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Joy Comes to the House of Affliction

by Andy Wood on December 20, 2013

in Life Currency, Love, LV Stories, Words

An imaginary story of what could have been…

Olive ChaliceEvening falls quickly in Bethany, as the sun seems to drop like a rock on the other side of the mountain, and beyond that, the Holy City of Jerusalem. And in this village – whose very name means “house of affliction,” the mood often seems to do the same.

There always seems to be something else to do in Bethany, this place of never-ending chores.  This village, one of three in Israel set aside to treat the sick, is a place of care and service. Duty and devotion.  Its residents usually find a sense of satisfaction there.

But not this time.

Not when duty and devotion means saying good-bye to one of its own.

One of Bethany’s most cherished servants, from a deeply respected family, has died giving birth to a beautiful baby girl.  And in this House of Affliction, the hits just keep on coming.

The official time of mourning now passed, duty calls, and the people of Bethany, still reeling, must man their stations.  And as 12-year-old Martha trudges through her evening chores – something she once relished doing with her Mama – no one feels the unfairness of it all more than she. [click to continue…]

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How Does if Feel to Be So Interesting?

by Andy Wood on September 25, 2013

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

Magnifying GlassesI have found someone who’s interested in you. In fact, He’s downright fascinated by you, and apparently wants you to know it.

He also happens to be the One who created you.

And He’s so crazy about you, He just can’t take His eyes off of you.

Here’s what David said when he discovered this powerful truth:

O Lord, You have searched me and known me (Psalm 139:1).

As I read this verse a couple of days ago, I was prompted to read between the lines a bit of what the Greeks called perfect tense.

O Lord, You have searched me, and I remain thoroughly searched. You have known me, and I remain completely known.

This is not the idle curiosity of a God who is fascinated by what He doesn’t know or hasn’t figured out. It’s the love interest of the One for whom the highest expression of love is to accomplish a thorough search and display a complete understanding.

Have you ever loved the beauty of a rose so much that you studied every inch of it? Have you ever been so captured by the rhythm, melody, harmony and lyrics of a song that you played it over and over again, just to hear something new? Have you ever studied a riveting photograph or painting, poring over every detail out of deep appreciation for the artistry involved?

That… [click to continue…]

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How to Get Your A-Game Back

by Andy Wood on August 19, 2013

in Consumers, Exploring the Possibilities, Five LV Laws, Hoarders, Insight, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Principle of Abundance

NotebookGot caught last week.  I’m talking deer-in-the-headlights, flat-footed, let-me-know-if-I’m-drooling caught.  All with a simple question.

I was having lunch with a friend to told me he got caught flat-footed with a question he didn’t have an answer for.  “So I thought I’d ask you the same question.”

Gee, thanks, I think.

The question:  What are you looking forward to right now?

Huh?

Say that again?

What are you looking forward to?

“Duh….”

“I know, right!” he said gleefully.

I was coming off a couple of weeks of intense work, up until about 2:00 every night. I was in head-down, just-get-it-done mode.  Who has time to think ahead?

Precisely.

I had no clue how to answer that because I wasn’t looking forward to anything.

Enough about me.  How about you?  What are you looking forward to?

I’ve had some time to think about that question a lot since then.  Especially since Cassie, my daughter, came over the same night with her planning notebook for the Disney trip we’re all taking this Christmas, adorned with vintage Mickey on the cover.

I should probably confess here that my “anticipation” of a Disney trip for 11 people somewhere has the words “legalized theft” in it. But that’s beside the point.

The point here is that she’s living the trip now and we’re still nearly four months out. She’s already picked out the restaurants where we’re dining, gotten detailed maps of the whole Magic Domain, logged onto the advice sites as to how to avoid the long lines and all that.

In short, Cassie has her A-Game – her anticipation game – at least when it comes to Christmas this year.  And she was pretty inspiring to me to find my own.

Here’s the bottom line:  [click to continue…]

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Increase Your Options – Wisdom and Opportunities Will Follow

by Andy Wood on June 26, 2013

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

Celebration DessertWant to increase your expectations?  Increase your options.

Robin and I celebrated our 30th anniversary yesterday. To be honest, it started with little-to-no expectations. She had been feeling really bad pain-wise, then got a cold on top of that. The day was a work day for both her and me, and we both had a lot to do.  So we said all the right things and assumed we’d plan some other celebration later.

The one thing we planned, sort of, was dinner.

But there was one option we didn’t consider – the option that she would actually feel very good at the end of the day.

The cold was much better, she had less pain and more energy, and we had a really nice evening together. Fortunately in this case, when the new realities presented themselves, we were able to act on them.

The evening was made all the more special by Ralph, our server at the Longhorn Steak House.  Ralph saw his job as being more than taking orders and serving food.  He increased his options by becoming a celebration facilitator.  I actually heard him ask the table next to us, “Are you guys celebrating anything special tonight?”

Ralph saw to it that since we were there to celebrate, we would have a celebration.  [click to continue…]

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How Awake is Your Heart?

by Andy Wood on June 14, 2013

in Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Love, LV Cycle, Principle of Eternity, Waiting

Sleepy 2Psssssst.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Helloooooo.

Sorry to interrupt you in the World of Slumbering Hearts, but we should talk.  You’re probably reading this in the middle of the day, but I’m writing it in the middle of the night.

Sometimes I get to thinking when I probably should be sleeping.  It works out OK, I suppose. Sometimes I get to sleeping when I should be thinking.

Anyway…

It seems as though more and more we live in a world of sleeping hearts. Cold. Unresponsive. Lifeless.

Our eyes are open.  Apparently our thumbs still work. We still go through our routines. But we seem oblivious to a quieter, more powerful, more eternal world.

Our generation is by no means the first.  The Apostle John was asked to deliver a wake-up call to some churches in what we call the Book of Revelation. Three, in fact.

One of them, in Ephesus, was deliriously busy doing religious things. Campaigning for spiritual orthodoxy. Working tirelessly for The Cause. God had obviously blessed them with hard workers and boundless energy.

Wake up call: You’ve left your first love.

The second, in Sardis, was living on their reputation. God had obviously blessed them with amazing experiences.

Wake up call: You have a name for being alive, but you’re dead.

The third, in Laodicea, was living in the lap of luxury. They had the best of everything… the latest technology, the coolest gadgets, the nicest stuff. God had obviously blessed them with material prosperity.

Wake up call: Lukewarm Christians nauseate God.

So… how awake is your heart? I know you’re probably really busy. I know you can probably point to past experiences where your heart is alive. I know you can find many blessings in your life for which you are grateful.  But it’s possible to have all that and still have a sleepy, lethargic heart to what God is doing here, now.

Here are some signs of life to look for in hearts that are alive and awake: [click to continue…]

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Why Are Americans So Interested in Leadership?

by Andy Wood on May 20, 2013

in Leadership, Life Currency, Since You Asked

Our Thai friend Gift is back. She visited us for the first time last year and has returned with her sister Goy.  It’s always a delight to spend time with our Thai friends because of their contagious joy, their delight in serving, and in the case of Gift, her husband Dui, and Goy, their deep love for Jesus Christ.

It also always leads to some interesting conversations.  Gift is many things – a deep thinker, a shrewd businesswoman and entrepreneur, a disciple in every sense of the word.  She told me that this time while she was here, every once in a while she wanted some time to ask some questions.

Fine, I said. Feel free to ask anything.

Lo and behold, she nailed me with the first one. She was looking at one of the books I had out – a book on leadership – and she asked, “Why do Americans study and read so much about leadership?”

That sound you didn’t just hear were the crickets chirping in my head.

Somebody just asked the fish to explain water.

“Well,” I said to break the awkwardly long silence and try to get that deer-in-the-headlights look off my face, “that’s the first time anybody has ever asked me that.”

Wow.  That was really helpful. [click to continue…]

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How to Quiet Your Soul

by Andy Wood on May 1, 2013

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

MockeryDavid was on the chopping block.  His organization had just been hit by a hostile takeover attempt.  To say his leadership was being called into question is putting it mildly.  But even when people from within his own ranks were calling for his head, this exceptional leader emerged with a decisive plan and executed a remarkable comeback.

His first step:  He had to quiet his own soul.  Before he could silence his outer critics, he had to get his inner one to shut up.

Hannah was sitting in church one day, but the worship service was probably the last thing on her mind.  She carried an ache that is only known by those women who have longed desperately to have a child and were unable to.  It had reached a point way past sadness… Hannah was angry.  And her inner rage had to be dealt with.  So Hannah took decisive action.

Her first step:  She had to quiet her own soul.  Before she could make nice at the church house, she had to empty her heart of its poison.  A year later, she had a son. [click to continue…]

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Leadership and Identity

by Andy Wood on March 25, 2013

in Hoarders, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos

foot washing 3Who are you?

No, that’s your name.  Let’s try again.

Who are you?

You’re already answering that question with what you say, how you spend your time, how you spend your money, how you relate to other people, and how your emotions are triggered.  But let’s look a little deeper.

Who.  Not what are you, but who?  I was scrolling through LinkedIn the other day and was fascinated by the “what” language people used to describe themselves.  Of course, there are the standard job titles such as Senior Loan Officer and Whatever Bank.  But then there are the more creative types like, “Thinker, Writer, Philanthropist,”  “Dreamer,” and “Solution Architect.”

Sorta made me want to come up with my own list.  Recliner tester. Dog herder.  APA Policeman (if you have to ask what APA is, never mind).  I don’t think I’ll list any of those, however.  There is a difference between what you do and who you are. [click to continue…]

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How Famous is Your Faith?

by Andy Wood on February 11, 2013

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

praying handsSomeone once complemented a woman known for her big faith in God.  Her reply:  “I don’t have a big faith.  I have a little faith in a big God.”

How do you describe it, slice-and-dice it, when somebody’s faith “makes the news?”  The Thessalonians in the Bible were such a bunch.  Look how Paul describes them:

“Wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God” (1 Thessalonians 1:8).

That gets my attention.

In the lives of these believers, as well as in the lives of people who turned Jesus’ head in the gospels, there seems to be a difference between simple faith and mountain-moving, remarkable faith.

One thing is sure.  Nobody demonstrated remarkable faith by seeking to be remarkable.  [click to continue…]

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His Dearest Friend

by Andy Wood on January 11, 2013

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

Dearest FriendHere’s a thought question for you.  Did Jesus have a best friend?  If so, who was it?

Aunt Ruth, who was neither my aunt nor was she named “Ruth,” used to say it was Judas.  “Only a friend can betray a friend,” she would say.  I told her she was nuts.

You could obviously make the case for Peter, James and John collectively.  He took them places the other disciples didn’t go, and let them see parts of Him the others didn’t necessarily see.  He also gave each of them nicknames – something guys like to do with their friends.

Individually, Peter and John seemed to have this ongoing competition for who was going to be the closest to Christ.  John even referred to himself as the “disciple whom Jesus loved.”  But Jesus said more to Peter directly than any other disciple.  Of course, Peter was also saying more to Him apparently.

I have another suggestion for who his dearest friend was…

…and it was a girl. [click to continue…]

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