Thoughts

This is how you battle evil in the United States…

I have worked in industry for 38 years for various companies. Every year starting around Thanksgiving, small gifts start to arrive in offices all over the country from customers, vendors and other business partners; tins of cookies, boxes of candy, bags of nuts and wheels of cheese. In my capacity in marketing I’ve been tasked with providing gifts for our customers, one year it was a stainless steel snowflake ornament cut out by the plasma cutters in our manufacturing plant.

None of these gifts have been gifts of the heart. They are actually the epitome of commercializing Christmas, designed more as little “remember us” advertisements than as heart felt gifts.

Today I received something different. Something unexpected. Something so out of context it took me a few moments to understand exactly what it was. A book filled with stories of various celebrities who after the darkest moments in their lives, found Jesus Christ as their savior. People who lived the selfish life of “Me First” whose lives were turned into “I Am Second”, (the actual title of the book) to Jesus Crist, my Lord and Savior. It arrived with a card, signed by the chairman that said “Merry Christmas”.

Norm Miller, the Chairman of Interstate Batteries, an icon of the American Dream, worked his way from an employee in a distributorship to chairman of the company, a company that has a corporate Chaplain Department, a company whose mission statement begins with “To glorify God as we supply our customers…”

This is a man not afraid to offend others. Not afraid that he will alienate someone. Not afraid to share his faith with the world and not to care who disagrees. In his corporate profile on the company web site he writes about his alcoholism and the night God released him from it and set him free. He prints a prayer asking God for release from sin and lists an address to write to if you want to find out more.

He writes:

“You can accept Him right now, just like I did, by repeating this prayer and making it the commitment of your heart. Just pray...

“Dear God, I want freedom from the slavery of my sin. I believe Jesus is the Truth, and I accept Him now as my Lord and Savior. I ask you for forgiveness of my sins, because He paid for them for me. Please give me the power to live a life pleasing to You. Thank you for this gift of new and eternal life in Christ! In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

If you prayed this prayer, I’d like to send you some additional information that will help you grow in your understanding of Christianity and in your faith in God. Write to: Norm Miller, “Growth,” 12770 Merit Dr. Suite 1000, Dallas, Texas 75251.”

How many billion dollar companies do you know with the guts to lay it out there like that? Do you have the guts to do that? Would you lay it all on the line for Jesus?

If more of us did, we could put a huge dent in the evil that confronts us every day. There is no legislative answer. You cannot make evil illegal and expect it to go away. Evil people do not care about laws. If they had a conscience, they wouldn’t be evil.

I remember as a child that being drunk was an excuse that allowed for leniency for killing someone in an auto accident. Then a grass roots organization, Mothers Against Drunk Driving pushed so hard that it is now an exacerbating circumstance in an automobile death which allows for a tougher sentence.

It is the grass roots of America that will bring evil to its knees. It is the people, not the government who can bring God back into our lives and bring morals and the love of our fellow humans back to the front, not the back of our minds.

I’m writing this from my own experience. I didn’t pass this on or share it from Facebook. It is real, it happened to me and touched me today, December 17, 2012. It’s not a hoax, you won’t find this on Snopes, (yet) I just finished writing it. I don’t work for Interstate Batteries, I work for a company that buys their product from a local distributor. I don’t care if you pass this on or share it, passing it on won’t bring you luck and passing over it won’t make God hate you. (The whole point, after all, is that God loves everyone). You don’t have to comment and you don’t have to press “Like”. I just wanted you to know about Norm Miller and the strong brave heart of his faith In the Lord.

It is people like Norm Miller and companies like Interstate Batteries, Chick Fil-A and Hobby Lobby who will lead the battle against evil from the front lines. The only question is, will you be among the troops?

C. Michael Hager