The Dok-It Story
October 13, 2007, Friday the 13th, was a day that changed our lives mentally, physically and spiritually forever. The emotions of arriving home only to discover that you had just been burglarized were numerous. Fear, anger, frustration and the overwhelming feeling of being exposed were heavy on our minds. Afterwards we were instructed to itemize everything taken. Wow, where do you start? Receipts? What receipts? Serial numbers, model numbers, brands. All of these were as foreign to us as a distant language.
I began to wonder, or I thought I was wondering, how this could be done more efficiently and effectively. Little did I know that our Lord was preparing me for a journey, a journey that I soon would learn, where God was in complete control.
Well I did not follow God’s lead. I decided that I would lead. Wrong. God’s path soon became cluttered with debris and then disappeared. Dok-it would be put on hold until I could again see what I needed to see. This is His journey, His plan, His gift to us. All of us.
January 09 comes and I have been receiving the Word daily that I need to get back on the path. God had cleared away all the clutter that had accumulated that made the path hard to find and even harder to follow. My first recollection of His guidance occurred while typing an email to my brother Perry letting him know that I was being called to again start up a website that would assist everyone. Funny, Perry says, because I am writing you a letter asking you if you are ready to again start up the process. So the prayers begin.
February 09, my wife Janette and I begin praying heavily for direction. One thing that I constantly prayed for was that if we were going to do all of this I needed help. I prayed for God to place people in front of me that would help with His work. Boy did he answer. People began to volunteer themselves to help finance what we needed to get the business and the website started. We raised every dollar of what we needed in less than 24 hours. My brother introduces the idea to a friend of his and he is excited to help. His only stipulation is he only partners with companies that put God first. Well just to show how wonderful He is, we receive more than what we ask for. Thus Dok-It is started.
March 09 arrives and the website is in construction and we are looking for office space. We find the perfect space and negotiate heavily to get the office we want. What I did not know at the time was the owner of the building happened to be a person I had worked with 10 years prior. God placed him directly in my path. The owner is a wonderful person and is exactly what you would want in a landlord.
I take a trip to Kansas to visit with my brother and to brainstorm the website, marketing and general business plan. I was there only two days and at the end of the second day I was in tears. I call my wife from the airport and explain that I am over my head. How am I to lead this company when I can not answer basic questions to how the business will perform. I felt like I was being attacked (actually I was not) by the constant barrage of questions and ideas. Janette listened as I explained that I was overwhelmed. I hung up, got on the plane and turned on my Ipod. I was listening to “A Purpose Driven Life”, a book that I have read before. The book is intended to be read one part each day. Well on this particular day the chapter is on a verse from Isaiah 26:3 Today’s English Version:
“You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you.”
This was what followed right after that:
“For everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded. The one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
I began to weep and the only thought at this immediate time was I hope no one is watching me. I didn’t care. The rest of the flight I was so energized and on fire that I could barely sit there. I wrote the passage down immediately and as soon as I landed I sent it to Janette and Perry. I had just received the assurance I needed to push forward. I was now on a path as clear as a concrete walkway through the middle of the jungle. I was following and He surely was in the lead.
April 09 arrives and we are getting closer to our business opening its doors. I need to find a company to help print brochures, flyers, and stationary. I call around and I am having a difficult time finding a company with the vision that I have been given. Janette introduces me to a man while at church. We have all been there, you’re introduced and as soon as you separate the name escapes your memory banks. God makes sure this does not happen. The man begins to talk and explains that he owns a printing company up the street from our church. Coincidence? I don’t believe in those things. This is His work and believe me I am paying attention to everyone he places before me.
We begin to look for a salesperson to help with outside sales. We receive numerous resumes from people wanting the job. Some are qualified, most are not. Janette and I pray that He place the right person in front of us. We are very particular, we want experience, preferably in internet sales, and we don’t have a lot to pay. Wow how many of us are interested in that job. Well God not only finds the right person qualified for the job but he even arranges to have our new salesperson work for the amount we have to offer.
Well we are in now our office and the doors are open, but we still haven’t launched the site. The word of our office/site is spreading rapidly throughout our small community and we soon start to receive calls asking when we are launching. We consistently say any day but we know that His day for us to open up will occur when He wants it.
Janette and I are now on the eve of the site launching and we are as anxious and nervous as new parents. God is truly awesome. He not only gave me the vision to start Dok-It but He even walked me along the path and showed me how to handle all the little bumps along the way. We sit here now in our new conference room in complete and total awe. We look around at our new office with its new tables, chairs, computers and employees and think how rapidly this has occurred. Then I remember, it has not occurred rapidly, God has been patiently waiting on me to get on the path and make His words and visions a REALITY.
Thank you God for this wonderful journey. I can only imagine what You have in store for us over the next ridge.
