Wrote a letter of recommendation the other day. That in itself is nothing unusual – I do that often and have done it for years. I often joke with whoever I’m writing it for that after I’m done I need a bath, or a priest or something.
“I’ve already lost the boots… I’m just trying to save the hat!”
But we both know I’m joking, and that I would never be deliberately dishonest – that would eventually catch up with them and me.
But between that and the opportunity I have to preach this weekend (here, if you are in the Mobile, Alabama area), I’ve been thinking about relationships.
(Preaching moment: Your life is the sum total of your relationships… with God, with others, and with yourself. As your relationships go, so goes your life. Okay, I’m done.)
This morning I was thinking about that reference letter, and about another one I wrote a couple of months ago. That one didn’t have to do with a job application, and it wasn’t even requested. I saw a friend and colleague’s LinkedIn profile, and spontaneously wrote a letter of recommendation for his professional practice. It was honest, heartfelt, and a total surprise, really to him and me both.
It was also a wonderful relationship builder. [click to continue…]
I want to tell you about Wayne.
Wayne is a painter, and he’s doing some painting at my house.
He’s very friendly, has great rates and does fabulous work.
But that’s not what’s remarkable about Wayne.
What’s remarkable is that he loves to paint.
Now I’ve painted for money before.
I don’t love to paint.
I’ve painted for free before.
Verdict is the same.
Wayne? He’s crazy. [click to continue…]
Ever have a conversation like this?
Whatever happened to ________? I really thought he was going places.
Not sure. Ever since [insert a distracting or demoralizing event] he never was quite the same.
I’ve witnessed countless scenarios like that one. I even lived out a few of them.
The idea of leadership is that you’re influencing people, formally or informally, to move together toward a certain goal. If it were easy, anybody could do it. But because you’re dealing with people, and because leadership often involves matters of the heart, it’s easy to find yourself sucked into leadership quicksand.
At best, it’s a distraction and you lose focus.
At worst, it can paralyze and ultimately destroy your influence.
Here are 10 sloughs to avoid (or get out of today) to allow your leadership to see another day: [click to continue…]
I pray that wherever you are in relation to your dreams – whether putting them to bed or waking them up – crying out for new visions or mourning the death of old ones – I pray that you would endure…
Not just in terms of putting one foot in front of the other (that’s survival), but in terms of first love – the endurance of the heart. Specifically I pray that… [click to continue…]
All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord… Psalm 145:10
This is a work of God.
This little guy has lived at my house longer than I have.
Throughout the summer he’s maintained this exquisite work of art, despite several collisions with humans.
He’s not alone.
He joins with all creation, using their gifts and design, worshipping their Creator.
And on days like this, I get to have a front-row seat.
Blue jays, cardinals and mockingbirds call to each other nearby. [click to continue…]
Somewhere near you there’s a frustrated pastor whose tried-and-true methods for leadership or church growth he has spent much of a lifetime developing aren’t working anymore. He’s too passionate to quit, but too tired to start over.
Somewhere down the road is an organization that once was the hallmark of success because of its ways of doing ministry or business. The strategy it perfected was brilliant and worked when others failed. Until it quit working as effectively.
Somewhere nearby a young man is giving up on everything he knew of the Faith as a boy. Why? Because his boyhood faith doesn’t give him answers to his adult realities and temptations. The problem is, he doesn’t yet have a man-sized faith to take its place.
In all three of these scenarios, as described in the previous post, somebody’s system was breaking down… And God has them right where He wants them. [click to continue…]
One day you’re going to use the same technique for praying that you have seen God respond to time and time again. But your prayer won’t get what you consider a positive response.
One day you’re going to claim that healing, rebuke that sickness, or do whatever you’ve done repeatedly to see the Lord respond in situations like that. But he healing won’t be coming. At least not the way you believed it would come.
One day you’re going to repeat the same steps or process you have used dozens of times before and seen genuine fruit or progress in your personal life or ministry. But this time it’s going to come up a bust.
One day you’re going to turn to your pet theology (excuse me… I mean your belief system), where things have made sense and given you wisdom, insight, and clarity for years. But this time your pet theology will have no answers.
And let me go ahead and cut to the chase – all of this is deliberate, and it’s God’s idea. [click to continue…]
But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day (2 Peter 3:8, NAS).
A Thousand Summers and a thousand more,
Your bride has waited and anticipated
That “blessed hope” You spoke in the language of forever.
Knowing we were born and born again for this,
We will hold on to Your promise and, if need be
Wait a Thousand Summers more.
So we wait, but never barren of Your presence,
And we hope, but never void of Your great care.
So we serve, with boldness standing on the promise
That a Thousand Summers never can compare. [click to continue…]
Cesar Malan was a famous minister from Geneva. He showed genuine interest in the spiritual welfare of anyone he met. And get this! He would actually ask them about it!
Once Malan asked a woman he had just met about her relationship with God. Caught off guard, and somewhat annoyed by his question, she curtly said she didn’t care to discuss the matter.
Apparently this wasn’t the first time Cesar had faced such a response. The minister kindly assured her that he would be praying for her salvation.
It wasn’t long before circumstances brought the two together again. As they talked, it became apparent to Pastor Malan that the Lord was responding to his prayers. The once-antagonistic woman had recognized her spiritual need. Now she was asking him what was required to become a follower of Christ.
The preacher replied, “Come to Him just as you are.” [click to continue…]
The original premise of LifeVesting is, what would happen if we applied principles of financial investing to all the areas of our lives? Some of the things we have explored in the process are:
- There are four – and only four – things you can spend your time and money on.
- It is possible, like the Bible’s “Proverbs 31 woman,” to position yourself so that you laugh at the future rather than worry about it.
- God has an economy and you can be rich in it.
Nearly ten years after my son proposed the idea, it still intrigues me. Lately I’ve been thinking about some wisdom I got from my friend Kirk the Builder. Kirk works for a major contractor who has built multi-million-dollar facilities all over the country. One day we were having lunch and talking about the biz, and Kirk shared some profound wisdom.
In construction, he said, people can pick any two of three options: good, fast, and cheap. We want all three, but we can’t have all three.
We can have good and fast, but it won’t be cheap.
We can have good and cheap, but it won’t be fast.
We can have fast and cheap, but it won’t be good.
What intrigues me about that is that the principle isn’t limited to bricks-and-sticks construction. [click to continue…]