Everyone that is a Christian understands the Cross …right? Since Pentecostal Sunday there has been a journey towards the Cross that has shaken my core into a new brokenness.  We, as Christians make the sign of the cross at church, when we pray all without thinking of its power.  The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Spirit that crosses our hearts and sets us on fire. Spending a few days in the hills of Georgia serving thousands of other Christians spreading His love and word at our annual trip to AtlantaFest at Stone Mountain can bring anyone to their knees.  Between the Christian artists, speakers and guests there were moments of profound brokenness and healing that all were directed toward the Cross.  Through pain, joy, tears and repenting, lives were changed and redemption found. Starting with singer Matt Maher on opening night describing how broken people can be saved by the healing power of Christ and how broken hearts can be mended by taking our sins to the Cross.  The theme continued throughout the festival, from artist like R3D, Thousand Foot Krutch, Rhett Walker Band to Kari Jobe there were four days of phenomenal worship and testimonies of healing. Professor and Apologist Ergun Caner broke it all down in a real ‘honest’ way describing how a Muslim was saved by one person that showed him the way to the Cross.

  When you hear the name ‘father’ or ‘papa’ or even ‘dad’ what kind of emotion does that stir inside you?  Many men in the world today do not have the feelings one would expect.  Rather than having happiness and fulfillment and attitudes of success men see that term as an empty label. There are many of us that feel like we were orphans and therefore the idea of a father inflames feelings of hurt. These orphans may have not been such in the true sense of the word, meaning that they had someone who called themselves ‘dad’ but were not there emotionally.  Many men grow up with no role model or father figure to call on.  These men develop resentment and anger that many are unaware of towards authority figures as they had none to look up to. There are men, such as myself that also are true orphans where they were given up either at birth or any time during their childhood where they were deserted by the people who were supposed to be there for them.  This abandonment can cause mixed feelings of hurt, confusion and anger that can sometimes last a lifetime.

Most people reading that headline will shiver at the thought of network marketing and some of you will quit reading at this sentence just because of the word. For those of you that have braced yourselves for rest of the story, I thank you and promise there will be no opportunity being pitched for you to buy into the next big thing in this post. You see my experience with network marketing was probably similar to many of you.  I remember going with my mother as a kid to go pick up her Amway orders from the local distributor who also happened to be a long time family friend across town.  I knew nothing about the business model itself, all I knew is all the products in the house from laundry detergent to deodorant and toothpaste all had the same  packaging and were not the name brands everyone else was using. Many, many years later I was introduced to another product that contained a bunch of juices blended together and well I drank the Kool-Aid and was sold.  I learned everything I could from the people who were successful in network marketing.  For several years I was that guy that everyone ran from when they saw me coming because I had something new to sell them.  The funny thing was I was not a people person but yet if I believed in a product I could sell it to my grandmother without blinking an eye.