I have brought you glory\u00a0on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.<\/p>\n
John 17:4<\/p>\n
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Fifteen years ago, when I became a Christian, one of the things I prayed about was what God wanted me to do with my life.\u00a0 Like most men, I wanted to live a life of significance.\u00a0 But how does one man make a difference?\u00a0 The problems of this world seem overwhelming.\u00a0 God placed upon my heart that men were the key to all the problems of the world (primarily because they are the cause of most of the problems).\u00a0 When you change one man\u2019s life you not only change his life, but you not only change his wife\u2019s, children\u2019s and grandchildren\u2019s lives, but virtually everyone he ever comes in contact with as well.<\/p>\n
God eventually led me into becoming a writer, speaker, and founder of a ministry called Better Dads.\u00a0 Because of that I am privileged to be used by God to speak into the lives of men (and women) and hopefully inspire them to make a difference in the world.<\/p>\n
As Jesus states in the verse above, when we are faithful to complete the work God places before us, it glorifies God.\u00a0 The letter below is just one of many I am blessed to receive that allows me to see the fruits of my labor:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dear Rick,<\/em><\/p>\n Just wanted to let you know that your book motivated me to get our company to set up a welding course for young kids in the jungle.\u00a0 My dad gave me your book so I could start figuring out my 5 year old daughter early on.\u00a0 It\u2019s a long story but\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019m a former MK of Canadian missionary parents who had worked in South America.\u00a0 I now run the South American operations of a mining exploration company that is mostly staffed at its local levels by a great crew of Christian people from many denominations. <\/em><\/p>\n We are beginning to operate in a very difficult small town in the middle of the jungle that has been the object of illegal gold mining and cocaine traffic for two decades now on the border of Colombia and Brazil.<\/em><\/p>\n One thing I noticed was the miserable conditions of the local youth, especially the girls.\u00a0\u00a0 Young child prostitution is a great concern here because the place is a confluence of evil forces.\u00a0Normally it\u2019s the mining exploration company that gets the brunt of ill-perceived criticism.\u00a0 But in this town we have drug traffickers, an ironically a large police base of 250 young men taken far from their families (who are more scared of leaving their compound than anything), some extreme environmentalists that are usually high on narcotics themselves, and local less-than-honest politicians that would make even the rest of the country shocked.<\/em><\/p>\n A lot of the native first nations \u201cfathers\u201d are caught in a spiral of alcohol, and as such, they will \u201csell\u201d their daughters to\u00a0the men of all these different groups, for the price of another beer.<\/em><\/p>\n We haven\u2019t started drilling operations yet, but during my trips back and forth to the town, I have had a pain in my heart for the youth.<\/em><\/p>\n I commissioned to set up two Red Cross courses in town.\u00a0 The idea was the Red Cross agent was to help scare the youth regarding STD\u2019s.\u00a0\u00a0 But the problem is it\u2019s not really the young kids\u2019 choice.<\/em><\/p>\n One of the welders in town has been asking us for work.\u00a0 We don\u2019t really have an operation started yet, but we do want to help him.<\/em><\/p>\n So I had just finished your book on the plane and as I landed in Bogota, it gave me an idea.<\/em><\/p>\n Next week we are setting up a welding introduction course for 10 boys one day and 10 girls the next day.\u00a0 Ages are 11-14.\u00a0 We never expect these kids to become welders, but something tells me that you are right, the more the girls know about \u201cguy stuff\u201d, the less vulnerable some of them will be.\u00a0\u00a0 The traditional \u201cmacho\u201d man of this society is very intimidated by women\/girls who would know something about \u201cguy stuff\u201d, and the intimidation would be exacerbated if the girl knows more than them about a car engine or a welding technique.\u00a0 Your book struck a chord and we think it might make the girls more confident and less appealing to be preyed upon.\u00a0 At least it\u2019s a start.<\/em><\/p>\n