Excellence

Playing to the Standard

by Andy Wood on September 27, 2010

in Five LV Laws, Gamblers, Life Currency, Love, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Principle of Eternity, Protecting Your Investment, Time

Halftime, Durham, North Carolina.  The Duke Blue Devils have just scored the first touchdown that top-ranked Alabama has surrendered in two-and-a-half games. 

Not exactly a moment to panic, however.  Alabama leads at the half, 45-13.

Cue the halftime interview with Coach Nick Saban.  “Coach,” Sideline Babe says, “Were you upset about giving up your first touchdown of the season?”

“I don’t care about the touchdown,” Saban replies.  “I’ve just been talking to our guys about playing to a standard.”

Fast-forward one week.  Halftime again.  This time, nobody wearing white and crimson was strutting to the locker room.  The defending national champions are trailing a very strong Arkansas Razorbacks team in Fayetteville 17-7, and it’s no fluke.  These Hogs are good, and Bama’s looking rough.

Somebody… not namin’ names here… but somebody woke somebody up.  Final Score:  Alabama 24, Arkansas 20.

After the game, Coach Nick had this to say:

“I want them to remember what it’s like not playing the way you’re capable of playing, not playing with the intensity and focus you need to have. We have a standard we want to play to, we want to play to it all the time. We certainly didn’t get that done in the first half.”

Another Clock is Counting Down

Football is not the only place where the clock is ticking toward zero.  [click to continue…]

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Flour Power: Seven More Half-Baked Ideas I’m Still Working On

by Andy Wood on May 28, 2010

in Half-baked Ideas

Here are seven more random things I’ve had in my oven lately.  Did I mention it’s really random?

Why is it that some people can believe the gospel or trust God simply and quickly, and others require more… either convincing or extended confession?  It’s all about what it takes to activate their faith.

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First sign your wife may not be ready to give a statement at the accident scene:  When asked by the EMT if she knew who the president was, she said, “Osama bin Laden… No… Wait… That’s not right… I don’t remember – I just know I don’t like him.”  (She’s doing fine now.) [click to continue…]

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So Change It! Eight Steps to Making a Difference, Beginning Where You Are

by Andy Wood on February 5, 2010

in Enlarging Your Capacity, Executing Your Plan, Exploring the Possibilities, Five LV Laws, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Principle of Increase, Principle of Legacy

I want to take you to a place where, frankly, we aren’t invited.  For just a minute, let’s be one of “those” people we often gripe about – those rubberneckers on the highway, who seem fascinated with somebody else’s messes.  

In this case, we’re creeping up to a closed bedroom door, where on the other side, we can hear muffled sobs. 

A man’s sobs.

A few days ago, somebody from home had rocked his world.  The news was bad, and every ounce of optimism he once had was crushed.

You should have been here yesterday.  He was really blubbering then.  And he will be again tomorrow.  Fasting, too.  And praying.  Lots of praying. 

But as he cries and prays and cries and fasts and cries some more, something happens.  [click to continue…]

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Serving It Up

by Andy Wood on June 1, 2009

in Esteem, Exploring the Possibilities, Insight, Leadership, Life Currency, Love, LV Cycle

What the Best Restaurants Can Teach You and Your Organization About Success

chefsYou may not know this, but for a season I helped my wife run anywhere from one to three restaurants.  The season was just long enough to convince me, if I needed any convincing, that running restaurants was not my calling.  That said, I have new respect for anybody who has to cook, serve, or make a profit from folks like – well, me.  I never worked harder physically, or encountered more of a call to real, practical servanthood in my life.

In our culture we eat 21 meals a week, give or take.  To create an environment that would motivate somebody to return again and again, and to talk about your place to their friends, and get to the end of the month with money in the bank… this is no easy task.

So when somebody does it well, I believe it can teach us some things about succeeding in the organizations, businesses, and yes, congregations we all relate to.

Lately I’ve heard of three remarkable places – none of which I have experienced personally.  But I will, if given the chance!  What intrigues me is what these eateries suggest to me as a pastor and someone who’s spent a lot of time studying successful organizations and teams.  Later, if this “whets your appetite” (sorry, it’s Monday – that’s as close to funny as I can get), there are other transferable lessons we can explore. [click to continue…]

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Friends in High Places

by Andy Wood on May 29, 2009

in Enlarging Your Capacity, LV Cycle, Principle of Legacy

(10 Things God Uses to Enlarge Your Legacy)

stretchOkay, take your mark.  You’re about to take off on a marathon.  Your coach is the Lord Jesus, the Author of your faith.  Under His direction, you’ve cast aside any weights that may hinder you.  At His instruction, you clear your way of any sin that might entangle you.  At His signal, you’re off!  And following His wise counsel, you have focused your attention on him, because he’s the Finisher of your faith as well.

You lengthen your stride and settle in.  You know this is no sprint; you’re in it for the long run.  Before long your body, mind, will, and emotions, begin signaling you, this won’t be easy.  But about the time you reach your first obstacle, God has a surprise for you.  You are not alone! You’re surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses! And they’re “in the grandstands” cheering you on.

These aren’t just spectators.  They’re your “friends in high places” – people who have run the same race and faced the same obstacles you face.  In this greatness are models of faith and perseverance who

by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment (Hebrews 11:33-37).

These aren’t just dead figures from the past.  Their faith – and witness – live on.  They’re watching you.  Pulling for you.  Believing in you.  Teaching you.  They’re here to testify – that’s what witnesses do – that you, too, can influence a new generation.  They also testify of the tools our Father uses to deepen your message, and enlarge your influence.  Here are a few: [click to continue…]

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How to Get Hired as a Giant Killer

by Andy Wood on April 4, 2009

in Ability, Enlarging Your Capacity, Exploring the Possibilities, Life Currency, LV Cycle

job-applicationSome of the rules have changed.

  • Time Magazine, in it’s provocative “Ten Ideas Changing the World Right Now,” reports that having a job is cool again.  Rather than regarding employment as a necessary evil to be escaped as soon as possible, jobs are now considered an asset.  (Nothing like losing something to recognize its worth, I guess).
  • Someone just told me about his father, who for eight years tried to make a go of his home-based business and now, in his 60s, realizes the need for an employer.  He’s finding it difficult.
  • My favorite job/career-hunting book, What Color is Your Parachute?, which has been updated annually since 1970, was back on the best-seller list in December.

So with the new demand for paying day-jobs and the shortening supply, I thought it might be helpful offer some strategies for improving your chances.  [click to continue…]

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What You Can Learn from a Party Crasher

by Andy Wood on February 19, 2009

in Esteem, Five LV Laws, Gamblers, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos, LV Stories, Principle of Legacy

munutoliAwards season is in full swing.  The Golden Globes, Grammys, and Emmys are history.  The Oscars are approaching.  That can only mean one thing:

Michael Minutoli is probably close by.

Michael Minutoli is a party crasher, and without a doubt one of the best.  For more than 15 years, this man has boldly gone where few of us would dare, and he never had a ticket.  You could find him at movie premiers, awards programs, concerts, and backstage parties.  Have tux, will travel.

He moves with such congruence, he blends right in.  And he has the pictures to prove it – more than a thousand of them.  You can find disposable camera prints of Michael with his arm around the likes of Harrison Ford, Katie Couric, Britney Spears, Paul McCartney, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks, President Bill Clinton, Jack Nicholson, Sean Connery, Madonna, and Bruce Willis.  Just to name a few.

And boy, does he have stories to tell. [click to continue…]

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Braves lose! Braves lose! Braves lose!

by Andy Wood on August 8, 2008

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

Skip Caray

I was going to write a piece about words today; guess I’ll have to do that next week.  Today it’s more about a wordsmith, and a great sense of loss.

It’s hard to put into words the significance of losing a public figure whose work or life has touched yours – an individual who became something of a fixture in your life.

That’s who Skip Caray was to me.  He was a legend and an institution, and legetutions aren’t supposed to die.  But people do.

I never met the legendary broadcaster for the Atlanta Braves.  But he met me – again and again, first through radio, then through a cable channel humbly self-named The Superstation.  Skip became a companion who, like so many other broadcasters in the 20th century, made the national pastime interesting, fun, and so incredibly human.

[click to continue…]

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Like Abel – The LifeVesting Principle of Legacy

by Andy Wood on July 15, 2008

in Five LV Laws, Principle of Legacy

MemorialOur family keeps an oral tradition of famous lines spoken by somebody.  Today’s edition comes from Joel, when he was about seven or eight:

“Daddy, when you die, can I have all your tapes?”

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I want to be like Abel.

Not so much the rock-upside-the-head part.  I’m talking about legacy.

Hebrews 11:4 contains a fascinating description of Abel’s life:  “By faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.”

Here’s a guy who could be famous for the things he never did:

He never preached a sermon.

He never started a church.

He never wrote a book.

He never engaged in an argument to defend the faith.

He never had his name plastered on the side of a building.

He never had a wife or children, much less succeeding generations.

He never was elected to any office.

He never fought for a cause or a nation.

He never was on TV, or interviewed by the press.

He never had God give him a song (all rights reserved, of course).

He never made a YouTube video.

He never made a financial fortune, that we know of.

He never rescued anybody in distress, except maybe for a sheep or two.

 

Yet long-dead, Abel still speaks.  And so can you and I.  It’s what the LifeVesting Principle of Legacy is all about:

[click to continue…]

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Red Shoes and More

by Andy Wood on May 26, 2008

in Life Currency, Love, LV Stories, Words

Red ShoesLouise has had a rare kind of kidney cancer for the last 10-11 months.  She believes in prayer, and has a lot of people praying for her.  Add your own prayers to the list on her behalf.  She believes that with God’s help, she can beat it.

She receives chemotherapy treatments, and recently had an idea for a way to brighten her day while she was taking them:  Red shoes.

“I just thought the would make me feel better to look down at my red shoes,” she explained.

So she called Zappos to place her order.  She was greeted with their “usual greeting that is so comforting.”  She skipped the company’s joke of the day, and soon was greeted with a customer service rep.  “Gracious” was the word she used to describe this individual who helped her with her order.  “We talked a little, and I explained why I wanted these shoes.  She, as all of your employees, [went] out of her way to please customers.  That was that.”

The next day, to her surprise, Louise received a beautiful arrangement of red tulips, in a bright red vase and a beautiful red ribbon.  She couldn’t imagine who sent them.  She opened the card and began to cry.  The card read,

[click to continue…]

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