Publisher’s Point by Rob Patz It’s the month of August, or as they call it, the “dog days” of summer. I hope that you’re having a wonderful summer and I hope that God has blessed you richly during this season. If you’ve been following the Publisher’s Point over the last few months, I have kind of gone along with a theme of travel. For instance, we talked about how we know when we get there. So, here we go with this month’s installment and yes, it will include traveling. I recently had an opportunity to take a flight from Seattle to Atlanta, something I do about once a month. On this occasion, I got to sit next to a gentleman who was probably in his mid-70’s. He and I struck up a conversation. He asked me the normal things that you ask someone you sit next to on a plane; is Seattle your home and are you going to Atlanta on business? I said that Seattle is my home, Atlanta is where I’ll be landing, and I’m headed to the radio station in Alabama that I am so blessed to own. We talked a little bit about life, about family, and about career; and he told me something that rang in my head throughout the rest of that day and into the night. He said, “Don’t ever let your current business circumstances affect your family and your friends.” He said, “God has a plan and he is going to execute it.” I smiled at him because at this point, I had not said it was a Christian radio station. I said, “Thank you so much for what you just said. I truly believe that God has sent you.” He smiled and we had a chance to talk a little bit more about faith and family. He discussed his children and what they were doing, and how he and his wife were planning a cruise later this year. As we deplaned when we got to Atlanta, I shook his hand and thanked him for listening to God. I thanked him for an enjoyable four-hour conversation. The next morning I was sitting there thinking about all we had talked about; about what wisdom he had to impart about life and business. Then I stopped for a second and realized how much God cared for me, that he wanted to encourage me. In his plan, he placed this man in a center seat next to me, and that man was open enough to what God was saying to him, to say it to me. We realize that the plans that we have and the plans that God has can be completely different but God can then nudge us and remind us that his plans are greater than ours.
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