“Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.” Exodus 3: 1-6

We all want to work to be something more, don’t we?

I think most of us think we would enjoy some kind of notoriety.

Me? I’ve always wanted to speak to large groups.

To a lesser degree, at one point in time, I wanted to play drums or participate in the Blue Man Group. That was a big dream. I wanted to audition for their program.

I started a Youtube channel hoping to gain a large following. I wanted to inspire people. I wanted to encourage people. I wanted to do it in large numbers.

I wanted to build a flower shop into a $1 million plus dollar per year enterprise like I led and built while at my grandparents shop. I’ve had my sights on that for most of my life once leaving Jon Anthony Florist, the institution my grandparents founded.

I wanted to write a book. Actually, I think I have it completed. “Men Want Sex, Women Want Flowers. You Do the Math”. It’s a look at relationships through the eyes of my world in the flower business for the 30 plus years I have been doing it. I’ve really want to publish such a book.

Guess what.

None of the above has happened. Nothing, zilch, nada.

Does it frustrate me?

Yes.

A lot. Some days more than others.

I am reminded of the story of Moses. Arguably the most important person in the history of the Bible next to Jesus. I mean, during the transfiguration the apostles saw Jesus there with Moses, talking together.

That’s a BIG DEAL. Moses was a HUGE deal.

Moses was out tending sheep in the desert just doing his work for his father in law.

I doubt Moses had sights on anything much greater. It seems from the story leading up to this point in the Bible and the following stories, that Moses in fact had zero sights on it and for that matter resented and hated his position leading the Israelites from the day he began doing so. They were a miserable group to lead.

Yet, he did it and was a very instrumental person in the Lord’s plans.

I bet like my own life Moses’ life was fairly mundane, dare I say monotonous?

Interestingly once “famous” Moses griped and complained and hated it all the time. I am not sure if he ever really enjoyed it once on top. ( I bet he bitched and moaned about how meaningless his life was and how he was stuck working for family while out there!)

So as I beat myself up wondering why I haven’t attained “greatness”. I must remind myself that I am where I need to be today.

I am tending the proverbial flock of sheep God has given me to right now. I need nothing more.

If I study the story above, it’s clear. God is not confined to any box I may ever try and put him in. He burned a bush without consuming it to get Moses’ attention.

He is well able and fully capable of giving me the next marching orders.

What’s my part?

Go to work every day and do the very best I can each day to work in excellence and to pour into whoever’s life I may cross. Seek to make a difference for these people. Not use them for my own gain or own selfish desires.

Help who I can. Encourage who I can. Lead who I can. Share with others that I can (like you reading right here) and trust the Lord to do the rest.

The flower shop I run helps me eat. It pays my mortgage. It allows me to travel a little bit that I might photograph and video to share the epic wonders I see with you and the rest of the followers I may have.

My life in the business has allowed me to lead a number of people to Christ. In fact, a few marriages I have watched take place and the families they have built were done because at that point and time in history these people were a part of my life and my influence. They worked under my employ. I played a significant role in their life and the history they ultimately have created.

I have been there for abused women. Single mothers A woman whose husband died terribly through cancer. I have been there for a family who’s son committed suicide while working for me.

I have been there to help the less fortunate. To employ and give hope to the mentally retarded, the handicapped, the less fortunate.

I have been there to give funeral flowers for the casket of a young girl whose family couldn’t afford a penny for the flowers.

I have been there for an employee whose husband left her for a girl 20 years his junior as she struggled to understand and grasp the gravity of pain she lived through.

This list isn’t exhaustive, but is only a few of many that were on the top of my head.

It has allowed me the privilege of home schooling my children all the way through school.

It provided my children the opportunity to learn how to work, how to manage money, what it takes to be a great employee.

It has allowed me to work with my children, to spend more time with them than what most parents are willing to invest in their kids in this era of parental self centeredness we now live.

It allowed me to see my children as such a blessing that I would have them with me as much as possible while at the same time teaching them valuable life skills that would equip them to live life on their own at adulthood. Ed, the youngest finding his legs as perhaps the best salesman I have ever had working our front room.

It allowed me to shield them from the awful evil permeating many of your own kids minds or the minds of your grandkids through Social Media, Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, and the Marxist vomit being shoved into their hearts and souls at the schools you entrust their formable minds and souls to. Schools that are the daycare and foster parents of I dare say 90% of the school aged children today.

Instead of Hatred of God and America… because of our sacrifice, our commitment, and our willingness to be maligned, made fun of, and impugned by even our own family… teaching a love of God and America.

I will never regret for a single moment going without so that I could focus on the lives of the 4 children God gave me to steward. Never.

While I have yet to find a path to speaking to larger groups of more than one or two, if and when the time is right, God will open the door to again allow me to speak and inspire and encourage.

For now?

I must choose to go 100% into what I can. To what He has given me for today. Nothing more.

Just this week I have had opportunity to spend 45 minutes speaking to a young lady that works for us who is scared and struggling with life as an adult. She’s petrified of the future because she (thanks to the public school system) has no clear understanding of how to navigate life as an adult.

Today, I spent 20 minutes in the home of a man and woman married for 57 years, delivering her Valentines Day flowers early because she will not make it to Valentine’s day. She has stage 4 breast cancer and only days to live.

Talking to her about her fondest memories along with her husband about his 26 years as a Special Forces Operative for the US Army was the highlight of my month.

When I asked her, at her 79 years, what her fondest most meaningful memories are of her 57 wonderful years with her husband her answer came quickly.

“The trips we took. Yes, the trips and travel we did together”.

Amen. Praise the Lord that he saw fit to put this couple in my path today to remind me what really matters.

The trips with Joelle.

Watching her experience snow for the fist time in life while we were in the Rockies on the trail.

The days she and I have spent in the desert and the mountains. The tears she always sheds whenever a real life animal in the wild visits us (well, except for bears).

The trips with each of the 4 kids.

The day Ed and Levi and I climbed to Chimney Tops in the Smokies.

The day Jacob and I went to the top of Pikes Peak.

Watching Elise stand in the 4 feet of snow watching a blue bird in the pines on the trail to Emerald Lake.

All the hiking and travel and photography I do and share with my beautiful wife or my amazing kids.

How great is the Lord?

Let me close here with this photo.

I took the photo below on a long, straight road through the Mojave National Preserve. It was the very early spring of 2019.

The Mojave is a desolate, yet incredibly beautiful space.

This photo reminds me of 2 things.

1) The time with Levi and Ed. This was one of the last trips I took with Levi before Levi went into the Airforce.

2) Even in the desert there is beauty. Who could ever even imagine such beautiful flowers would be present in such an otherwise arid and hard environment. Yet for a few weeks, only a few, they are there.

There is beauty in your life; if you only will look.

Like me, you have so much to be grateful for. Focus on that. :-)

P.S. I am planning a spring trip in the middle to end of March (desert most likely) to again gather video and photography for the Rumble channel. If you have any place you are interested in seeing or learning about, please comment below or reply to the email. I’d love to have some input.