It was a typical piece of junk mail – the next great offer, the last of the big bargains, real savings on my long distance, or something like that. Just before it sailed off into File-13 history, something at the bottom of the page caught my eye. It said: “Four things that you can never get back… the spoken word… your past life… wasted time… and neglected opportunity.”
Never has something so close to oblivion been so profound. So much of our lives are like the ebb and flow of the tides. So much comes and goes, only to come back again. But there are those other parts of our lives that are like a shooting star – they don’t come back. Other things may come that look similar, but that’s only a matter of appearance. Fact is, there are four things you can never get back. [click to continue…]
So have you had any disappointments?
That’s what an old friend asked me last week.
We hadn’t talked much in the last five years, and were in catch-up mode over lunch. Because of the really good things happening at our church lately, I had gushed a lot about how great things are. Then he caught me flat-footed with that question, and I gave him my best deer-in-the headlights gaze.
The answer was obvious, but I had to think a bit before I could actually name any. I finally regained my wits and offered a random list of times when Church World had punched me in the gut. But they were nothing, I hastened to say, compared to the joy and gratitude we were experiencing these days.
In thinking a bit more about the experiences I’d shared, I realized with stunning 20/20 hindsight that my disappointments weren’t all that random after all. [click to continue…]
What gets you to mash on the gas? To run, not walk. What gets you to turn off the TV, marshal all your forces, or move to the front of the line – even if you, like me, are a procrastinator?
There, I admitted it. I’m one of those people who dances with deadlines and lives by the motto, “Only do today what you can’t put off until tomorrow.”
But that doesn’t mean I never hurry. (After all, even the hare hurried when he woke up from his nap and found out he was losing to a tortoise.)
Yesterday I got a kick in the quick. It wasn’t so much a Jesus-jab in my procrastinating rear end as it was a moment of conviction that really captured my attention. More on that in a minute. As a result of God’s little attention-getter, I did some thinking. I’d like you to do the same: What do you hurry to do?
My Hurry Points
I found five things that get me to “grab a gear.” [click to continue…]
In the previous post I talked about the principle of planting abundantly. Today I want to tell you about somebody who did it.
I married an MK. That’s “missionary’s kid,” in case you’re uninitiated. It was enough of a culture shock to marry a Texan, but to say “I do” to somebody who could have repeated her vows in Thai if she wanted was really special. For 26 years I have heard the stories, met most of the major players, and lived vicariously through the memories, the loves, and the laughter of a family whose lives are invested to this day in Jesus’ mandate to take the gospel to the world.
All of that came calling the day after Christmas 2004. To this day Robin refers to the event as if it were a proper name – an evil killer who has somehow become an unwanted part of the family.
His name: Tsunami. [click to continue…]
(For once. Sort of. Actually, I didn’t have much of a choice.)
The house was quiet, as it usually is at 4:30 a.m. I was awake, stretched out on my face on the living room floor. I’d been studying the life of Abraham. I’d been studying my life, too. It was Fall 1997.
Two years earlier, I’d been through a “crash and burn” experience, followed by a difficult, but amazing healing and restoration process. Through it all, I had a more intimate relationship with the Lord, a greater marriage than ever, and an awesome relationship with my kids. I was serving on the staff of an exciting, dynamic church. Just one thing was missing.
“Lord,” I asked. “When will I get to be a senior pastor again?”
There as I prayed, Abraham’s faith became mine, and I received the freedom and faith to enter into new territory with the Lord.
“You haven’t told me what kind of church you want,” I heard Him say.
The faith began to rise, and I began to write: [click to continue…]
(And other lessons learned from The Senior Ladies Exercise Club)
I couldn’t help but overhear.
The way I figure it, the whole block could have overheard.
I didn’t make any New Year’s resolutions this year, but I did make a lifestyle change (hey, I’ve done it three days in a row – that ought to count for something). Yes, friends, I’m back in the gym.
I’m still trying to figure out the best time of day to work out. I think people like my associate, who works out at 4:30 every morning, need to work on a different kind of health, if you know what I’m sayin’. So yesterday, I show up about mid-morning, to find the parking lot completely full.
Not a good sign.
Well, maybe they’re all in a class or something, I hoped to myself, as I headed to the cardio room to resume my Couch-to-5k training schedule. To my chagrin, the place was packed. Every treadmill taken. And it was only when one became available and I nabbed it that I realized – I’d been sucked into the vortex of the Senior Ladies Exercise Club. They probably have their own name for it; that’s just my name for the Twilight Zone I was in.
The last time I was this surrounded was when I was asked to speak to a room full of women-only about Things Husbands Wished Their Wives Understood. They were a great group, really sweet and highly motivated. Didn’t matter – I was scared to death.
Anyway, there were three ladies on treadmills to the left, and what seemed like 93 to the right. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on October 28, 2008
in Ability, Allocating Your Resources, Consumers, Enlarging Your Capacity, Insight, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Money, Pleasers, Time
Here’s a little exercise we actually take worship service time to practice occasionally. Follow the instructions carefully (yes, I mean I want you to actually do this):
- Take a deep breath
- Let out half of it.
- Hold
- Smile
- Repeat the following out loud, in a calm soothing voice:
“No.”
Repeat this exercise regularly, just for practice, and as needed in live game situations.
Not, “No because…”
Not, “Maybe later…”
Not, “Let me pray about it…”
Certainly not, “See if you can find somebody else, and if you can’t, I’ll see what I can do.”
Learning to graciously, kindly refuse is one of eight steps to building or rebuilding margin in your life. Margin has to do with creating gaps – cushions of time, money, energy, or spiritual strength that act as living shock absorbers for those who have them.
Imagine how it could revolutionize your attitude, relationships, productivity, and health if the next time somebody says, “Got a minute?” you actually do! [click to continue…]
We pass a word around our office that my associate once used to describe me, and it stuck: Crispy.
He used it a few years ago when he and our office manager decided they’d seen enough of me in the state I was in and informed me that I was taking my wife on an R & R trip to the mountains. My reservations had been made, and they weren’t taking “no” for an answer.
I hope to God you have somebody who looks out for you like that. I wasn’t aware of how emotionally and physically fried I was. The sad truth about stress, crispiness, and burnout is that often others see their effects on us before we do.
It wasn’t the first time I’ve been crispy, and it probably won’t be the last. But there’s a further step that can be devastating. Burnout, in a clinical sense, means you have completely exhausted every form of energy necessary to continue. More than just losing interest (“I’m sort of burned out on jazz these days”), I’m talking about those times people go to their wells and find them completely dry. Times when people shock those who know them best by walking away from relationships, careers, or wisdom.
“Stress makes people stupid,” a management consultant once told Daniel Goldman. Burnout reveals it to the world.
So how do people get in such a state – past stress, past crispy, all the way to emotionally nuked? Let me suggest three quick and easy recipes for complete emotional, mental, or spiritual exhaustion: [click to continue…]
Hoarding’s back.
I’m sure it never went away, but it’s been back in the news over the last month. Banks are hoarding money. People worldwide are hoarding rice. Myanmar officials and residents are warned about hoarding aid.
People are scared, and when they’re scared, they hoard. OR, somebody else hoards and looks to make a killing off the really scared people.
In a previous post, I mentioned that there are four alter-egos to LifeVestors – consumers, hoarders, gamblers, and codependents. Hoarders are the most unique of these. While consumers live as if there is no tomorrow, hoarders live as if there is a tomorrow, and wherever/whatever it is, it’s gonna be ticked off. Hard. Terrible. And we have to plan for it today.
It’s one thing for literally starving people to make sure they have something to eat for the next few days. It’s another to live with a spirit of fear, even while you’re being wonderfully blessed.
It’s one thing to save and invest for retirement or a rainy day. It’s another thing to create an ongoing bunker mentality based on fear of the future.
[click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on April 23, 2008
in Allocating Your Resources, Consumers, Enlarging Your Capacity, Executing Your Plan, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Money, Principle of Increase, Time
I mentioned in my previous post that it’s possible to live in such a way that laughs at the future. Just so we’re clear, we’re in “life hack” territory. We’re talking about what to do with your money, your time, your relationships, your attitudes, and your spirit.
Look at this biblical description:
“She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.” (Proverbs 31:25)
What is it about this woman that put her in a place where she wasn’t wringing her hands every time somebody predicted the end of life as we know it?
1. Establish trust in those who know you best.
“Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good, not harm,all the days of her life” (v. 11-12, NLT).
For years I assumed that her husband trusted her in a moral sense, but this is much deeper. This man trusted her with his business, his family, and his money. She had earned his trust. How? By adding value to his life.
By doing a little more, being faithful to tasks assigned, or by keeping the trust of those who know you best, you create a compelling future. Take it from somebody who has both earned and betrayed trust: it takes months and years to earn trust, and you can destroy it – and your confidence in the future – in a matter of minutes.
2. Buy like an investor, not like a consumer.
[click to continue…]