Growing up in Bossier City, LA, there was one thing that my particular High School was always good at…baseball! I loved playing for Coach Bohanon and Coach Belle. They were both characters in their own rights. Coach Bohanon doubled as my Free Enterprise teacher and was famous for teaching with a local NW Louisiana/East Texas flair for storytelling. He talked about taking your “darlin’ down to the picture show and trying to impress her by buying her some kernels and bellywash.” Coach Belle had a penchant for verbal gymnastics as well. He could do a one and a half twisting Tsukahara in making a point like none other. He would drop bombs of wisdom like, “He who hesitates is lost!” and “Quit standing around with your thumb up your butt!” Man…the lasting impressions…the wisdom dripping from those lips that impacted young lives. We lived for baseball season!
Maybe its “Good Old Day Syndrome” or maybe its more than that, but my coaches always taught us integrity for us as individuals, as a team and as a responsibility to our community. People depended on our personal integrity. When we gave our best, it raised the level of us, our team and those who came out to support us. We would run the steps of the football stadium and then cut across the end zone to the other side of the bleachers and would constantly hear, “Don’t lolly-gag over there, you are cheating yourself at getting better, you are cheating your team and everyone that watches you play!”
I love how King Solomon says it in Proverbs 11:11,
Upright citizens are good for a city and make it prosper, but the wicked tears it apart.”
Solomon was the Coach Bohanon and Coach Belle before they ever dreamed of dropping vitamins of wisdom. However, they knew what integrity meant. They believed in integrity! They taught us integrity! They taught us leadership! You see, you have to be able to lead yourself before you can ever dream of leading others. That starts at living a life that takes no shortcuts. Upright people are people who are honest, righteous and fear God. These types of people are good for a city, team, or business. Why? They make it prosperous because others know that they have taken no shortcuts or have not gained through dishonest measures. A team that is out for themselves, or as Solomon calls them, wicked, have no unity. They destroy themselves from the inside. It causes murmurs in the stands, board room or in the neighborhood. Wickedness, shortcuts, dishonesty, or lack of integrity all give a place to tear apart and divide.
So, what do we do? Live a life of integrity! It honors God, it prospers your family and your community. Be counted as an asset to your team, family and those around you by your integrity. Live a life where your values match your actions! When you lose your integrity, you lose! Let your integrity speak for itself! Let it elevate you, your family, your team, your business and your community.
In what ways can you live a life of integrity? At home? At work? At play?
Can you identify shortcuts you have been taking that are hurting you, your family and your team?
How can you begin to let your integrity elevate everyone?
oneguyseyes 