JP and Roochie Masakayan came for lunch one day.

They have been among my spiritual parents, teaching me in my walk with God.  JP was one of the people I intermittently consulted through the time my business had slipped from my hand in 2011.

Then, he reminded me of God’s unchanging faithful character, the unchanging promises in His word, the unchanging call for my own faithfulness in my walk with Him… despite the situation looking like the abandonment rather than the fulfillment of a promise.  

Though hard to take at the time, that counsel was what I needed.

Here four years later, I  walked them through the shop.  After appreciating the interiors, the food, and the experience of being at the shop, JP had this to share:

In the context of business, God allows situations not so much for the business principles to learn but the deep lessons that build his children’s character.  In my own experience, it was only when in my heart I decided to let go [of the things I was holding on to] that God then gave it back in ways I did not even expect or imagine.  That is precisely the struggle Abraham had with Isaac. Imagine his deepest longing to have a child was answered in such an impossible way. But the blessing had the potential to unseat God in Abraham’s heart.  God had to bring it to a place of surrender only to give it to him and he never lost it to begin with. You know the promises of God are as real as the physical place here and there is nothing He will allow in our lives that are not good for us.

Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.  Walking through the shop with fresh eyes surrounded by reminders of my journey to see how God’s promises come to life… that is more than bread, that is like dessert.