Principle of Legacy

Why Would Someone Violate Their Own Standards?

by Andy Wood on May 2, 2012

in Consumers, Five LV Laws, Gamblers, Hoarders, LV Alter-egos, Pleasers, Principle of Abundance, Principle of Eternity, Principle of Freedom, Principle of Increase, Principle of Legacy

I have an urgent news flash for you:  Just because you know something is wrong, that doesn’t mean you’ll avoid it.

Shocking, I know.  And the corollary is also true: Just because you know you’re supposed to do something, that doesn’t mean you’ll do it.

Suppose you could interview Jonah – the Old Testament’s version of Gilligan – and ask him what the most important requirement was for prophets. What do you think he’d say?  My guess is that he would tell you that a prophet’s number one job is to speak what he hears the Lord saying to speak.

Why, then, did Jonah have to travel from the boat to the belly to the burp to the beach before he decided to do what his own standard said to do?

Resurrect a first-century Pharisee and ask him what it took to please God, and you’d probably hear something about keeping the law and prophets, serving God and walking in humility and discipline.

Why, then, did Jesus refer to the scribes and Pharisees as unwilling to lift a finger to meet a need, doing all their deeds to be noticed by men, loving the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and insisting on being called by respectful titles in public?  If serving God faithfully was so important to them, why did the Son of God warn people not to be like them?

Whenever the bad news breaks out about somebody who has shocked us with their oh-no, no-no behavior, we often ask silly questions like, “Well didn’t they know that was wrong?”  Of course they did.  Why, then, would someone violate their own standards of right and wrong?  [click to continue…]

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Gam-lang Jai

by Andy Wood on April 16, 2012

in Ability, Enlarging Your Capacity, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Principle of Legacy

Robin and Gift

It was a fairly eclectic group gathered around the dining room table Saturday night.  A combination of old friends and acquaintances, family, and a special friend who had literally traveled around the world to be here.

All eyes were on our Thai friend Gift, who had come from Bangkok with her son Dift to stay with us for four weeks.  She was sharing with those who came to her “welcoming party” about the dream she had to establish an export business.

The goal:  to support her husband Dui’s ministry among the three distinct congregations, Bible study groups and the additional pastor training ministry he has established.  Also to give Thai women an opportunity to earn a living in keeping with their considerable work ethic and skill.

Gift designs exquisite jewelry and has a growing team of Thai women who are able to make her designs by hand using certified-authentic gemstones from China and other places.

After sharing her brief story and dream, Gift’s focus changed to address my father-in-law, who was seated at the table with us. He had left Thailand with his family when Dui was just two years old and Gift was one.  Though he hasn’t lived there since 1974, because of his frequent returns and ongoing relationships, he remains a hero there to this day.  And that was the word – hero – that Gift used to describe how she and her husband saw Dr. Willis.

“We pray that we can have the same…” Gift was saying, and she paused, looking to no avail for the right English word.  Finally, all she could do is say it in Thai.

“How do you say, gam-lang jai?” [click to continue…]

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Never Let Go

by Andy Wood on April 11, 2012

in Five LV Laws, Following Your Passion, Life Currency, Love, LV Cycle, Principle of Legacy

We live in a disposable culture.  “Old” has been redefined by phone companies in terms of seconds, and kommitment has been karikatured by kertain kelebrities as a multimillion-dollar hoax. And in a culture where the official religion is the Church of Relative Truth, disposing of beliefs or vows is old news.

Science has made recycling possible, but we’ve taken the plunge with some things – and people – that never should have been “cycled” in the first place. It’s one thing to recycle McDonald’s napkins; recycling children is another story.  And some people recycle relationships with little more care than they might recycle motor oil or a milk jug.

Of course, some things should be disposed of, either because they’ve satisfied their purpose or because they hinder our growth and progress.  Henry Cloud, in his must-read book Necessary Endings, says,

“Getting to the next level always requires ending something, leaving it behind, and moving on. Growth demands that we move on. Without the ability to end things, people stay stuck, never becoming who they are meant to be, never accomplishing all that their talents and abilities should afford them.”

We can’t be free to let go, however, until we have some clear life anchors – those beliefs, relationships, and commitments that keep us grounded and pointed in the right direction.  Simply put, there are some things you should never let go of.  The question is, how do you know what to throw away and what to keep?  What’s the difference between a relationship or belief that serves as an anchor and one that is more like a ball-and-chain?

Here’s where I would start in your search for life anchors: [click to continue…]

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What I Learned from My Top Ten Leadership Mistakes

by Andy Wood on March 21, 2012

in Enlarging Your Capacity, Five LV Laws, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Pleasers, Principle of Legacy

There’s a well-known philosophy in some leadership circles that leaders never admit their mistakes.  This being an election year, you can expect to see that in full force.

The problem with that philosophy is that being in a position of leadership – formally or informally – puts you out in front of people where they can see your mistakes loud ’n’ clear.  So when you pretend you don’t have any, you look worse than proud.  You look rather stupid.

The biggest issue with mistakes in leadership is not whether you make them, but whether you repeat them.  Show me a politician, a corporate executive, a pastor, or any other form of “leader” who dodges the issue of failures, I’ll show you a leader destined to repeat the same mistakes.

On the other hand, if it’s true that being a leader means being “first learner,” then one of the best places to start is with your own lessons learned the hard way.  Here are 10 lessons I learned by getting it wrong before I ever got it right: [click to continue…]

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What Do People Expect You to Lead Them to Do?

by Andy Wood on February 29, 2012

in Five LV Laws, Following Your Passion, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Cycle, LV Stories, Principle of Legacy

It’s time to come clean.  It’s time to break 30 years of silence, to lay the rumors to rest and answer the burning question that has followed me since the early 80s.  And I decided that rather than have all the drama of a press conference or something, you should be the official witness.

What’s that?  No, sorry, I don’t have the original formula to Coca Cola.  No, I don’t know what happened to D.B. Cooper.

What I’m going to finally tell the world is why I chose David Garland as my Hebrew professor.

I know, I know.  This is big.  But I’ve given it some thought, and I have my reasons for sharing it now, and in this format.  Stay with me, okay?

Dr. Garland was a distinguished and beloved Old Testament and Hebrew professor at Southwestern Seminary from 1958 to 1991.  But I didn’t pick him because of his Old Testament or Hebrew wisdom. [click to continue…]

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Thinking Your Way to a Beautiful Life

by Andy Wood on February 8, 2012

in Esteem, Exploring the Possibilities, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Pleasers, Principle of Legacy

I know what you’re thinking right now.

You’re thinking, “No you don’t!”

I know… scary isn’t it?

Know what’s even scarier?  Anybody who knows you at all can follow you around for a week and know what you’ve been thinking for the past year.  That’s based, of course, on the biblical principle, “As he thinks within himself, so he is” (Proverbs 23:7).

Your life today is the result of your thinking.  It may not always affect your circumstances, but it always affects your character.  Your disposition.  Your emotions.  Your perceptions.  Yes, your faith.

If you have any intention of designing a compelling future, it’s time to accept responsibility for the role your thoughts play in creating it.  After all, your thoughts have produced the person you are right now.

That’s why the Bible gives such attention to your thoughts.  Jesus said to love God with all your mind.  Paul talks about renewing your mind, and not thinking of yourself more highly than you ought, but thinking soberly.

Recently I reread a familiar old verse and it rocked my world a little. [click to continue…]

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Dear Cason

by Andy Wood on January 5, 2012

in Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Love, Principle of Increase, Principle of Legacy

You entered our world today – January 5, 2012 – a little early, but with no shortage of anticipation, excitement and joy.  We have known for some time that your big brother Cohen would be sharing playing time with a little brother.  But that’s not the same as being able to see you, hold you, delight in you, and brag on you to the world.

Game on.

Let the seeing-holding-delighting-bragging begin!

The world you have been born into is a strange and beautiful place.  Right now in places like New Hampshire and South Carolina, Republican presidential candidates are courting actual votes of real people in primaries, after spending a year courting poll results and press attention.  All of that for the privilege of challenging President Barak Obama in this November’s election. [click to continue…]

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Making a Difference in the Life of a Child

by Andy Wood on November 16, 2011

in Ability, Allocating Your Resources, Esteem, Five LV Laws, Insight, Life Currency, Love, LV Cycle, Principle of Legacy

Cohen and Me on a Trash Run

It’s a familiar old friend, comfortable as a favorite pair of shoes.  Brokenhearted parents cling to it, and eager young parents rise to it.  It’s a friendly reminder to us all that there’s a higher purpose in the midst of our most frustrating and confusing days.  And yet it can say so much more to us than we ever dreamed possible:

“Train up a child in the way he should go,

And when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

We all know what that means, right?  It means when you have children, if you get them involved in church, discipline them properly, and teach them how to behave, then when they become adults, they will live consistently with the things you tried to teach them.  If you teach them to have high moral values as children, they will have high moral values as adults.

Right?

Wait a minute.  How do you respond to the mom or dad who doesn’t understand why their adult children don’t go to church like they do?  What do you say to the parent whose children have rebelled against their high moral standards and have rejected their values?

I’m convinced that many of us have missed some exciting possibilities because of the limited way we have interpreted this verse. [click to continue…]

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Give the Lonely a Reason to Believe

by Andy Wood on November 4, 2011

in Allocating Your Resources, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Love, LV Cycle, Principle of Legacy, Time

I will give the lonely a reason to believe in companionship again.

And in so doing, I will banish loneliness from my own heart forever.

-from The Encourager’s Creed

Somewhere near you is an Eeyore in Tigger’s clothing.  They’re bouncy, flouncy, trouncy, pouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun on the outside.  But on the inside they’re desperately alone and resigned to eating thistles.  And you can make a difference.

There is somebody not far away who is adored for all they do and have to offer.  They have no shortage of attention, compliments, and outright praise.  Yet for all the attention and admiration they receive, they are profoundly lonely.  Why?  Because while many people are amazed by them, nobody seems to understand them.  But you can.

It’s the chameleon of the emotional world. It blends seamlessly into any environment, and play-acts with the best of the cons.  It can empower anybody to be hysterically funny in order to disguise the depression and isolation. It can offer wisdom or encouragement or insight to anybody else, but receives precious little in return. It can mimic the language of the spiritual, with talk of solitude and prayer and hearing God – yet all the while it disguises a relational wasteland. But you can (and should) break through all that.

Loneliness.  Ever since Eve and her husband were evicted from their first home, something in us has ached with a longing for companionship and deep connection.  We want to know we are searched (understood) thoroughly, known intimately, and loved unconditionally.  [click to continue…]

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What You Can Learn From a Ghost House

by Andy Wood on October 31, 2011

in Five LV Laws, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Photos, Principle of Legacy, Protecting Your Investment

I don’t know what else to call them.  But if they were all in the same vicinity or neighborhood, they’d be part of a ghost town.  They’re usually uninhabitable, with windows and doors gone or broken, and the roof letting in morning sunshine.

There’s at least one near you somewhere, but it may not be as easy to see as the hundreds that dot the wide open landscape near where I live.

Abandoned, but never empty.  For lack of a better term, I call them ghost houses.

Not haunted houses, though I’d rather not wander into one of these things after dark.  Broad open daylight either, for that matter.

Once upon a time these places provided a home for families.  Now they sit empty.  Sometimes the reason is obvious; sometimes it doesn’t make sense at all. Just in the last week I’ve seen several once-lovely and spacious homes now left to the elements, vandals, and critters.

Maybe someone died, and left no heir.  Maybe business dried up or sold out and forced a move.  Maybe the place got tied up in some sort of disagreement in court or with a bank.

Regardless, the end result is the same – empty, eroding testaments to lost usefulness and life.

Oh, if they could talk!  Oh, if they could teach us!

Call me weird (okay, who said that?).  But what started as a years-long fascination has led me to visit and photograph over 200 of these old places over the last week.  Most were houses.  But there are also old stores, gas stations, barns, schools, and even a few abandoned churches.

Some are part of the three certifiable ghost towns I’ve visited (a story for another day).  Most stand alone on the edge of town or in the middle of nowhere.

Nobody built one of these planning for them to sit desolate.  But sit they do.  And while the ghost houses have lost their primary purpose because nobody can actually live or work in them anymore, they being dead still speak.

And no, they’re not hollering, “Boo!”

They’re teaching some powerful lessons that speak to us as individuals and leaders, churches and organizations. [click to continue…]

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