2 more to go!

2 more to go!

Oct. 29, 2017
3 pm Sunday afternoon
Charlotte, North Carolina
USA

Greetings to all ye who have been following this countdown to my retirement, with these daily entries. The upcoming last two days are finally here!

On Tuesday, October 31, I am leaving the final "marketplace" employment for me, as it is known in some circles, while others may refer to it simply as secular employment. Overall it has been an interesting grand total of 52 years in workplaces.

As I walk along this memory lane, let me put those places in chronological order - for my sake and that of my family, especially! I hope you will join me for a few moments now, as I have recorded the people, places, and positions that have come and gone.

My first job? Delivering the daily newspaper Waterloo Courier, back in my hometown of Cedar Falls, Iowa. That mid-size town is located north of Cedar Rapids, west of Dubuque, south of the Minnesota state line, and northeast of the state capital Des Moines. I was in 6th grade, probably about 11 years old back then. The state of Iowa had a lot of pig lots, six-foot-high seed corn fields, and committed Iowans, either to the University of Iowa Hawkeyes or the Iowa State Cyclones. (Notice who I placed first!) As for me, I worked hard to increase my route delivery count from 15 to 63, and won a Sony cassette player one year for my grand efforts.

In 8th grade, after turning the legal age of 13, I got hired and joined the other high school boys at Rollinger's, a chicken and burger joint. Famous for the orange shake, as owner Russ Rollinger said it was, I liked working there. Russ and his father Lou claimed they had the original creative concept for the Big Mac burger sandwich, which he had called the "High Boy." On this job I got a whopping $1.10 an hour by the time I left two years later. I made sure I had a big wallet to carry all that cold hard cash around! (Photo: Russ Rollinger. Died Sept. 2013)

By the late summer/early fall of my senior year in 1972 at Columbus High School, I left football in the middle of the season to get hired on at Eagles, part of the Lucky Grocery chain organization. But the 3rd shift proved too much, and after a few years it was time for a day job. I settled in at Sartori Hospital in Cedar Falls - scrubbing floors, collecting garbage, and being befriended by the UNI (University of Northern Iowa) star football running back. It was his day job also. And I only got reprimanded two times for putting Chic Tracs (cartoon booklets with the Gospel message) on the hospital staff's lunchroom table.

A move to LaSalle-Peru, Illinois in 1974, after the high school graduation and a somewhat complete year at UNI, put me in the English Muffin Restaurant working alongside my older brother-in-law David Johnson and sister Mary Smith. Then it was the management at Kerr-McGee Treated Lumber Yard in Mendota, working together with church friends Kevin Grafton and Kelly Haas, also of LaSalle.

In 1980 several church/community families of Victory Church, which we all were members of, moved to East Lansing, Michigan. Noelle Clark, co-owner of the Canon office machine dealer companyHasselbring-Clark, along with her husband Ellis, hired this "cult member", as previously some thought it was, due to my involvement with Shiloh Fellowship, for their Office Manager position.

In the seven years to the "exact day" I worked there (Aug. 23, 1980-Aug. 22, 1987), I believe I had either hired directly, or was responsible for getting hired, at least eight more "cult members" - because my recommendations of these Christian workers proved to be accurate. (Photo: Hasselbring-Clark Company 1985)

It was then into the ministry of the Christian non-profits I went. This was my life-long dream, and heart of my life, as I approached the age of 33. Almost like Jesus did, except a few years later.

Beginning in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, this part of the journey began with three years as the Financial Supervisor at Derek Prince Ministries, followed by four years at Mahesh Chavda Ministries, both in the south Florida city. I served with MCM as the Administrator. In July of 1994 the ministry relocated here to Charlotte, North Carolina, where we also established All Nations Church. I held that position for both the ministry and the church as Administrator until the end of 2000, when I went back to Derek Prince Ministries. They had also relocated to Charlotte between 1993-1994, and so from 2001-2005, for another five years, I once again served as the Director of Administration and Finance.

Sounds like a resume, right? The Lord had been faithful in all those years, keeping us close to His heart and my family through it all. I bless my good wife Laurie and children Josh, Ben, Hannah and Christen for walking this adventure together.

When the International Director of Derek Prince Ministries, David Selby, was approached by Barry Segal, co-founder of Vision For Israel and the Joseph Storehouse, in late 2004 to head up VFI's USA office as the Director, the six-month transition from one to the other took place. (Photo top: Vision For Israel staff, 2010. Bottom: Derek Prince Ministries 2004)

By July 1, 2005, I was then full time with Barry and Batya Segal, the ministry co-founders, and was responsible for moving the USA office from Savannah, Georgia here to Charlotte. This 700 church city on the NC/SC border was certainly continuing to be a landing hub for ministries!

In the spring of 2010 the Lord Yeshua (Jesus) gave me the desire of my heart once again - to begin our own ministry. Having served within the vineyards of several others for the previous 24 years, He had planned and purposed for me to start Love For His People. And thus I left VFI on June 30, 2010 to give my full attention to this work - supporting Israel and the Jews, while also sending humanitarian aid, along with biblical teaching using social media, to the nations. Others have now come alongside us over these seven years, joining in this work.

But as with most, those newborn and early years, and then walking on two feet, took awhile. The home mortgage, car payments, and daily life had to be provided. The $70,000 a year salary I had been earning dropped to $11,000 for that first year.

The income from the new ministry didn't quite do it, so it was back to work for me in the office realm with other companies and ministries. Seasonal and part-time jobs with Samaritan's Purse (Franklin Graham), Covenant Keepers (Rex and Carolyn Johnson), and the Charlotte Rescue Mission (Chris Moore) followed.

Finally, I was hired on at Charlotte Center City Partner in May of 2013, as the Accountant. First as a contractor for eight months, and then as a full-time staff member for these final four and a half years. The office is located right there in thriving uptown Charlotte.

And so here I am! Retirement occurs just in time for my 63rd birthday on Thanksgiving Day! And I am so thankful Lord!

I hope I didn't bore you with all this long employment history. But if you made it this far in reading, then you did good, and I appreciate your sticking it through with me.

We each have a history to share and should have a testimony with it, in order to declare the Lord Jesus' great work in our life. Your life hopefully shows His faithfulness too and acts as an encouragement to those who watch and maybe even follow after, that which we have lived. I hope you have those who have or will do that, in your walk with the Lord.

So now I will be able to give my full attention to the work of Love For His People, Inc. With at least 10 or more good years to walk out, Lord willing, I already highly suspect the Lord has an expansion coming, extending these tent pegs of the ministry, in His playbook. For that, I am most excited!

Be encouraged as you continue on in your walk with our Lord. Do well in blessing others as you also seek the Lord, knowing, and daily reassured, that the plans He has for you are well and good.

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People

Charlotte, North Carolina

USA

If you missed day 3, click here: 3 more days until the end
If you missed day 4, click here: 4 days to go...
There is also Day 5. Click here: 5 more to go... 
and Day 6. Click here:  6 more days...

From the Editor (Steve Martin, Love For His People Founder):

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families and co-workers such as Hadassah's in Israel, Moses Julius in Pakistan and Pastor Abel in Nigeria, whom we each consistently help monthly through our work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now through our website using the DONATE buttons on either side column of our blog.

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc. 

P.O. Box 414   

Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 

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The Debt Crisis Of 2017: Once Their Vacation Ends, Congress Will Have 4 Days To Avoid A Government Shutdown On April 29 - Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

The Debt Crisis Of 2017: Once Their Vacation Ends, Congress Will Have 4 Days To Avoid A Government Shutdown On April 29 Posted: 09 Apr 2017  Michael Snyder  THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG April 2017 could turn out to be one of the most important months in U.S. history that we have seen in a very long time.  On April 6th, Donald Trump attacked Syria on the 100th anniversary of the day that the U.S. officially entered World War I, and now at the end of this month we could be facing an unprecedented political crisis in Washington.   On Friday, members of Congress left town for their two week “Easter vacation”, and they won’t resume work until April 25th.  What this means is that Congress will have precisely four days when they get back to pass a bill to fund government operations or there will be a government shutdown starting on April 29th. Up to this point, there has been very little urgency by either party to move a spending bill forward.  It is almost as if everyone is already resigned to the fact that a government shutdown will happen.  The Democrats will greatly benefit from a government shutdown because they can just blame the entire mess on the Republicans.  But for the GOP, this is essentially the equivalent of political malpractice. To me, there is simply no way that Congress is going to be able to agree on a bill that funds the entire government in just four days.  And it turns out that this upcoming deadline comes exactly on the 100th day of Trump’s presidency… The U.S. government is poised to shut down on Day 100 of Donald Trump’s presidency, unless Congress can pass a new spending bill or a continuing resolution before the current one expires on April 28. Since Congress is currently on a two-week recess, there will be a sense of urgency to get a new bill passed once they reconvene on April 25. Leaders in both chambers would have four days to craft a new proposal that each side can agree on and get it on the president’s desk for Trump to sign. If the Republicans control the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives, why will it be so difficult to get an agreement on a spending bill? Well, first of all, look at how difficult it was for the Republicans to agree on a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare.  At this point, it doesn’t look like that is going to happen at all. More importantly, any bill to fund the government is going to require 60 votes in the Senate.  The “nuclear option” that the Republicans just used to push the Gorsuch Supreme Court nomination through is not available in this case under current Senate rules because a spending bill of this nature would not qualify. So the Democrats have leverage, and they plan to use it to the maximum.  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is already promising to block any spending bill that includes funds for a border wall or that defunds Planned Parenthood… The threat from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democratic leaders sets up a climactic first showdown with the president, particularly with their inclusion of Trump’s signature border wall proposal. “If Republicans insist on inserting poison pill riders such as defunding Planned Parenthood, building a border wall, or starting a deportation force, they will be shutting down the government and delivering a severe blow to our economy,” Schumer said in a statement. Up until now, Trump hasn’t needed Democratic votes to stock his cabinet or advance the repeal of Obamacare, but a spending bill keeping the government open is subject to a 60-vote threshold in the Senate. Do you understand what this means? President Trump is going to be under an immense amount of pressure to end the government shutdown once it begins, but to do so will mean that he has to give up his goal of getting a border wall. Do you think that Trump will just throw in the towel and forget about his beloved border wall after giving countless speeches promising one? It is a game of chicken between Trump and the Democrats, and I don’t think that either side will give in easily. Of even greater importance is the debate over the funding of Planned Parenthood. There are members of the Freedom Caucus that will absolutely not vote for any spending bill that includes funding for Planned Parenthood.  But without the Freedom Caucus, there aren’t enough Republican votes to get a spending bill through the House of Representatives. Alternatively, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is vowing that his party will block any funding bill that attempts to defund Planned Parenthood in the Senate. If Planned Parenthood is not defunded now, it never will be defunded.  This is one of the most pivotal moments in recent U.S. political history, and the outcome is going to have extraordinary consequences for our nation. For those that are optimistic that there will not be a government shutdown, do you actually expect me to believe that this battle over the funding of Planned Parenthood will somehow get resolved in just four days? Give me a break. And of course there are dozens of other major issues that have to be resolved as well.  For example, Senator McCain is promising note to vote for any bill unless it includes an enormous increase in military spending, while many Senate Democrats would be very much against such a move. I don’t see any way that a government shutdown is going to be avoided at this point, and the longer it goes on the more financial markets are going to get rattled. Meanwhile, we continue to get even more signs that a substantial slowdown has begun for the U.S. economy.  Last week, we learned that only 98,000 jobs were added in March, and that was only about half of what most analysts were expecting. And since it takes approximately 150,000 jobs a month just to keep up with population growth, that means that we are losing ground. At the same time, the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow forecasting model is now projecting that U.S. GDP growth for the first quarter of 2017 will be just 0.6 percent on an annualized basis. That is absolutely pathetic, and as I have said before, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we actually end up with a negative number for the first quarter. If we do indeed get a negative number for the first quarter and that is followed by another negative number for the second quarter, that will mean that a new recession has already started right now but we just haven’t gotten official confirmation yet. And lots of other things are already happening which have not happened since the last recession.  For instance, this is the first time since the last financial crisis when there has been no growth for commercial and industrial lending for at least six months. In addition, commercial bankruptcies spiked during the last recession, and now it is happening again… Commercial bankruptcy filings, from corporations to sole proprietorships, spiked 28% in March from February, the largest month-to-month move in the data series of the American Bankruptcy Institute going back to 2012. Of course consumer bankruptcies are rising at an alarming rate as well.  The following comes from Wolf Richter… In December, bankruptcy filings rose 4.5% from a year earlier. In January they rose 5.4%. It was the first time consumer bankruptcies rose back-to-back since 2010. I called it “a red flag that’ll be highlighted only afterwards as a turning point.” In March, consumer bankruptcy filings rose 4% year-over-year, to 77,900, the highest since March 2015, when 79,000 filings occurred, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute data.  The turning point has now been confirmed. If you would like, I could keep talking about the bad economic news for a couple thousand more words.  U.S. credit card debt has just surpassed the one trillion dollar mark, a major crisis has arrived for the U.S. auto industry, thousands of retail stores are closing all over America, our pension funds are underfunded by trillions of dollars, and the U.S. national debt is now sitting at a grand total that is just shy of 20 trillion dollars.  The only reason that we have not crossed that 20 trillion dollar mark yet is because the debt ceiling deadline has already passed, and that is another thing that Congress needs to address very quickly if they want to avoid a major crisis. Needless to say, the last thing that we need at this point is another war or two on top of everything else. Unfortunately, a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group headed by the USS Carl Vinson is heading toward North Korea right at this moment, and Russia and Iran are promising to “respond with force” to any new U.S. attacks on Syria.  I will be writing quite a bit more about all of this on End Of The American Dream later today. Those that were hoping for some sort of “reprieve” under Donald Trump can forget all about that now.  The pace of global events is really starting to accelerate, and the U.S. is already in a more precarious position than it was at any point in 2016. The clouds have been building for a very long time, and now the storm is almost upon us.  I hope that you have been getting prepared, because a day of reckoning for the United States of America is closing in very rapidly.