People have asked, "Why Impact Battery? What kind of name and mission is that? Why do you guys give back so much? Why wear your beliefs on your sleeve? Shouldn't you keep business separate from your personal beliefs?" There have been many other questions of similar conviction. Some asked with a genuine desire for understanding and truth, others with the intent to insult or mock. Allow me to share candidly why we do what we do with a real life illustration that took place this past weekend with one of our daughters.
On Saturday February 19th around nine in the morning while my wife was upstairs getting ready for the day and I was driving home from a men's Bible study, our 2 year old daughter climbed into the pantry in search of something sweet, perhaps a cookie or a piece of candy. She fell and hit her head. After letting out a blood curdling scream that every mother fears, our very active and lively daughter became lethargic and sleepy. Although there was no visible external head trauma, we recognized she was not acting normal and decided a frantic trip to the ER was in order when she began vomiting .
I stayed with our other kids and my wife drove Katie (name changed for privacy) to the hospital. She deteriorated quickly and by the time the CT scan commenced she was completely unresponsive and "sound asleep." I am not sure if comatose would be the proper vernacular--she could not be woken. She had been unconscious for over an hour. When my wife finished sharing what had transpired over the previous hours, I decide to call our local church family to have them start praying. Upon hanging up, I realized I had not even taken time myself to pray.
In those moments I was not able to utter anything more than "Jesus, help" as a wave of emotion swept over me. Then in my time of helplessness and deep anguish experienced only by parents that cannot do anything humanly possible to save an ailing child, I cried out to God acknowledging my humanness and confirming my faith in a merciful creator. "Father hover over her and breath LIFE back into her. Restore her to full health!"
Within 10 or 15 minutes my wife called, saying "She just woke up and is acting normal. It is as if nothing ever happened!" I strongly believe that the prayers of His people similar to what I shared during those few short minutes reverberated at heavens doorstep and Jesus reached down and restored my daughter to full health. You could not convince me otherwise.
We sell a brand of battery, aptly called Lifeline Batteries. These deep cycle batteries are known to be the most reliable sealed battery that a sailor wants in his boat. These maintenance free batteries supply consistent power year after year and have provided assurance to many sailors a drift at sea. But ultimately these batteries will fail, they will cease to give power. As much trust as I put in these batteries, I know one day I will be left wanting. When it comes to spiritual matters I have never been left wanting. Jesus said 'I am the vine you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing...If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.' (paraphrase from John 15). My source of power is Christ. My faith and salvation is in Christ. Even though I am a sinful man with many faults, I am by no means perfect and merely strive to be called worthy, he will never leave me nor forsake me. Because I have chosen to connect into the "everlasting battery" there can be no part of my life that is hidden from this truth. Impact Battery is no exception. The foundation of this organization is built upon Christian charity--giving back and supporting good works within our communities. We know batteries and we know Christ, it only makes sense to share that knowledge and try to be an example of how we can make an IMPACT one battery at a time.