or an office person or a classroom person or a computer person or a medical person. But no matter what you are, this year's theme can be Go Boldly! Pray for opportunities, and keep your eyes open. Be willing to take them.
So I bow in prayer before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth gets its true name. I ask the Father in his great glory to give you the power to be strong inwardly through his Spirit. I pray that Christ will live in your hearts by faith and that your life will be strong in love and be built on love. And I pray that you and all God's holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ's love—how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is. Christ's love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with the fullness of God.
With God's power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:14-21, NCV
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