Yesterday, in the dark hours of the morning while seeking the Lord about what to share with you, I came close to telling you that the stock market would be hammered that day. As it turned out, our morning study and prayer time was extended right up to my first phone appointment, so I didn’t get to pass that on except to the two individuals I was on the phone with. Of course, the market was hammered, but I don’t have a horse in that race. It serves only as one of several economic indicators that I keep up with.
Last week, we sent out no blogs as my wife and I were in the Panamanian Rainforest with forty dynamic men and women of God who were there to experience first hand how the principles by which the rainforest flourishes can work for anyone in business. The men and women who came were of exceptional caliber and a bond was formed that none of us expected. Not only did we canoe back 2000 years in time to an indigenous native village, but we got to see the lushness of God’s creation totally unaffected by the current economic slowdown.
God has given us a model (the rainforest) that visually demonstrates how any of us can turn scarcity into abundance. It requires study, openness and discipline, but the fruit is well worth the effort. Our flight returned to Miami Friday afternoon and before heading home, my wife had a dentist appointment lined up in the Ft. Lauderdale area. The doctor treating her is a biological dentist and well worth the 3½ hour drive each way for a visit. I asked him if he was feeling the impact of the economic crisis and he told me just how much business was down.
The next morning, I emailed him three rainforest strategies that if he applies them will without doubt not only stop the loss, but actually grow his business in 2009. They work without fail in the rainforest and because they are transcendent principles ordained by God, they will work in any other context such as business or ministry. Well, the next night my wife and I went out to dinner to a popular upscale casual restaurant. I asked the manager how business was and he told me that January was about even with the previous January, but profits were up 40%!
On the very same street two other popular steak house chains have recently filed for bankruptcy. I delved deeper and found that the same three strategies I recommended to our dentist were the very ones the successful restaurant chain was using and prospering with, despite the tough economic times. The others had not adapted to the times and like several other restaurant chains, will soon be off the scene altogether creating even greater market share for the steak house that is successfully implementing rainforest strategies, even without knowing that’s what they are.