LV Cycle

His Song of Peace

by Andy Wood on August 4, 2013

in Ability, Allocating Your Resources, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Love, LV Cycle, Principle of Freedom

Dock Empty ChairWhen you’re seven kinds of busy and 21 kinds of tired…

When you’re pulled in so many different directions you need a compass to find the bathroom…

When it’s bedtime and you just remembered that you forgot suppertime…

It’s time for a different tune.  It’s time for His song of peace.

 

When you speak all day with the language of engagement…

When you find yourself panting even while you’re sitting still…

When you’re feeling guilty because you’re not checking something off that stupid list…

It’s time for a different tune. It’s time for His song of peace. [click to continue…]

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God Bless the Broken Road

by Andy Wood on July 31, 2013

in Enlarging Your Capacity, Five LV Laws, Insight, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Principle of Increase

Broken RoadThis is a story about a father and son.

About a pathway to prosperity and strength.

About how that pathway separated them, then brought them back together again.

It’s a story of shattered dreams, unspeakable grief, profound loneliness, and the ultimate family reunion.

This is the story of the Broken Road, and how God used it in two people’s lives to rewrite history – theirs, and yours.

Psalm 105 contains an interesting description of the father, Jacob:

Israel also came into Egypt;
Thus Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
And [God] caused His people to be very fruitful,
And made them stronger than their adversaries.

Sounds simple enough.  But let me ask you a question. If you were going to write a plan to get somebody to a place of fruitfulness and strength, how would you script it?

Start with a dream, maybe?

Then a few targeted objectives?

Maybe a good strategic plan, with a collaborative partnership or two?

Throw in some hefty funding, maybe some high-dollar training, and a few little victories to establish momentum, and you’re on your way, right?

That’s not exactly how this story went down.  [click to continue…]

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All In

by Andy Wood on July 24, 2013

in 100 Words, Esteem, Five LV Laws, Following Your Passion, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Principle of Freedom

Uninhibited

I will give You thanks with all my heart;
I will sing praises to You before the gods (Psalm 138:1)

Gratitude is not for the half-hearted.

It’s all-in…mind, will, and emotions.

And it’s a choice, regardless of our current state. [click to continue…]

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Lost for Words

by Andy Wood on July 22, 2013

in Esteem, Following Your Passion, Life Currency, LV Cycle

Speechless LoveThere are over 3,000 words in the English language to describe some kind of feeling.  According to design student Pei-Ying Lin that’s about 21 words short. Lin, in working with colleagues from London’s Royal College of Art, identified 21 words from other languages for which there is no English word.  Example: The Russian word, Tocka, which means “Great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause…ache of soul, a longing with nothing to long for.”

You can find out more, and see Lin’s infographic, by clicking here.

Of course, what Lin has accomplished, while significant, is no real surprise – especially for anybody who’s ever found themselves not knowing how to express exactly how they felt.

Sometimes the gratitude is too great. [click to continue…]

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Ready for Action

by Andy Wood on July 19, 2013

in 100 Words, Executing Your Plan, LV Cycle, Photos

Action 41

They say timing is everything.

Action 11

And it certainly matters. [click to continue…]

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What to Do When Your Crown is Down

by Andy Wood on July 17, 2013

in Ability, Allocating Your Resources, Five LV Laws, Hoarders, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Pleasers, Principle of Abundance, Principle of Freedom

Water CrownEver see something funny that wasn’t intended to be? When language could be interpreted a bit differently than its original meaning?

Example:  One day when the kids were still at home we were on the way to school and passed a local hotel. In their attempt to be friendly to an industry meeting there, they posted this message on the marquee:  Welcome Pest Control.

Yeah, that’s probably not what you want to see when you’re checking in.

More to-date, once a year I teach a strategic planning class for Crown College – a fine Christian school in Minnesota. Like most schools, Crown has an online system for maintaining accounts, library access, classes and the like. In their case, it’s called “my.crown.”

A few months ago, Jeff, the IT guru there, sent notice that the system was having some technical problems.  The message:  My.Crown is Down.

Go ahead, call me weird. But put in a different context, I just thought that was sorta funny, in a Dr. Seuss kind of way. [click to continue…]

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Saints in the Hands of a Happy God

by Andy Wood on July 15, 2013

in Ability, Allocating Your Resources, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Principle of Freedom

Dancing on BeachIt’s my strength, Nehemiah says… the joy of the Lord.

It’s the result of an exchange, according to Isaiah’s prophecy.  The Spirit of God anointed Jesus to exchange my mourning and ashes for beauty and joy.  Surely you don’t think somewhere along the way He’s lost that anointing, do you?

Jesus later told his disciples that they would mourn (at his death), but that their mourning would be turned to joy when they saw Him again (after His resurrection).  News Flash!  In case you missed it, He’s still alive.

Moreover, Jesus said, as they asked in His name, they would receive, and their joy would be full.  So about that asking…

Joy is the fruit of the Spirit because joy is one expression of the character and nature of God.

It’s here that the Lord gets a bum rap. [click to continue…]

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Seven High-Performance Questions to Ask Yourself Daily

by Andy Wood on July 12, 2013

in Exploring the Possibilities, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Cycle

Yacht TeamI’m a huge believer that the quality of your life and leadership is the direct result of the quality of the questions you ask. Ask good questions, you get good answers and good direction. Ask lame questions, you get lame directions. Ask no questions at all, and you’ll soon be the blind bleeding the blind.

Here are seven daily questions any leader, parent, or achiever can ask quickly to zero in on the most effective use of your time and life. Answering any three daily can quickly shape your day and your influence.  Aligning the answers to all seven daily can revolutionize it.

This little collection uses the classic “five W’s and an H – who what, when where, why and how – with an added little bonus – an “if” question. [click to continue…]

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Don’t Forget Who’s Taking You Home

by Andy Wood on July 10, 2013

in Conversations, Following Your Passion, LV Cycle, LV Stories

Dancer posing in ornate gown

(A Truth Story…)

“Why won’t God just let me die!?” she asked in pained exasperation.

“Because He’s still waiting for you to get saved!” I retorted.

There you have it.  Now you know the kind of stuff Aunt Ruth and I used to talk about.

Aunt Ruth was neither my aunt, nor was she named “Ruth.” I named her that, and was the only person to ever use it. But she seemed to love it. And beneath her crusty exterior and sharp tongue she loved me. Except, of course, for the times she was laughing hysterically at me.  Or trying to teach me one of her “mysteries,” as she called them.  Then she was just being cruel.

Aunt Ruth was wise.  I’ve never had a relationship with anybody quite like her. We could talk about just about anything; that was rare for me in those days. I was a young pastor with an image to create and maintain. Aunt Ruth cut through all that like Sherman through Georgia. [click to continue…]

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How to Take a Spiritual Inventory

by Andy Wood on July 9, 2013

in Exploring the Possibilities, Five LV Laws, Insight, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Principle of Freedom, Principle of Increase

IMG_7524I love photography for two reasons. First, I love capturing light and images and special moments that I can share and re-live. The one to the left is a recent sample.

Second, taking pictures puts me on the right side of the camera.  As long as I can stay away from that nosy lens, I can imagine that I actually look the way I do when I look at myself in the mirror.  No awkward angles. No unflattering poses. No ruthless inventory of how I really look.

The same kind of thing happens in the spiritual realm. There are plenty of ways to pose so that we get a flattering, but dishonest look at ourselves.  That’s unhealthy for two reasons. First, it can put us in denial of something that can really hurt us in the long run. Second, it can produce shame that blinds us to our great, great value to God and to the world.

How would you like a strategy for taking an honest inventory of your heart and soul?

Wait.

Maybe I should phrase that a different way…

Do you need a strategy for taking an honest inventory of your heart and soul? I don’t really care whether you want it or not.

Here are eight questions that can turn the lights on in your spiritual life.  They can be used alone or together. You can go through them in 15 minutes, or an hour, or an entire day. The questions are based on Paul’s energetic series of charges to the Thessalonians:

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:16-22).

Take a few minutes or however long you can. Get alone with a journal, legal pad, or an electronic tablet and write down some notes based on your first response to these questions: [click to continue…]

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