This Friday morning, a lot of you will still be in bed at 6:30 AM. Good for you.
 |
Ron Dunn runs the nationally successful “Carpets
Plus” corporation and leads ONE TH1NG on Friday
mornings at Alpharetta’s Cabernet Steakhouse on
Windward Parkway at GA400. |
However, if you’re in the Alpharetta area (or can find a way to get there), Ron Dunn will open up a conversation (more like 15 or 20 of them) with about 40 to 60 men who show up early at The Cabernet Steakhouse to think out loud about issues of life and truth. Here’s a heads up email from Ron about Chapter 6 of Daniel and a question every guy has to wrestle with at some defining moment or another:
Who Are You?
As a kid when I first heard the story of Daniel in the Lions Den I wondered what it was that this man did wrong and what I needed to be aware of to assure that nothing like this ever happened to me.
What initiated this well-known event is as important as the event itself.
Daniel had an extraordinary spirit in him (6:3). The new king recognized this and was about to promote him above all the presidents and governors. Not everyone was in favor of the move.
There were a group of guys who wanted Daniel out and tried to find something that would result in an indictment. His character stood their exam and close scrutiny. In the end they surmised that the only way to take him down would have to revolve around his close relationship with and allegiance to the God he served.
They devised a plan and needed to sell it to the King. Great selling is an art.
Let’s talk about selling for a minute.
Some would say success is in the pitch. Others argue that product knowledge is the key. Many trainers say great selling is timing…the rhythm of listening well, progressing with the right questions, adding just enough information and then knowing when to ask for the order.
My observation is that in order to initiate movement with a decision-maker you need first to get an appointment. To get an appointment with really busy brass you must grab their attention. The most effective way to capture attention is to make it about them. Identify a problem, introduce a solution that answers their need…and chances are you will close a sale.
Simply said: if you want to get my attention, make it about me.
This group of guys back in 5th century B.C. had this dynamic down. The Babylonian Empire was defeated. There was a new sheriff in town. The Medo-Persian Empire had begun. Achieving loyalty from the 1.2 million people living in Babylon was high on King Darius’ needs, goals and to-do list.
These men devised a plan and drew King Darius in by making it about him. Worship Darius and him only for 30 days or be fed to the lions. The edict was signed, sealed and delivered…a new Law of the Medes and Persians…irrevocable.
After realizing what he had set in motion, Darius said whoa…and spent a day trying to undo it, but couldn’t. He signed the law. Daniel was going to the lion’s den, not for what he did wrong, but because of what he did right.
Note: Take a close look at Daniel. He never paused, never altered and didn’t blink. He did not change a thing about his personal life and devotion to God.
Character is tested and grows through trials. Deep down we know our character. It is revealed when we are alone. Daniel knew who he was. What he did when he was alone did not change. No outside circumstance changed him…including a 30-day law that set him up as dinner for a pack of hungry lions.
Join us at the tables this Friday as we look into character, consistency, trustworthiness, dependence on and relationship with a great God…and how these play out in the life of men, revealing who we are.
– Ron Dunn
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