Influencers Weekly Devotional

Influencers Cabinet Introductions

Greg Huett

And there arose a great storm. (Mark 4:37) Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It’s an age old question. And since I’m an old chicken guy, I’ve always liked the question. The best answer I ever heard was, “It had to be the chicken”. Why? Well as always, the Bible provides the answer. In Genesis, we learn that God took six days to create the earth and everything in it, and then, on the seventh day he rested. And since we all know it takes 23 days to hatch an egg, it had to be the chicken. Four years ago, I started a new food company after spending 25 years with Tyson Foods, the king of chicken. As with most start-ups, it has been a series of starts and stops and near-death experiences. While trying to deal with the storms and trials associated with a starting a business, I have been pondering a similar but more spiritual question. Does God give us faith for the storms of life? Or does He give us storms to build our faith? Based on my own personal experience, I don’t think God just gives us the faith for the storms in life. I think He gives us the storms to grow our faith. I think God gives us a seed of faith and then, I think He allows storms in our life to grow that seed . Remember the exercise room in “Journey to the Inner Chamber?" It represented the trials of life. You feed in God’s word, you exercise (face trials), you feed again, gaining wisdom and strength form God’s word, you rest, your muscles grow, and then, the cycle repeats itself over and over. And, as a result, Learner grew stronger and his relationship with God became more intimate as he made his way to the inner chamber. And what was the net result? His faith, and his ability to trust God, grew stronger. Why? So, he could fulfill the purpose that God had for him. If you think about the men and women who were used mightily by God, they all had one thing in common. Think about Moses, Abraham, Joseph, Daniel, and Ruth. They all persevered through great trials. None of them just woke up one day and had great faith. Their faith grew with each trial they faced. Lately, I’ve been reading “Streams In the Desert” by L.B. Cowman. If you are going through a trial of your own or you want to prepare for any future storm, I highly recommend it. In the book he says, “It is in the storm that God equips us for service. When God wants an oak, He plants it on the moor where the storms will shake it and the rains will bat down upon it, and it is in the midnight battle with the elements that the oak wins its rugged fiber and becomes the king of the forest”. Jamie and I have been married for 22 years. We have four boys. Wil is 19 and attends the University of Arkansas, Austin is 16, Hayden 15 and Joseph 11. Jamie teaches at Shiloh Christian School. I became interested in The Journey after “flat lining” spiritually, ten years after my conversion at age 35. This was driven by a desire to see the fruits of the spirit in my life on a consistent basis. I felt God telling me to abide, but I didn’t really understand what it meant to “abide”. After reading "The Journey to the Inner Chamber", I called Rocky and got in one of the groups. I have a led a group each year for the last four or five years.