The story behind the inspiration of stewardship…why it matters.

Although I've been a disciple of Jesus for many years, it's been a journey. Through the Holy Spirit, I have required deep (often painful) investment from Him in my character development as a man. Candidly, this concept of stewardship wasn't something I valued. In fact, I really had no point of reference for it all. I get that can feel alarming to hear, but keep reading.

I grew up never wanting for anything. We weren't wealthy by American standards, but dad was an entrepreneur who did well for us. He was the "millionaire next door"...no doubt in the top 5%. He invested a lot of effort in helping me view and manage money the right way. More importantly, he taught me a lot about the importance of character. And he introduced me to the saving grace found only through Jesus. That was all next level dad-effort compared to anyone I knew in my early years.

But none of the lessons were ever about stewardship, at least not cleanly wrapped up in that definition. That’s not a swipe at my dad. And it is relevant that I was often what you would call “uncoachable”. As I matriculated through life, I was more interested in the warm and fuzzy relationship with the Lord and community with others who wanted the same. I saw life as exciting because the timeline had been changed to eternal, in glory, and I was just getting started. But I took that too far, leaning into things that brought me pleasure and fun and excitement now. Why wait? I was to be blessed by the Lord and He would take care of the details that would interfere. Man, that is tough to write. Ugh.

That entire mindset made for a slow and often painful journey with Jesus over decades. I needed a lot of refinement and stewardship was void of my mindset. Once God began to introduce it to me through His Word, I still messed it up and made my own definition…limiting it to being good at managing the money you have...which in my mind meant being a bookkeeper. Nothing wrong with good bookkeeping. We all need that to be tight. But that was not how I was wired. So it was not something I was going to focus on. And in no way was I connecting the dots between the godly character of a man and how that translated to responsibly managing HIS resources and the resources of others.

Praise Jesus he is willing to do the hard work. Because I sure made it hard for a long time. But that’s one of the great things about how He works in developing the character of His men (actually all His people). The Bible is full of much richer stories than mine, where God patiently developed the character of men and women, kings and queens, prophets and priests. Ordinary men aplenty. Prostitutes. Tax collectors. Doctors. Lawyers. Abraham. Moses. Joshua. David. Sampson. Jonah. Esther. Rahab. Joseph. The first disciples of Jesus. The Apostle Paul. The book of Hebrews includes a fantastic recap of many saints whom God credited with faithfulness. Yet it was still God’s character development work that made their faithfulness possible.

So, what’s my point in all this and why should it matter to you?

By way of His Word, the Holy Spirit influencing my mindset with tough love and years of grinding through painful stewardship lessons, I am gratefully and willfully submitted to a standard and authority much greater than me. And that standard begins with the character necessary for managing resources in which my fellow PetroVybe partners have entrusted to me and this amazing team. In no way do I have it all sorted out. But I toiled in the wasteland that rejects a biblical stewardship mindset. And I will never go back. I am clear in my pursuit of a character standard that must come before results. And the character standard is not of my own making. How could it be? It would not have integrity if it were not bigger and better than from my own mind.

This is a painfully absent mindset in many niches of the Oil and Gas space. But God! For His perfect standard…I am grateful. In Him, I am hopeful. For in Him, through Christ, I am a willing steward. And for that I am focused and tenaciously driven in delivering the results that Jesus himself requires of a faithful steward. He frames that up so clearly in the parable of the talents in the second half of Matthew 25. You can read it here. Seriously, it’s a great story. Jesus actually teaches to go get multiples on invested capital.

Side (but important) note: you don’t have to be a disciple of Jesus to appreciate this mindset or these principles (although it’s worth investigating the merits of his life, claims, miracles, his death, and how he ended the power of death for those who claim him as Savior and Lord).

I know all this is a lot to take in. But you can handle it. You too are a steward. And you need to know more about the people you are entrusting your resources to steward. You need to know their mindset and what priorities they demonstrate.

 Now let’s go get some hydrocarbons and turn these talents (money) you entrusted to PetroVybe into more talents.

Best,