Welcome back to all of our listeners! I’m BJ Sipe, and you’re listening to the Set Your Mind Above podcast – where everyday ordinary events teach us extraordinary eternal truths. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today, I am excited to share my life and my faith with you, and I sure hope that you’ll do the same with me along the way.
Sometimes the topics that I choose for this podcast take a considerable amount of thought and deliberation. It’s not every day that things just flow onto the page as I am preparing to record, it’s difficult sometimes to ensure that the things I’m putting out there every day are not corny, but relevant and easy to relate too. Sometimes I will stew on it all day, writing and rewriting for what seems like hours on the hardest days. But then there are other days, much like today, that something just comes me…literally! It has been a jam packed day full of 4 different studies while also prepping for upcoming lessons. As a result, I really hadn’t had a whole lot of time to think critically about today’s episode, not as much as I would have liked at least. Well, I finally opened up a new document and sat down here at my keyboard waiting for inspiration as I reflected on the day when my phone buzzed. I looked down and saw the words Randy Ratliff *image* flash across my screen. For those of you that are not familiar with our church family here in Danville, Randy is one of our Shepherds and has become one of my greatest mentors and friends. Whenever he texts or calls, I do my best to stop whatever I’m doing and answer it. I picked up my phone and opened up the message. The text read, “Saw this truck in Danville today. Can you read the message on the tailgate? Pretty neat but probably can’t drive it in some parts of the country.)” I was intrigued as the image loaded on the phone, wondering what the back of the tailgate could have said. Once it appeared I had to zoom in on the words to try and make out the letters through the dirt and dust on the back of the large dump truck. It said, “This business is owned and operated by the Grace of God. Give thanks to God.” That is absolutely incredible, I thought to myself. I wanted to learn what company this was, and after a small bit of research I was able to match the logo of a big, thick L on the back to the Logan Corporation: Supplies Manufacturing Service Equipment. Apparently founded in 1904 in Logan, West Virginia, they have made quite a journey over the past hundred years. What started as a mule train carrying goods through the mountains has now become a very successful company that supplies and manufactures products for the mining, rail transport, industrial, construction and power generation markets with two branch locations in both West Virginia as well as Kentucky. There are 7 companies in the Logan Corporation family, 90 total employees, and generates nearly $40 million in sales each year. Needless to say, they’ve come a long, long way from hauling goods over the mountains with mules. That is what made that statement so impressive to me that was painted upon the back of that truck. That a company like this, with its rich history and great success, would turn around and give all of the credit and thanks back to God. I doubt I will ever have need of doing business with the Logan Corporation because I’m just not in that field or line of work, but I have become a fan today – and they have helped to remind me of a very important lesson that I want to share with us all.
I believe that the Logan Corporation got it absolutely right: that company, their success, their growth, all of it is a result of God’s grace. You see we live in a place here in America that is built on quite the opposite ideology. When you come to America, you come because it is a land of opportunity. That through hard work and dedication, you can pull yourself up by your own abilities and your own bootstraps and make a name for yourself. Now, let me clarify something before we continue: to do anything worthwhile takes a lot of diligent hard work. To run a successful business, have a successful career, or anything of that nature is not accomplished with idle hands or laziness. But with that being said, I think it’s important for us to remember who the credit belongs to in the end – it’s not us, it’s God. I’m reminded of God’s words to the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 8:11-18, ““Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.” The people of Israel were going to a place where eventually (though not immediately because of their sin), they would become established and thrive in a beautiful land. Their road from where they came from to where they were going was a long and difficult one, they had certainly come a long way from being slaves in Egypt to what they would eventually become after the conquest of Canaan. But there was a very important thing they need to remember: who made all of this possible? It was not their power and their might that freed them from Egypt, but rather by the grace of God did the exodus take place. They could not sustain themselves in the desert, it was God by his grace who provided for them. How wrong would it be then once the people had become comfortable in the promised land to take credit for how far they had come, as though they had done it themselves? No, all glory and credit belonged to God, who made all of this possible. Rather than forgetting God in arrogance, they were to give him thanks for all of their blessings. So what about us? When you’ve worked hard for something, be it in business, sports, or academics, do you step back and give yourself praise or do you praise God? My friends, it is God who created you, he alone is the one who has even given you the ability to do the things that you do. Without him, we are nothing. While you can certainly take pride in your work, do not allow your work to make you prideful. Whether you run a lemonade stand or whether you run a multimillion dollar company, I think all of us should echo the words found on the back of that truck: “I am here by the grace of God, and all I have is a result of his love. Let us give thanks to God, through whom every good and perfect gift comes.”
Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Tune in, Tuesday-Fridays, as a new podcast episode will be uploaded each day. Also, be sure to follow the Facebook page for the Set Your Mind Above podcast for future announcements and video sessions that are uploaded on Saturdays. As you have the opportunity, share these thoughts with your friends and family, and share with me what important lessons you are learning from every day, ordinary events. Until next time know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.