– Mark 1:29-33

Jesus had the ability to touch people, like Simon’s mother-in-law, and drive away illness. The story says he “raised her up, taking her by the hand”. Fever drained her body of its strength. His hands gave it back. Fever put her to bed. His touch lifted her out of it. Once powerless and spiritless, now powerful and spirited.

Whether it was the flu or something more serious, Jesus wanted to do something. You wouldn’t see it mentioned here but shortly after inviting him in, and mentioning the sick in-law, they “asked Jesus to help her” (Luke 4:38).

Then, next thing you see is Jesus at her bedside, just lifting her up. Fever gone.

You can imagine the rolling laughter, the loud voices in that house, celebrating over the meal because of this healing. The hilarity of it, the irony of it. Her serving with all of her might where minutes earlier she had no might. Could they even eat now? Did they try? Plates perhaps half-finished as they gawked at him, crowding him. How did you do it? You mean, you can just touch people and they get better? Where does that come from?

All the while, word must have gotten out because we soon see a line forming at Simon’s door like Christmas shoppers. This all began at sunset. Maybe it took this long for the buzz to become a swarm. Jesus didn’t appear irritated by it, rather he took not only the ill but demon-possessed. Talk about drawing attention to yourself.

But I don’t think it was about the attention for Jesus. For one, he didn’t cause the crowd to form. He didn’t call them unto him in the streets. He came for a meal. But, one thing lead to another and the crowd called to him at the door.

The healing was actually simple. Not to say it would be easy for us. Obviously, it was easy for Jesus. By “simple” I mean it didn’t require a gospel tract and a sinner’s prayer. No Romans Road or 4 Spiritual Laws. No Power Point slides. No lectures. Not even a Bible. Just a touch with no recorded words and the love of God was transmitted to a desperate soul.

The love of God begins with the Life-Giving Touch. In the book of Genesis 2: 7, “the LORD God formed a man’s body from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And the man became a living person.” To “form” is to touch with your hands. To mold. To design. This creation story sounds as much like an embrace as it does a history. God resting His hands on a man, giving him life.

This is not to diminish the Message of Christ, what would most often be called “The Gospel”. It is rather to redirect our attention to the catalyst for redemption, grace, the salvation of the human race.

The touch. Too few have been embraced. Not too many have had a comforting hand on their shoulder. There are many who wish someone would hold their hand. Starving for a regenerative, healing touch. This is what Jesus did best.

The more we touch and the less we talk, perhaps we’ll realize we are all able to heal.

– Mark 1:23

Scripture shines a light on the audacity of Evil in this scene. Arrogantly, the demon accompanied its Carrier into the holy place and watched Jesus teach. A killer. A thief. A destroyer. Who can tell what it was planning or what had already been done. No doubt it had gone with the man before to the synagogue and listened to the Prophets being read, as it went with him everywhere. To his home. To the market. To social gatherings.

You get a glimpse of this audacity when you consider the group of young Islamic radicals who flew commercial airliners into the World Trade Center. These men were mere carriers, just as the man in the synagogue. Coming through our borders. Training in our institutions. Living among us for years. Devising a plan during all this time.

Demons are with us today. Devising plans. Walking among us.

Like nomads, they move from person to person, keeping themselves hidden while using human bodies to undo us. Seeing through dimmed human eyes, they look upon us as prey. This man was gone for the moment, God only knows where, as the demon spoke to Jesus. Maybe he wasn’t. He could have been there the whole time, terror-stricken by the Nazarene, but unable to tell why. This man could have been long gone, in some waiting place for days, weeks, months while the demon used his body. Or, he could have been present, but with a fresh sense of power, growing disdain, need to destroy. We can only say for sure that the demon was there.

In Hebrews 13:2, “Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!” We must watch ourselves, because we are unkind. Selfishly, we bump our way through many others in line to get to the front. Who knows whose shoulders we are bumping on the way. God, open our eyes to see who else is living and walking on the Earth. Down our sidewalks. Who else is sitting in our living rooms. Give us the vision and the grace to see these angels and to treat them with love.

If we are warned to be ready for the visit of angels, shouldn’t we also expect demons? They too entertain us, or rather use us for their entertainment. We must withhold hospitality from them. Guard our invitations. Set up a perimeter against them.

The good news about this demon being in the synagogue was Jesus, the Lord of Angels, was also there. As though it had been cornered, it spoke out. Like one holding hostages, surrounded, it had no place to go. Holiness had arrived. Jesus did not force some great display of authority over it. He told it to leave and it obeyed.

I pray, Jesus, that you will accompany me. Help me to guard my invitations so that I’ll not let the Enemy in. Be with those I love, so that they’ll resist such an invasion. Be with Your people, make us holy, keep us strong. Speak among us to drive out the demonic influence, the plans being devised, the breaking apart of families and communities. Don’t let the Destroyer have his way with us. I am not asking for the authority to speak against him. I just ask that You would speak among us, use Your might, Your holiness, to captivate him.

Guide us with the peace of knowing You are capable to keep us. Send us out with the knowledge that we are not the only ones obeying You. Even the demons do so.

– Mark 1: 24

It’s amazing what happens to a darkened room when you throw back the curtains. What was small is at once made large by a view to something beyond. The ominous loses its fangs when you see the lurking presence was only a broom handle there in the corner. The Boogey Monster suddenly has no places to hide. You can find your way around without bumping your head or smashing a toe. Light is omnipotent. Light is heroic.

Jesus opened the curtains when he went to the synagogue. Come to find out people had been living in the dark. Never had they seen someone respond to the message like this man possessed did when Jesus taught. Then again they had never seen someone teach this way.

One of the “facts” we learn in schools is there is no new information. What we learn is not new discovery, but recycled truth repackaged to appear new. Even Solomon, one of the wisest men who lived, remarked that in all that has transpired in the realm below the Sun through the ages, there is nothing new. A dreadful thought.

But, who said anything about what is happening above the Sun, or beyond it for that matter? The schools fail to teach us about this. They only fail because they are incapable. It isn’t so much their fault as it is their ignorance.

They were surprised when Jesus spoke. Being surprised is sometimes fun, like on birthdays or Christmas. But at other times, it makes us feel unsettled. What if we had known this all along, we think. How could we be so blind? This was happening the whole time, and we were oblivious. Not good.

This is where Jesus the Hero shines through.

When he opened the curtains, the Enemy, who had been among them all along, was revealed. “What business do you have with us?”

What is this?

Jesus was interrupted midstream by this question from the one of the listeners. Like a tree hid behind, the speaker used the man as a shield to block him from sight. A gunman who had been cornered.

The most intriguing part of the story is you would not have known Jesus was waging war. To the untrained eye, he was teaching. Words spoken in the air, a lesson imparted. This was only on the surface. This simple act of Jesus elicited an emergency call from the underworld. War was at hand, and he was playing the offense. A grenade had been dropped.

It makes you wonder what would happen if we spoke the simple truth. With clarity. Authority. We could be heroes too..

– Mark 1:17

For some time, I imagined this being Jesus’ very first encounter with these men. If that were the case, there must have been much more going on beneath the fleshly veneer to draw them out of their boats. Not that they fell into a trance, or a spell was cast, per se. But, something beyond human occurred. A sliding of gears into place. A synchronicity. Maybe a longing, so deep the radar had missed it, was met as he approached. An eternal polarity pulling at them, moving their hands to drop nets and feet to clumsily jump overboard.

I’ve also thought maybe this wasn’t their first encounter with him. Scripture often hits the high points, and this could be one of them. They could have seen him teaching the day before and had a long conversation with him. Or, weeks or months worth of approaches might have led up to this breaking away.

Perhaps some would argue the first possibility would infringe upon Free Will. This shouldn’t scare anyone. I feel comforted and can sympathize with the thought of an unnamed, unrealized, largely imperceptible Incompleteness occurring within the depths. Below sinews and cells. And, then this incompleteness making itself known at the appearance of what can resolve it. It’s messy, this kind of thinking. There’s so much happening without us giving the nod, or verbal permission. Yet, the response of the soul to the Great Thing seems to be permission enough.

In either case, they left with him.

They knew enough about fishing to teach a few things to Jesus. But Jesus was more interested in people than fish. They were so invested for obvious reasons — it was a way of life, a means to provide. This was not a dream job, it was a common trade to help one subsist. They were probably very good at it. And, they might have done fairly well for themselves. Who knows.

Jesus wasn’t asking them to come work for him, or to help him start a great venture. He was calling them out of the workforce. His invitation was to leave goods and services in the boat, to discard of practical economics. They had been giving their lives to fish. He was asking them to think bigger.

“Follow me” was muddy at the moment. For the time, it meant get out of the boat and walk with me. Easy enough, but where are we going? No answers as of yet. Just walk with me.

How will this provide? Answer: Just follow me.

What he did give them was an overarching idea of what they would be doing. They would be learning to fish again. For people.

We don’t even know if this part appealed to them yet. The people part. Likely it didn’t so much draw them as the idea of being with him. What he offered was more exciting than their routine. The specifics would unfold at the given time.

The boat represented what they thought of as safe. It was what they could grasp. If they sat in it, they would float. Jump out and they would sink.

May you follow him out of the boat today without needing to know where you are going. Don’t let what you would consider “safe” stand between you and a richer life. What is your “boat” anyway? Is being safe enough for you, or are you curious to know what lies beyond the surface?

The smell of firewood burning carried me a few more blocks. I could literally feel my heart rate slowing, my soul widening. It was a needed momentary getaway from the Optimus Prime voice changer helmet, the keyboards, the sounds of Buzz Lightyear, and remote control ankle killers.

No illuminating thoughts came to me on the sidewalks. Just thoughts I don’t give myself time for through the busier times of the year.

It’s a given when you are an entrepreneur that resting hours are few and far between. You hate to give yourself that luxury because there is so much to be done. This isn’t a time of year where it would seem wise to rest anyway. During the winter things slow down, work thins. You feel more motivated to grab what is offered, and to market yourself more aggressively to compensate for the slowness.

One of my contractors called me yesterday (Christmas Eve) as I was picking up some supplies for today’s lunch with parents. He was out doing work for me while his family was hours away at grandparents’ house celebrating the season. This was not at my request. I was hoping by taking off midday on Friday that they would see it as an example. But, through the late afternoon he was working. Today he texted me to give him a call about something he’d worked on.

This kind of devotion amazes me, but it also worries me. Rest is a must. Without resting, we dry up. We lose our reason for working. We misplace our passion. I pray for my contractors to have rest this season, and to not let their lives be defined by performance.

She peeked her head back in this week after about a year’s silence. Cool I thought. Still the same type of work, but maybe with the opportunity for bigger this time. She had alot of smaller stuff she needed help with.

I sent it over to the contractor, he said he had it routed for the next morning. I thought we were set. Come to find out it didn’t get done at all. Not good, because this affected her position with her new client who was asking her to outsource the work. Let’s see: how many people did this make look bad? My client, me, and the contractor. Maybe her client too. I’m sure they were working for someone. That’s lots of people affected because of…..did you think I was going to blame the contractor? No, it was my fault. It always is when your name is attached. NO excuses.

I told her that it didn’t get done and you could hear her groan through email. She was nervous about her spot now with the new client who was offering her a significant volume of properties to sell in the near future. She said please get the work done ASAP maybe she could push it through.

The contractor reasoned that they readjusted their schedule because these orders didn’t pay as much as the other work that came in at the same time (though they failed to communicate this shift in schedule to me until after the work was due). While I understand the concept behind this, I had already made a promise. To break a promise to a client has repercussions. The trust you wanted to establish has been broken.

I was emailing back and forth with her just now, and she made me promise never to use the same contractor again to do this work for her. I promised. She explained that on a couple of the assignments, she actually had someone from her office go out and do the work since she had to wait on results.

Of course, I did not invoice her for the work she had to do. But, I wonder if I should go further than that. I wonder as a good-faith measure if I should actually PAY HER for the work she did. That would really blow her mind. This is not a great time of year to be paying your clients. What time of the year is? But, then again is money more important than trust?

We’re based in the Lone Star state, which is already big enough. I remember the awful trips we would take by car when I was a kid, sitting in the back seat. Trips so long as we spanned the state that literally a whole day could go by and we’d still be in Texas. To cover the land mass of Texas alone is a huge undertaking. At least to do it well. But nationwide?

Since I started Integrity REO Solutions, it was my plan to do out of state work. I already had some terrific vendor contacts and I wanted to put them to work. For me, it’s about liking someone and coming to trust them, then investing in their success once I am convinced they’re awesome.

I knew some people in key areas like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Portland and I called them to let them know I would be pushing to get work in their areas. We have been really blessed and have been able to do just this, but not in the way I originally expected. Over time, as I have built my relationships with clients and they come to a point where they feel comfortable with my level of work, I gently added that I had guys in other states that had the same ethic as I do and could help me kill a job for them. At first they didn’t bite, but soon enough the work started coming in by ones and twos. And, like I indicated, the work was done well by my company. So point made.

I love doing work in other states mostly because it keeps my job interesting. Most it comes in the form of Consulting. These are more or less problem-solving opportunities where I can break from the routine of reviewing hundreds of work order photos to ensure that a local assign has been done adequately. It’s funny, too, because there must be a handful of people in these areas who could do what I do. I’ve spoken to realtors or contractors more than once who said, “I wonder why the bank would ask a guy in Texas to manage a project here in_________________.”

The reason why I don’t classify myself as a “nationwide” company is because it’s a setup. I have a hard enough time trying to find a contractor to cover jobs in Eldorado, TX. I don’t want the pressure assigning projects in dead zones within another state. At least not on a regular basis. If one of my clients emails and asks me to help them in one of these zones, I would gladly do it. But, I don’t like the idea of insinuating that I can cover these areas on a regular basis because I have this fantasticly broad vendor network.

In reality, my network is relatively small. Mighty but powerful. It’s just a handful of qualified people spread out in key areas who I really like.

I’m just a freelancer, trying to bite off a chunk of the American dream.

But, You have fought for us. Through a whole second year of business, you have fed us, given us victories, planted new dreams in my mind and heart.

This coming year, I plan to go in a broader direction. I know You will guide me as you always have. You will be my strength. This company and all that belongs to it is Yours. Help me to be true to our name of Integrity. If there are any opportunities to lie or cut corners, speak to me strongly so that I will stay on the right course.

This coming year, help me to see the sharks approaching and steer clear of them. Give me the fighting spirit if it is needed. Help me to rigidly defend my family, my business, my contractors and their families.

Give me the authority to speak to banks and obtain their business. I ask for Your hand to move so that we can have favor with these institutions, Lord. No one can make a way like you can.

I trust you with my life, my possessions, my heart, everything. Here is my company, too.

We live in the brick street district downtown where it’s charming (and I hear the cops patrol frequently due to drug dealers nearby). These brick streets were one of the reasons why we chose our house. Then, it happened.

Just a little rain. That’s when the oils and chemicals that have settled on the surface pool and come alive, ready to mess you up. I’ve heard people driving not too fast turn corners on the brick street in front of our house, and still their tires squeal. You can see where I am going with this.

All I did was stop at a stop sign. Still astir with the thought of taking on this new client with repair bids galore, I was jolted out of my dream. There must have been just the right concoction of oil, spit, Satanic influence, etc to direct my car off the bricks onto the curb. To add to this, there was a light post in the perfect place to meet me.

BAM!!! Total Loss.

The good news is I was able to take care of everything (filing the claim, getting a rental, leaving it at the body shop, crawling into the fetal position), within no joke three to four miles of our house. This was definitely a blessing.

Now, it’s a week later and I’m still driving the Nissan Altima (push button ignition, nicer than my minivan) and the whole process is just about done. We’ve found another vehicle. Everything is working out for the best (I still can’t believe that my wife asked me if I wrecked on purpose).

Today, I was clearing everything out of our wrecked van and unexpectedly it hit me that we had some good times in that van. I started my business in that van. Three toddlers strapped in, crying, needing to poop, went with me on jobs in this van. I started from nothing in this van and drove maybe 50,000 miles in one year building clients and nurturing the American dream. Good thoughts.

Now that it’s gone, I’ll call it my REO Speedwagon. I actually feel sorry for the van because I ran it so hard and then killed it. But it also has a warm, cushiony place in my heart because it was there for me as a took a major risk in starting Integirty REO Solutions and working for myself. It never tried to convince me otherwise. It never told me I was stupid. All it asked for was gas and regular maintenance.

Those stupid brick streets.

It was a few months before I met Freddie in person since I came to know him through a third party and we conducted business over the phone. I was based a few hours south and he in Dallas. Our rapport was great as he seemed to hold the same values and work ethic as I try to build upon.

He didn’t tell me immediately that he was an amputee. Then, I met him at an in-town job I’d asked him to manage. He’d recently fallen out of his recliner while asleep at his home right on the amputated leg. It had swollen to such a point that he couldn’t wear his prosthetic. When I walked in and saw him for the first time, he was hopping around on the one leg painting trim. It was glorious.

He wasn’t guarded when he told me about the motorcycle accident he’d had at the age of 19, which led to the amputation. He was sober, and completely aware of his surroundings. He was driving responsibly. Then, a wrecker truck of all things met him head on coming from the oncoming lane. It turns out the driver was drunk and he swerved into Freddie’s lane. Though he tried to compensate, it was too late. His face slammed into the driver’s side rear view mirror and he screeched and landed in the ditch. Shortly thereafter, he lost an eye and a leg. A man following in his car pulled over quickly and found Freddie in the ditch, conscious. He asked if Freddie was ok, and he was able to respond. His thinking was clear enough even under shock to give the man his social security number, his date of birth. his name.

Then, they rushed him to the hospital. He flatlined on the surgery table more than once, and miraculously he survived. Months after he went home from the hospital, he was mowing out in the yard, on his riding lawn mower. He came to a stop and forgiveness came to his mind. He knew he had been harboring intense feelings of resentment toward the drunk driver who had hit him, changing his life in one moment. He actually knew the man who hit him, he had grown up with him as they lived in a small town on the outskirts of Dallas. He knew what kind of person this man was, an alcoholic. He decided he would call the man.

Freddie told the man who he was, and that he had made it out of recovery and now he was at home. This man never went to the hospital to visit or offered an apology to Freddie after the accident. Freddie then told the man that he forgave him for what he had done and there was no need for him to carry a burden over what had happened. The man simply said “Alright” and hung up. Freddie moved on with his life.

The most disarming thing about Freddie is that he wholeheartedly believes in me. He listened to me on the phone as I struggled over whether I should let go a client who until that time had been our greatest source of revenue. Most contractors might have convinced me to stick with it for their benefit. Freddie knew the situation and said we would do even better once we let this one go. He has been by my side form start to finish.

I realize that an entrepreneur has to be guarded when it comes to those he/she works with. It is not always wise to convey what you are feeling. One does well to keep more under the table. But, I’m just saying we’ve got something good — Freddie and I. Where his “limitations” are concerned in terms of his physical condition, this does not slow him down.

For the past month, he has had his dad drive him to a pain management doctor, who administers injections to reduce the severe aching he has developed over time. Because of the tears and breaks, his body formed arthritis in the wounded joints. While we are carrying on over the phone about life and work, this thought occurs to me very little. I consider that a credit to Freddie because he never makes a big deal out of it. He even jokes about his single leg.

I hope to God that I can build a team of Freddies while I grow Integrity REO Solutions. I’m the kind of person who finds someone he loves working with and takes them all the way.