HisWay Painting

[00:00:00] When we first got married, um, we bought a sailboat, 42 foot sailboat. Our dream was to live on the sailboat and we were, we said, let’s go to Tahiti or bust. I was working for my best friend. It was down by the water. My sailboat was in the dock right next to it. Uh, my Labrador retriever was at my feet. His parents were two streets away.

His brother lived down the road from us. And it was, little white picket fence was the only thing I needed. And it was perfect. As much as I love my job and what we did, inside I felt like, There’s a kingdom out there that has to be won. The only way you can do that is become a full time missionary or pastor.

And so we, that’s when [00:01:00] we took the plunge. Through YWAM, my heart was open and expanded. We were, let’s, let’s sell our house in New York, we’ll buy anything, we’ll live anywhere. And I said, Eileen, I, I think we’re supposed to pray about going to St. Croix. We discipleship training school. It was a very, St.

Croix was. The best and the worst of times. I pretty much loved every job I’ve had. And, uh, until I was a missionary. The parts I did enjoy were the one on ones. The playing the checkers and, you know, we were, but we’re in this for life, you know. You lay down your life for the gospel. This is it, you know. No matter how crummy your family life is, this is the gospel.

And so we just rolled with it for about a year and a half. We survived a very horrific hurricane. It was Category 5. It stood over the island for 8 hours [00:02:00] straight and destroyed almost everything.

Well, Eileen, the next day, after the hurricane, said, I think I’m pregnant. And they did an ultrasound and that’s when I found out that I was pregnant with twins. So, uh, our leaders really didn’t know much to do with us. And they said, you know, you might want to take a break. We moved to Tennessee and I’m like, man, I, I, I didn’t cut it.

I’m just not made out to be, you know, a missionary. I didn’t know who I was, to be honest with you. So, painter at the church, at a small painting company, he said, Hey, I’m a little short handed, I thought it was going to be three days, and then God’s going to give me the next step, you know. I became his painter, even though I didn’t want to be a painter.

We didn’t have any money. Uh, we had four kids. Uh, I was painting. I was feeling very, uh, [00:03:00] This is my reward for missionary work, you know? Whatever, I was letting God know my true feelings. I was leaving a house one July day. It was really hot. I had an old, non air conditioned car with hardly any money. And I said, God, when is my ship gonna come in?

He said to me, buddy, this is what I have for you. It was a good 30 minute drive home and halfway through everything changed. None of the circumstances changed except my heart. And I went in the same un air conditioned car, back to that job, did the same thing the next day. But my heart was all different and that was the first day where I really embraced the opportunity.

Noticing the difference in Buddy from wondering what was next. to going, this is what I’m going to do. There was a real peace over all of us. [00:04:00] So I watched him take on some new challenges with employees and people, and he did a really good job. When we were missionaries, we had to live what we call by faith.

That you would pray in what you needed and God would supply it and you know that people thought oh, that’s just really hard How do you do that? Well God’s so big it seemed like it was easiest thing in the world to do Having your own business is very similar because you have jobs that we pray in So even now that we had a secular job, there was a place where we lived by faith just as much at that point.

Uh, we prayed a lot for customers, not, not just to get jobs, but just for situations. And, um, as I grew, uh, I began to realize that you could just visit with people, and he listened to what their, and, you know, what [00:05:00] their painting needs were, but another part of me was listening to other needs that people might have.

Years ago, when we were in YWAM, God really opened up my heart for nations, and I was wondering, will that ever come back again? And then all of a sudden I started working more for Buddy and with His Way Painting and I saw our employees are the same. They come from all kinds of places. So we started thinking, what are the felt needs for the people that work for us?

So we started teaching English to um, our employees and, and that shifted a whole lot of things. We really began to realize the Lord is bringing the nations to us. Uh, we were like, wow, this is awesome. We get to play with our grandchildren and still, in fact, the nations. You know, two years ago, uh, we had a girl that applied for a job as a painter.

Well, in our industry, that is not really [00:06:00] done, and we’ve watched her grow from just being a painter’s helper now till she’s a lead painter. She’s amazing.

That makes me feel very good and makes me feel confident that I can do a good job for the company. So, that’s nice because usually, usually since I’m an employee and they’re the boss, I have to work and do the job well because they’re paying me. But Ningún jefe te va a decir a ti, yo confío en ti, yo confío en lo que tú vas a hacer, no te preocupes, solo trabaja, y ellos lo hacen conmigo, entonces como ellos me dan la confianza, yo puedo confiar en mí y ellos me dan confianza y yo me esmero y [00:07:00] hago un trabajo excelente gracias a la confianza que ellos me expresan.

We love life. We enjoy it. We’re having the best time of our lives. Because, truthfully, it all comes down to we know who we are. This isn’t about us at all. We have a little sailboat on a little lake here. And, uh, one day I went out all by myself and I realized, I said, Lord, I’m in heaven. This is all I need.

I said, I had this, the presence of the Lord was in that boat with me. I’m in heaven. I was content, I was feeling his presence, and it, I didn’t have to be in the Caribbean. We realize that if we’re a, a catapult for somebody else, then that’s worth it. That’s really, that’s, that’s a part of being in the kingdom of God, to show people, um, there’s something bigger and better than just our own little worlds, that [00:08:00] God’s really big.