The Key to Healthy Faith: Spiritual Supplements

Let me just say…I love to workout!  Especially when I am in the habit of it and schedule it into my daily routine.  I feel more energetic, healthier and I notice that I actually have some semblance of muscles down deep in the recesses of my skin.  However, there is much pain and suffering for those first couple of weeks after taking a substantial amount of time off from my workout regimen.  I know, the key is…DON’T TAKE TIME OFF!  With working out comes nutrition.  With proper nutrition comes the supplement conundrum…what do I need?

I have a friend named John.  John owns his own supplement shop called Max Muscle.  John knows his stuff and is more than happy to answer all of my simple nutrition questions to more difficult ones that are more tailored to my specific situation.  He has a passion for nutrition, physical fitness, personal training and educating people in all of these areas.  John has taught me so much about nutrition and proper diet than he knows.  What is even more amazing is that he has educated thousands of people with the same passion he helped me.

In the same whey…er…way (sorry John), those followers of Jesus Christ should have the same passion like my friend has about sharing a healthy physical lifestyle with people in sharing their faith.  But in order to do that, we need some spiritual supplements.  The Apostle Peter tells us that God gives us everything we need when we accept Christ as our Savior.  Look at what Scripture says in 2 Peter 1:5-9

5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.  8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

Peter had just finished speaking about being saved by grace and the promises that God has given to us that would spur us on in our faith and dedication to Him.  Peter fully expects the people he is writing to grow in their faith.  Growth is a process.  Just like growth in the physical body can be painful, so can growth in faith.  Here, Peter begins to show the process of a growing faith.

He first gives us the “why” we should grow in faith.  It is clear that Peter believes that it should be done out of a response to God’s promises.  He gives a list of supplemental ingredients that will promote health growth in one’s faith.  Those supplements are:

• moral excellence
• knowledge
• self-control
• patient endurance
• godliness
• brotherly affection
• love for everyone

Peter goes on to give the reasons and results of both the positive and negative results of an individual’s decided actions.  The one who chooses to grow in faith becomes more productive and useful in their knowledge of the Lord while the one who fails to develop lack vision and forget that they have been freed from their old sin.

Just as the physical body needs nutrients for proper nutrition and health, the spiritual body needs supplements for proper growth and development.  When one comes to know Christ, He gives to them everything they need to live a godly life.  Part of an individual’s responsibility for spiritual fitness & development, like that of physical fitness & development, is to supplement their growth with proper nutrition, supplements & workouts.

When a person wants to workout their physical body, they go to the gym.  When they want nutrition, they eat.  When they want supplementation, they go to the vitamin shop.  In the same line of thinking, when a person wants to develop their spiritual man and build or work out their faith, they have to put it to action.  Putting feet to our faith involves more than witnessing to someone, it involves developing our faith throughout our body, soul and spirit.

To grow in our faith you need to develop the following:

• moral excellence – developed through habits of making decisions that are just, noble, brave, honorable, fruits of the spirit, etc.
• knowledge – growing in knowledge comes from learning what God has spoken to us through study of HIs Holy Word. Know what He says!
• self-control – develop the ability to control your actions, emotions, behaviors and desires.
• patient endurance – (This one is tough!)  develop your faithfulness.  Faithfulness requires time!  It requires commitment!  Even when you don’t want to and don’t think you can go any further…press on and keep going!  It is a long race you are taking part in, a marathon, keep putting one foot in front of the other.
• godliness – loving, fearing and honoring God.  Being devoted to God and putting that devotion into action (Hebrews 11)
• brotherly affection – love your brother and sisters in Christ.  Discriminate against none of them.  They are your family.  Defend, protect and serve them.
• love for everyone – when your faith is growing, you want everyone to experience what it is that you have found in Christ.  Love people as God loves people!

Just like being a couch potato is a bad decision for your physical man, one doesn’t want to become a spiritual couch potato.  When you fail to develop your faith and grow, your spiritual gifts retard and your Christlike habits are left under-developed.  When you don’t use the spiritual nutrients and spiritual supplements, you are not growing as God intended for you to grown in your faith.  Use everything that God has given to you since you have come to know Him.   Become the person that God has intended you to become!  Put your devotion to Him into action!

Distractions to Worship

I have been dealing with distractions in my life.  Whether they are through work, school, kids, ministry, deer season…it really doesn’t matter what the distraction is, there always seem to be something that can change my focus.  There are always “things” that will compete for our attention.  Some are urgent, some are trivial.  However, the urgent can become trivial and the trivial can become urgent.  I wanted to share with you what I am learning.  I am learning that there are distractions to our relationship with God.  They are nothing new.  I am reading in 1 Timothy and he addresses those distractions.

Scripture:

1 Timothy 2:8-9

8 In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.  9 And I want women to be modest in their appearance.They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes.

Timothy charges ALL churches, temples, synagogues with his opening phrase in verse 8.  He doesn’t exempt any house of worship or give special place to one place over another.  This instruction is for ALL places of worship.  It not only deals with the process of worship, but the attitude of worship as well.  Timothy addresses the problems of distractions when worshipping.  He instructs the men to lead the way in worship as they are addressed first.  He admonishes men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God.  Holy, meaning consecrated for worship and service.  Set apart for His worship.  He then goes on to add to the holiness about being free from anger and controversy.  These are things that can entangle the spirit of a man and cause attention to be misdirected from God to the controversy.

After addressing the men, the women are to follow their lead.  However, Timothy understands the nature of men and how they are distracted by the eye.  He admonishes women to dress modestly.  He instructs them to wear appropriate clothing as not to draw anyone’s attention to themselves by they way they fix their hair or the jewelry they wear or the price of their clothes.  He is making sure that they are not the focus of worship as was prevalent during this time.  Women can become distracted as well.  Insecurities creep in about appearance, feelings of inadequacy, and even competition with others.  This was evident back then as it is now.  It stems from goddess worship.  Goddess worship was something that was very real and was trying to make headway into the Church as there were many converts who were now following Christ and mixing the pagan religion with Christianity.  Timothy addresses this and points both men and women to the cross of Christ.  He is the one that is to be worshipped.

When I am confronted with this truth of the Word, I realize that my life is full of controversy and distractions. When my life is full of controversy, it usually breeds anger.  How can one worship God and have anger toward another in his heart?  I wrestle with this. Especially when I become passionate about something.  I begin to think, focus and really go overboard with “proving” my point in my personal need to become right.

In my trying to become right, I have a way that I can become like a rasp and score good people and my relationships with the file that I think will smooth the surface.  In reality, I am doing that opposite.  I am leaving scars on the lives of people I wanted to have friendships with, be close to, celebrate with and do life together.  I believe this is one aspect of what Timothy is speaking to in this verse.  Be free from controversy as to not have divided attention and your attention can be focused on God.

He then goes on to dealing with women.  I believe that this is a twofold meaning this writing.  Timothy knows and understands how men are wired.  They are visual.  Things that men see, stick in the DVR of their minds and can be recalled and played over and over again.  Here, the instruction to the women to not dress immodestly or expensively or with too much jewelry as to become a distraction to others.  This serves a double purpose.

1. It prevents people from being distracted in their worship before God.  This doesn’t just refer to men, but also women as well.
2. It also instructs women not to compete for attention of other people.  It teaches all people to have the attention of God rather than man.  It teaches us to not become distractions to others in their walk with Christ.

When we become a distraction to other people in their walk with Christ, we have elevated ourselves to demigod status and seek to have attention drawn to us rather than pointing it toward Christ.  This is sin!  This is idolatry!  This is pride!

I am thankful that God gives us grace and mercy!  Without His grace, there is no Good News of Christ dying for each of us.  Without His mercy, I am still held accountable for my past transgressions.  I am glad that I have placed my trust in Him and that He is still forming me into what He wants me to become.

Prayer:

Lord, forgive me of my sin of pride.  Take it from me.  Help me to point people to Your Son, Jesus.  Help me to tame my passions of this world and make me more passionate for You, Your Word, Your mission and Your Love.  Help me to not become a distraction and live a quiet, peaceable life that is pleasing to you.  I ask that you would help me and guide me by your Holy Spirit.  I ask that you would bless my family and give them favor.  Help my children grow closer to You and do well in their schooling.  I pray that you would bless my wife in her job and give her favor.  I ask that you would give me favor on my job and help me reach the goals that I have set.  I give you glory and honor.  Thank you for saving me.  Amen!

What are the “things” that are distracting you?

What are you competing for the attention of, God or someone else?

 

1063 Degrees Farhenheit

I have been pleasantly surprised here in Texas this Summer.  We actually have had what I call a milder summer.  By this time of year, we are usually in a countdown to breaking the record of days over 100 degrees. However, this year, we are constantly in the 90s and even had a cold front come through that dropped us into the 80s.  It has been great!  However, the 100s are predicted to make a comeback tour in North Texas.

I love to watch the weather.  I love to see how people respond to weather in different parts of the country.  I saw just a few weeks ago how the Upper East Coast of the US were experiencing a heat wave…they had temps in the 90s!  We call that Summer down here in Texas and to be even more specific, we call that a cold front.  Now, don’t think I am just spouting off about how we can handle the heat.  On the other hand, when snow and ice come our way in the Winter, we shut down…yes, for 2 inches of snow/ice.  The entire area shuts down, schools are closed and if you want to see crazy drivers…come to North Texas in an ice storm.  I don’t even want to talk about how people can’t drive in the snow.

I started thinking about these weather changes and how the temperatures affect our lives.  Sometimes, we experience temperature changes in our lives that are more internal than that of the weather outside.  Sometimes, we can actually feel the “heat” being turned up in our lives.  It may be on the job, at home, with our spouse or children, neighbors, car troubles, etc.  You name it, life seems to have a way of turning it on when we don’t really need it or expect it.  Sometimes, we can even begin to crack under the heat that has been so unwelcome in our lives.  As I was thinking about this, I came across a passage of Scripture found in Proverbs 17:3,

Proverbs 17:3

3 Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the Lord tests the heart.

Precious metals, when refined, are put to the test of fire.  When those metals are heated up to a specific temperature, then impurities rise to the top of the liquified metal.  It is called dross.  The purity of silver and gold are measured by the amount of time on the refining fire and the amount of dross that is pulled out of the metal.  When testing the metal, the purity is determined by the amount of dross left in the metal.  Metal’s purity it tested by physical properties alone.  God tests humans by the heart test.  He searches and reveals impurities of the heart.  God unveils impurities or sin of the heart through His refining process.  He is more concerned with a person’s heart than their physical appearance.

Gold is refined at 1063 degrees Fahrenheit.  Purity of gold is determined by the refining process.  During the refining process, the refiner keeps a constant watch upon the fire and the gold that is being refined.  Like the refiner of gold, God refines our heart.  Sometimes the heat will be turned up in our lives and it is a process of God testing our hearts.  He is refining our lives.  He is keeping careful watch over what we can handle and won’t give us more than we can handle without providing a way for us to escape.  God wants our hearts to be pure before Him.  Just remember, when the heat is turned up and the impurities of your life are rising to the top, God is keeping a careful eye on you to remove those impurities so that you can be the priceless gold He designed you to be from the beginning.  He loves you!

What area of your life is the heat being turned up in now?

What impurities are you discovering about yourself?

How can you recognize the times of heat and know that they are God testing your heart?

3 Lessons from the MLB All Star Game

Last night, I watched, in amazement, the Major League All Star Game.  I learned some valuable lessons by watching Mariano Rivera enter into his office, the pitcher’s mound, in the 8th inning.  In fact, I rewound it and watched it a second time with my son.  Mariano Rivera is retiring from the game after 19 years in the major leagues.  I remember when he started playing.  He came into the New York Yankees organization as a set up man for their then closer, John Wetteland.  Now, when he enters a game, the song “Enter Sandman” blares from the stadium speakers as his job is to put the other team’s batters to sleep by getting them out and ending the game.  He has over 600 saves credited to his account in the major leagues.  Awesome!

Now I am not a New York Yankees fan by any means or stretch of the imagination.  I am a Boston Red Sox fan and of course, Texas Rangers fan.  But what I witnessed last night was a champion entering his last Major League All Star Game ever.  He will be a Hall of Fame inductee without question.  However, what I was able to teach my son last night through the game of baseball was even greater than his last game.  You see, Mariano Rivera is one of the most respected players in the major leagues.  In fact, the person that he is caused his peers to do and exemplify some amazing character traits that each of them have at a time when the world wants each of them to scream, “Hey, look at me!”  They screamed, “Hey!  Look at Him!”

You see, both the American League team and the National League team stayed in the dugout and it was just Mariano Rivera and the catcher out there to warm up.  Not even the position players took the field.  Those players taught a me some valuable lessons and gave me opportunity to teach my son.

3 Lessons that I Learned from the All Star Game.

1. Respect those Who have gone before you.
2. Honor those who deserve honor.
3. Humility is best worn when Pride is desired.

Those players paid tribute to a man who has gone before them and set a benchmark in the game.  They honored him by staying in the dugout to give him the big stage.  And in a day and age where humility is left for those who are usually never seen, they set aside their pride and wore the uniform of humility to show honor and respect.

Who has gone before you that is worthy of honor and respect?

What is stopping you from showing them?

How can you set aside your pride and wear the uniform of humility to show that person or persons respect and honor?

It is only fitting that I close this writing, in honor of Mariano Rivera by saying,

GO SOX!

He would appreciate it!

4 Ingredients of a Good Reputation

John Wooden, the great coach of the UCLA Bruins and greater man of character, would spend countless minutes in his practice sessions building his player’s character rather than working on basketball skills.  He would teach them and pour into the character of the individual by teaching his ‘pyramid of success’.  John Wooden felt that if he could build the man’s character, then basketball would take care of itself.  It worked…his teams won 10 National Championships in 12 years and in those 10 championships, they won 7 in a row.  He was the National Coach of the Year 6 times.

His teams always had a reputation for playing hard the entire game.  They had a reputation for winning.  Their reputation, or what others believed to be truth about them, was an outflow of the character traits that Coach Wooden spent countless hours instilling into their lives.  Coach Wooden said it best when he said,

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

Character and reputation go hand in hand.  In fact, your reputation is forged by your character.  You can spend 20 years building your reputation and lose what you built with one misstep.  Now that may seem like a lot of pressure that one is putting on themselves to constantly live a life that lives up to their standards they have set for themselves.  I would argue that if you are the one that set your standard bar, then there is no pressure to live up to it.  I also believe that a person will try to achieve their expectations no matter how high they may set them.  In this day and age, I believe that the greatest tragedy and disservice that we can do for the younger generation is to allow their standards to be set too low.  Without lofty expectations, the results experienced are low.  It has been said that the greatest enemy of great is good.

As a parent, it is my responsibility to instill in my children the necessary character traits that will help them to succeed in life.  I don’t want them to have the necessary skills to ‘just get by’.  I want them to excel.  I want them to set their standards high.  I want to inspire them to greatness!  I want them to dream and have the character to reach for their dreams.  I also want them to have a good reputation.  Your reputation is important!  In fact, Luke the Physician wrote in the Acts of the Apostles concerning Timothy, in Acts 16:2-3,

2 Timothy was well thought of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium, 3 so Paul wanted him to join them on their journey. In deference to the Jews of the area, he arranged for Timothy to be circumcised before they left, for everyone knew that his father was a Greek.

This stemmed from his character that was handed down from his parents.  I believe that there are 4 ingredients of a Good Reputation.  This is what I hope to instill into my children and I want to share them with you today.

• Love– Love God with all your heart and your neighbor as your self.
• Truth– Always be truthful even and especially if you are wrong.  When you tell the truth, you never have to remember what you said that was a lie.
• Honor– Live a life that will honor God and make His name known.  Live a life that brings honor to God, your parents, grandparents, your family and your children.  You represent more than just yourself when you are alone or in a crowd, you represent all of the above.
• Serve– Dedicate your life to serving God and always listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Serve at places like your church, community, family, neighbors and friends.  Take the initiative and serve others when you see something that needs to be done, do it without being asked.

When these ingredients are thrown into the mix of a person’s life, your character will become the strong foundation that your reputation is built upon. With this recipe, I leave you with this statement and 3 questions.  Some people change jobs, mates and friends, but never think of changing themselves.

• What are the ingredients that you are putting into the character mix of your life?  Your Family?  Your Children?
• What are your goals and dreams as an individual?  A family?  
• Are you striving for great or settling for good?

5 Things God Requires of You

I am a big believer in planning. I utilize ‘to do’ lists throughout my month, week and day. One of my mottos that I have adopted, I heard at a John Maxwell Leadership conference. It simply says,

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

 

Since then, I have become more determined to live a more planned out life with plenty of wiggle room for those things that seem to spring on me without any notice. You know…life. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t PLAN to “interact with kids” or “dinner with my wife”…those things take precedent over any and everything on my schedule. Appointments get bumped, moved or cancelled when it comes to my family. If I am in a meeting and my wife calls, the meeting is on hold. Why? Because I also tend to be a worrier. I immediately start playing out worst case scenarios. It is just how I am wired. I am a problem solver. That can be good or bad.

I came across a passage of Scripture that gave the Children of Israel a “checklist” of what God expected from them. Now, before you start thinking, “That was the Old Testament, we live under the New Testament.” These truths given to the Israelites were reinforced all throughout the New Testament. So…get rid of your excuses… Look at what Deuteronomy 10:12-13 says,

Scripture:

Deuteronomy 10:12-13

12“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul.13And you must always obey the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good.

Observations:

Here the Lord lists what He expects from His people.

• Fear the Lord
• Live to please Him
• Love Him
• Serve Him with your whole heart
• Obey His commands

Why does he require this from His people? It is for their own good.

Application:

If I want my best interests to be at the forefront of God’s mind, then I need to live to fulfill what He wants as my Lord and Savior. Living these 5 things out leads to a life of righteousness and ultimately reveals our devotion to God.

Make no mistake about it, living out these 5 things is much more than a checklist that you can go down and mark as completed. God wants to be more than a ‘to do’ list, He wants a relationship with YOU! In fact, these things won’t be completed until we are with Him in heaven. Checklists make my day simpler…God makes it simple for His people. Accept His grace and mercy and continue to live a righteous life in His sight.

How are you focusing on the 5 Things?
Are you living a “checklist” with God or a relationship?

 

Prayer:

God, I thank you for your love, your mercy and your grace. I pray that you would bless my work today and help me reach my goals. I pray that you would help me to be a light in a dark world. Bless my family and keep them safe throughout their day. All these things I ask according to Your Word and Your Will. Amen!

Omnipotent Boss

I love the CBS television show, Undercover Boss!  In fact, while I was in Richardson, TX, I found myself eating at a local restaurant just across the street from an immigrant to the United States from Russia.  He was on Undercover Boss working for 7-Eleven as a delivery driver with the hopes of one day owning his own convenience store.  As the show progressed and he took his “trainee” out for deliveries, he corrected, taught, instilled trust between the workers in order to do the best job for the company he could possibly do.  Little did he know that this “trainee” was the CEO of 7-Eleven.  You can read the Dallas Morning News article about Igor Finkler and his experience on Undercover Boss here.

I love this story!  In fact, when I walked across the street to the store to see if I could meet Igor, the worker’s said, “Go ahead, he is around the corner in the office…he would love to meet you.”  That day, I met the man who is living his dream.  One thing that Igor said that stuck with me that day was this, “I am a nobody that worked hard.  My work somehow got noticed and now I am living my dream.”  He then said, “I would rather push a broom sweeping up the worst filth in the United States of America than be a dignitary in my former country.”  Wow!  What a powerful set of statements he shared!  The CEO of 7-Eleven changed Igor’s life!  Igor was given his own franchise in one of the busiest areas of Richardson, TX.  I guess it does pay to sweat the small stuff!

Luke, the physician/disciple of Jesus, describes Igor’s journey this way in Luke 16:10,

If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones.  But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater things.

I love this!  Why?  Because faithful, trustworthy handling of small things builds trust with the person that is asking you to take responsibility for them and handle the issues they want completed.  It is character building.  It creates an ethic of dependability in and individual.  Once trust is gained and dependability built, larger assignments can be given and trusted to be completed.  However, the converse is also true.  If dishonesty, unfaithfulness and being undependable are evident, then greater assignments will not come.

I remember when I first went to a bank to get my first loan.  I went with my grandfather and my dad.  We walked in to the bank and I asked for my first loan of $1000.  There was one piece of paper that I filled out.  What was interesting about this paper was it just had my name and the amount.  It was and IOU!  I didn’t even have a place to sign it.  The deal was sealed with a question from the banker about repaying the amount and a handshake.  That was it!

People need to return to a lifestyle of honor and being people of their word.  Faithfulness is being true to your word and following through with what you say you will do.  When I am trusted to do the small things and have proven myself trustworthy, then larger responsibilities come my way.  I paid back the loan in full, early!  What was the beginning of my credit history, with the $1000 loan, now has helped me to buy cars, houses and even start my own business.  These things come from God.  These larger things may show up on your job, community, family or other unseen ways.  But, they are the result of being found faithful by the Omnipotent Boss.  Now for the bad news…the opposite of this is true as well.  If I would have been found to be untrue to my word with that $1000 loan, then I would have had a different path to redemption to take.  Trust would have been abated and I would have been stuck in my own consequences of dishonesty.

My prayer is the God continues to find me faithful and keeps his hand on my life…what about you?

What are some of the little things that God entrusted you with?

How did you handle those things…faithfully or dishonestly?

What larger things are you currently handling now?  

Is the ethic of dependability on display or are you being caught in the trap of dishonesty?

Leadership Lessons from 10 Year Old Softball Team

Some of my greatest teachers and role models have been my coaches.  There is no greater influence on an athlete’s life than that of his or her coach.  I have to admit, I have had some great coaches in my life.  Each one has helped form my way of approaching life.  Each one had expectations from the team, the unit and the individual.  Perfection was not something that was unattainable, rather it was expected.  Becoming fundamentally sound was not an option.  There were no shortcuts.  When you took shortcuts, you were cheating both yourself and your team.  It was unacceptable.  In my mind, it is still unacceptable.

My youngest daughter plays softball.  I find it funny that I am saying some of the same things to her and my other kids, that my coaches said to me.  She is 10.  Her team is a good little softball team.  While usually I would be in the dugout coaching, this season, I have taken a different approach.  I am a parent.  When you sit in the stands and are a parent, you get to hear some things in the grandstands…well, actually a lot of things.  But one thing you can do is learn and re-learn some leadership principles that are fundamental to any organization.  In fact, they will make you fundamentally sound.  I want to share 3 leadership lessons I learned from my daughter’s 10 year old softball team.

1.  Morale is the key to victory.

Morale is the confidence, enthusiasm, and discipline of a person or group at a particular time.  With 10 year old girls, morale is sort of a roller coaster ride.  It is up one minute and down the next.  A lot of their morale comes from the people on the other side of the fence…aka…parents.  Believe it or not, the girls hear everything that their parent says to them.  AND THEY BELIEVE THEM!  It affects them.  If you want your team to succeed, you need to manage your team’s morale.  In fact, try to keep morale at the top of the peak, people respond better when they are excited and happy.

2.  Set expectations high, but make goals attainable.

 

My coaches always stressed to us to be perfect.  They set an expectation.  However, they gave us goals to strive for as markers along the way to perfection.  Don’t get me wrong, perfection is like chasing the proverbial goose and virtually unattainable.  That is why they gave us markers from hitting behind a runner to advance them safely to the next base to knocking down a player so they couldn’t make a tackle.  Our girls goals were to  have good at bats.  Put the ball in play and move runners.  Being this was the first year they saw a girl their age pitching, they were still expected to hit nothing but strikes and score as many runs as possible, but strikes were few and far between and they had a goal of recognizing what a strike looks like from a live pitcher versus the pitching machine.  When you set expectations high, people will surprise you by trying to attain those expectations and ultimately attaining goals that were loftier than they would have ever set for themselves.

3.  Celebrate everything!

Everybody loves a great party!  I love to see teams do what I call the “Herd Jump”.  You know, they all huddle up and start jumping up and down in celebration.  When my kids were growing up, we celebrated when they threw something in the trash can!  When they went to the big boy/girl potty was a celebration almost as large as Christmas!  Everyone clapped, cheered, danced and stuck their chest out like, “Yeah, that is my kid!  He just made a boo boo in the big boy potty!”  Don’t try to pretend you haven’t done it.  Especially if you have kids.      I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t like to be congratulated on a job well done.  A pat on the back goes a long way, especially when it is done in front of others.  That is huge!  People like to be celebrated.  People like to celebrate.  The beauty of celebrating everything is this…it produces high morale!

Yes, I learned all this while sitting in the stands.  Know this, there is another side to leadership…the dark side. I am not talking about THAT in this writing.  That is for another day.

How are you creating High Morale with your team?  

What are some goals you can set for them to attain?  

What are your expectations?

Change…The most consistent thing in life!

I have been watching the Olympics!  I know, imagine that…it seems like it is on almost every station on television.  I must admit, I am surprised by some of the sports that are in the Olympics vs. some of the sports that are not in the Olympics.  I mean, how in the world is Trampoline considered to be a sport that the world should have athletes competing in and not softball or baseball?  I don’t get it!

What has been impressive to me is the dedication of these Olympic athletes.  I was particularly struck by the story of Sarah Robles, USA powerlifter.  She is dedicated to her sport!  In fact, part of her story is that her and her mother lived in their vehicle because they didn’t have money to pay for a hotel much less a home.  She works out two sessions per day with a private coach and was paid a stipend of $400/month from the US Olympic Committee.  She was definitely banking large sums of money…just kidding.  She left her home, moved to the training facility and began to work toward her dream of competing in the Olympics and representing the USA.  The interesting thing about her story is that she had never really done any powerlifting.  She was involved in track & field with the throwing events.  Her coach wanted her to do some lifting so she could throw further.  That is when her life CHANGED…

Even though people face change all the time, usually it is a scary proposition at best.  Change is uncomfortable.  Change is often times painful.  Change is consistent!  Whether or not we like to admit it, we are all faced with it.  I personally was confronted with change back in 2009.  I had to change my lifestyle.  Weighing in at 420 pounds and not being able to participate in the life of my kids jolted me into a reality that I had to make a change.  I had to choose, life or death.  I chose life!

 

I believe that there are things and times in our lives when God places seasons of change in our lives.  Our job is to figure them out and respond to His timing.  I want to share with you 3 Keys of Personal Change.

1.  The Excitement Key – Where and in what areas of  your life are you excited?  Ask yourself the question, “What would I do if I knew I could not fail?”  Pursue that change!  Why wait on life to pass you by and miss out on the things that you are most passionate about?  God has placed in you different gifts, talents and abilities to  do those extraordinary things He wants you to do.  Will you succeed or will you succumb?

2.  The Conviction Key – What are the things that guide your decisions?  What filters the way you live your life?  Personal conviction can be one of the most beneficial driving forces in a person’s life.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.(Hebrews 11:1 NRSV)

Dictionaries usually define conviction as a fixed or strong belief. Conviction is really much more than that. Your convictions include your values, commitments and motivations.

I like the definition of conviction I once heard from the great Bible teacher Howard Hendricks: “A belief is something you will argue about. A conviction is something you will die for!”

Our convictions determine our conduct. They motivate us to take a stand and to act according to our values.

3.  The Determination Key – John Mason wrote in his book, An Enemy Called Average, that “Faith that moves mountains always carries a pick.”  That statement sums up the process of determination that change brings to our lives.  I was watching ESPN and watched the story of a young lady named Bree McMahon.  I have to admit, it is a very moving story.  I highly recommend you watching this story…it will inspire you to become more determined in your pursuit of the change that God has placed in your life.  You can see the story called the Comeback here.

I leave you with 3 questions today regarding change…

1.  Where are you excited?

2.  Where are you convicted?

3.  Where are you determined?

When you find those answers, it is time to take up your pick and begin to move mountains.

Where Never is Heard, a Discouraging Word…

Each Summer our family would load up the family station wagon and head out on vacation.  It is one of our family values that there are many lessons that can be learned while riding with your family in a car across this great land of ours!  There are lessons in tolerance, patience, kindness, anger, warfare tactics, medical preparedness, comedy, rest, roadside dining, Americana, respect, music, teamwork, and that is to just name a few.  We would ride down the road singing together…boy that was a choir performance that I was glad wasn’t recorded.

One trip in particular, we loaded up and headed out to the Rocky Mountains.  We sang Home on the Range until we were sick of that song.  But I loved it. My grandparents were with us on this trip and this is where I learned my love of fishing for rainbow trout.  My grandfather loved to fish.  He made it his mission to pass that down to me and my brother.  We would wake up, get dressed and go get the rods, a stringer and bottle of salmon eggs and head out to catch our dinner.  We would try to stay as close to my papaw as possible to learn what he knew about the rainbow trout.  He would encourage us to find our own hole and fish it.  While sitting on a log watching our lines, he would talk to me.  You know, things that were a variety of topics.  Just passing time together.  Fishing.  He taught me how to unhook a fish and then put it on a stringer.  He taught me how to clean the fish, bread it, and fry it up for the family dinner.  Those were the best fish I have ever eaten!  The greatest lesson I learned those days was the lesson of encouragement.

The Range

My grandfather was an encourager.  He would get frustrated at times while I was wearing out his nerves with questions.  However, he never once didn’t answer.  He never once seemed as if he didn’t enjoy the time fishing.  He never once told me to shut my pie hole!  What I saw modeled that day was someone who had the love of Christ in them that also was willing to endure incredible amounts of questions fired at a rapid pace when we were supposed to be quiet…and fish!  Paul said it this way in 1 Thessalonians 5:11,

So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.

He built me up.  I guess now, I have kind of taken this task to hand.  My youngest daughter plays softball.  She is on a team that plays some tournaments from time to time.  Depending upon the tournament, we can either be the best team or we could be the middle of the pack or the team that is two and out.  This past weekend, we were in a tournament and made it to the Final Four teams.  At that point, we made our exit.  We finished 4th Place and really did it with flair.  We played about as poorly as we could have.  Of course, the previous 5 games didn’t hurt our effort…they were tired and hot.  I was talking with another parent and this particular parent was telling me how they were kind of disappointed in their daughter’s play for the tournament.  Keep in mind that these girls are 7-8 year olds.  I made the statement,

We can take this down two roads with our girls.  One we can tell them we are disappointed in their play or, we can tell them that they should be proud they finished 4th place in a tournament with good teams.  We can crush their spirit after they just played 6 games and gave all they had or we can tell them how proud we are of them for doing their best at all times.  I am going to focus on the positives rather than the inconsistencies.

Fortunately, this parent agreed and I actually heard them saying some of the same things we had just talked about to their daughter.  It was a great moment and the smile on their daughter’s face was irreplaceable.

This same attitude of building up one another was on display on my son’s baseball team.  This is Cole’s first season of playing baseball.  While he has a great time playing, he still is learning the game.  Cole got an incredible hit the other night in his game.  It was a double to the gap and yes, this an unashamed bragging on my kid moment.  It was a hit so hard, that he won the honors of receiving a game ball at the end of the game.  Until this night, all he had been doing is striking out, walking or getting hit by a pitch…however, this night…it all clicked.  You be the judge as to what it did for him…

One for the Gapper

What would happen if we all would begin to build each other up in life rather than focus on the negative?  What would happen if our life song would be Home on the Range…where never is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day?  What would you feel like if someone had something nice to say to you?  How would someone else respond if you said something encouraging to them?  Will you make it a point to be an encourager today, this week, this month?  Will you give someone a Daniel 10:19 moment this week?

“Don’t be afraid,” he said, “for you are very precious to God. Peace! Be encouraged! Be strong!” As he spoke these words to me, I suddenly felt stronger and said to him, “Please speak to me, my lord, for you have strengthened me.”