///Tuesday Briefing///

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Phone Covered and Groceries Soon



Shebaa was very relieved to learn that God made away for my phone bill to be paid. She had been praying hard on that.



Sunday night she could not sleep due to pains in her body as well as stress about Berry and me.



She went to the hospital and took several scheduled exams.



They found infection in her ear still and thankfully the medications are helping.



Her eye is swollen from the surgery last week. She must sleep or they said she is in danger of an aneurism. She needs to be very still so that the medications will work. They talk about risk of blindness. Her continual challenge is not to worry about these matters.



She has canceled every activity for two weeks including support groups, addressing the spine group and meeting the intercessor.



A person gave 20 dollars I was going to split it with Shebaa for groceries. But the doctors gave her another prescription. It said deliver immediately and take immediately.



So 18 of those 20 dollars went for another medication.



She and I have just enough groceries for a day or two. Then I trust that somehow God will provide.



I have been mostly eating soda, donuts, candy and salad. She has been eating broth, eggs, lunchmeat and bread.



Long ago a person told me to just quit helping my neighbor. I told them that I know very well that she has been doing all she can to meet her needs. She sometimes goes days without eating or sleeping before asking for help. Very few others have helped her.



Jesus said that the Good Samaritan that stopped to help when others did not illustrates loving your neighbor. It cost him time and money. He ended that with the charge go to likewise. Luke 10:30-37



Jesus said that there is no greater love than to lay down you life for a friend.



Sometimes I grow weary in well doing but Galatians 6:9-10 says to do good to all especially those of the household of faith. Shebaa is my sister in Christ.



Jesus gave the golden rule to do unto others as I would have them do unto me. Matt 7:12



First John is full of verses about loving people with words and deeds as an expression of love for God.



The valid relationship between faith and works is more than an abstract theological matter. James 2:14-18 makes this very practical when helping a person with their real needs.



And there are many more verses that have guided my thinking and actions that I collected here http://colorfulverses.org/files/PDF/Benevolence_Bible_Verses.pdf





Shebaa just called me to say that the very powerful medications that they gave her to put her to sleep she took at finally kicked in at 2 in the morning. She slept well. But her stomach is messed up. She called me for a little money for milk. I gave her all I had that is one dollar and thirty cents.



I share all these details to inform those who have been concerned and praying. This will help to target your prayers. It lets you know just how bad things are. Only God can deliver Shebaa and me. As I read the Bible I notice that repeatedly he takes his people to the brink where all they have is Him. They cry out and He answers in ways that could only be God. Thus He gets all the glory. The children of Israel, Job and the disciples here taken on this kind of a bumpy path.





I hesitate to make an appeal for funds here. But it is needed. Very few people give and usually it is the same ones. Sometimes new people give. By job is to just let the need be known and make the invitation.



All funds given to Shebaa go directly to her http://shebaa.org/Donate.html



Funds given to me are shared with her http://fourbridges.org/Donate.html

Those sites have our mailing addresses in order to mail grocery gift card or check.

One time a pastor said that my focus on raising the 40 thousand dollars of seed money from the wealthy makes those who are not wealthy seem unimportant. I can understand that perception. Yet today five dollars will make a difference. There are links on the sites for Shebaa and me for 5, 10, 20 dollars and more.

There are long term solutions that I will be focused on this week. I will let you know soon how to pray for the major breakthrough of my life.

John 3:02 PM

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Need Phone and Groceries

The phone company was going to cut off my telephone and DSL service Saturday.

I got them to delay that until Tuesday.

The amount owed is 117.60

I have been very thin on groceries for a while.

BACKGROUND

I got into this situation due to a few factors including the following.

Shebaa has had more medical costs than normal.

They did evaluations and changed her prescriptions.

They required for her to get several new sets of pills.

Berry has needed help for a while.

I have not mentioned him due to the complexities.

The State has taken most of his paycheck for back child support payments.

I have paid for his rent at the shelter and medications.

I did not know until recently that he needs 10 per month for three meals a day.

He has been eating only a sandwich and an apple per day all of May.

I have given them more than 200 dollars in the last few weeks to barely survive.

Previous sources of donations have dried up.

By the grace of God I have been making progress on the ministry.

I set my first appointment for next Monday May 21.

I hope to get into the habit quickly to meet other donors.

CAR

I will need the car to be running.

That will take 200 dollars.

AFRICA

I met today with a pastor and church planter from Tanzania.

He is here in the USA with one of his sons.

His wife and four other children are back in Africa.

He has been here getting two masters degrees and working.

During the last 6 years he has been home for one month.

He oversees more than twenty pastors from here.

He wants to provide intensive training for them and others.

Then they will be sent out to plant more churches.

I looked at a few hundred of his pictures today.

We will choose some to put on the web and in a support letter.

I hope to provide him with a basic website.

That will serve as a prototype to the donors of what their funds will do.

When I have a web platform then we can bring together the Body of Christ in new ways.

BLOG

Today God unexpectedly opened the doors for me to crate a new blog.

A friend asked be to do some research related to premarital counseling.

He will meet with the engaged couple for a while.

Then these many links can lead them to plenty of valuable resources for years.

This is another hub with many links.

The links relate to the business plan for Our Stewardship University.

Two of the key market sectors are engaged couples and newlyweds.

The habits and attitudes they gain during that brief season have ripples for decades.

So by investing the extra time today I have another prototype.

This is just a hint of what the donor dollars will provide from the web platform.

When I meet in their office or home I will give them a tour of this new blog.

http://newmarriagehub.blogspot.com/

Sometimes God uses these emails to lead people to give.

So here is the link to Pay Pal and my mailing address

http://fourbridges.org/Donate.html

Usually I need to talk with a person on the phone.

I have been praying about my finances.

Others have bee praying.

When I get very still I keep sensing God leading in the same ways.

I have my first appointment set for next Monday May 21^st.

I hope that will lead to the needed habit of meeting donors.

Some of them will give and that will bring me a salary.

Need money for phone bill and groceries.

Pray fervently for the Lord Jesus Christ

To guide

To provide

To lead in who to talk with

What to say

John 9:24 PM

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Story and 3 Numbers

During prayer this morning God took me in an unexpected direction.

Last night by the grace of God I was making smooth progress on outlining the business plan for Our Stewardship University. I was drawing upon various materials to craft a skeleton that will connect the parts of this critical document.

Then shortly after I woke up and I was praying my attention was strongly drawn to the story that happens between the main points of the business plan. I kept praying and then got to my computer. The narrative version began to spill out. I know enough about myself that I need to capture the essence of a creative flow while it is happening. Then I can come back later and make revisions. It is not easy to recreate the initial creative flow.

So what I have begun that I did not expect is a purely text version of the presentation of the new ministry named Our Stewardship University. This will work well as an appendix to the business plan.

The wisdom of this kind of presentation is that it can easily be published on a website. It can be sent as an email attachment and passed out as a printed document. It does not require that I be present to add verbal comments like a mind map might.

Pray for God to guide me in writing the core story in an easy to understand and brief text document. Then watch for the first version to be ready soon, maybe tomorrow. I will be requesting comments and questions to make it better.

Also because this is Thursday I have a promise to send out my weekly money report to a few close friends. This deals with my current condition and the near future. What I request your prayers for is for God to lead me to 2 of the 3 numbers.

One number is to total amount of the money needed immediately to bring me current on all accounts.

Another number is what is needed soon to get the ball rolling toward the next milestone that is the habit of making fund raising presentations.

The third number I already know is the fund raising goals of 40 thousand dollars.

Lord willing tomorrow on Friday I will share with you the first draft of the story plus the three numbers. The Holy Spirit keeps telling me not to worry. Just pray over the numbers and ask others to join, He will bring in the money right on time.

John 4:16 PM

Monday, April 23, 2007

I Wept on Sunday

I was sitting in Sunday school class looking up at the lights in the ceiling wrestling with God.

It is rare that I resist the voice of God. But I thought I had good grounds. This was Sunday and to honor the Sabbath I do my best to put out of my mind all considerations of ministry all day long. That is one of my ways to rest.

The day before the Holy Spirit had led me in a way to simplify. This was proving to me very useful. In the previous email I had mentioned sheering two kinds of sheep. They are mind maps and text. That is still the challenge that is before me. But God made it clear that it would be wise to focus on text for now and do mind maps as a summary of those.

As I started down the path to put the presentation into a text format I needed a way to organize the document. That is when I remembered the concept of a business plan. Over these many years I have made several attempts to write a business plan. I rarely made any progress. It was always the financial numbers that frightened me. How could anyone that is writing a business plan for a start up put down sales projects for the next three years. I concluded that what I need to do is raise some initial seed money and pay a consultant to do that for me. They deal with those matters often.

This time because God was guiding that did not put me off. I did online research and came upon various articles and guidelines about how to write a business plan. Also what was very helpful for me was a multimedia presentation http://paloalto.com/ps/bp/demo/sba/index.html# .

These presentations took me by the hand and led me along the process of writing a business plan. They gave the general guidelines and specific questions. By the end of the day on Saturday the first very rough outline had taken shape. And like what one of the presenters said this will guide your thinking into new directions.

There is not one write way to write a business plan. Essentially it is an orderly format for telling a complex story. There are various major and minor headings that can be adjusted as needed. There is some amazing software that I hope to buy soon that will take this to the next level. But for now I can craft a version 1.0.

I told someone that this is like learning a foreign language for me. I have most of the data but I need to translate it into the business plan lingo.

God has shown me that there are major advantages of developing the business plan apart from all the multimedia and web things that I enjoy. This is the typical way that those who provide major funding communicate. I knew that I was just reminded. Also I can easily send out this document to many people as an attachment plus have it on a website. It does not require that I be present nor any special software to view. That will allow me to request all kinds of comments and suggestions for all sorts of people in the coming months.

The process of creating a business plan involves thinking clearly about each facet and writing a very short summary. This orderly review of the market demands plus the product and services offered leads to new perspectives and better understanding.

The reason I was resisting on Sunday is that the little work I had already done was pointing in an unexpected direction. I was willing to wait until Monday to consider this but God would not let me go until I got His message. Finally I surrendered and very quickly I got what He was saying.

The bottom line is that what all this points to is Our Stewardship University. Back in November of 2003 I began this website http://www.osuonline.org/ Some where along the way I hit a wall. I recall talking with a person that had started a school for missionaries. It had to do with preparing them for the cross cultural world they were entering. I do not clearly recall the conversation. The part that put me off was that he learned that you needed to offer degrees and have classes in class rooms to call yourself a university. My vision was than and is now to offer most materials online. The people I will serve do not have the time or energy to get a full degree.

Since then I have come upon all sorts of websites that use the term university in their name. And I have told my closest friends that all the plans I have had since just point back in that direction with a different name. Maybe that person was referring to the restrictions on getting a web address with EDU at the end. He spoke from conviction and much experience. I can live with not having EDU at the end of my web address.

So I have gone back to just a few of the notes from 2003. The good news is that there is lots of material that are the result of many answered prayers. The bad news is that the number of pages I need to trim now increased by about seven times as much. Part of what I was weeping about was that I knew there will be much more editing needed.

The business plan and many other major factors point to this as the best direction. I told a deacon that prayed for me at church about these developments. I told him that this is the single umbrella that will allow me to bring all others under it. That includes that long term aid to those impacted by hurricanes as well as the online passive business income.

Another critical factor is that over the years as I have asked myself what is the one big idea that I am most passionate about and the answer is always the same. Exhorting believers they will give a private account to the Lord Jesus Christ for the stewardship of their time talents and treasure. Then providing both the general guidelines as well and the practical steps to consistently improve their stewardship.

Beginning with this end in mind this is the best path. It will be easier to enroll more people interactively on a large and growing web platform with this big banner.

Please pray for God to guide me in the process of sifting through this abundance of materials. I need to find the core sentences and paragraphs that fill in the blanks for the business plan. Then there can be plenty of supplemental materials in the appendix and on website or CD.

Thanks again for your prayers.

Thanks for reading these updates.

I really want to get this off the drawing table and in from of prospective supporters. Lord willing I will send a link to the online version 1.0 of the business plan by noon tomorrow. Then I will start to set appointments. I will add the visual aids as needed.

I guess that my birthday present from God for me today is this new direction. I know that preparing these materials this is the best stewardship of my time. It will have short and long term ripples for helping others become better stewards too.

The Holy Spirit has led me to invest three hours today to start a central update website like I did for Shebaa. Then those who want to keep with the daily developments can come there or sign up for the RSS feed. That way I can send out just a weekly update instead of a long message like this.

Pray for this to unfold gracefully.

John 6:17 PM

Friday, April 20, 2007

Two Weeks Late

What works for me is challenging deadlines.

When I have zero deadlines then I stay busy but do not focus well.

There are a dozen projects that I would like to work on at this season.

But only a few would be most appropriate considering the major factors.

After prayers by me and others I have selected a central focus.

There is deadline in a next few days.

Lord willing I will put the blinders on and get the visual aids ready for the presentation.

I have been talking about this for a very long time.

This includes a few posters and some text documents.

The new deadline is noon on Tuesday April 24^th.

That is two weeks later than the previous deadline.

Here is a useful image of the challenge for the next few days.

Imagine the video footage you have seen of sheering sheep.

It is like I have two different breeds of sheep … the text and the mind map kinds.

What I have is about three times too much material and in chaotic condition.

I need to go to each unit and trim away all the fluffy hair.

When all the extra words are gone only the essential remains.

It will be a major challenge just to sheer all these sheep.

Along the way some new units will be created.

Some will be simple summaries of currently disconnected parts

Others will be new units that fill in the gaps so that the presentation has a flow.

I am now aiming at the audience of the consultants.

This allows me to have all the needed details that will give them a good head start.

Then the consultants will ask me many questions and introduce me to their systems.

Before I can afford the consultants I need fends from the investors.

I will be showing the trimmed version to the initial prospective angel investors.

This will be a good demonstration that I know what I am talking about.

It will be a clear description of what they are funding.

I know already that this will be far too long and detailed for most of them.

So I will ask them how I can make it shorter and simpler for other potential investors.

After Tuesday at noon I will start to set appointments.

The first few appointments will be with friends to work out the kinks.

Improvements will occur after these trail runs.

Then after just a few I will begin to seek qualified investors.

My passions are starting to get attached to this new enterprise.

As a business the customers will gain benefits that stir my heart.

Also I know that passive business income will fund my ministry and that of others.

The kingdom of God will advance online and offline.

John 10:03 AM

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Feeling Much Better

FEELINGS

God is reaching into the parts of my soul that no human could touch, including me. God is gracefully doing a transformative work in the depth of my thinking, perceptions and outlook.

My mind and emotions have been on a roller coaster. It has been like going from darkness to light a few times an hour. I understand the importance of spiritual warfare better than ever. I appreciate your prayers and the intimacy of Christ.

Yesterday I admitted to a friend that Jesus, my Good Shepherd, has been leading me out of a dark valley. There has been not only typical depression but toxic despair. They asked if I had gotten counseling. I told that I had called Crisis Hotline 214-828-1000. Over the years God has used them many times. They are trained volunteers who listen attentively, ask good questions and do not judge. They empathize and help me come up with an action plan for the next 24 hours.

I am learning that feelings are important. They are to be respected and not ignored. They are indicators of deeper issues. But they cannot be allowed to govern all other areas.

At the end of the day what pleases God is faith and not feelings or reason. Sometimes walking by faith can lead to unusual challenges. But the peace of God that comes from trusting and obeying the Lord Jesus is the compass in the storm.

DEVELOPMENTS

For years I have been asking prayers for raising 40 thousand dollars to build the Web Platform. Previously the focus was ministry and recently it has shifted to business. Then after the hurricanes hit the Web Platform can adapt to meet those needs too.

My biggest need has been meeting face-to-face with prospective supporters. Previously the aim was donors and now it is angel investors.

I have the names of some initial prospects. They can introduce me to others. And I can learn ways to get networked into meeting the other prospects.

A friend challenged me months ago to just go see 8 people. That will break the ice. Then I need to get into the habit of presenting to two per week.

The barrier has been to have suitable visual aids that will allow me to quickly communicate the Big Picture and the Game Plan to get from here to there. When I just talk with people I have tended to ramble and they get confused.

The goal is to have about five poster size mind maps of 2 by 3 feet each. That will allow me to just point at each part and explain how it relates to the other parts. I will give them a CD with the mind maps for them to explore later. Plus I seek to have a paper document of 15 to 20 pages with lots of bullet pointed lists and graphs.

When these aids are ready then I can go make presentations on short notice. And I can shift my attention to other matters.

My depression came because I had expected to have this ready by Monday at noon and then Tuesday at noon. My dashed expectations sent me into a tail spin.

The pressure of bills and debts increases the importance of clearing this hurtle.

I have about 40 small mind maps. If all of them were combined they might fit on to ten poster size mind maps. So I need to combine these into the half that are most relevant.

As another guess I have about 50 pages of text that are in documents ranging from a half a page to 5 pages. This also needs to be reduced.

OUTLINE

God gave me the smallest thread of an outline in the wee hours of this morning. Then I got distracted. He has reminded me of that a few times today.

Imagine how the spine of the body is the central organizing principle concerning all the other parts. This new spark that is giving me hope is just a hint of an outline.

Here are the highlights. When I talk with a supporter I need to establish a few main points.

1. Introduction: Attention grabbing opening that paves the way into the heart of the presentation.

2. There is a major need in the marketplace

3. This is the Big Picture of how Pie Bridges will meet that need

4. Here is a Game Plan of how we will get from here to there

5. Conclusion: your participation now will make a big difference for others soon and this is how you will be repaid with interest.

Pray for God to guide and bless me in using this 5 point outline to organize the abundance of mind maps and pages. From that spine could come an appealing narrative story. Then the story could be told in the short, medium or long version. Each slice of the story could become an online video.

PRAY

Pray for God to grant me clear and compelling mental images of the Big Picture. I seek for the love of God to flow through me to express His compassion for those I will encounter months and years from now.

Pray for my prayer life. I need large quantities and high quality times in prayer. Besides being in the creativity zone I need prayers to stay in the prayer zone. Amen?

John 7:50 PM

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Emotionally Very Low

I have learned over the years that it is best to be open and honest.

For me what works is to tell the truth no matter how ugly it is.

Using energy to hide, play games and wear masks does not serve.

This morning I have felt emotionally very low.

It has taken a major effort just to function.

I have battled negative feelings and stinking thinking for weeks.

But today they got me down worse than in a long time.

My health is okay and I have been getting plenty of sleep.

I have taken long walks as a form of exercise.

The cause is that I have fallen short of my internal expectations.

During the last week I have invested more than 20 hours on a major project.

By now I wanted to have a nice neat presentation ready to roll.

The project was much more complicated than I expected.

It is mostly done but there are more loose ends than I can count.

During the coming days I will deal with each loose end.

I need to change gears and start setting appointments.

I need to break the ice and get on the road to meet with supporters.

Meeting face-to-face is what I have been praying about for a year.

Actually doing that will cause this depression to dissolve.

The visual aids I have now are far from wonderful but they are okay.

All this will improve with practice.

Shebaa has had many minor set backs.

She has struggled and dealt well with each one.

This has strained our finances.

I need God to encourage me as only He can.

I do not have enough focus to make a specific prayer request.

Just be led by the Holy Spirit.

John 1:45 PM

One Day Delay

God is answering prayers is wonderful ways.

The hundreds of pages of notes are gracefully becoming simply summaries.

By the grace of God this project has come a long ways in a short time.

Last week I set a deadline of noon today for this to be complete. But that is less than one hour from now. Much still remains.

I believe that a one day delay of 24 hours will bring this project into a decent condition.

Then the visual aids during our time together plus print and CD materials I leave will be ready. There will always be room for improvement and with practice I will make changes.

The last time I made a face to face presentation was last April. It was related to serving in the wake of future hurricanes. Those ministry concepts are still valid.

This presentation is a simple summary of the online business that teaches others to earn passive business income.

The hundreds of pages of raw materials have become lots of small rough drafts for each facet. Now these need to be woven together into an orderly whole.

Again I request God to grant me many hours of anointed concentration in the creativity zone. I want to have a few poster size mind maps and a text summary. At this time the intended audience is consultants. Then after that version is ready I will show the highlights of that to the angel investors to indicate what their funds will help make into a reality.

THANKS again for your prayers.

God is answering them right one time in His way.

John 1:45 PM

Pray for Simple Summaries

I am in the middle of the process of crafting simple summaries.

I have gone through dozens of my computer and paper files.

The computer files go back a few years.

And some of the paper files go back as far as 1987.

Most of the materials are gathered into useful groups.

The purpose of this project is to prepare stream-lined presentations.

These hundreds of pages need to be distilled to their essence.

I have been using mind maps to graphically present the main ideas.

Then from these will come stand alone one-page text summaries of each facet.

I have many one-page summaries from other projects that I will adapt to this season.

Soon there will be brief audio and video versions of each facet.

I have more than a dozen websites and a hundred blogs related to ministry.

I have begun to create an online business to fund the ministry.

The online business will teach and support people in creating online businesses.

This passive business income will serve many kinds of people.

God is using my compassion for certain parts of the market to focus my planning.

These sectors include missionaries, work-at-home moms and college students.

I have spent more than a year in research and planning for the online business.

Lord willing next week I will begin to meet with prospective supporters.

I will be seeking angel investors that will loan the seed capital needed to get started.

Their 40 thousand dollars will be divided equally among four areas.

Those areas are Consultants, Web Development, Hardware & Software and Initial Payroll.

The first priority is to work with consultants to develop a five year plan.

This five year plan will blend the online and offline activities.

God has been gracious in bringing the websites, books and people I need right on time.

As I have been reviewing and reworking these notes the Lord has reminded me of much.

The central challenge is to wrap my heart and mind around the guts of these materials.

I am beginning to recognize the most common concepts in that bring these together.

Previously I had distilled the ministry to a few sound bite sentences.

I need to do the same for the online business.

These are very closely related.

The long term vision is for both of them to grow side-by-side like mighty oaks.

I hope to teach others to do the same so they can have an online income and ministry anywhere.

They use the Internet and quarterly CDs to provide information, education and inspiration.

I request your prayers for God to grant me many hours of anointed concentration.

I need the Holy Spirit to guide my plans, direct my attention and bless the outcomes.

The current focus is to get materials ready for the consultants.

After these heaps of materials are boiled down to that degree then lift out the highlights.

Those highlights will be shared with the angel investors.

By the grace of God I have recently come upon articles about how to find and approach them.

There are those who have made lots of money and it is their joy to help others get started.

May God guide our paths to meet soon.

May God grant me much favor with them.

May these simple summaries be used to start the online business

May the online business be used to help lots of people earn money online.

THANKS for your prayers.

Have faith that God is working all this together for His glory.

John 1:43 PM