Category Archives: Excellence

YOUR Olympics (a Post-Rio Reflection)

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olympic_ringsDid you get your Olympics fix this summer? Did you carve out enough time to vicariously swim, jump, lift, dive, tumble, and throw alongside the greatest athletes in the world?

Fortunately, for Jessica and me, this summer’s Olympic Games occurred in the middle of our ministry sabbatical so if you missed any of it let me know—we watched it all!

We have always been Olympics fans, and every two years we clear our schedule so we can cheer and cry and pretend that we too are being crowned champions in our chosen disciplines. When we lived in Colorado Springs we routinely visited the Olympic Training Center there so we could touch the spirit of the Olympics even in the off seasons. There really is something about the Olympic Games that strikes a profoundly deep chord in the human soul.

It might be the beauty of the different people groups of the world…it might be the brilliance of watching someone set records that no other human can attain…it might be the human interest stories that augment the tumbling of Simone Biles or the pole vaulting of Ashton Eaton…or it might be something else.

It might be that the Olympics are a metaphor for our lives. WE are athletes in training, contending for victory and mastery in life. The Apostle Paul realized this, and he sprinkled his letters with powerful Olympic imagery. He spoke of competing for a crown “that will last forever” (1 Corinthians 9:25), winning “the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14), and he compared Timothy’s calling to an athlete who longs to “receive the victor’s crown” (2 Timothy 2:5).

WE are Olympians. As the Rio Games fade into history, OUR Games are just beginning. What prize so consumes you that you are willing to sacrifice to attain it? What victory is so essential in your life that you will rival the work ethic of Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt in your whole-life pursuit of it? Let’s go for it! Let’s pay the price.

When the 2018 Winter Games commence in South Korea, let’s be transformed. When the 2020 Summer Games are inaugurated in Tokyo let’s be brandishing medals and crowns that will never fade away.

 

 

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Inspired when there’s no inspiration

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getinspiredIt’s easy to feel inspired when you’re inspired (and, yes, I do realize how silly and obvious that sounds), but what do we do when we’re not inspired and yet we’re still expected to perform?

How do we get inspired when nothing moves us or awakens our creativity?

The Apostle Paul expected Timothy to find a way. In 2 Timothy 4:2 Paul told his young disciple to, “Be prepared in season and out of season.” Paul knew there would be times when Timothy was in the off-season of his life—he wouldn’t feel especially motivated or prepared—and yet he still believed that Timothy could find a way to produce.

It’s great when we’re hit by moments of inspiration. It’s wonderful when ideas are flowing, interest is high, and we feel motivated to tackle the task at hand. However, we cannot become dependent on those times because the real treasure of life occurs in the uninspired, daily-ness of living.

We can’t wait to get externally inspired; we have to learn to summon it from within. Here are a few ways that we can do this.

  1. We can speak to our soul. In some of King David’s worship psalms he begins by speaking to his own soul, and then he ends by speaking to God. He begins with, “Praise the Lord, oh my soul” and He ends with simply, “Praise the Lord.” He speaks to—he engages—his own soul, and then once his soul is engaged the inspired emotion takes over.
  2. We can get to work, trusting that inspiration will follow. Creativity is like a muscle; the more we engage it the stronger it gets. As Thomas Edison famously said, “Genius is one percent inspiration ninety-nine percent perspiration.” We can wait around forever to feel inspired or we can get to work, knowing that inspiration will soon follow.
  3. We can remember that motion creates emotion. At least that’s what motivational speaker, Tony Robbins, tells his listeners. He says that if we will get moving—if we will rouse ourselves and move ourselves to physical action—the internal feelings of inspiration will begin to chase us down.

Whether it is natural coaching like Robbins’ or more spiritual counsel like David’s, the bottom line is the same. We can’t sit around until we get inspired. We have to get busy, faithfully doing what we know we are called to do, trusting that the inspiration will eventually find us.

Your top three words

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legacyThree words can sure say a lot. Especially if they are clarifying words that follow a comma. Examples:

“She is my mother, an amazing lady.”

“It’s my hometown, glad I left.”

“They’re serving Thai food, my favorite kind.”

A simple post-comma, three-word supplement can change the entire emphasis of a sentence. Consider the list of Jesus’ original twelve apostles as found in the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark. The final name on the list belongs to Judas, and in verse 19 it reads this way: “Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.”

It’s not just Judas. Nor is it just Judas Iscariot. It is Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.

That was his legacy. Those three supplemental words describe how Judas Iscariot will be remembered all throughout human history. He was the one who betrayed Jesus.

While we are still living we have a chance to answer the comma and determine what gets written after it. Someday our parenting will be described after a comma. So will our relationships and our ministries and the way we’ve lived our lives.

Let’s determine in advance what gets written there. It could read like the Apostle Judas’ or it could read like the Apostle John’s. Of John, the Bible says, “One of them, whom Jesus loved, was there…” (John 13:23 ESV)

If there is still breath in our lungs there is time to alter what comes after the comma. If you regret the words that are following you, it’s not too late to become a writer, and craft a different ending with your life.

YOU are the one whom Jesus loved.

Getting quieter and more boring

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shushI’ve noticed something about my personality lately. I’m getting a little quieter and a little more boring. At other times in my life this realization would have garnered some consternation and some possible insecurity. I might have tried to push back or compensate in some different ways.

But not this time. This time it’s different. It’s by design.

Over the past few months I’ve been trying to do a much better job of guarding my speech. I can relate to the words of Arsenius (Roman educator turned monk) who said, “I have often repented of having spoken, but never of having remained silent.”

In the past my humor or engaging conversations sometimes came with a price. I pushed the lines of sarcasm, or I said things that I regretted afterwards. I hate that feeling. I hate the cringing regret of saying too much, or speaking out of turn, or being mildly critical in my humor.

So I’m working on it. I’m biting my tongue. I’m passing up some really good jokes. Sometimes I feel awkwardly quiet, but I don’t feel regret.

I want my speech to be life giving. I want to heal and empower and speak to the destiny and potential of the people around me.

Some day I’ll be funny again. 🙂 But the jokes will never sting other people or cross lines of dignity or honor.

“Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” (Colossians 4:6)

In praise of the jack-of-all-trades

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swiss army knifeAre you a specialist or a jack-of-all-trades? Are you gifted in one or two highly focused skill sets or can you do a little bit of everything? If you were (or are) a doctor, would you be a family doc, skilled at diagnosing and treating a wide range of simple symptoms, or would you be a specialist, directing all of your faculties toward the curing of one specific human ailment?

Today’s entrepreneurial free market has given unprecedented rise to the specialist, the boutique, and the niche. For some, survival in today’s business climate has required them to focus their efforts on mastering a clearly defined niche of the market rather than trying to accommodate the full ranging needs of the average shopper.

Additionally, our star-stricken, celebrity obsessed culture directs nearly all of our attention toward the rare standout performers. We practically worship the top performers in a given sport or field of achievement, while seldom acknowledging the journeymen/women who faithfully show up and adequately perform a wide range of supportive job duties. Sometimes it’s good for us to pause and remember the journeyman (because most of us probably are the journeyman), and to remember that there is still—and always will be—a place for the jack-of-all-trades.

Can you imagine how frustrating it would be for a Swiss Army Knife to be expected to perform like a solitary screwdriver (or like a pair of scissors—have you seen the flimsy scissors on a Swiss Army knife??)? If you need to screw in a bunch of phillips-headed screws by hand you don’t want a Swiss Army knife or a Leatherman—you want a big screwdriver with a comfy handle. However, if you’re camping or doing small, around-the-house maintenance, the Leatherman/Swiss Army knife can’t be beaten.

So again…which are you? Are you a solitary screwdriver or a Swiss Army knife? Are you a specialist or a generalist? Remember, a world-class generalist is just as excellent and necessary as a world-class specialist even if there isn’t as much recognition or fame attached to that role.

My hope is that we generalists can be at peace with our gift-mix and find a place to serve where only jacks-of-all-trades can truly get the job done.

Peace out.

Don’t consult your greed

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scrooge mc duckEpic. Strategic. Helpful. Wise.

Max Lucado’s chapter “Don’t consult your greed” contains some of the best life advice that we could ever receive!

Here’s his punch line: when attempting to identify your ‘sweet spot’ don’t consult your greed. The God-ordained niche for your life will be outrageously significant; however, it probably won’t satisfy every greedy longing in your soul.

Mine won’t be fully satisfied either—no one’s greed ever is. As Epicurus, Greek philosopher from 300 BC, noted, “Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little.” Similarly, when John D. Rockefeller was asked, “How much money does it take to satisfy a man?” he replied, “Just a little more.”[1]

Perhaps your sweet spot will provide a comfortable living for you, but perhaps it won’t. Some people get paid to pursue their sweet spot, while others touch that place through volunteering. The primary goal is not to get rich by doing what we love, but rather to passionately and honorably pursue what we love, and then practice contentment with its results. Indeed, some people in their longing for more have accepted job “promotions” that have elevated them right out of their sweet spot. Consequently, rather than doing what they love, and learning to be content therein, they have gained a little “more” but have become miserably out-of-place along the way.

I know this perspective flies in the face of our American quest for “more,” and yet I wonder if our longing for more has caused us to become negligent or ungrateful for what we currently possess. Remember, Jesus said that tomorrow’s promotion is often tied to faithfulness today. “Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them” (Matthew 13:12).

Success is not defined by position or pay scale, but by doing what we do best as often as we possibly can.[2]

Grace Church summer reading program, The Cure for the Common Life, Chapter Five: “Don’t consult your greed.”

[1] Max Lucado, The Cure for the Common Life, Thomas Nelson Publishing, 2005, 43.

[2] Ibid., 47.

Fortune Cookie Wisdom

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fortune cookieWhat do you get when you combine steamed rice, greasy Mongolian beef, high MSG content, and a very out-of-date fortune cookie (I mean something besides violent stomach cramps)?

Last week, the answer was a Word from the Lord.

I was at a new Chinese joint, hoping to discover the perfect rice bowl (you know how rice bowls are–they’re either exquisitely divine or tragically destructive), when I got the word through my fortune cookie.

I was reviewing my sermon notes for “Ziklag” while I ate (Ziklag is my church’s monthly men’s gathering), and after finishing my meal and stowing my notes, I cracked open the cookie and dusted off the ancient wisdom inside. Before I tell you what I read, I should mention that the content of my Ziklag talk revolved around the importance of protecting and preserving our integrity as men.

As I unfurled the little, white fortune scroll, I expected to read something like, “Happiness will follow you” or “Be ready for new opportunities,” however, it was something else entirely that confronted me. The message read: “Take no risks with your reputation.”

I could have scrapped my entire sermon and simply passed around the cookie.

“Take no risks with your reputation.” 

That’s some of the best New Year’s advice we could receive, and if we follow that advice, guarding our integrity at all costs in this upcoming year, we will enjoy the priceless treasure of a clear conscience and a guilt-free heart. We’ll sleep well, knowing that the character we’ve built through our lifetime won’t be jeopardized by a careless, fleeting moment.

Our reputation will be safe.