God said...I hear you.

Hey how is it going? There is a time when someone will ask you how do you know there is a God? They don't believe, And they don't believe in anything like the Bible to back it up. SO what do you say? How do you convince or even give them a opportunity to pause and say hmmmm I wonder if he has something there...

For me I Know for a fact in my heart that God is real. Prove it you say? Well I have to admit, that is not easy. The only way I can prove it to you or atleast tell you of some reasons I believe God does very much exist is the fact that for some crazy reason.... God hears me.

I will say that again for some unknow crazy reason God has chosen to hear my usually pathetic comments from my mouth and thought process and has acknowledes it often. Maybe not as much lately as he has in the past but I know he is there and listening.

I am going to give you examples in a second but first I have to clarify some things....

First in no way shape or form am I trying to say hey look at me look at what God will do for me.
I am just showing you that some times when you talk to God as much as I use to that you will notice that God is listening and some times that can be scary.

I run a family Business one that is bleeding to death has been for years. And my ex-step mom left the company a few years ago, which meant me, the guy who has no business being in an accounting roll was now taking calls of hey when you going to pay us.?.

First I need to step back one example. You are going to think this is a coincidence and flat out stupid but it was the first time I think I believed that God was listening to me. If you know me you will know me to be a nervous person anxiety is not my friend. So in 1996 I was going to be getting married. I was fine looking forward to it have dreamed about this moment since I was little always wanted to be a daddy and hubby. I was addicted to caffeen and sugar Coke and Pepsi and Mountain Dew were my buddies. Well for those of you who know caffeen has no place in a person's body when they are the nervous type. Well the woman of my dreams and I have done skits for a while now for church ministry. So I kept telling my self that this was just another skit. I decided that it was time to get off the caffeen I was on my way to work after going to Wendy's and got my biggie Coke I prayed to God and said Lord I got to get off caffiene and you are the only one who can get me to do it. I picked up my drink to take a swig and to my surprise there was nothing in the cup other than some ice. That was November of 1996 a month before the wedding. I have not had caffiene since then other then what is found in decafe and chocolate. (my wife on the other hand to this day drinks enough of it for both of us.)

Sorry I just remembered that was not the first time God answered me in great detail.
I was just out of a 4 year relationship with my high school sweet heart who i thought i was going to marry. I was in a men's bible study with 2-3 guys and the host of the study was very big into prayer. Many times he got us to pray but really pray in detail. One thing that he always said was If God is God and he knows everything and has created everything and knows all the details about everything why is it that men never go to God to ask Him to bring him the woman of his dreams, to ask God to mold me so that I am prepared the way he needs me to be so that I am ready for her. So I did I wrote out the list of what I wanted in a woman pretty long list actually. And then God said....Done kinda of just like Adam and Eve. Adam looked around in the garden and saw all the animals God created and saw that God gave them an other half. Then Adam said to God what about me...? God said hold that thought and put him into sleep and created the woman of his dreams. Well I prayed and felt silly but why not ask the maker of everything if he would give you the one of your dreams. My list was long it included things like a Christian who wanted to have kids and someone who would go to church because they wanted to not just because I was going. Someone who had a relationship with God and who had friends of their own but would want you to be part of their life. and the list went on till I got to the part where I said I wanted a woman who was within 2 years apart from me either up or down in age. God provided me a woman that hit every item on the list to the extream detail with the exception of the age it was as if God was saying I am God and here is my say I will honor your request but this is mine. My wife is 4 years younger.... But she is still more mature than I am or anyone I have ever dated. God I love that woman!

Ok back to the work issue I was (and still am but now worse) the receiver of phone calls saying when am I going to get paid? Several times on the way to work when I am driving I will pray yes with eyes open. And say to God "God i know I dont have this coming but I need to have 45,000.00 today to pay off my biggest vendor I know that the customers are not due to pay yet but Lord I need it if there is any thing you can do I am thanking you in advance Plus Lord thank you for the vendors who have shown mercy and patience. I get to work and walk into the accounting girls office and say so how did we do? She would smile and say we got in 1-3,000 my heart would drop and I would tell her I prayed my butt off but I guess God's answer was no today she would get a look on her face that I could never tell if it was her thinking there he goes again or her feeling sorry for me. But then it would happen..... 10:40 am my purchasing manager would walk in behind me while I was talking to the accounting girl and say hey we just got in a rebate check from our buying group I would look up thinking to my self for what 10.00 and he would say 45,000.00 the girls eyes would get huge and I would light up inside trying not to let the tears escape my eyes he would walk out of the office saying something like what is up with them? This happened a few times to the point where she would say hey when are you going to pray for me since you and God are like this (holding up her hands with the fingers crossed.) When I say this happened a few times I mean it was in the exact number I was praying for.

Keep in mind there were many times God said not this time Steven but when it was panic time he has gotten me through it.

More recently I was praying to God the same exact situation. But things are worse now and Not many people owe me anything Iwas praying to God and said Lord no one really owes me any money and those that do are really current so there is no reason for me to get money. I should not be praying Lord because I can not ask for something that is not due to me. There is no reason that I should get money at work but if there is anything you can do please Lord show me a miracle today. Half way to work I get a call from the same purchasing agent who says to me Hey Steven remeber that lawsuit against the big vendor we have paperwork on that we were asked if we wanted to participate in because they were doing some wrong doings in unfair trade. I was yeah what ever I dont know if I did anything with the paperwork with it since I thought it was a silly lawsuit. He said yeah well what ever you did was the right thing because they just paid us 33,000.00 out of the blue. I hung up the phone and started crying and thanking God and said sorry. I just pictured me sitting at a table with God accross the table with Him listening to me whine with a smerk on His face thinking to Himself Steven are you listening to your self you are telling God the maker of all things the one who is in all the details that he cant help you that My hands are tied. Steven My child, who I love I am again going to show you I am GOD.

And yes my prayers have been for others as well. My buddy Nic has been out of work for a while at the time and I knew he was going to meet with a mutual buddy who works at a computer temp service type of place. So that morning I was getting out of the shower and started shaving as I was getting ready for work that day. I prayed then because I was worried that I would forget to do it later as we got closer to the time of the interview. I prayed God please let this work out for Nic he needs a job lord and Jonathan has the opportunities for him if they can find the right match. So Lord please get him a job so he can pay bills and also just for fun Nic loves football if there is something you can do to get him back into the game Lord because I know he loves it and misses it and none of his new friends play. ( Nic moved to Chicago from Lincoln Nebraska.) At work when I was checking in on the money situation as my routine I was telling the girl that I was praying for my buddy that morning and for what specifically. Later on I got a call from Nic and he was telling me that the interview went well and Jonathan had him fill out paper work and that he was going to be placed shortly in about a week. I said cool but then he told me how when they were all done with the paperwork the kid at the restaurant where they did this was sweeping near by after Jonathan went away to the rest room he asked Nic hey by chance you play football you look like you do and I am on a team that plays on the weekend and we are looking for guys to join us. By this time 3 things are happening I am laughing uncontrollably and trying to not cry Nic is asking what is so funny and Thurstine The accounting girl just walked past my office saw what I was doing and said what another answer to prayer? "You got to put me on that list." Little did she know I prayed for her everyday on my way to work.

I know you can try to write all these off and say coincidence and that is fine you can choose to do so but this is what has happened to me and I did not do the experience justice this is very personal and real to me to ask for something in great detail and to have God say I hear you. If I think of some others I will post them but these are the main ones that just prove to me my God is real and He hears me.

Some time when you are in your car on your way to work or school or where ever turn the radio off spill your guts to God let Him know what you are thinking(he already knows but wants to hear it from you) Ask him for something and wait....

Regardless of the outcome of the prayer be prepared to hear

God say..... I hear you.

One of my new favorite songs.

MercyMe - Bring The RainFrom the album Coming Up To Breathe

I can count a million timesPeople asking me how I Can praise You with all that I've gone throughThe question just amazes meCan circumstances possiblyChange who I forever am in YouMaybe since my life was changedLong before these rainy daysIt's never really ever crossed my mindTo turn my back on you oh LordMy only shelter from the stormsBut instead I draw closer through these timesSo I prayChorus:Bring me joy, bring me peaceBring the chance to be freeBring me anything that brings You gloryAnd I know there'll be daysWhen this life brings me painBut if that's what it takes to praise YouJesus Bring the RainI am Yours regardless ofThe dark clouds that may loom aboveBecause You are much greater than my painYou who made a way for meBy suffering Your destinySo tell me what's a little rainSo I prayChorus:(Repeats)Holy, Holy, HolyIs the Lord God Almighty
Label: Integrity Music

The List of Hobbies

Lets see here is the current List:

Creating the best tasting hot sauces and growing peppers here is my site for future reference when it is up. www.flavordaddy.com and my favorite site to learn more about it is www.hotsauceblog.com

Geo-Cacheing with my buddy Nic and my son who thinks he is a pirate looking for treasure.
www.geocaching.com

Paintball with anyone who will go with me. where I hang out on the web for this is http://www.specialopspaintball.com where I actually play www.foxpaintball.com

Disc Golf with my buddy Nic and Wayne and Kip when he is in town. www.discgolf.com

Camping with the wife and kids and The wife's family and all of our friends. Awesome time a little hard with the kids but as they are getting older the better it is getting. And they love it.

Working on ministries for God. www.180goingnewdirections.com

These are the main ones for now.

More Hobbies

Ok so I dont have enough to do right now. Check out www.geocaching.com my new favorite pass time when not coming up with a new hot sauce. To explaine for those of you who have no idea of what I am talking about. You get yourself a handheld gps (not the car kind the kind for camping/hikeing) you register at the above web site(free unless you want to go deeper) people all over the world have hidden caches (Tech treasurehunting/scavenger hunting.) you log things on the site. You Hide items, you move items along it is really fun and other than the gps you dont have to spend money (ok fuel)

Just with in 10 miles of my house there are over 400 of these hiding 2684 of them with in my zip code.

All hidden by different people with different ways of hiding. It is cool check it out.

Back from the dead

Hello my friends sorry it has been so long. I need to work on the Flavordaddy.com site but my wife blew up my laptop so I must start from scratch.

The next generation of pepper plants are growing fast. Maybe too fast it has been a week and the peppers are already two inches in the germinator.

I think that will be bad since I have no where to put them right now with the Chicago area still frozen. I will have to check with my professional friend to see what she says about what to do.

Great news Flavordaddy.com will be here in the next two days. Don't worry this site will still be up for my personal life. But if you are looking for some great flavorful Hot sauces and salsas come to www.flavordaddy.com we will ship anywhere in the continental U.S. sorry to those accross the borders but if you shoot me an e-mail I will help you locate some great sauces that ship anywhere on the planet or we can make some kind of arrangements.

Some of the products of Flavor Daddy Hot Sauce which also now include Salsa. The New one on top is a little too hot for my likeing. If you have a chance to try it have cream or in my case a can of Whip Cream ready to shoot in your mouth to calm the taste buds before they explode.

And here are my minions. Growing to serve me and my Empire. God I love this hobbie. Bannana Peppers, Pablano Peppers, Cyan Peppers, And a mix of others. Great sauces on the way.

One of the many pots they grow to become bigger till they reach their final place.

First the pepper plants are started in our laundry room in the "Germiator" an awesome gift our sister Holly got me for my birthday. When they break through the soil the "green house cover" comes off and to our deck they go. Then when they start to grow more than their seedling leaves (the first two) I move them to bigger pots (or aleast the ones I don't kill off.)

For those of you who like to count, yes this germinator holds 72 plants at a time which germinate in less than 2 weeks. But like I said depending on how many I kill off. My good friend Yvonne has helped me figure out how to do this whole process with out killing. Which means Flavor Daddy farms will be taking the extra that my deck can't handle or at least my wife can't handle.

Current Favorite Song: Casting Crowns - Praise You In This StormFrom the album Lifesong

I was sure by now God You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say “Amen”, and it’s still raining
As the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
“I’m with you”
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives
And takes away
Chorus:I’ll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I’ve cried
You hold in Your handYou never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm
I remember whenI stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry
You raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can’t find You
As the thunder rollsI barely hear You whisper through the rain“I’m with you”
And as Your mercy fallsI raise my hands and praise
the God who gives
And takes away
Chorus:(2x’s)I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The maker of Heaven and EarthChorus:

Label: Reunion Records
Lyrics may not be reproduced without permission from the publisher.

Hello God, can you help daddy out? He keeps killing off his Pepper plants, and I am worried we will run out of Flavor Daddy Hot Sauce. P.S. Daddy made a new salsa and even he is scared to try it. Amen

Inside Steven

Flavor Daddy Hot Sauce gets permission to farm family acreage of 2 Acres till property sells in Homewood, Illinois. After this trial Flavor Daddy will be looking to go north to Wisconsin to move to larger family farm. A difference of 36 acres.