Bob Fafinski

“Don't just say we need thoughts and prayers. These kids were literally in a church praying.” -Jacob Frey A Christian revival has been simmering in the United States. Through the dogged work of those like Bishop Robert Barron, Charlie Kirk, Jordan Peterson, and Father Mike Schmitz, Americans (especially young American) are turning to God in a manner unlike anything we’ve seen in a long time. Rejecting nihilism and hedonism and seeking out responsibility and duty. After the last two weeks? The floodgates have swung wide open. Because of the Kirk assassination and murder of children at Mass here in Minnesota, this morning tens of thousands went to church or cracked the Bible for the first time. We have seen evil and find a collective pull in our hearts to God. Their first prayers at church will feel awkward and cumbersome. And no wonder: we’ve been programmed to believe that prayer is, as the neckbeard Redditors smugly joke, nothing more than people superstitiously lobbing up trite, petty requests to an imagined “Magic Man in the Sky.” Prayer is a quaint relic of the past, they tell us. A weak old tradition of those struggling to conceptualize disorder in the world. “Where is your God now?” they mock as dead children bodies are still warm. “Enough thoughts and prayers, we need action” the demagogues scream. Their equating “thoughts” with “prayers” is folly. Thoughts ≠ Prayers. By “thoughts” most generously we simply mean sympathy. Sympathy doesn’t help in any tangible way. Prayer, however, is powerful. Man’s purpose in life is to know, love, and serve God. God calls man to Him. And prayer is our call back to God, a conversation with Him allowing us to raise our minds and hearts to Him. Through prayer, God gradually reveals Himself to us. Despite our best efforts to control, our prayer does not change God, so why pray at all? First, Jesus prayed. Second, he taught us how to pray. That’s enough right there. Prayer also puts us in cahoots with God. He, in his generosity, invites us to participate in His goodness via prayer. Like a good father, He knows what we need but desires we participate freely in the process of getting there. He loves us and gives us this opportunity. And prayer changes us! We can become Godlike through prayer and can hasten more temporal good – moving the needle towards bringing about His Kingdom here on earth. Prayer is a battle, we are told, against ourselves and against Evil. Those who conflate prayers with simple thoughts perpetuate an evil. We are not so simple to think our prayers can undo something or convince God to just-stop-sitting-there-and-take-action. “Pray constantly,” the Apostle Paul exhorts us, that it might animate us at every moment. This is why we pray after tragedy.

About 60 people showed up last night for the Upper Midwest ETA/M&A meetup. Super cool. Estimate 1/3 searchers, 1/3 service providers/M&A pros, and 1/3 considering ETA. Thanks to all those who came out during this cold snap. (too cold this am) We’ll do it again springtime.

Please reach out via DM, email, whatever. Love talking about deals. And lest you think I take myself too serious, here’s proof that I get puked on from time to time and still manage to make it — often needed in M&A.

I was a United States Marine Corps infantry officer after college at Marquette University. I was a platoon and company commander on two Afghanistan deployments with 3rd Battalion 4th Marines (the “Darkside”) in 2009 and 2011 in Helmand Province.

We live in a neighborhood on the bluffs of Minnesota River bordering thousands of acres of federal and state land — a massively important and rewarding part of life for us. Hiking, exploring, hunting, fishing, etc. right out our backyard.

My wife and I have been married for six years. We have four children. My wife stays home. We are practicing Catholics.

Getting good deals done matters. Deal-maker not a deal-breaker. Busy, so cannot afford to spin my wheels on a project (and charge you massive fees). Clients become friends. Foster junior lawyers’ growth. Quantify risk. Allocate risk. Document risk. Personal stuff 👇

Most of my deals are: $2-30MM buy-side deals $5-75MM sell-side deals Those buy-side deals are predominantly ETA/self-funded search funds. Also represent companies on wide variety of legal needs. Practice philosophy next👇

Whew, now that that part is out of the way (I was nervous to dox), should be easy. I’m a shareholder M&A lawyer at FMJ Law, a medium-sized commercial law firm in Minnesota. Here’s my bio (with contact info): fmjlaw.com/professional/fafi… More about my practice, life, and family👇

Dropping anonymity and going all in: Many of you have hired me to serve as your M&A lawyer to help you buy or sell a business. And others to represent their company in day-to-day legal matters. Time I put the same trust in this community: I’m Rob Fafinski. More👇.

Fellow veterans are amongst the most antiwar people I know, so on this Veterans Day, I have a request for you: I beg of you during these trying times to maintain your humanity. As a former infantry officer, military tactics are incredibly interesting to me. On this app and elsewhere in the Internet, we can watch unprecedented video of battle in near live time. This is fascinating and helpful for thinking through tactics, but I’ve had to curtail watching to guard my own soul — these videos seep into your existence and become normal. Just a couple of days ago, I saw a video of an injured Russian soldier pop a grenade and hold it to his head, committing suicide live on camera the agony of his initial wounds so great. “Orc,” the comment section said. “The only good Russian is dead Russian.” “FAFO” they gloated. “Ground beef.” No matter how unjust the cause, we must remember that these soldiers are actual, real people. They have families, a mother, a father, a wife and children who care about them. They had dreams and aspirations. They are children of God. They were scared on a guttural level. Their last feelings in life were pain and fear. When I was in Afghanistan, some Marines (not my unit) peed on some Taliban they killed, believing they were the TB *who had killed a Marine in their unit that day.* They were prosecuted. The vast majority of the country agreed that, no matter the circumstances, you don’t denigrate an enemy’s dead body. Just barely a decade later, keyboard neckbeards hurl horrific slanders while not in the heat of an impassioned moment post-battle but rather in their moms’ basements. Oh how we’ve “progressed.” The fact of the matter is that the infantrymen, on either side of most wars, perceive themselves to have more in common with the enemy infantrymen than they do their own countryman, generals, and politicians. Let that sink in. Dehumanizing the enemy is one way to get the bloodlust going at home: “Huns” “nips” “Orcs” etc. Be aware what is happening. So debate the causes of these wars. Fight the war. Outsmart, maneuver, and kill the enemy. These are all just things and things we must and should do. But for the love of God, understand that these are real, actual people with heartbeats and families that are dying. Front line soldiers and Marines do the awful, brutal job of killing and being killed by the enemy. If they can respect their enemy, then those of us not on the front line should be able to do the same. And even if you disagree with the above, guard yourself. Do not become callous to the brutal job of killing. The potential for rough days lies ahead. If killing must be done, we will do it. We will not lose sight, though, of the heartbreaking reality that that dead enemy soldier was a real person.