Welcome to the November 17th edition of Faith & Life Lessons.
You will see this email full of tidbits from my week. My goal is simple. I hope that from how I live my life, you can find a thing or two that helps you as you try to live a life that matters. I am always trying to do one thing - make Christ-focused decisions in love, work, and life. And this was my week.
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The Story of My Week.
On Sunday, I hosted the guys on my mastermind at my place.
We have been running this for about four years, and this is the first time we have all been in the same place together.
Yes, we have been meeting virtually during that time.
The rest of the guys have all met at each other’s events but since I was mostly out of the country, I was usually the missing member.
The joy for me in the whole thing is how we have created a richer and deeper community with each other over the years.
We have shared in each other’s work transitions, family challenges and life’s ups and downs. We have become a safe space for each other.
Sunday’s meet-up was just an opportunity for all of us to relax and share time.
Funny thing here.
You know that you are learning to take things easy when the only drink everyone asks for is water. 🤣🤣🤣
Yes, I had drinks cooling in the fridge and ready for order. But the only thing most of the guys asked for was water.
The guys were also the test case of a new meal that I created. The starter combined sweet potatoes, carrots, cabbage, butter and spicy gizzard sauce, all created by your truly. Moi.
I guess my years of experiencing different cultures and watching cooking shows built my muscles to create something new.
And I loved it.
More than that, I loved the time with the guys.
My band of brothers.
Things I Learnt
1- Hidden Germs from the Past: During the week, I listened to David Novak’s interview with Fawn Weaver, founder and CEO of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey.
One of the things she said that was very inspiring was this “Grab the gemstones in the challenges and move forward. Don't look at the past.”
This will make sense when you know her story.
She has had a knack for questioning whatever she was told since she was a kid. When her teacher told her class to write a report on a Judy Bloom novel, she wanted to do it on Encyclopedia Britannica. She had the whole collection (a rare thing those days) and believed it was better to do stories on real-life events instead of imaginary stories.
At 15 years old, her parents kicked her out of the home because they couldn’t stand her questioning nature. According to them, they didn’t want her to be a disruptive influence on her younger sister.
She stayed with school friends and in the Watts projects, for a short period. Later, she resided in three different homeless shelters, with Covenant House in Hollywood being her final stop.
Guess what?
Before turning 19, Weaver established her first company, FEW Entertainment, specializing in PR and special events. Early on, she secured two corporate clients, enabling the business to grow.
She tried to commit suicide twice at age 20.
Her real change after the second suicide attempt. She made two decisions.
First, according to her “I wasn't able to take myself out even though I was a very determined person, which meant that God had me here for a reason. And I was determined to figure out what that reason was.”
Second was this “I had tried to take me out. And I'm a very determined person which meant if I could not take me out, no one could take me out. And so I've lived my life for the last 28 years as if no one could take me out. No big player in any industry no individual, I just go through.”
This is what it means to pick gems from the past.
She worked as a restaurant and real estate executive through the early 2000s, before founding Grant Sidney Inc. in March 2010.
She co-founded Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey in 2017. The brand is named after Nathan "Nearest" Green, a former enslaved man who taught Jack Daniel how to make whiskey. Uncle Nearest is the fastest-growing American whiskey brand in history and the top-selling African American-founded spirit of all time.
She is the first non-celebrity Black American woman to found and lead a billion-dollar enterprise.
When she noticed that Desperate Housewives was the number one show in the country at some point and other shows like Real Housewives were painting a caricature of marriage, she took action.
She had been married at that time for about 10 years to a loving husband and had a happy marriage. She decided to look for a million women who were like her and had chosen the right spouse so they could connect virtually.
She connected with people across the world and they became a community meeting physically.
She has reminded me of the joy of learning from the past and not being held down by the past.
2 - Not a Nation of Complainers: One of the biggest challenges we have in difficult economic times is not to be a nation of complainers.
It is so easy to complain about what different institutions or persons are not doing to make things better.
Instead of complaining, we must ask God.
I listened to Pastor Bankie in Enugu, Nigeria explain that the Israelites who complained in the wilderness had facts to support the complaints..
The problem was that instead of complaining, they just needed to ask God for what they needed.
Yes, instead of being a person who complains about a problem, I’ll be a person who prays to God for the solution.
That is more pleasing to God.
Postscript
May we be people that ask God for solutions instead of complaining to him about the problems. Amen
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Tola - The Everyday Disciple
I help Christians like you who want to live intentional lives incorporate their faith into everyday life so they can make Christ-focused decisions in all areas of life and truly live to make an impact and make God happy.
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