One More For JC

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11) Today, Dee and I celebrate 20 years of marriage and what a blessing it has been!  But to be honest, it hasn’t all been a fairy tale ride.  We have faced our share of challenges and difficulties along the way, especially early on in our marriage. However, what we committed to since Day 1 was to place Christ at the center.  When the challenges come, hopefully sooner than later, one of us will lift up a prayer to the Lord asking for His intervention.  Few things give me greater joy to lift up a silent prayer, and sometimes even just a few minutes later have Dee say to me “Did you just pray about it?!”  I love truthfully being able to respond with “YES!!!” This year has had its share of challenges with COVID and all of the following unrest, but one of the highlights of the year for us was discovering “ T...

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6) After 21 years, I started a new job last Wednesday.  For about the past year, I’ve been praying for an opportunity to work with Dee again – and when one opened up in early March, I went for it.  The weeks following my resignation day were even more busy and emotional than expected.  Having 21 years of emails to comb through is a lot, but it’s amazing how quickly you can delete thousands of emails regarding a product that you will never work with again.  Personal emails, on the other hand, took the full month of March to get through.  I read each one word for word – from all the wedding announcements, to birth announcements, to the supportive emails over the death of a loved one, to all the farewell emails on a colleague’s (friend’s) last day.  The “FZ, I’m alive!” email from Septe...

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. (Ephesians 5:25) Over the years, I’ve been known to stop in frequently for a Venti cup of coffee at Starbucks.  I’ve stopped in so often, I typically get on a first name basis with the baristas.  One lady has worked there so long, we’ve moved beyond chats about coffee or the frigid MN weather to various things (good or bad – from health issues or the birth of her grandchildren).      A couple days ago, in an extreme rarity, I stopped in with Dee.  It pleasantly caught this barista off guard, and I said “Today, I decided to bring my better half with me!!!”  The three of us got to talking for a few minutes and it led to me asking how many years she had worked at Starbucks.  I expected just a number (16), but she went on to share with both of us that she had only planned to work there for a short time, but needed to stay on for so long because her h...

Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalms 37:3-4) Dee and I celebrated our 13 th wedding anniversary earlier this week.  It was a good day to reflect on our time together – even all the way back to the very first day of the journey.  We had just finished up a long training day at my place of employment, and I was about to put in motion a brilliant strategy I concocted to ask Dee out to dinner that evening.  Just as the room had cleared and I had finally worked up the courage, one of my colleagues decided to return to the training room for what looked like a painfully extended visit.  Defeated, I began walking out of the room to return to my desk, when for no apparent good reason my colleague picked up and left.  With one hand on the doorway, I turned back around, asked Dee out to dinner, and the rest is blessed history. I never d...

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27:14) Over the past couple years, Dee and I have both started our own companies.  Over a year ago, I entered the fantasy sports business by creating FantasyPostseason.com with a close friend of mine and his colleague.  Over the past few months, Dee has been feverishly putting the finishing touches on AngelHeartsForJesus.com – in preparation for the launch of her first book:  Angel Hearts for Jesus: The Fashion Show Birthday .  It’s been an extremely busy stretch for both of us, but the Lord has been working overtime in helping us out and opening doors – one after the other.  Watching the master of His craft do His work is certainly a treat to behold – from the selection of an illustrator, to the selection of a publisher, the creation of the website, etc.  I can safely say that the Lord’s hand has guided us through every step of the process, even the delivery date of w...

If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.  (2 Corinthians 1:6)   Throughout my life I have been greatly blessed.  I’ve been surrounded by more earthly possessions than one man deserves to have.  With that said, my greatest possessions haven’t come on a silver platter.  They’ve arrived only after great sacrifice, severe trial, and years of waiting…and waiting…and waiting.  Take the depressing tale of my wait for a wife.  At an early age, I had formed a strong idea of the type of woman I wanted to marry.  Year after year I waited for someone with those qualities to come my way.  But none did.  Even if they had, I was locked in a decade long struggle with acne (detailed in the “My Achilles Heel” application) that kept me locked away in my bedroom.  My patience was running short, and ...

Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.  Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.  (Psalms 37:3-4) Over the past few months, I’ve been flipping through the pages of the chapters of my life.  I recalled all the good years and all the ones that were thrown away by pain, sorrow, and depression.  I cried as I recalled the darkest moment of my life when my desire to live had all but faded away.     However, it was at that darkest moment that I made the most important decision of my life, and that was to trust in the only person I knew who could restore me – Jesus Christ.  At that lowest point, I said to Him, “this is now your life to live, for I no longer have the strength to live it.” I felt Christ’s presence like never before that night and I could feel Him carry me through.  He reminded me of all those that loved me; none more so than He.  He asked me to...