Executing Your Plan

You awake?

That’s what the text read at 11:00 one night last week. My son-in-law, Curtis.

Yes, I replied, and soon the phone was vibrating.

What do your kids or in-laws or whoever call you about at 11:00 pm? This one got interesting very quickly.

“Hey man, I was sharing this with Cassie about this and she said I should call you.”

Cassie also said later I should blog about it. So there. You’re welcome.

“This” was an insight into something that dates all the way back to Eden. It’s been rocking my world ever since. The implications of this idea are poignant and tragic, yet dripping with possibilities. [click to continue…]

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The only time anybody ever accepted responsibility for their lives and future is NOW.

Responsibility isn’t planned; no one ever scheduled responsibility or added it to their to-do list.

Nor is it calculated. You don’t sequence responsibility with a series of other steps.

Responsibility doesn’t look backwards. [click to continue…]

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God has ways of doing things.

His ways are different that our way of doing things.

There’s a way that makes sense to us, but the results are disastrous.

But God has different ways.

And He asks us to walk in all of them. [click to continue…]

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Navigating the turbulence and cross-winds, whether in life, work, or play, means mastering the art of the pivot.

To pivot is to change directions quickly in response to a new set of circumstances.

New opportunity? Pivot.

Setback?  Pivot.

The beauty of the pivot is that those do it well make it look as though it were completely planned all along. [click to continue…]

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(And You Can and Should, Too)

Travel with me to an ancient version of Death Row. A lonely old man sits in isolation – a rare occurrence for a life so well-traveled and surrounded with people. And he awaits his fate.

He’s a dead man walking.

Yet even though his body is scarred and his bones crooked from a hardened life, he doesn’t have the same despair or desperation that’s typical of someone living under a death sentence. In fact, he has – dare I say it? – a sense of satisfaction. Fulfillment. Maybe even a touch of pride.

How do I know? His own words.

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

Those words from Paul have carried a new fascination for me recently.  Here was a man who know what his life was about, and lived it. He followed the course laid out for him, and he finished it.

Put in other language, Paul had a vision, and throughout his life he stubbornly, doggedly, faithfully pursued that vision.  Doing so was costly in the short run. He was routinely run out of town, beaten to a pulp, deserted by his friends, and bedeviled by danger. But to him it was a price worth paying, to get to the end of his life with two things: [click to continue…]

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…for we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).

You and I are flex-fueled vehicles.

We are equipped to move forward,

powered either by confidence in the living God

or by what makes sense to us logically, emotionally, or sensually at the time.

There is a difference…  A massive difference.

What’s in your tank?

Here’s how you can know… [click to continue…]

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Opportunity Clarity Action

So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes (John 12:35).

There is clarity (Light).

There is opportunity (a limited time).

There is action (walk).

Clarity without opportunity calls for waiting, not walking.

Opportunity without clarity calls for caution and connection.

When clarity and opportunity converge, this calls for action. [click to continue…]

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Standing at the Door

(A re-examination of a previously-published post from 2007)

It was a poignant conversation that probably ended too quickly. I’m sure it called for a little more tenderness and empathy than I was offering at the time.  But hey, at least it was honest.

“I was saved at age 6, and Spirit-filled at age 9,” she said plaintively.  “Now I don’t even know there is a God.  How do I get my faith back?”

I blurted out an answer that distressed more than blessed…

“You start by showing up.”

I’m sure that wasn’t the answer she was looking for. But I still think it’s true.

When it comes to peace or healing or restoration or growth, human nature has a tendency to self-destruct.

How?

By isolating.

Withdrawing.

Withholding or running away from the situation.

The myth is that:

  • Church is for people who have God all figured out.
  • Marriage is for people who remain magically in love and intimate.
  • Financial planning is for people who have all the money they need to do what they want.
  • Friendships are for people who never get disappointed by other people.

It may be time for a healthy dose of reality. [click to continue…]

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businessman or writer, making notes in his diary notebook

Marvin and Dick were brothers and business partners.  Best friends too, if my suspicions were correct.  Well into their retirement when I first got to know them, I caught them both together one afternoon when Dick was in the hospital. There Marvin was perched in a chair beside his bed and they were visiting.

“Come on in,” Marvin said.  “We’re closing the books for the day.”

Turns out, through all their years in business together, every day at 5:00, the two would get together and evaluate the day’s business and plan for the next.  They called it “closing the books.”  This had become such a habit, when they entered their retirement years, they kept the practice going.

I’m pretty sure a cup of coffee was involved.  But regardless, day in, day out, every day at 5:00, these two men would meet together and “close the books.”  Even if one of them was in the hospital.

How about you?  Do you have a way to “close the books” on your day? [click to continue…]

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Seegulls lined up

In his book The Noticer, Andy Andrews offers this riddle:

Five seagulls are sitting on a dock. One of them decides to fly away. How many seagulls are left?

Answer: Five. Deciding to fly away and actually flying away are two very different things.

I don’t know who decided that the road to hell needed paving, but whoever it was picked some pretty good material. There will always be plenty of good intentions for people to talk about, and even satisfy themselves that having the intention is enough work for today. The problem is, they never get around to actually doing anything about the intention.

They were very sincere. But a lack of action made them sincerely wrong. [click to continue…]

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