7 minute read
Setbacks To Setups
from June 2021
Gò0dNews for Parents
Setbacks To Setups
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by Linda Ray Center
“No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing; Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:13).
Setbacks happen. How we approach them can hold us back or move us forward. Setbacks offer us an opportunity to learn more about ourselves and to understand better God’s power working in us. He wants to help us, whether we are stuck in a setback today or chained to a past setback
and filled with regret. God helped me resolve a setback and find closure to a struggle I carried as a single parent for years.
During my 40s, my dance and gymnastics business took every minute of the day, including weekends, to keep it running. I had two young children and too often felt like a failure as a mother. I thought I was doing my best to balance career and parenting until I found my 8-year-old son’s fillin-the-blank wish list school assignment. I gasped when I read his first line: I wished I had more time with my Mother. She is always at work.
I felt sad and full of REGRET. I was not meeting my son’s needs. During that time, well-meaning people added to my pain, telling me I spent too many hours in the studio. My mother and sister helped me by attending to my children’s activities while I worked. Every event I missed reminded me that I was lacking as a parent.
Today, those prickly memories are dim. They no longer hurt, but the regret surfaces occasionally. Relying on God’s promises helped me turn my parenting perspective around and understand myself better. One morning, as I surrendered my thoughts to God, I remembered there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Through Philippians 3:13, I realized that it was time to move on. God used what I thought was a setback to create a setup with positive outcomes. Dance students often told me I helped them build their selfesteem. They learned how to express themselves through movement and appreciate the art of dance. God’s plan for my earlier years positioned me to help many children to believe in themselves. And with a smile, I now include my children in that group. They are independent, happy adults pursuing their own dreams.
Regrets hold us captive to our limitations and imperfections. I have learned that we can never change what was; however, changing our perception of a setback can help us take a step forward to fulfill God’s plan for our lives.
Take some quiet time to consider your setbacks and how they can be converted to setups for something positive.
About The Author Linda Ray Center writes about everyday life with God, others, and self, as an author, freelance writer, and blogger at www.lindaraycenter.com. She resides in charming Chattanooga and will showcase her grandchildren’s pictures at any given moment.
Photographer: Ethan Kerr ethanmkerr@gmail.com
Logical Systems, Inc.
38-year-old local technology company strengthens Northwest Georgia
How it Started:
Chris Carey invested in Rome, GA, nearly sixteen years ago. Trading a promising sales career in the big city for the opportunity to move his young family to a beautiful new place, Carey joined an established local tech company. Since then, Carey has never looked back or second guessed. After one short year, Carey bought his new employer out. With Carey at the helm, Logical Systems, Inc. was on a new course.
Over sixteen years, Logical Systems, Inc. has grown from a small three-person company to five times the headcount and two million in sales. The majority of growth has come from cabling, phone communications, security cameras, access control, audio/visual, and cybersecurity in state and local government sectors. Additionally, a small service fleet was added and Logical Systems, Inc. became a primary resource for advanced network infrastructure projects and cabling in Rome.
Along with growing the business, Carey’s passion for helping others and giving back is well known throughout the community; maintaining relationships with long time nonprofit partnerships is built into Carey’s mission. Since moving to Rome, Carey has been engaged as a board member for Habitat for Humanity and Family Resource Center and Rome/ Floyd Chamber of Commerce. Fast forward to 2020—a national 22 // June 2021
disaster, years of ups and downs, and massive changes in the tech space—Carey decided to take a second leap of faith: starting another technology company.
A New Focus on Technology Support Services:
It seems only yesterday that computer security was loading antivirus software—computer data was stored on a 4–6-pound oversized laptop, there were no required complex passwords, and disk installation was the only way to get new software. With simply a 6-month crash course, anyone could provide office computer technology support. Today, technology companies must provide ongoing training, and systems are very sophisticated—new security problems and computer functions appear at lightning speed. There is a never-ending need for
fine tuning, upgrading and updating platforms. Lastly, pile on increased demand for user support, regulatory compliance, remote access and cloud applications!
All these advances made it clear, Logical Systems, Inc. needed a new IT support service solution. It would become logicIT. LogicIT provides an outsourced computer support service focused on small and midsize businesses. This service provides smaller organizations with a full-time team of computer engineers without the overhead. A small business can now get the same computer support access, complex security Photographer: Ethan Kerr ethanmkerr@gmail.com and regulatory compliance needs met like larger corporate companies do. Recruiting an Old Friend: In 2020, Allen Truett, an old college friend of Carey and industry partner over the years decided to take a similar leap of faith. Convinced by Carey's story, Truett decided to transition his career to Rome. With Truett comes over twenty-five years in the computer technology support business. Truett began a small, but successful IT company based in Atlanta, GA, in the early stages of computerized business operations. Over the next twenty-five years, Truett managed support teams at 3 very successful technology firms. His changing roles and growing career advanced through fast paced expansion and corporate mergers. Truett managed teams in Birmingham, Charlotte, and New York City, overseeing hundreds of computer networks. Truett worked with industry leaders to build successful technology platforms and support systems. Northwest Georgia Calling: The opportunity to grow a new division of an established company such as Logical Systems, Inc. was a gold needle in the haystack. beginning of 2021. LogicIT was created with the intention of showing existing partners even better service and to lay the groundwork to make a big impact in the growing region. Logic Systems, Inc. is proud to be the only tech firm based in the heart of this beautiful area to provide advanced computer networking and support services, including cloud solutions. Logical Systems, Inc. has a strong emphasis on giving back to the community. Along with Carey’s involvement, Logical Systems, Inc. has provided free projects and discounted technology services to many non-profits in Rome. This knowledge of Carey and Logical Systems, Inc. only increased the company’s appeal for Truett. Over Truett's career, he spent many extra hours helping charity-based organizations supply the required funding for technology. Truett’s work history includes non-profits such as TechBridge in Atlanta, GA, and United Way and Apparo in Charlotte, NC. Together Carey and Truett want to build logicIT to add more growth in the technology space, while continuing to find ways to give back to the area. The first 2021 initiative will be to create a logicIT non-profit board to help manage how logicIT growth will drive their ability to help more. Carey and Truett hope everyone in and around Rome will follow logicIT to help with the exciting mission!
“Northwest Georgia is an under the radar growth area in our country. Compared to fast growing areas with drastic population shifts, poor planning, and cultural challenges, the area maintains a hometown feel and an optimistic culture that builds trust on handshakes. As the area continues to grow in popularity, more businesses and professionals will seek a clean and safe place to live and work. With that growth, a vacuum of computer technology support needs will develop,” said Truett.
Since developing sustainable, stable and agile computer technology is Truett’s business, Rome was an easy decision— and like his longtime friend, embracing people and their community is in Truett’s nature.
Growth and Giving:
Carey and Truett spent 2020 building a business plan for logicIT. With a new staff, fresh capital injections, and adjustments in the operating model, logicIT went live at the
logicIT 2021 Non-Profit Partnership Plan:
Help us help our non-profit partners: logicIT will make a matching donation equal to the first month of IT support service revenue for all new customers. The funds will be distributed to help all of these charity organization partners. Boys & Girls Club of Northwest Georgia | www.bgcnwga.org Open Door Home | www.opendoorhome.org Blue Ridge Area Health Education Center | www.blueridgeahec.org Family Resource Center/The Exchange Club | www.exchangeclubfrc.org
