Day 30, 31 Days of December Peace ~ Don’t Wait

December 30, 2014 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

Click above to listen to Silence as you read. This piano solo is from 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma). If you enjoy, please consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen and download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

“If you’re waiting to do something with your spouse, don’t wait.” These words rocked my world in the final hour of a men’s weekend retreat in May 2008. Even if you’re not married, read on. All of us are waiting to do something. Maybe you’ve waited long enough.

The Souly Business retreat had brought several powerful moments. I thought I had experienced all that God was going to do. Then, during a talk titled Finishing Well these words cut straight to my heart. The speaker told a story about a very successful Texas chicken farmer, who had died suddenly from a heart attack. At his funeral service, his wife said, “If your waiting to do something with your spouse, don’t wait.”

Ever since 1995, for thirteen years, my wife and I had received a newsletter twice each year inviting us to consider a trip to Greece and Turkey. They were always mailed from the same couple who had led a group of twenty people, including us, on a spring 1995 pilgrimage to Israel. That experience was unforgettable. We had never seen the Bible come so alive and be confirmed so incredibly – geographically, archaeologically, and spiritually.

We knew Greece and Turkey would be just as amazing. It was called The Journey’s of Paul. The itinerary included Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, the island of Patmos where John wrote Revelation, Instanbul and much more. It just wasn’t practical. In the 1990s we both worked and it was just us. No kids. But from 1995 to 2005 our two children were born and an unexpected career curve ball was pitched to us. In 2004 I left a ten-year financial planning job to found Music to Light the World and become a full-time pianist and composer. Since then, our finances had been “just in time” with no surplus.

When the “don’t wait” words stirred my heart with such clarity, I sensed God whispering, “Take a leap of faith. Trust me. You’ve waited long enough. It’s time to do this thing with your wife. Go on the Greece-Turkey trip.” It was crazy from a worldly perspective. I would have to make a withdrawal from my IRA, paying a 10% penalty and income taxes on the entire amount. Yet, there I stood. After each talk there was a space for a few men to speak their mind. For the first time during the weekend I was telling eighty guys what had just happened. Apparently we were supposed to take this trip and not wait. But we were living month-to-month, and our only savings was in retirement accounts. And, I was a former financial planner and would be withdrawing the cost of the trip from my IRA (the room erupted with laughter at this point). Yes, God does have a sense of humor!

I have found when we move forward by faith, things start to line up. They don’t line up in advance. All the steps are not clear if we wait too long. But when we follow God’s nudges, He reveals things little by little. Like the $1,000 down payment toward our trip that was a gift from a complete stranger at the retreat, who heard my story and just “happened” to have been assigned the job of praying for me in secret the entire weekend. Like the fact that our parents’ schedules were open so they could stay at our house with the kids. It was stunning to witness all that took place. This story alone is one reason I live by faith in a God who loves us more than we can imagine. Even when life doesn’t make sense. Even when I have my doubts. Isaiah 41:10 says, “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”

What are you waiting to do? Don’t wait too long. Take a leap of faith.

Day 29, 31 Days of December Peace ~ Pursuing Your Passions, Part 2

December 29, 2014 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

Click above to listen to Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming as you read. This piano solo is from 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma). If you enjoy, please consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen and download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

Continuing from yesterday…

In the summer of 2004, I left Ronald Blue & Co. to become a full-time pianist and composer after founding Music to Light the World. The greatest blessing of my call to financial planning was not that it was a life calling, but that I had learned God would speak to me and I could hear His voice if my heart was surrendered to Him. The improbability of my career shifting from money to music is a miracle and a mystery that has stretched our faith, but God has been faithful.

The principles of Ronald Blue & Co. were vital in giving my wife and me the financial ability to follow God’s call. We both worked before having children, lived well within our means, and paid off all of our debts except our home mortgage. We made extra principal payments over time and were able to convert from a 30-year to a 15-year mortgage with the same payment. We maximized and diversified our savings using recommended money market and mutual funds. God also challenged us to be more generous in our giving during these years.

Below are two additional steps and scriptures that have had a powerful impact on our faith journey. I hope they inspire and encourage you to pursue your passions.

3. Invite. After you have prayerfully asked God to speak, waited upon Him, listened for His voice, obeyed what He says, and clarified the vision He has revealed to you, then you are ready to invite others to pray for you and even contribute to your cause. Ask God to help you seek to please Him and not men. “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).

4. Imitate. Imitate the faith of others who are surrendered to God and seeking His will in their lives. Spend time with them and learn from them. Imitate Jesus’ desire to please the Father. “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’ Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:6-7).

Is it time to invite others into your vision and story? Who can you imitate?

Day 28, 31 Days of December Peace ~ Pursuing Your Passions, Part 1

December 28, 2014 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

Click above to listen to Coventry Carol as you read. This piano solo is from 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma). If you enjoy, please consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen and download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

In 1994, at the age of 30, I surrendered my career life to God and asked Him to show me what He wanted me to do. After getting an MBA and spending five years in consulting and sales, the time had come to trust God 100% instead of asking Him to join me in what I was doing.

In 1995, God called me to Ronald Blue & Co. to become a financial planner. It was the clearest sense of direction I had experienced in my life. So clear, in fact, that I thought the greatest blessing was that I had found my life calling. It was a joy and a privilege to wake up each day and give financial counsel to clients based on a biblical perspective.

Working with clients on financial and life stewardship caused me to ask myself the same questions I would often discuss with clients. How much is enough? What are your passions? As I reflected, my heart was stirred to revive a lifelong passion I had for playing the piano and writing songs. “Baby steps” of faith led me to a place where God inspired me to compose instrumental melodies to help people slow down and experience His peace. The next year, I released my first CD and gave it away to friends, clients and co-workers. More and more people began to enjoy and share my music and two more albums followed.

Below are the first two steps that had a powerful impact on my faith journey. I hope they inspire and encourage you to pursue your passions.

1. Invest. In 1999 I had a stirring in my heart that I was supposed to invest in a keyboard and computer to record some old songs I had written in high school. God’s voice just would not go away on this, so I gathered information for six months, waited upon the Lord, and took action steps to obey and invest. Following this, God revealed a new idea to create solo piano from scripture to bring peace to the soul. “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

2. Invigorate. What is it that invigorates you (i.e. refreshes, revitalizes, stimulates, enlivens, energizes, rejuvenates, animates, strengthens, livens you up)? Make sure to integrate whatever “it” is into your life, even if this means just a few minutes each day or a few hours each week. Make the most of life right now where you are. “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free” (Psalm 119:32).

Are you hearing God’s still small voice telling you to invest in some way? What invigorates you?

To be continued tomorrow…