Self-Made Man

hello my name is Gary Shotton and I’m glad to be a part of Inspiring Better Business today we’re going to talk about a subject “Self Made Man”.  Wow, that’s some tough three words I’m here talking today being a little vulnerable to you sharing some of my personal attitudes and styles and and and habits so bear with me here because this is not always the easiest thing to do first of all if you knew me very well you would know that I’m kind of a take action guy I want to not sit around and wait too long if I make a mistake it may be just a little bit because I decided to do something too early rather than to wait long enough to see it play out that’s just a little bit of my style I’m not overly bent in that direction but a little bit in that direction so I I defend myself a little bit because I’ve seen Christians in the third-world countries and around in developing nations that they’re just waiting for God they’re waiting for God and I’m saying take some action please take some action because God can’t act on your thoughts and your hearts and your diet desires but he can act and help based on your actions so there is that side of calling the coin that says hey don’t just wait and pray and wait and pray and wait and pray take some action but on this other side that’s what I’m going to talk about here is don’t take action too quick don’t be overzealous without consulting the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father in in those actions so you don’t get ahead of God this is lessons going to be tagged in the biblical perspective side of things so you’ve got to know that there’s two sides of that coin I’m trying to balance this other side that maybe I’m a little lacking on I’ll just be honest with you a little lacking so let me tell you the story what prompted the idea of self-made man it’s a reality show it involves some reason to be in the backyard and Inter very interviewing the parents of a particular lady and this man was obviously a proud man and it was clear that he had a very large and very nice very expensive home had a very nice backyard and and in that he had commissioned somebody or bought a large statue called self-made man and it was clear by his actions his thoughts his attitude that he was somebody that he believed and felt confident that he had started with nothing through his hard work hard labor his efforts no one else really helping him he made it on his own he made the career he made the success because of what he did self-made man well when I heard that I said all that’s really dangerous because you know God is a source of our success God allows us to breathe the air we breathe every day he brings us into this earth and we’re gonna go leave this earth at some point based on what we’ve done and I just pray that for that man that he realizes that he’s not a self-made man you see if if if you’re not in my case if I’m not consistently tied in connected in daily connection with God I can lean over into that attitude of self-made I did it on my own and the balancing fact I think is for us to have quiet time each day quiet time seat time personal time get alone time with God time and I’ll be honest with you mine has not been perfect I wished I could tell you I’ve been 25 years of every morning spending quiet time but the truth is you can check with my wife that’s not true I have spurts I go I am better at sometimes than other times and I will tell you the time that I’m best is when things are tough when things are going great and easy I kind of tend to slack off I’m being vulnerable to you I’m just telling you that I’m not as consistent as I want to me and with this teaching I’m teaching to myself as much as to you I hope you and that so tough times will bring in my case be back to the reality that I need God in everything I do it isn’t that I drifted all the way but it isn’t that I wasn’t as close as I wanted to be it’s like a friendship that drifted away it’s he’s with me God’s with me but not as close as I would have liked and he wants to be close to me so it realized that the last thing I want to believe for is tough times and thus I have to get back close to God the better thing to be is just close to God all the time so I’m working on it I’m a work in progress recognize that when you’re wanting to have this quiet time the seat time that there’s a phone I have my read my Bible on my phone the unfortunate thing is there’s so many other things that are on the same phone you can check an email you can get a text you can look at your schedule you can do Facebook you can add thousand things will come into your mind when you start looking at your phone so there’s a there’s a risk in my case it works well for me to have it on my phone but I have to discipline myself I know that if I don’t do it the first thing in the morning before I do other things that I’m gonna get sidetracked and so there’s no exact formula now for you to do this I’m not saying do what I do I’m just saying you and your own right in your own way as a business owner as they want to be business owner you better be connected with God on a daily basis I’m going to do better in my case it happens to be the best seat that I get sat in is in the seat of my pickup truck and the best time is first thing in the morning and the best place is someplace on the side of the road in a quiet place not just on the side of road no on a place where there’s a quiet place where I can park my truck and I use my light on my phone and I read certain things from a meditation book and then I can buy little backlit I can read the Bible for a while there’s no magic amount of time either you’re gonna have to decide you’ll know whether that’s enough for that day but I’m attempting now to be very consistent now for the rest of my life to have that quiet time there’s no formula I know this that if I try to do at the end of the day I’m a person that falls asleep easy so I’ll be reading and I’ll not be thinking and it’s – I’m tired at the end of the day so that’s not a good time for me I’m suggesting that you pick a time a time that’s a place I’m suggesting it may not be at your desk at work because of all the interruptions but that’s up to you and I’m suggesting that you join with me and make a new commitment maybe you’re already doing this fantastic I’d like to hear from you but many of us are struggling with that I believe and I’m going to do better I’m telling you before God and mankind right now I can do better and I will do better I’m making it known to the world that I’m desiring to repent repent isn’t a bad word isn’t that I sinned it’s just changing my plans I’m going to do something bad a bit do something different I’m gonna go in a different direction and I’m going to be more committed to this on a regular basis join me if you would well I hope this helps I hope you see that this is part of owning a business you’re responsible for a lot of people you could be responsible for a lot of people so the burden is even on you more than other people so be connected with God join me in that we thank you very much