My name is Peter Cameron. I'm a grade 5-6 teacher at St. Elizabeth School in Clear Bandit area. The name of the program that my students and I established is called The Junior Waterwalkers. It started with my class in grade 5-6, but really it could be done by any class. We know that we have students who have joined who are as young as kindergarten and we have high school students and it really it's open to anyone. Josephine would want that. The Junior Waterwalkers is a school program, but again it can evolve and certainly become open and would be open to any community groups, organizations, businesses, even. So the aim of the program, I think maybe just to give a little bit of the history of the program first, is Josephine Mandemann is the original water walker and she's from Thunder Bay Ontario. She shares my home community and she began to walk for water in and about the year 2003 and the reason why she decided to begin to walk for Nive for water is because she was shared a prophecy and the prophecy was that by the year 2030 an ounce of water would be worth as much as an ounce of gold and then the Ogama who shared his prophecy with her said, and what are you going to do about it? And so she spent three years thinking about what she would do to protect water and she decided that she was going to walk the talk and so she decided to walk and first she walked around Lake Superior and then from there the movement grew and to date she's walked over 25,000 kilometers bringing awareness of the need to protect water and so one day my son and I were walking along a small inland lake in Thunder Bay and we passed by this Anishinaabe lady dressed in traditional clothing carrying an eagle-headed staff and a copper bucket and my son asked me you know what would this lady be doing and why was she dressed in that type of clothing and I said to Kai we can go back and ask her if he would like and the moment passed. Three weeks later I found Josephine Mandemann on the cover of a children's book called The Waterwalker and so I invited Josephine and the author Joanne Robertson to our class and my students had learned a little bit more about Josephine and I found that she had Parkinson's disease at the time and they decided that they were going to take up her walk. Josephine's greatest wish is that children continue to bring awareness to water and do something and walk for water and so at the time when she came to visit they also told her that they were going to become junior water walkers so the intent of the program is quite simple it's to honor Josephine Mandemann and to bring awareness of the need to protect water and so we really have four pillars which is simply learn about water adopt the body of water protect that water and then eventually walk for water and then my students decided we're a fairly well globally connected classroom they thought that we should invite other classes to join our walk for Nokomis and to date we have 153 classes from really all around the Great Lakes across Canada and beginning to spread throughout the world joining together in honor of Nokomis and to protect water it is the junior water walkers website which my kids helped me to develop and yeah so people are signing on they're using the book The Waterwalker as kind of a of a beginning piece and then simply becoming an inquiry for for all the classes who are participating everybody is kind of going in their own direction but with two simple goals really to to learn about and protect water so it's the water conservation or protection piece but it's also the piece to we're encouraging people to connect with their indigenous community and to learn about the traditions and the ceremonies that that revolve around the water as well so really what what we're doing right now we're we're focused focused on the first pillar we're simply learning about water and so my students every year I read title to the seed to my students and it's a it's a romantic journey through the Great Lakes starting in Nipigen which is only an hour east of Thunder Bay and it takes kids on a voyage throughout the Great Lakes but really based in 1942 they also have access to Google Earth and a Voyager story that I actually helped create called Blue Gold and so they get to take a virtual journey throughout the Great Lakes and it helps them understand just how great the Great Lakes are or we live on the largest source of fresh water in the world but also it's important for them to understand that that even our Great Lakes are at risk so we're learning about that we've watched a couple of documentaries one created by Jill Heinerth who's an underwater cave diver and she brings awareness of the need to protect this great resource that we have as well and then we've also watched a documentary on on Josephine on Nokomis a mandaman and it's it's the story of of her water walk and also the story of so many of the traditions that that were so important to her during her water walk and to now our second step actually the rest of the classes at St. Elizabeth school have joined the junior water walkers which would be my grade five six class and the sixth class were kind of you know the core of the junior water walkers but as my colleagues have heard more about the junior water walkers they've decided that it has to be a school-wide activity and so the younger ones are going to learn from my students and the great six students what it means to be a junior water walker the story of the junior water walkers and who inspired the junior water walkers so they'll be going and making presentations to the younger classes and then it'll be up to the school to decide on a body of water that they're going to adopt we're going to figure out how we can protect that body of water but also water in general and then on a Friday in May our school will go out and walk at that body of water as I've alluded to before Josephine simply said one of her greatest wishes is that young people will take up her cause and do something to protect water or really I believe Josephine just wants people to do something whether or not it become an awareness and and the need to protect water or another activism piece as well but I think it's important that that kids really do know and understand who Josephine Vandeman was she lives in Thunder Bay and I really didn't know anything about Josephine so I think it's important that we we learn from Josephine and I think the success of the program will be based on how many people Josephine has inspired and I think it's already fairly successful my students have done some math and they figured out that in May together with the rest of the junior water walkers there will be over a million steps taken in honor of my vision is that the great grand scheme is really Josephine said water connects us all and that is pretty profound I mean I can't think of any other thing in the world that binds us and brings us all together so you know the whole the whole goal or the big dream is that we help to make the world just a little bit better of a place already great but it can be better it's it's open for anyone from around the world and and it's something that the kids really get excited about because they have their hand in kind of directing where I guess our footprints will lead our footsteps will lead to


You know, it may surprise some of you but I am actually not a big fan of the gratitude challenge. Now the Thanksgiving is over, the real gratitude challenge begins. Stay tuned and let's talk about this. What's up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem but focus on the solution. Today we'll be talking about gratitude.  Anyways, like I was saying, I am not a huge fan of the gratitude challenge. I was like thinking about making this video during the month of November when everybody was like oh today I'm grateful for this and day 25 I'm day grateful for that and day 22 and all that other stuff but I'm not a fan of it at all. For some of you who are following me and you know I'm from Las Vegas and when the Las Vegas shooting happened I talked a little bit about this. I don't like how the holidays or tragic events are this time and we're supposed to get together and be grateful for the ones in our life and tell them how much we love them and all this other stuff. I don't believe in that at all. Now that Thanksgiving is over we need to be grateful 100 times more every single day when we go out there. It's funny too because last night the night before Thanksgiving my nephew he was talking about you know oh well no we have to save our thankfulness for tomorrow on Thanksgiving that's when we're supposed to do it and it's interesting to me how this is something that young kids are thinking about regularly like oh Thanksgiving is that day that you should be thankful. No no no no no no every single day 365 days a year we should be grateful for all the things that we we have. For me I'm very fortunate to have had such a terrible past growing up the son of an alcoholic becoming an addict myself barely surviving my addiction basically making it with a 10% chance of living every single day I have to be grateful that I even wake up and I'm able to breathe. For me gratitude is the opposite of entitlement entitlement is something that we all suffer from in some way shape or form we feel entitled that we should have a better job or we should be getting paid more for that job or we should have a better car or we should have a better partner we should have this and should have that and the reality is we shouldn't have anything. One of the best lessons I learned in life was this world and its people don't owe me anything. When I was able to get all those shoulds out of my brain and stop them from coming out of my mouth I started to have a lot more gratitude because it got rid of my entitlement. In the world of addiction something I teach people is that addiction is a disease of more no matter what we get we always want more and that's kind of what Russell Brand talks about too we always want more we want something that we feel is going to lead to our happiness or we feel is going to numb that discomfort or that pain we always want more but the problem is is that when we keep wanting more there's never enough so gratitude snaps us back to reality we start being grateful for every little thing that we have no matter when you're watching this video this is extremely relevant right after this video and I get it uploaded I'm actually going to make a video about holiday shopping anxiety so if you happen to be watching this today on Thanksgiving or any other day gratitude is going to help you snap out of that holiday anxiety because you're going to quit worrying so much and be grateful that you actually have the opportunity to go shopping during this time of year I will also make another video about how the first two Christmases that I got sober so my first two years sober I wasn't able to buy my son any presents at all so when I can snap back to that old frame of mind and look how far that I've come that I can get my son whatever the heck I feel like now I get very grateful for something that small but I hope you watch my other video on how gratitude affects depression and just a little sneak peek at what that is they have done studies where they have taken two groups of people had one of them write down gratitude list every day for two weeks and another one not and they found that people who were writing gratitude lists every single day had decreases in anxiety as well as depression by upwards of 80 percent so that doesn't sell you on this thing called gratitude every day of the year then I don't know what does remember be grateful for things and sometimes when you tell them to be grateful or just think of things to be grateful for it's hard for them it's very hard it's really the easiest thing right now for example I'll name some things I'm grateful for I'm grateful for the ability to wear this sweet shirt if you can't see this as mo honey mo problems it has a picture of a bear that looks like biggie Smalls it's pretty sick I'm thankful for the socks on my feet I'm not wearing shoes right now roof over my head in the other room I have my lovely mother in there I'm grateful that she's sober she just celebrated 12 years sober I'm grateful that I have her in my life in the other room I have my son my nephew I'm grateful that I'm able to be in California I was able to drive here driving is another thing that I'm very very grateful for a lot of people hate driving but anytime I'm in that car I'm grateful whether I'm stuck in traffic or whether I have to drive across town because I was on the bus for two years and I have to remember that every time I'm stuck in traffic or every time I'm trying to fight somebody for a parking spot in a packed parking lot I'm grateful that I even have a car today because that's not something I used to have so remember now the Thanksgiving's over the real gratitude challenge has happened you need to try to stay grateful 365 days a year because I guarantee it'll help with anxiety depression as well as your outlook on life so again I hope you all have had a good holiday so far I hope some of my holiday videos have helped you if you have not seen yet please please please check out my mentally healthy holidays playlist it is all the stuff you need to get through the holidays and if there's any subjects I have not touched on yet please leave them down in the comments below let me know what kind of issues you struggle with during the holidays so I can provide more videos to help you out you are the reason that I made this entire channel so please give me information that'll help you out all right but if you like this video please give it a thumbs up and if you are new here click the little round subscribe button right below this box I'm always making videos to help you with your mental and emotional health as well as addiction recovery and don't forget to click or tap on one of those thumbnails check out some of the other amazing videos on this channel thanks for watching I'll see you next time


Even though Christmas is now over and we are all looking forward to a whole new year, the Pikeville Main Street program wants to invite those who haven't had enough of Christmas to participate in their Christmas scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt is happening in downtown Pikeville. We want people to, you know, take this time. Maybe their families are in or they're just looking for something fun to do. They can walk around town and find all kinds of items on the scavenger hunt. All of the items that you're looking for are very visible. They're either in the windows or hanging over your head. The idea to hold the scavenger hunt came from an elementary school teacher in which Menta thinks is a great idea to get out and have fun with the family. But some of the items on the list can be a little tricky to find. And we ask you to name, I think there's four on there to say where you see these at because we want to know that you've really been out looking. But you start here on Main Street in front of the Appalachian Wireless Arena. We have a little red old newspaper box here that we have the scavenger hunt papers in there and there's some ink pens. So you don't need to do anything except come open the red box and just walk around town. Not only is the scavenger hunt a fun outdoor activity, but you will also receive a reward for completing it. You can take your finished list into either Faith Life Market or a hot chocolate or a hot drink or to heroes which is located on Second Street. And you can get an ice cream or a drink there. So the scavenger hunt has just all kinds of Christmas items, but it just lets you look at the lights downtown and have, you know, just to walk around town with your family. For those who plan on participating, January 1st, 2021 is the last day to scavenge. And Menta says to keep your eyes peeled as this isn't the last socially distanced game they have planned. We will look for this to continue all year long with different types of scavenger hunts. Look for another scavenger hunt to come soon. Reporting from Pikeville, Kentucky, I'm Jeremy Justice with Mountain Top News.


Hey there! If you're looking to enjoy some Spirit Science videos but don't know where to start, check out our new Greatest Hits playlist. It's got a big collection of some of our most legendary videos, since it's naturally sometimes a bit difficult to know where to start. Enjoy!


and welcome to Love Where You Live, a production of the Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce. We do this show monthly, and I'm so glad you're here this month to see what we have to offer. I have a special guest this morning, Jeff Main, from Above and Beyond Children's Museum, of which I am intimately acquainted. I have taken my grandchildren there several times, and welcome to the program this morning, Jeff. Thank you very much, it's a pleasure to be here. We're excited. We're excited to have the museum and all that it has to offer in downtown Sheboygan. Yeah, we love it, our location, and you know, there was times when we thought about moving, but we came to the conclusion that's the place we should be.  It does, there's some challenges to an old building, but the advantages to an old building are outweigh the challenges, so. Yeah, we'll talk a little about how you've improved that building and even made it more fantastical than it was to begin with as we go along today. Give me a little history about the museum. We'll give it for our viewers. Okay, well actually next year we'll be celebrating our 25th anniversary, so we're working on things in preparation for that already. There you go. So we were founded in 1993. It was a small group of people that got together, founders and with an idea like everything starts and they wanted something for the children of Sheboygan. So it started out as like a traveling road show and they built some exhibits and they would go to the county fair or to broad days and with these exhibits. And then it progressed onto that and it was in a shop, a storefront, down on South 8th Street. And then in 1998, 1999, that the current building that we're in became available and it was purchased and renovated. So I hate to start naming names, but Daryl Gumm and there's a number of people, Brian Hart, Gary Hart and, but there's a core group of people that were founders of the museum. One of them, Bonnie Schmitz is still around, she volunteers at the museum. So it's come a long way. It's come a long way. It's come a long way just since I've been here, which has been about seven years as the chamber director. And I remember visiting and talking with you and you sharing some of the plans at that point in time that have all come true, by the way. Well, we try, yeah. So let's talk about 2009, you arrived on the scene. What transpired after you've arrived? What kinds of things are in place now that weren't then? And assume for the purposes of this conversation that someone hasn't been there, hasn't seen the inside. Well, first of all, there wasn't a big ship coming out of the building. Yeah, you can see from the outside. Yeah. There's been a lot of changes and the ship is an iconic thing. And we wanted to do that to be iconic. And when people come from all over, out of town guests and they go back to their hometown in Iowa or Illinois or wherever they're from, and they say they were from, they were in Sheboygan. Our goal is, did you see that building with the big ship coming out? Yeah. So it was done for that purpose, to be iconic. And, but it's more than that, because on the inside, if you come inside, there's also the ship is on the inside of the building too. Right. And then do things on the schooner. And the reason we did the schooner to begin with is to show kids why Sheboygan's even here, that we're on the Great Lakes and we were formed that Sheboygan's here because it's on the Great Lakes and the Sheboygan River. And so that started the whole discussion. So we do have a goal. Process for refugees works. I think it's all that's trying to be accomplished by this order. It's great to bring people here that we know who they are, they're hardworking and they wanna be Americans. But according to McLaughlin, the United States vetting process for refugees is already very intense. It lasts between one and a half to three years. And that checks their backgrounds, where they're from includes interviews, health screenings, even biometrics, a lot of different agencies. So when they get here, we know who they are, we know where they come from. McLaughlin says the Fox Valley is typically welcoming to refugees. For the most part, people seem to be very receptive, they want to learn. McLaughlin says sometimes the more people learn about the refugee program, the fewer fears they have. Three federal appeals court judges in Chicago will decide this summer whether Brendan Datsy should have his conviction reinstated in the slaying of Theresa Halback in Manitowoc County. The appeals panel heard arguments Tuesday on the state's request to keep Datsy behind bars. The judges asked state lawyers whether persecutors questioning of Datsy amounted to a promise of leniency for Datsy, who was 16 when he confessed that both he and his uncle, Stephen Avery, raped, shot, and burned Halback in 2005 near Michigan. A federal magistrate ruled last summer that Datsy should get a new trial after the TV documentary Making a Murder raised questions about his and Avery's guilt. A state attorney argued that Datsy was promised no benefits in exchange for his cooperation, but his lawyer argued that questioners took advantage of Datsy's age and low IQ at the time. WBAY in Green Bay says the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals will not issue a decision on the case until after June. In sports, the UW-Shabuigan men's basketball team defeated UW-Fox Valley of 174 to advance to the second round of the WCC playoffs. Leading the team were T.J. Pitch with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Kortu Josiah contributed 20 points and six assists. Alex Antoine had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Julian Jones for 14 points. The Wombats hosts UW-Washington on Saturday at 2 p.m. And that's all for today. Join me again next week for another recap of your local news. News content for this program provided by WHBL in cooperation, WSCS-TV. Things there, so we have windows all around the building, but not on the north side of the building. There's no windows, because there was a, at one time, a building there. Came right up next to you. So they said, I said, well, how are you gonna do that?  And I said, okay, can we put a window in after we cut this hole? Sure, we'll put a window in. So now we got a window that overlooks the children's garden. So it all worked together and it's beautiful. And the fire truck is awesome. Yeah. And I don't know if you know this, but if you look at the fire station downtown, not sure which street that's on, but it's a pretty good replication of that firehouse. We try to do things. I mean, we're not a historical museum, but we try to do things that. So that kids can recognize them and feel like that's their home or that's the place they're visiting and they know more about us when they leave. So, no, I think it's very special. And I mentioned to you before the show, when my grandchildren, three and five years old, went into this museum, we were pretty much hands off. They went around, tried on every costume, played every role, did the fire truck, the school, the medical, the fishing, everything in the museum on their own. Yeah. That's what makes the play special. It's the one place or very few places in the world where children can touch everything. I mean, that's our motto. And it's for them. And it's not just for children. It's children of all ages. We're all children in some ways or another. But it's a great place. And the other thing is play. It used to be a taboo word. And now they're doing a lot of research to show how the importance of play. Oh, yeah. We've always used it in our mission. It's been in our mission for 25 years now. But now that the research is indicating the importance of it, we're even promoting that more, obviously. But really, the mission is a place for children and their families. So that connection, that child, adult, whether it be a parent or a grandparent, or caregiver of some sort, where they can interact and be in an environment where play and education, so the play is in there, but we want it to be educational as well, connect through exploration and discovery. So it's a great mission. I mean, it basically says what we do. It's all hands-on, a special place for children and their families where play and education connect through exploration and discovery. Oh, very nice. So everything's hands-on, exploring, discovering, learning, playing. Very true. And role-playing. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, definitely learning about all of those things. So tell me now. So you had this vision in 2009 when we met. Yes. Now. What's the vision now? What are you looking at long-term? Well, we have a couple of things we're working on. We have a lot of exhibits in the museum. And in the past, they were very sporadic. There was one thing here and then over here. So we're trying to get more themed type of atmospheres. And it's going to start right when you walk into museum. And we're doing this passport to the imagination. So we're trying to replicate the fact that when you're entering the museum, you're entering a child's imagination. And there's some really cool things that we're working on to get to that point. So the first floor, well, it's going to start in the lobby. And the lobby is going to be sort of the Northwoods version of the Rainforest Cafe. If you've ever been to a Rainforest Cafe. But it's going to be Northern Wisconsin or even this part of Wisconsin with trees and animals and sound effects. Real dramatic. We've walked into a different environment. And then when you walk into the museum, the first floor is going to revolve around a child's backyard.  So the whole first floor is going to mimic kind of their backyard. And there's going to be different things. And a lot of it's going to be around the steam, which most people recognize as a stem, science, technology, engineering, and math. We find it real important to have the A in there for arts. A lot of people forget that. And personally, I think that's probably the most important thing. That might be the wrong thing to say. But actually, Carolyn Lee from the Kohler Foundation came through. And we were talking. And she said, well, what about the arts? And I'm like, well, I got to give her credit for that. I love that. So we're going with steam. And we're going to have a lot of our exhibits reflect steam. But not just what a kid can see as steam, but what they can do as steam. Because that's what it's all about, is their hands on, and how they can create things and do things. So that's going to carry over to the second floor. Should I keep going? Sure, I think so. So the second floor, we have the Siegel Circus, which has been in the museum for a long time. It's a large circus display that was hand carved by Mr. James Siegel. And almost everything still works. Yes. It's been in the museum for a while, but he spent his whole life doing this project. It is amazing. And it really wasn't interactive at first.  So the founders of the museum, they were a genius in this respect, they came up with the fun cards. Or it's a card where you can put it on the little window and activate something in the circus. So that made it that interactive experience. So we're going to embrace that. And we've already have. We added our latest addition to the second floor is the mystical glow room and the human shadow. It's a side show of the circus. All right, yeah. And it's made to look like a side show of the circus where it came up, they flip the thing up, and it was a side show. And what it is, is the glow portion of it is a giant light bright. If you remember, the little light brights. This big foot with big pegs, it's awesome. It's very cool. And then next to that is the human shadow. It's basically kids can project their shadow on a wall. And then they can take these light writers and they can write with them on the wall. It's a phosphorous. It's cool. So and then our next project is to add to that circus expansion. So the second floor will be circus theme. And then the third floor, like I said, the port of Sheboygan and the fire truck. Well, that's great. That's great. We've got the interior vision. And then we have the outside vision as well, where we have community gardens and a children's garden. And we do a lot of outdoor educational programs during the summer out in the gardens.  So we give them that opportunity. So it's more of a community service type of thing. What about special program nights? I know you have a few of those, like is it Tuesday for toddlers? Yeah, almost every day of the week we have a special program. And it's for different reasons. Some of it's for our members and give them a reason to come back throughout the week. Because if we have a membership, you can come whenever you want. We have like, so let's see, toddler Tuesday. So it's set for the littler kids. Wednesday is our Eat Play Grow. That's more of a summer activity out in the gardens. It's a nutritional-based program, but basically they can go out into the gardens, pick some strawberries, pick some different things, bring it over and then make some healthy snack, and then there's an activity with it. It's perfect. Very nice. And then special needs. You do some things for special needs both. On the second Monday of the month we do special needs night. And we do that just because we should. It's like one of those things, there's families that have children with special needs, and they don't have a lot of places to go, and they go to a restaurant and something happens, and a kid has a meltdown or something. It's just embarrassing. So we do this on the second Monday of the month. We close the museum, we're open just for that. And we modify the museum to accommodate. We take away any bright lights or things that might over-stimulate kids. And it's a free thing, and it's for the kids, for families with special needs. Very nice. And they can all do it together too with their other kids. And we serve a snack and stuff. So we're trying to accommodate the families and make it a good experience. So we talk for the next five years? We pretty much covered that one? Five years, oh no, no, no. Well, five years, yeah. Well, eventually there's some plans and there's a drawing hanging in my office. We've got lots of drawings around. You come downstairs in my office. We have a great artist on staff who's Bob Fleming and he does these renditions. So they're not architect renderings, but they're artist renditions. And one of them is of an expansion. And that's the ultimate goal. We're really running out of space. So the museum's about 10,000 square feet. Okay, yeah. If we can change things, we can move things around, we can squeeze things in. But really to grow in a big way we would need. And we have the lot next door. So there's a drawing with a building that would be towards the alley, towards the restaurant. It would be very similar in shape, except for the design would be different. It would be more futuristic, glass, solar. So it would be the old building and then the new. The new would probably be more science, more technology, more futuristic type exhibits. And then they would be connected with a bridge over the gardens. So it's pretty cool. It's a big dream and... Hey, you gotta have big dreams. And then you get other people to both see those big dreams. And I think, you know, with all the parents here who've enjoyed this museum and the kids who've grown up here and enjoyed watching it progress, you'll be able to get support for a dream like that. I hope so, because it'll be fantastic. It would be. It's great to, now that it's been around 25 years, you bring up a good point. You know, we're seeing people that were there when they were kids and now they're bringing their kids. Absolutely. And it's just really neat. So Jeff, thanks so much for coming. And you think about winter and things to do for kids because kids get antsy in the winter just like parents do. And if they can get out and have places to go like this wonderful museum, we are so much the better for it. So we appreciate all your leadership and the way that you've helped to grow this museum as well as your staff. So. Thank you very much. Thanks for joining us today. Welcome back to Love Where You Live. Brought to you by the Sheboydon County Chamber. I'm Betsy Alice. In the second part of our show today, I'm going to review a few interesting and exciting programs that the Chamber is undertaking in the next few months. I'm going to start with one that actually happens next September, which is more than a few months, but you'll want a little time to plan. We are introducing a Rhine River trip in our travel program. This will be on the Rhine and Mosul rivers in a beautiful riverboat, fully appointed with wonderful luxuries, three meals a day and their fabulous meals. And you will cruise down the Rhine River through four countries. We'll start the trip at Amsterdam and then go through Germany, France and we'll end up in Lucerne, Switzerland, where you can take an optional trip up Mount Pilatus in a, oh, like a ski kind of situation where they take you up the mountain in two different ways because it's so high. The views up there are spectacular. So I'd like to just talk a little about riverboat trips because if you have not been on one, there's some very special attributes I'd like to share. I have been on this particular trip that we're offering. It's called the Romantic Rhine and Mosul River trip. And indeed it is a romantic trip because of the areas it goes through and because of the expanse of this beautiful river. You go through many locks while you're there. You stay in your room so you never have to pack or unpack during this entire seven day cruise. So there's a seven day cruise and then there's a two day land trip in Switzerland at the end. So we start in Amsterdam. I think the second day we're in Cologne, Germany where we have a city tour of the beautiful cathedral and all of the surrounding areas. It goes on, winds down the river and a lot of the travel on a riverboat is in the nighttime when you're sleeping and it's almost completely still. So if you have any issues with seasickness they will not plague you on this trip. So you wake up every morning in a new beautiful place which to me that was the most distinction between regular travel and this kind of travel. Another thing that I found really fun is the idea that when you're traveling from place to place during the day on one day in particular in fact we had 12 castles to go by. So they had commentary along the way and we sat up on the deck. You now had refreshments with our newfound friends and just completely enjoyed the entire day even though we were moving along. So on a regular tour as you know a lot of your time is spent on a bus. In this case that's not true. You're just spending it relaxing with friends. On this particular riverboat that we have chartered for this trip in the fall there's actually a swimming pool on deck that you can take advantage of that you actually will either close or open depending on the weather. So that's a very special thing that my trip didn't have. So I'm excited for you if you decide to take this journey. The total journey is from September 21st to October 1st. Actually for our trips you get picked up right in Sheboygan at the Chamber of Commerce. So you just simply park your car, it's free parking and go on the trip with no worries. So I strongly recommend this trip. We only have a few places left. So if you are interested you can either call the Chamber at 457-9491 to get more information or more easily go to our website where you'll find this at Sheboygan.org that's our website. So I invite you to just explore the itinerary see if it sounds like something you'd be interested in and then join us. A lot of the travelers who've been in chamber travel in the past are repeat travelers because the experience also includes these friendships that are newly formed and last for a lifetime. So it's a wonderful way to network, to get to know people in a deeper way than when you're just doing business day to day or living down the road from one another. So strongly encourage you to do this. It's an excellent trip. And we've had past trips to Ireland, China, Italy and all of them have been just wonderful examples of how people from the Sheboygan area can make a fun time anywhere in the world that they go. So again, I would encourage you to sign up early. We have I think maybe nine to 10 spots left and that's not a lot when it comes to a trip like this. So check it out. Second on my list today, we have created a new award for the Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce to bestow upon someone each year. This award, unlike our other awards which are for manufacturers, retailers, service providers, all those kinds of things, this particular award will be for an individual. It will be honored at a special banquet in May. It's called the Athena Award. It's the International Athena Award. It has been in existence since the late 70s and was created in Michigan and sponsored by General Motors at that time. It was created specifically to encourage and promote women in leadership positions in their communities, in their professions and so on. So we took a while to adopt it. Late 70s, now we're in 2017, but it's a really important step I think for us to take. The nominations for this award are now open. And just to give you a little background, I'm going to actually read the mission statement of the Athena Award so that you can get the gist of what it's meant to accomplish. The Athena Leadership Award actively supports the Athena mission to support, develop and honor women leaders, inspire women to achieve their full potential and to create balance in leadership worldwide. The particular person that we are looking for, and we will likely have many nominees, shows the following criteria. They demonstrate excellence, creativity, and initiative in their business or profession. They provide valuable service to improve the quality of life for others in their community. And they assist women in reaching their full leadership potential. So there's a self-development piece of this and there's also a commitment to help others along the way so that they can also achieve their fullest potential. Our nominations are open right now, as I said, you can find more on our website at shaborgan.org and you'll find the application form there for the nomination. The deadline for the nominations is February 28th. So not much time left on this one, but very important award for our community and in years to come. So I encourage you to think about the people that you've known in the workplace who have really spent a lot of time and devotion to seeing that women have the opportunities for career development and leadership development in our companies. So that's the second item. The third item, just, I'd like to talk a little bit about our Coastal Young Professionals Organization. This was started within the Sheboygan County Chamber about 10 years ago now. It has grown significantly in the last two years due to a couple of factors. A young professional is defined as someone between the ages of 21 and 40-ish who is in a profession, has a commitment to develop themselves within their profession and would like to meet and interact with a variety of people throughout the community. They concentrate on three areas and they have events and programs associated with all three of these. The first is social. It's important for our young professionals to develop relationships in the community so that they want to stay here, so that they have people to attend functions with so that they can help each other in the business community. So that's the first is the social and they have a lot of events that bring young people together around sailing, around cross-country skiing. Those are a few of the things they've done in the past. The second area is career development. And career development is an extremely important part of our young professionals program. In fact, one of the reasons that our coastal young professionals program started was that employers saw a need for a career development in this particular age group as people entered their careers and began to develop for future positions. So they have a number of things going on. In this regard, they've had workshops on emotional intelligence, on speaking, and all of those kinds of things. So, and then the third piece is community involvement. They have something called coastal cares and they've adopted organizations each year and they go as a group to collectively help these organizations in whatever way they need. So we have a core of community volunteers within coastal. But last but not least, Sheboygan County has been selected to host the next YP Week kickoff event on April 22nd. You'll be able to learn more about this on our website but it's very important because it's going to bring young professionals from all over the state of Wisconsin to showcase Sheboygan County. They'll be staying at Blue Harbor. They'll have a number of activities and fun things to do and our employers from around the county are supporting this so that we can show them a really good time because we'd love to have them all move to Sheboygan County, wouldn't we? That's really the kind of undertone here but it's going to be an exciting event and it will kick off a whole week of activities for our young professionals in Sheboygan County. So thank you for joining us today. I'll see you next time. All right. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.


so guys these are the full-name x5 wireless microphones i'm going to go ahead and switch over the audio that's coming directly from my iphone 14 pro max right now to these brand new true wireless mics for your iphone for your android dsl mirrorless cameras and see how great this sounds and how you can take this further for your recording so let's switch over now so now this is the audio coming directly from the transmitter on this brand new set of wireless mics the audio sounds great i've got this connected with a magnetic clip behind my jumper which is very convenient this has a whole bunch of really cool features check out my latest video now on my youtube channel link is in my profile


So I don't think I need to ask this, but are you ready to get into God's Word tonight? The Word of God is alive and active and if we're gonna be taking it in God's Word I think we ought to be receiving God's Word in the way that it is alive and active So feel free to say amen or put your hands together engage nod your head. Just don't fall asleep And let's turn in our Bibles and it's my great honor to be able to ask you to open up your Bible and turn with me to Genesis chapter 40 I want to talk to you today about how God will prepare you in the place of secrecy and obscurity Before he can use you in your God-given destiny Pastor Chuck Smith Your pastors pastor Who was also my pastor In his memoir of grace his life story He was asked by his son who was helping him write his life story And he said dad, what is it that characterizes your life? And within an instant pastor chuck responded and said the lord prepares his vessel And god is preparing you personally And god is preparing this ministry For what god has for it moving forward And so I want to talk to you about how god will prepare you Before he can use you In the place that he's created for you I want to share a message with you that i'm calling the dark room Let's pray father as we open up your word Once again, we thank you For the opportunity That we can come to a church That has a bible study A church that teaches god's word Reverence is god's word And hungers for god's word And lord I pray tonight as once again we gather together as your people You would meet us here presently that you would speak to us personally And that you would reveal yourself to us In a way that perhaps we've never seen before Because we are here to see you In jesus name Amen With a show of hands how many of you here tonight are good at taking photos raise your hand You're good at taking photos. You think you haven't maybe even just okay at taking photos Now you think yeah, I can take a pretty god bless you Can I just say the world needs more of you in the world? More people that know how to take photos Have you ever been out with some friends somewhere? And because you're out with a group you want to get your picture taken as a group and so You start eyeing out somebody that's walking by thinking maybe they would be good to take our photo And you try to think of the exact attack moment When you're going to come in and swoop in and interrupt everything that they're doing To ask them to stop and to take your own picture And so you go in and you ask them. Hey, would you take your photo and then you hand them your phone? Have you ever handed your phone to shaky hands? Now what I mean by that is you hand your phone off and they're there and they take some pictures and then you get Your phone back and you start looking at the pictures And every single picture they took Were completely blurry like were you nervous to take my photo or something because Could you not hold the camera still for one second as you took one? I mean you took 3 000 photos. Could you not take one? That was not blurry You ever hand your phone off to the person who takes seven hours to take a photo?  It doesn't matter how anybody else looks in the photo Everyone else could look horrendous And you would be willingly and happy to post it for the entire world to see online As long as you look good in that photo I remember growing up For some of you this is gonna age me but growing up there was a photography class in high school there was something called film And in photography class you would learn how to develop film And you would have to take the film to a place called the dark room And the dark room was the place of developments Because film would have to go through the process of development So you could take it from the dark room into the light To be able for the whole world to see And there was a long process In the dark room You had to pull the film film out and you had to cut the film You had to lay it in the water For a certain amount of time and then after a certain amount of time you had to take it out and hang it up Anybody remember the dark room anybody? remember film And then eventually after a long process of developments Eventually you could bring it into the light for others to see Today I want to talk to you about how god has a dark room And god will take us to the dark room A place of development for us spiritually In a place of obscurity and secrecy Before he is able to bring us into our god-given destiny A place for the whole world to see And in the dark room here's what god does god will develop your integrity and your character In secrecy and obscurity so that you will be ready And usable In the place that god has for you to be And listen if you try to rush the process when it comes to developing film And if you don't allow the time that needs to go by For the process of development to take place Will the film will be underdeveloped The picture is washed out It's almost useless you ever see an underdeveloped photo. It's the one that's usually thrown out It's not really nice to look at it's not really usable And the same is true for us spiritually That god will take us through the dark room And if you try to rush the process of god developing you And preparing you for what he has for you next You'll be underdeveloped and never ready to step into what god has for you To fulfill your mission And to step into god's plan and purpose for your life Now in our text today in genesis chapter 40 We see a man named joseph Be taken into the dark room by god A dark room literally because this dark room was a prison cell It was a place There was a dark damp dungeon And i want to remind you how joseph got to this prison Because god gave joseph a vision for his life God gave joseph a dream He was 17 years old when god gave him a vision for his life 17 years old and joseph thought this vision was for now This vision would come to pass immediately god you showed me what was going to happen And in the stream he saw his brothers bowing down to him. So, you know what joseph does? Typical little brother He goes and he tells his brothers. Hey, I had this dream. You guys are all going to bow down to me Let me just say his brothers didn't like that very much And that wasn't appropriate culturally because the firstborn would be the leader of the family And following the firstborn to the secondborn of the thirdborn you were in that place of order and precedence in the family Joseph was the youngest brother until benjamin came along. He was way down at the bottom of the totem pole And so his brothers didn't like that very much so much so joseph talking about this dream It caused them to hate joseph and resent him And not only did they hate him because of his dream. They also hated him because he was daddy's favorite You see jacob joseph's dad he loved rachel the only woman he ever loved But rachel died giving birth to benjamin rachel was the mom of joseph and benjamin all the other boys were benjamin and joseph stepbrothers and so jacob took the love that he had for rachel and he put it on to the only thing that he had left of rachel his two boys And the other boys Saw that dad had his favorite And so they resented joseph and so they grabbed him one day. Perhaps you remember the story They threw him in a pit.  He would probably die anyway, but at least it's not their fault so they see some ishmaelite travelers and and slave owners passing by And these traders they they end up selling joseph forced him into slavery and taking some money for him Lying to their dad about it And now joseph is taken as a slave to egypt And now he's taken as a slave to egypt This man a very powerful man in egypt named potifer sees this young man who's strong and handsome And good has a good built to him says that joseph was handsome And in good stature he he had the face and the body He was a good-looking dude and he stood out in the crowd and potifer saw him and and purchased him and brought him into his own home And joseph served in his potifers home as a slave now. I would think if I was joseph I would try to run escape, but joseph doesn't He's faithful where god has him as a slave And so potifer sees that god's hand is upon him god is blessing joseph And so potifer entrusts joseph to be second in command over all of his household But there's a problem potifers wife is a flusie and so She sees this guy who's well built Got a good bod Has a nice face total package And she can't control herself And so potifer's gone at work all the time and joseph's in the home. And so she starts flirting with him Trying to seduce him and tempt him and joseph day after day after day that genesis account says potifers wife is throwing herself at him And day after day after day joseph is refusing that temptation But finally comes to the point where potifers wife can't stand it anymore So she grabs joseph by his jacket and starts trying to rip his clothes off of him You know what joseph does he i'll tell you what he doesn't do he doesn't say well, let's just talk about this joseph runs for his life And he hightails it out of there No compromise and runs out as she's pulling his jacket off of him In that day you would have your cloak and then you had your undergarments basically what we would call her underwear She rips his jacket off of him as he was she's running away from her left in his chonies And he takes off running down the street And he gets out of there But potifers wife she's humiliated Because he denied her again even in the most forceful advancement she's ever done So this woman of iniquity That she was this jezebel She she stands there and she doesn't know what to do She's holding joseph's jacket smelling it Bible doesn't say that that's just a little loose interpretation And then she calls for security Help They walk in joseph he tried to force himself on me Potipher finds out He's angry. He's mad The bible says he's furious It doesn't say at who But he's ticked off that this situation happened Maybe knowing who his wife it really is or what his wife is like Knowing joseph the man who fears god Doesn't really know who to believe so he throws joseph in prison The prison of the palace guard And joseph's held there joseph is now in the dark room joseph is hanging out In prison He had a dream for his life He had a vision but now he's in prison and it looks like he's so far from seeing that vision Ever come to pass Now let me just say Just as god has given joseph a vision for his life god has a vision for your life Acts chapter 2 verse 17 says in the last days God says i will pour out my spirit upon all people and your sons and daughters will prophesy Your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams God has a dream and a vision for your life and it's not up for you To decide what the plan is for your life It's only your responsibility To get to know the one who knows the plans for your life Jeremiah 29 11 god says for i know the plans i have for you God doesn't say you know the plans i have for you No, god says i know the plans i have for you Your role is to get to know the one who knows the plans What kind of plans does god have for your life? They are plans for good and not for evil to give you a future and a hope The pressure is off of you And the pressure is off of your life to come up with something to do with your life You just have to go to god for the vision and the plan he has for your life And joseph saw god's plan for his life But he was thinking this plan was going to happen right away And now year after year after year he is in prison He is hated by his brothers. He's sold into slavery wrongly. He's falsely accused and now he's in prison. He's in the dark room But when these wrong things happen to joseph over and over and over and over again He still does good to others And because of his faithfulness not only in pota first house But now in the prison he's still faithful where god has him He understands a principle that no man can hinder the plans that god has And so if that's where god has him he's going to be faithful there And now we pick up in our stories joseph as a prisoner In genesis chapter 40 verse 1 It says sometime later pharaoh's chief cupbearer and chief baker offended their royal master pharaoh became angry with these two officials and he put them in the prison where joseph was in the palace of the captain of the guard They remained in prison for quite some time and the captain of the guard assigned them to joseph Who looked after them? In the beginning or the end of chapter 39 we see because joseph was faithful in the prison joseph was made second in command as a prisoner overseeing all the other prisoners in prison That's a pretty cool position I mean if you're gonna be in prison you might as well be in charge and run the place and so joseph's running the prison out as second in command under the warden And he puts these two prisoners in joseph's care These two prisoners one is the cupbear the other is the chief baker Who were the supposed to be the two most trusted men in pharaoh's kingdom the reason it was a checks and balance system? The cupbear Was the one who would taste all of pharaoh's food to make sure it wasn't poisoned The chief baker was the one in charge of preparing all of pharaoh's food and making sure he didn't poison it And so the chief baker would prepare the food The cupbearer would eat the food Make sure it was good And if he didn't die they would know it's safe for the pharaoh to eat But something happened between these two perhaps pharaoh's intelligence officials found out there was a plot going on Perhaps there was some poison laced in the food And the cupbearer said i didn't do it must have been the chief baker and the chief baker said no I didn't do it i made it it was free from poison and when i gave it to him He must have poisoned it But somehow they found out there was some funny business going on When pharaoh found out about it he threw them both in prison Now they're both in prison in joseph's care and watch what happens in verse five While they were in prison pharaoh's cupbear and baker each had a dream one night And each dream had its own meaning When joseph saw them the next morning watch this it says he noticed that they both looked upset Why do you look so worried today? He asked them joseph's in prison In a place where he shouldn't be Because he was sold into slavery wrongly After he was thrown into the pit he went from the pit to pot of first house to prison And he shouldn't be there And joseph could have been full of himself and watching and concerned with himself and Whenever you're concerned with yourself you don't notice what's happening around you with other people because your focus is on yourself But joseph He noticed that there's something wrong with these other two guys which shows that joseph wasn't concerned with himself where he was at But while he was in prison he was still caring for others And then it says in verse eight After he asked them why do you look so worried they replied we both had dreams last night But no one can tell us what they mean And joseph responds by saying interpreting dreams is god's business Go ahead and tell me your dreams Now before joseph does ministry and ministering on behalf of god he gives god all the glory for what he's about to do Joseph does not try to take any credit For the gifts and abilities that god has given to him He recognizes this is something only god can do And if god wants to do it he can do it. It's not going to be about me The lord says that he will share his name with no man One of the quickest ways to stop being used by god is to start thinking it's because you had something to do with it This this flourished because well, I was a part of it Or that was really good because I did that I believe that god wants to use each of us to do something that's so beyond ourselves that when people see it They would have to say that must have been god Because they know you And they know there's no way that you could have ever done that's And so joseph gives all the credit and all the glory to god for what he's about to do He says tell me their dreams So the chief cupbearer verse nine told joseph his dream first He says in my dream. He said I saw a grape vine in front of me The vine had three branches that began to bud and blossom and soon it produced clusters of ripe grapes I was holding pharaoh's wine cup in my hand So I took a cluster of grapes and squeezed the juice into a cup Then I placed the cup in pharaoh's hand This is what the dream means joseph said The three branches represent three days Within three days pharaoh will lift you up and restore you to your position as his chief cupbear And please Remember me and do me a favor when things go so well for you Mention me to pharaoh pharaoh's the only one powerful enough to get joseph out of his position Remember me to pharaoh so he might let me out of this place for I was I was kidnapped for my homeland the land of the hebrus and now i'm here in prison But I did nothing to deserve it And when the chief baker saw that joseph had given the first dream such a positive interpretation He said to joseph well, I had a dream too In my dream. There were three baskets of white pastry stacked on my head And the top basket contained all kinds of pastries for pharaoh, but the birds came and ate them from the basket on my head Joseph says this is what the dream means The three baskets also represents three days Three days from now pharaoh will lift you up and impale your body on a pole Then birds will come and peck away at your flesh Pharaoh's birthday came three days later and he prepared a banquet for all his officials and staff He summoned his chief cupbearer and chief baker to join the other officials He then restored the chief cupbearer to his former position So he could again hand pharaoh his cup, but pharaoh impaled the chief baker Just as joseph had predicted and when he interpreted his dream Verse 23 pharaoh's chief cupbear. However forgot all about joseph Never giving him another thought Joseph was given a god given vision for his life A divine destiny god showed him a glimpse in his future of what was going to take place and transpire in his life He was going to be in a place of prominence that that he Would see his brothers bow down to him And when joseph received this dream he was 17 years old This vision wouldn't come to pass for 20 years Until he would be 37 years old Joseph would wait 20 years 13 of those years he would spend either as a slave Or in prison Joseph 13 years in the dark room But what I want us to realize tonight That if you are in that place of waiting, maybe god has given you a vision for your life Maybe god has given you a promise for your family of how god wants to use you But between the promise of god and the performance of that promise almost always there is a period of time And god allows that period of time To develop your character in who you are so that you'll be ready for what god has for you next I think one of the worst things that can ever happen in our lives Is we try to step in prematurely into what god has for us and we're not yet ready for it and we Hinder god From using us in a way that he could because we weren't yet ready for it Joseph for 13 years would either be In potifers house or in prison Between the promise of god and the performance of that promise there's a period of time and listen It's not because god Is slow in fulfilling his promises.    This is a really important key if you're going to be good And faithful in ministry In serving the lord with your life You have to be able to deal with and accept That rejection is going to be part of it Joseph was rejected by his brothers. He was rejected by potter for and now he's in the dark room He's in prison, but he keeps doing the right thing and he's blessed rejection And it caused him to stop doing What god had for him Man's rejection should not keep you from god's direction for your life And if you care more about what people think than what god has You're never going to be able to step into all that god has for you Man's rejection Cannot keep you From god's direction for your life. The second test Is the test of temptation Potiphar was potiphar's wife was the first Desperate housewives of egypt She came after joe. She grabbed his coat But joseph was able to resist that temptation. Let me tell you how He was more focused on what god had for him Than the temptation that was laid out before him And if that had the potential to keep him from all that god had for him, he wanted nothing to do with it I think this not only applies To this area of temptation, but anything in life So many christians say well i have the liberty to go and drink that i have the liberty to go there and hang out there And i have the liberty i have the ability i'm a mature person i can handle it But let me ask you does it have the potential even a slight potential to keep you from all that god has for you As a man or woman of god If so it's not worth it In my own life personally i've laid aside Anything that has the potential to keep me from all that god has for me Because it's not worth losing what god has called me to do It's not worth losing my family over it's not losing worth losing my wife over it's not worth losing my kids over It's not worth losing the ministry over Because if it has the potential to bring me into bondage i want nothing to do with it I don't want anything to keep me from what god has for me and joseph here He was more focused on what god had for him than the temptation that was laid out before him Joseph would say you can take my cloak, but you cannot take my calling You can jack my jacket, but you're not going to jack my dream joseph Wanted to be used by god and although years went by even a decade and more went by Joseph never let go of the calling and vision that god had for his life Let me tell you this this isn't important if you want to be used by god You have to be faithful in three areas You need to be faithful in the first things You need to be faithful in the little things And you need to be faithful in the things that don't belong to you If you want to be used by god you need to write this down if you want to be used by god You need to be faithful in the first things That is what god is entrusted to you first You need to be faithful in the little things whatever opportunity you have be faithful in that And you need to be faithful with things that don't belong to you So that you learn the importance of stewardship and stewarding something that isn't yours When you don't get a benefit from it, but others do Listen joseph did not compromise his call And nor should we compromise our call On anything because it's never worth it joseph passed the test Of rejection he passed the test of temptation. Here's the third test And for many it's the hardest test It's the test of isolation God gave joseph a vision for his life when he was 17 he kept serving he kept doing the right thing But now in prison it looks like he's further from ever seeing that vision come to pass his brothers live in canaan A long distance away He's taken further away from canaan now He's a slave in potifers house And then he goes even deeper into prison And it seems like now it would be impossible for this vision to ever come to pass in his life And joseph in a lot of ways is alone But this is what i call incubation through isolation joseph is taken alone So he can get to a point where he realizes he has nothing left So that he can realize god is all that he needs Think so many times in our life We think we need somebody To come along come alongside of us to help us To get us to where we believe god's calling us to be I did that early on in ministry. I saw People who had other people in their life come alongside of them and lift them up and come alongside of them and help them And for years i felt alone in ministry just on my own and i wasn't but i felt that way And the lord would come to me and i was always making excuses by saying i don't have A man to help me I don't have a person And the lord showed me i was being a lame man Because i read the story of the man that was at the pool of beth seda. It's the story of the lame man and Jesus walks up to this guy because he would lay it by the side of the pool of beth seda Because when the waters were stirred the first one in the water would be healed of anything that they had So all the sick and jacked up and messed up people would all hang out out around that place And he would never be the first one in because he was lame And had no one to help him get in the water. So jesus sees this man. He walks up to him and he says Do you want to be made whole? And you know what he says to jesus? I have no man to help me jesus walked up to that man and said do you want to be made whole In other words, do you want to see me do something that you could never do for yourself? Do you want to see me move in your life in the miraculous? Do you want to see Your life be impacted in such a way? And he says i don't have anybody to help me And i realized that was me telling god when jesus walks up to me and says Do you want to see me move in your life in a way that you could never imagine? Above and beyond anything that you could ever think or dream Do you want to see me do something that's so beyond you? Do you want to see that and i would say i had no man to help me? And jesus is asking you do you want me to do something in your life miraculous? And sometimes we have to come to a point where we're all alone where we have nothing left We realize all we need is god and god will take you to the place where all you have is him So you realize all you need is him And so we need to be careful though when it comes to the test of isolation that this is itself inflicted isolation You need to know that it's god taking you into a season of isolation That's causing this because you aren't meant to live in isolation Let me just say this for everyone watching online right now. You aren't meant to live in isolation Proverbs 18 verse 1 says a man who isolates himself seeks his own desire and he rages against all wisdom You need to make sure the season of isolation is not by selection But that it's by isolation by divine designation You need to make sure that you aren't isolating yourself But it's just the place that god has for you to be presently Because joseph didn't isolate himself god took him there to develop within him some things that he wouldn't have otherwise And then after joseph was developed at the right time when god said it was time joseph goes from the prison to the palace Because god has a fast forward button And when god says it's time in the right time god can flick a switch in a moment's time He can do with you What you could never do for yourself When you are ready now watch this you have to see this and then we'll go joseph Because he was faithful Where god had him In potifers house He was promoted to second in command In charge of everyone other than potifer himself Joseph then thrown in prison wrongfully But was still faithful there And because he was faithful He was promoted second in command over all of the prison And now joseph In chapter 41 In the next two hours. We're gonna go through it together I'm just kidding usher's locked the doors In genesis chapter 41. We'll see in that moment's time Pharaoh has a dream And then the cut bearer goes. Oh, yeah, I forgot Joseph told me not to forget, but I actually didn't give him a second thought But years later Pharaoh has a dream And because joseph was still in prison they knew where to find him And joseph would have never been in the palace Where pharaoh would make him second in command over all of egypt If joseph wouldn't have still been in prison We think this is a waste of time But the dark room isn't a waste of time God is using that time to develop within you things that you wouldn't have within you Otherwise if you didn't go through the things that you've gone through And because joseph was faithful in potifer's house and he was faithful in the prison Look what god had for him in the palace He was running the kingdom Second in command just like he was in prison and just like he was in potifer's house But he was just doing it in a greater way And a lot of people are willing to serve god in the palace so to speak They're willing to do it in the place of prominence When it's important But they're not willing to serve god In the prison or in potifer's house But if you're not willing to be used by god in potifer's house as a slave or in prison as a prisoner Then god won't ever be able to use you in greater ways in the palace And so we have to be faithful where god has us Luke 16 10 jesus says if you are faithful in little things Then you will be faithful in large ones In potifer's house to prison to the palace God was developing joseph all along in the dark room so that he could bring him one day into the place Where everyone would know who he was But joseph would know that it's not because of him because in the prison He gave all the credit to god And then if you read the story in jenesis 41 in the palace when pharaoh asked him to interpret his dreams. He says i can't And then he gives god the glory again God is the one that he continues to give god the glory He gave god the glory in the prison and he gave god glory in the palace because he knew it wasn't about him God will develop your integrity and your character in secrecy and obscurity So that you can be ready and usable in the place of your god given destiny a lot of people have big plans Because god has created you to accomplish them But because joseph was faithful where god had him those years were preparation for the promise of god So don't view the period of time between the promise of god and the performance of the Promise as a waste of time It's valuable time because god is using those years to prepare you for what he has for you next And what led joseph to that position Was simply what he was faithful in doing in prison No matter whether you're in the pits or you're trapped in a prison Maybe currently today you're in a place of frustration because you don't see god's vision coming to pass You don't see the promise that god gave you for your life or for your family happening Don't ever forget that god is waiting until you are ready And at the right time his promises will come to pass Enjoy the dark room It's hard But it's a place of development Where god is readying you and preparing you for what he has for you next be faithful In the little things be faithful in the first things and be faithful with all things that god is interested to you And god's gonna use you and god's gonna use this church in great ways in the days and weeks and months and years to come Let's pray lord. We thank you so much that you Are faithful to accomplish what you've promised to do That it's not too hard That it's not too difficult for you But lord if we're not seeing it come to pass is because it's not the right time yet But all along you're preparing us for what you have for us next With heads bowed and eyes closed I wonder if there's some here today I would say I want to be used by god But you've given up On god's promise and plan the vision that he's given to you for your life Maybe you've been in the dark room for a while You didn't see it come to pass and so You gave up on god's plan for your life Let me just tell you today that god's not done with you yet But he's preparing you for what he has for you next Maybe some here today through this study Your eyes have been open to understanding The period of time of waiting is a period of preparation For god to be able to accomplish his plan To prepare you for it I pray tonight For each of you that god would free you From the frustration of not seeing that plan come to pass Knowing that god is working behind the scenes To accomplish his plan And god is preparing you for his plan and all that he has for you And so lord tonight We just cast every weight And snare and sin down at your feet Those things that we've allowed into our lives that have kept us from all that you have for us Even the things that have the potential To keep us from all that you have for us I pray lord for us that we would pass the test of rejection That we would pass the test of temptation And that we would pass the test of isolation And that we'd be ready and available to be used by you Lord we just want to see your your plan for our lives come to pass So we wait Knowing that you're readying us When the time comes We'll be ready to do Whatever it is That you have for us next Whatever you want us to do Help us to be faithful god With the first things with the little things Or the things that don't belong to us Help us to be faithful to you With what you've given to us now Knowing that's preparation For whatever it is that you'll give to us next Forgive us father for doubting you Forgive us god for second guessing your plan And even when we don't understand your plan we understand that we don't need to understand your plan We just simply need to obey your command And god we desire just to be obedient to you That you would find us faithful Use our lives With our families With our children Use us in the workplaces And use us In this place that we call our home Calvary Chapel of the Chino Valley Use us lord we pray In any capacity we just want to be used by you So fill us afresh To overflowing with your spirits That you would empower us And give us the fruit of your spirit Patience Simply being okay with waiting in the dark room Knowing that you're preparing us for your plans In jesus name we pray Amen