Better Together
My dear friends, Kerry and Chris Shook, pastors of the Woodlands Church, north of Houston, just wrote a new book, Love At Last Sight in which they tell the story of two teenage boys who met in their high school gym class. The boys were both misfits, both were a little overweight and neither was very athletic. After they graduated from high school in the late sixties, they both encountered failure after failure in their careers. One of them was fired from a series of jobs. The other had a dream of going to medical school but failed to be admitted twice.
However, one of them was especially artistic and the other was seriously interested in helping people. They both had different bents in life but they were together in spirit. One thing they both loved was food, and so they began to explore a common dream.
They both took a course in food preparation. It was a correspondence course that cost them each of them five dollars. A short time after that, they opened their first shop inside an old run-down garage. After a while, their little shop became very popular in their hometown. Soon it was the talk of their state and their region.
Today, Ben and Jerry are running an ice cream empire that combines creative flavors (like Cherry Garcia) with mission-oriented values that help people; including charitable programs that support small businesses. These two were even named Small Business Leaders of the Year by President Ronald Reagan in 1988.
In the book, Kerry and Chris go on to challenge us all by saying, “You too can find this kind of teamwork with your key relationships. You may not start an ice cream empire, but how big or commercially successful the result is doesn’t really matter. The question is, ‘What can the two of you do together that you can’t do on your own?’”
Philippians 4:2 tells us that we should be of the same mind as Christ, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. I encourage you today to find that common ground of purpose with the people you love in your life. Remember, you are better together. When you are united in spirit you can pull from each other’s strengths and fulfill the destiny God has prepared for you!
However, one of them was especially artistic and the other was seriously interested in helping people. They both had different bents in life but they were together in spirit. One thing they both loved was food, and so they began to explore a common dream.
They both took a course in food preparation. It was a correspondence course that cost them each of them five dollars. A short time after that, they opened their first shop inside an old run-down garage. After a while, their little shop became very popular in their hometown. Soon it was the talk of their state and their region.
Today, Ben and Jerry are running an ice cream empire that combines creative flavors (like Cherry Garcia) with mission-oriented values that help people; including charitable programs that support small businesses. These two were even named Small Business Leaders of the Year by President Ronald Reagan in 1988.
In the book, Kerry and Chris go on to challenge us all by saying, “You too can find this kind of teamwork with your key relationships. You may not start an ice cream empire, but how big or commercially successful the result is doesn’t really matter. The question is, ‘What can the two of you do together that you can’t do on your own?’”
Philippians 4:2 tells us that we should be of the same mind as Christ, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. I encourage you today to find that common ground of purpose with the people you love in your life. Remember, you are better together. When you are united in spirit you can pull from each other’s strengths and fulfill the destiny God has prepared for you!