The Invention That Paid for Retirement
Joe loves spending time with his wife Donna. As a business owner approaching retirement, he’s always wanted to provide a life that they can enjoy.
“My prayer, was that God would give me a witty invention that would enable me to kinda like make a couple hundred bucks a week, you know, through my retirement, kinda hang out, have some fun,” said Joe.
When the two married in 2003, Joe became a Christian and learned about tithing from her.
“I thought it was ridiculous to be quite blunt with you. I don't see why I should be giving my hard-earned money into someplace where I don't know where it's going to go. And uh she informed me that it's not my money. And she showed me scriptures,” said Joe.
“I know the principle is, ‘if you give, you know, you will receive.’ But that's all God asks us to do. He even says, ‘Put me to the test. Trust me now, see if I will not open up the windows of Heaven and pour a blessing out upon you that you cannot contain,’” said Donna.
Joe decided to tithe. He couldn’t believe what happened next.
“Within one hour after I gave my first tithe, I had a $3300 debt reversed. One hour. I tithed, an hour later I didn't owe $3300. 24 hours later, somebody owed me $3,000 – they paid me. I didn't ever think I was going to get that money. I had a $6300 reversal on my first tithe in 24 hours. (LAUGHS) I’m thinking "Wait a minute, guess what. I see the principle,” said Joe.
At the time, Joe was a consultant for the department of energy. With every check he received, he continued to tithing. He also began giving to CBN.
“I was watching The 700 Club one day and they were talking about clean water for people all over the world. And (SLIGHT LAUGH) I'm thinking, ‘Man, I'll tell you what. That is so cool.’ Because I'm a big water guy. I know that there’s a limited amount of water on the planet. So right about that time I started making some pretty decent money doing wind energy development and I said, ‘I'm going to start giving the uh to the wells and cisterns program,’” said Joe.
Even when finances were tight, they remained faithful in their giving.
“I realized, through The 700 Club, that the money that I was giving them, God's money, they were doing God's work with. And I didn't want that to stop because they were providing water for people and then those people were coming to Christ,” said Joe.
As he gave, Joe began asking God for direction about his next business. Then, while working in his RV, he had an idea to change the fluorescent lights to LED lighting.
“I'm still praying. ‘God, please give me a witty invention.’ God says to me ‘I gave you something already.’ Like ‘really, like what else do you want me to do?’"
Later, Joe took the RV in for maintenance. The parts manager noticed his light invention.
“He walks in my rig to write it up, he looks up, he says, ‘Where'd you get that?’ I said, ‘Well, I made it.’ He says, ‘Is it patented?’ I said, ‘It's pending.’ I at least had the forethought to do that. He says, ‘I want 250 of them.’ And I'm thinking, ‘Wow, yay God!’ This is pretty cool."
Joe realized God had given him the invention he’d been praying for. From that sale, Joe created Cabin Bright.
“I started that company with that one product and now we have over 150 products. We sell to the marine and RV business. We sell to dealers and distributors all over the country. All from that one product. And God gave me that idea.”
Today Joe’s business is thriving. The couple is giving to CBN at the Founder’s Club level, and they say it’s through faithful giving that blessings flow.
“If He's done it before, He'll do it again. He's faithful,” said Donna.
“I am completely and totally blessed by the grace of God and my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When you're faithful to God, he's going to be faithful to you and your soul's going to prosper. And that's the feeling that no one can take away from me,” said Joe.
