“…certain people “believed in me…and gave me opportunity to PROVE myself…”

EXPERIENCE: Is experience necessary to SUCCEED? The short answer is, I believe, NO! While I think EXPERIENCE is great; I would not have enjoyed the many successes that I have, had there not been concessions. Just about every major undertaking I’ve been involved has been with limited, to no experience. Did I know the BASICS… well, sure, but barely?

Just because I had a few courses in accounting… hardly qualified me for my first accounting position (at age 23): Payroll Accountant. I later became Division Chief Accountant of a major National Manufacturing firm, at age 30, and, at the time, had only two years of college. Again… hardly qualified. But… certain people “believed in me…and gave me opportunity to PROVE myself.”

The difference is: how one approaches his responsibilities. I was willing to work long days, without lunch, (and w/o extra pay), and on Saturday’s, just so I’d be ahead of my competition. I was “fast on my feet.” It reminds me of the time I was hired (at age 18 – little did they know) to haul new cars from Orlando to points north… and figured I would learn how to drive those big trucks on the way down the highway (few interstates then).

Of course…experience is better. Just look at the Whitehouse, and Congress, and it’s evident what the lack of experience will do. Think about it… did we have any marriage experience before getting married; or experience in raising children before our first one came along. Oh well… that might explain the divorce rates. Although… not me… I’ve been married to the same girl for 56 years.

Did the Apostles have any experience in “preaching the Gospel?” No… but God prepared them… just as he has prepared us for our “roles in life, and in the business world.” We are told in Jeremiah 29:11-12 – ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.’

And we find comfort in Proverbs 4:1-4 – Hear, O sons, the instruction of a father, And give attention that you may gain understanding, For I give you sound teaching; Do not abandon my instruction. When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother, Then he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; Keep my commandments and live;

…Blessings…11/29/15