More to Life Than Dying!

More to Life Than Dying!
When I served as an infantry medic in Vietnam, I was amazed at how young all the other soldiers were. I witnessed many dead and wounded young men, some died in my arms. The nausea in my stomach was partly from fear, and partly because I mourned for my dead comrades. I thought to myself. God! There has got to be more to life than dying here in this jungle!
When I arrived home, the nausea in my stomach was still there. I wanted to cry out to everyone in America, "young men are dying over there, don't you care?" The country that I came back to had changed. The television shows, the news, the war protestors, all portrayed the Vietnam veteran as a bad guy! I went to serve my country and now the bad guys on TV are all mentally deranged Vietnam veterans! I did what most Vietnam veterans did, I clammed up. I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want anyone to know I was a Vietnam veteran.
I had gotten married before I went to Vietnam and had a little girl. I wanted to be a good husband and father, but the guilt and low self-esteem brought on by my Vietnam experience kept me mired down in self-pity and shame.
I had gone to church throughout childhood, and felt that the prayers of my church had gotten me through safely, but I was still having nightmares and walking the floor at night. I went to church and asked God to take away this burden. Praise God! I have never had another nightmare about Vietnam, and I have learned to take pride in the fact that I am a Vietnam veteran!
Give your life to Jesus Christ and start really living!
I am no longer ashamed of being a Vietnam veteran, and no one should be. Satan has a way of robbing us of what is rightfully ours. God can restore you through his son Jesus Christ!

Romans 5:7-8 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John W. Marks
Medic 101st Airborne
2/501st Infantry
69-70

Business Can Bee a Fun Adventure!

I grew up in a small town in Indiana and every day was an adventure. A local landowner had cut down a tree, and honeybees had built a nest inside a knothole in this tree. Now that the tree was laying flat on the ground, the knothole with the bees was right there about waist high. My friend, David, came to my house and wanted me to help him fight off the honeybees. He had the big idea to fight off all of the honeybees and get the honey inside of the beehive. Being young and stupid as I was, I thought that sounded like a pretty good idea; after all who can resist the taste of fresh honey. David and I didn’t realize how difficult the task at hand would be, but we knew that it would be exciting and adventurous to try. The bees were swarming all over the place. David and I used gunny sacks to fight off the honeybees. We were fighting honeybees for all they were worth. The bees were swarming all around us. We were afraid that we were going to get stung if we slowed down or stopped fighting. It is amazing how fast and furious one can work when motivated by fear.

Then it happened: David was stung on the tip of the earlobe. Now David was a tough little kid and he was really enjoying the excitement of fighting off those honeybees. He did not let the fact that he had been stung by a bee stop him from continuing his quest. Well, it was now getting close to lunchtime, so I went to my house, and David went to his. I had just barely finished my lunch when I heard a knock at the front door. It was David. I couldn’t believe my eyes! David’s face had swelled up to the size of a basketball. My mom and sister came running to the door. When they saw David’s face they were in shock. They didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He didn’t even look like the same little boy. He looked more like a puffy faced old man. His entire face was swollen and his eyes looked like little slits. My mom, being a registered nurse, treated the bee sting and insisted that David go home and show his parents. Needless to say, David and I were not allowed to go back to that beehive!
In the business world sometimes we focus on making money, instead of focusing on all the obstacles that stand in our way. Many times we are overwhelmed with the little things, and we spend all our time working on tasks that mean very little to our bottom line. Knowing where to focus our efforts is very important in the business world. It doesn’t matter if you’re an experienced entrepreneur or starting a business for the first time. Problems can come at you from many directions, like a swarm of bees. We swat and flail around at our problems trying to avoid a financial sting. The experienced entrepreneur may need to learn the latest techniques and skills. With the advent of the Internet a businessman or woman needs to be alert to constant change in the industry. Whereas the newbie must find expert advice or his time in business will be short-lived. It is a must to know where to focus our efforts. It is the key to success for all start-up businesses to get off on the right foot. Finding a marketing system that will lead you to your financial goals is not only important, but paramount.