by Rob Amerine | Jan 6, 2022 | Articles, Testimonies
Who really wants to talk about failure? A recent article reported the phrase “fear of failure” as one of the top internet search items, so it appears to be on the mind of many today. Years ago, I experienced a failure “trifecta.” After nearly 10 years of sweat equity and short-lived successes, my business venture with many investors failed financially. Despite much prayer and counseling, my marriage of 12 years ended in a difficult and costly custody battle involving our 3 young kids. My body started to fail as financial and emotional stress coupled with sleep deprivation further diminished my ability to do even simple tasks. My thoughts became cloudy and my emotions often got the best of me. While it didn’t happen overnight, it all came crashing down in a matter of a few months. I had been walking with Christ for over 10 years at this point but often found myself fearing failure more than fearing God. In one of my worst days while I was cycling through deep anger, sadness, and doubt, I was crying out to the Lord and searching His Word for answers when I came across this passage in 1 Peter 5:6-10. “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren...
by Rob Amerine | Dec 21, 2015 | Articles, Testimonies
One morning over a year ago God provided a ministry opportunity at a local coffee shop. At the time I had been displaced from my home and in the throes of a very challenging and painful family situation. I was angry and financially wiped out. Feeling overwhelmed about the decisions I had made to this point and the consequences that it meant for my family I was broken and had cried out that morning for direction and mercy from the Lord. Just hours later I found myself in a conversation with a guy older than me who had moved to town weeks earlier and said he had come to the Lord a few years ago. In our first meeting when I asked why he moved here he said outright “I’m just looking to be discipled”. I was pretty taken back by this and knowing my current situation I was thinking that this guy needed someone older who had it more together and could invest the time and energy he needed. We traded contact information and I just went about my day trying to manage my emotions and pains the best I could. I ran into him again and again that week at the same coffee shop so we ended up having a few more conversations that quickly turned to spiritual matters. From what he shared he had a solid understanding of the gospel but really wanted to know how to study the bible. He had a very likable personality and seemed to know a lot of people. I soon found out that he was basically homeless but was finding...
by Rob Amerine | May 8, 2015 | Testimonies
If you have been walking with Christ for more than a few years you’ve probably found yourself wondering at some point “why is making Him a priority everyday so hard ?” The greatest command given to us is simply, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Luke 22:37) Now we all know the challenge is figuring how to apply it in our own lives but even more challenging is trying to encourage another brother to do the same. Many years ago I got into a discussion with a brother that I was meeting 1-on-1 with about the importance of spending daily quiet time with God and being in His Word. After many failed attempts and him making re-commitments week after week the resounding reason he provided for not spending this time each day is that he was just “too busy” and felt that spending time with God each day would take away from the growth of his business. Not realizing what I was saying I was led to ask “Can you then show me on a spreadsheet how spending time with God each day for 15 or 30 minutes would directly decrease the profits of your business?” He responded “so do you mean how can I measure my return on investment for the time I spend with God?” I hadn’t thought of it that way yet but this started a great conversation of how we should focus on investing our time and gifts in eternity and not for worldly reward but even more so it really made...
by Rob Amerine | May 8, 2015 | Testimonies
Twice each year in Colorado Springs is the Couples Morning of Prayer at Glen Eyrie. This is a half-day event (usually 3-4 hours on a Saturday morning) with the primary focus on just encouraging couples (married or engaged) to pray together. This past year my wife and I were asked to start facilitating these events and we have seen clear evidence of E squared. We have never done anything like this as a couple before so it was a little overwhelming at first. Who were we to encourage others couples to pray? Our marriage had definitely seen its ups and downs over the years but both of us undeniably know that without prayer we wouldn’t have made it. To help us get ready for this event and since I’m somewhat of an analytical guy I decided to do some research and found some statistics that I thought were pretty compelling. It is widely known that nearly 1 in 2 of “Christian” marriages today will end in divorce but it’s interesting that less than 1 in 10 of Christian couples pray together on a regular basis. But for those couples that pray together on a regular basis the divorce rate dramatically drops to under 1%! I’m not a guy that likes to gamble (not anymore anyway) but you’ve gotta like those odds! Considering this and reflecting on our own prayer life we had to admit that while we agreed that individual pray time each day was important to us we admitted that our weekly scheduled time for prayer together wasn’t working out so well – just as we viewed our individual prayer life it became clear to us...
by Rob Amerine | May 8, 2015 | Testimonies
Be encouraged when trying to encourage another man for the enemy may be nearby… I had been working with a new acquaintance since the first of this year while he was trying to get his new business off the ground. Our company was providing him some work but it had been very slow going over recent months. One Monday morning he comes in to our weekly meeting dressed up (which was unusual for him) so I just asked “so what’s the tie for?” I could tell he was a little uncomfortable when I asked this and said he would explain later but then simply stated “I need more money”. I knew this guy was a believer but really did not know him well so I asked if we could talk away from the office so we setup a time later that week to grab some coffee. Before our meeting I was led to pray that God would reveal where this man was spiritually and what if any opportunity existed to encourage him. For the first few minutes of the meeting we talked business during which I found out he was looking at multiple new jobs and going on interviews (which explained the tie). After listening to him go through all of the recent struggles in his business I simply asked “So do you see your business as a platform for ministry?” He didn’t really answer the question but went on to tell me that he had been what he called a “zealot” for Christ in college and had led many to Christ….so I had to ask “then what happened??” I...
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