July 30, 2008 (Wednesday)
In my sermon last Sunday, I mentioned that Whataburger headquarters is located in Corpus Christi. Today’s Corpus paper has a story about possible relocation to San Antonio of some Whataburger employees. The article reminds us that the successful fast food chain was started by Harmon Dodson in 1950 at a small stand on the west side of town. Today the company has over 19,000 employees, more than 700 restaurants, and sales exceeding a billion dollars annually.
Is this a great country, or what?
Some churches in the United States have taken advantage of the “can do” spirit by conducting special services in which a small amount of money was handed out to members with the request that they invest it in some way and in one year bring it back along with whatever it had earned.
One church defined one of its specific objectives as, “To seek creative, fun ways to raise money, separate from pledges, to underwrite our dreams.” Their strategies will include all sorts of ideas, such as the one I mentioned.
Not everyone likes to do such things, and this blog is not about money, or even about church work as such. It’s about the privilege of citizenship in this wonderful nation, where churches can do such things if they like and where opportunity still abounds for people with ideas and a willingness to work.
Every day there is success or failure because of the way people are thinking. We all need to be challenged keep thinking good thoughts, refusing to bow the knee to cynicism and despair, and trusting the Lord to see us through. Philippians 4:13 is a great motto for daily living: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” In fact, if anyone reading this is at a low ebb in his/her life, it would probably be a good idea to read the letter to the Philippians every day for a while. Try it today; you’ll find it takes only a few minutes. At least read one chapter. Remember as you read it, the author was going through a difficult time in his life, but his faith grew each day and he got stronger as he refused to focus on his problems. He chose instead to focus on what God was doing in his life. We can do that too.