Lessons From the Woods 2

I sat a lot in the woods recently hunting deer. One interesting thing about deer hunting is that good preparation doesn’t equal success. It’s an element of success but it doesn’t equal success.

The Saturday before gun season a friend and I headed out to set up a hunting blind. Trekking across the field we jumped two bucks on the way into the sight. Traveling the edge of the field we saw track after track, scrapings and rubbings. Expecting great hunting we set a blind up overlooking the corner of the field and a well worn trail into the woods. Scattering apples down the shooting lanes we were satisfied we had done everything we could to be ready for opening light.

Early Monday morning we walked into the woods. Settled into the blind and waited out the predawn hour, each of us convinced we would soon take a deer.

6 hours later and still no deer.

I was being reminded that success is a mixture of many things not the least of which is opportunity. Preparation is critical, without it opportunities are missed. But preparation without opportunity is just as futile.

So what do leaders do when opportunity fails to come? The same thing hunters do.

Hunters--They stay prepared.
They return to the woods.
They patiently wait.

What do leaders do?

Leaders--They stay prepared.
They stay involved.
They wait patiently for the next opportunity.

Leaders lead.

Lessons From the Woods 1 - Cold Feet

Sat in the woods a lot last week, enduring the cold waiting for a chance to take a deer. I know some people may be opposed to the idea of hunting, but the days in the woods reinforced some basic things that leaders know.

Leaders know preparation is critical.

Tuesday morning was bitter cold -- 25￮ with wind chills dropping into the teens. I donned liner pants, heavy jeans, three shirts, a sweatshirt, a fleece vest and my thermal coveralls. Add a warm fleece hat, a turtle fur neck warmer and a heavy duty pair of hunting mitts, and I thought I was ready for anything.

I left the house at 6:00 am, left the car at 6:15, and was set up in the woods on my camp chair by 6:30 am. Legal shooting time started at 7:07 am.

My feet were cold by 7:00 am. My winter boots were failing me. By 7:20 my feet were feeling stiff. By 8:00 am they hurt. By 8:30 I was walking out of the woods, defeated by the lack of the right boots.

I knew my boots were suspect. My feet had been cold on Monday, but I had hunted eight hours.

Tuesday, however, was a different day, different circumstances. I was unprepared for the cold. Failed due to a lack of preparation.

It’s a simple thing--preparing for the circumstances we are going to face. So simple. So easy to take for granted.

This leader was reminded again of what all leaders must learn.

Preparation is critical.

Leaders lead. How’s your preparation been?

Whatever

The word rings derision and dismissal. Whatever! It’s often accompanied by eye-rolling arrogance and conceit. We’ve all seen it. The teen that flips it off at a parent. Whatever! The worker who uses it with a coworker. Whatever! The friend who cuts short a disagreement. Whatever!

Whatever

But the whatevers are important. There is no “whatever!” There is only whatever.

Whatever

To be a Christian is to throw yourself into whatever you do with passion and devotion because of whose you are.

Whatever

“Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Whatever

How are your whatevers this week?

May the Sons of Issachar Arise! Part 4

So what is my prayer? So what is it about the Tribe of Issachar that makes them so needful? Why is that prayer vital to leadership?

In 1 Chronicles 12 is a listing of the army that gathered to support David’s battle to become king. Tribe by tribe they are listed.

Judah – 6,800 armed for battle
Simeon – 7,100 warriors
Levi – 4,600 troops
Benjamin – 3,000 warriors (relatives of King Saul)
Ephraim – 20,800 brave warriors – each famous in his own clan
half the tribe of Manasseh – 18,000 men
Zebulun – 50,000 skilled warriors
Naphtali – 1,000 officers and 37,000 men with shields and spears
Dan – 28,600 prepared for battle
Asher – 40,000 experienced soldiers
From east of the Jordan came Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, 120,000 troops armed with every kind of weapon.

Nearly 370,000 warriors gathered with David’s mighty men to make him king.

Whom did the might of Issachar send? Perhaps the greatest contingent of all.

“From the tribe of Issachar there were 200 leaders of the tribe.”

Yes! They sent just 200. But look at what type of men they were..”all these men understood the temper of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take.” 1 Chron 12:23. Men who understood the times and knew how to respond!

May the tribe of Issachar arise!

What does the world need? Men committed to God. Who understand the temper of the times and know how to respond!

May the tribe of Issachar arise!

May the Tribe of Issachar arise! Part 3

From his sons rose
Abimelech – Judge.

Two who would rise to claim the Throne of the Northern Tribes.
Baasha and his son Elan – Their line died off!

Though descendants of Issachar, they were not the sons I pray will arise.

Baasha – meaning “Boldness”. The bloody seizer of a throne, Usurper, murderer.
Elan – meaning oak. 4th King of Israel. Last of his line. Drunk asleep when Zimri, a chamberlain, murders him and his family.

Issarchar whose royal line began in murder and ended in murder. May his tribe arise? No, may a different type of sons of Issachar arise!

Men like those who answered the Call of David.

May those sons of Issachar arise!

May the Tribe of Issachar arise! Part 2

I’m praying this for my church. I’m praying this for our nation as we approach elections.

May the Tribe of Issachar arise!

Issachar –
-9th son of Jacob.
-5th son born to Leah.
-Granted territory on the West Bank of the Jordan close to the Sea of Galilee.

Issachar –
-Whose name meant “hired workman” and who was seeming slighted in the blessings of Jacob at his deathbed.
-a rawboned donkey
-bending his shoulder
-submitting to the labor at hand. (Gen 49:14-15)

May the Tribe of Issachar arise!

May the Tribe of Issachar arise! Part 1

May the Tribe of Issachar arise!

That’s it.

That’s my whole prayer for you as a leader.
It is the most profound prayer I can utter for you or any other leader.

May the Tribe of Issachar arise!

Looking for clue to the blessing?

Seeking understanding of this prayer?

Read 1 Chronicles!

May the Tribe of Issachar arise!

Time Turns

Time Turns
 It’s just mid-October
 The staff has met in detailed planning about Christmas events.
 Monday night a men’s event was planned for January.
 Easter designs and ideas are moving from abstract to concrete.
 A summer mission adventure is forming.

Wow! Time Turns!

 Friday marks 28 years of marriage.
 Sunday begins my 4th year as Lead Pastor.
 In May my son graduates from college!

Wow! Time Turns!

 If I live to be 80 – just 10,950 days left.
 If I live to be 80, in less than 3 years I drop below 10,000
– a 4-digit midget.

Wow! Time Turns!

 What if it’s only 75 – that’s 9,125 days left.
 If it’s 70, then 7,300 days.
 I might already be a 4-digit midget.

Wow! Time Turns!

No wonder Paul said this, “Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Eph 5:15-16

The Power of A Life Lived Well

Fall arrived on Monday morning. It had me thinking of life and leaves. It seems that the power of a life is not lived in the moments for they pass like leaves falling to the ground. The impact of a life is found when those moments are seen together as a meaningful whole, like sitting in the shade of a towering elm. The shade is the result of the composite of each leaf on each branch.

Therefore, while the little choices I make today may seem inconsequential—like a leaf falling to the ground, each choice contributes to the composite, the whole. I hug my wife. I praise my daughter. I listen to the heartache of a friend. I pay a bill. I write a note. I do a chore. I worship the Creator. Little choices—leaves falling, passing, seemingly unnoticed.

I lie to a friend. I cheat on a time card. I lust for another. I entertain the racist joke. I berate my son. I flee from the challenges. I shun my wife. I give up hope. I embrace bitterness. I ignore the Creator. Little choices—leaves falling, passing. Leaves that point to a tree—a life lived well or poorly.

Fall arrived on Monday. It reminded me that a life lived well, tends the leaves.

If only my heart will yield.

2 Corinthians 5:17 -- Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! NIV

Yesterday has no power over me, it was broken at the cross, tomorrow has no power over me, it must yield. It must yield to the new man, the new creation. Nothing now looms over me, no ill fate, no dire circumstance that will not yield to the seed of righteousness sewn in my heart. Alive! Redeemed, bought back from death, bought back to life. Accounted righteous, purged in holiness, reflecting the invisible, image of the Justifier.

Everything will yield. Everything. If only my heart will yield.

If anyone is in Christ, he is new. Let the new come!

SHADOWS

Wall Street is in an uproar. Hurricane Ike’s battering of the “oil coast” in the gulf has left refineries off-line and rigs toppled. Gasoline has jumped 70 cents in a week. Wind storms have leveled trees, downed power lines and hammered homes.

Clouds overshadow not just the storefront in which I write, but they seem to be overshadowing the community.

Tenneco lays off. Norwalk Furniture closed. Insurance is cancelled. Jobs are few. The shadows, the clouds, they seem to darken.

Jeremiah wrote in his days of darkness; in his time of lament. “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lam 3:22-23

Therefore today in my time of shadows, Jeremiah continues, “I also will say to myself, The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” Lam 3:24

In the wake of job loss, in the midst of job searches, “I will wait for him.” When the weight of the bills exceeds the limits of a checkbook, “I will wait for him.” When I fret over insurance and the loss of benefits, “I will wait for him.” In the days when the shadows hang heavy, “I will wait for him.”

If this week finds you in the shadows, say to yourself, The Lord is Good, I will wait for Him.

Walking with Inhumans

Okay, I’ve been thinking about leadership again. This time from my childhood.
As a kid I read a lot of comic books. For a while I enjoyed reading The Inhumans, a fictional race of royal superhumans. Each possessed some power of immense magnitude, yet each was also marred in some significant way. Each had some handicap or frailty. Black Bolt, their king had the power to generate quasi-sonic energy through his voice. As a youth, to protect the community, Black Bolt was placed inside a sound-proof chamber and given an energy-harnessing suit and never allowed to re-enter society until he vowed never to speak. Gordon possessed immense strength but with feet of hooves. Karnak had the ability to find the weak point in any person, plan or object, but possessed no other powers. Many of their adventures concerned how to accomplish their mission making best use of their powers while compensating for their weaknesses.
When a random thought recently sent my mind wandering down these dusty memories, I began to think of how similar the Church is. We are a group of redeemed people (royal priesthood), each given unique talents, gifts, (God giving power) yet each of us handicapped, and sometimes hamstrung, by our innate weaknesses and frailties. We have been charged with an incredible mission, the great commission, the battle for humanity. Together we learn to utilize each other’s strengths to the greatest benefit while at the same time compensating for each other’s weaknesses.
What made reading comics like the Inhumans so intriguing is that no matter what the challenge, they figured out a way to get it done. Real leaders know this- incredible teams (churches) rise to the challenges before them using their gifts and talents, overcoming their weaknesses and frailties to advance the mission.
Hmmm! I’m in the mood for a comic book.
--The Man in the Window!

40 Hour Call

The last few weeks have been filled with what I usually call the madness of the Fall season. The New Year’s still 4 months away, but for many of us the Fall always feels like the new year.

• The kids go back to school.
• The vacation season is over.
• The church gears up for a new season of ministry.
• New programs are introduced.
• New series are begun.

Like every leader in a church, I always feel the weight and excitement of the “New Year” unfolding in front of us. I find The Call compelling me to retool, refit so the season turns from summer to autumn.

I’ve learned something in these times, a hard truth, one that could seed frustration. The Call – The purpose of our lives doesn’t fit a 40-hour work week. Every August ends the same way, many meetings, many hours of administration and much planning on top of what is normally required.

I’m in my 3rd week of the joke of a 40, 45, or even 55 hour work week and it’s not over yet! I still battle my emotions during this season. I get tired, the load seems great. Patience is thin. It becomes too easy to feel robbed of time off.

But I’ve learned that my frustration is heightened because I’ve been lulled into thinking The Call – the purpose of our lives fits into a 40-hour week.
Leaders – real leaders, those ones who rise and get it done. They know a deep truth.

The Call – The purpose of our lives was never intended to fit into a 40-hour week. Or a Sunday morning, a Sunday evening youth meeting, a Wednesday night study or 2 hours of children’s ministry.

The Call – The purpose of our lives is who we are and what we are.
Sometimes it fits neatly into clearly defined schedules and time limits. Other times it asks for more. And leaders get it done.

Why?

“For the Sake of the Call!”

For every leader who in this season is getting things done. May you know the smile of the Author of the Call.

When Mentors Mentor

Last Sunday, a Ministerial student preached his first sermon ever. I was privileged to not just have him do it in my pulpit, but to have walked with him through the process of sermon development. This Sunday, a mission student will share his first sermon. Again, I have been intimately involved in his preparation.

Both young men felt the weight of responsibility and the weight of significance of preaching as they prepared. Both have battled feelings of inadequacy, fear and nerves. While they each selected their own passages to exposit, I have had an impact on how they prepared and how they deliver their messages. With both young men, I have grown closer and we now share things that others will never understand. The crafting of a proposition statement, preaching keywords that guide a sermon, the power of story to connect with listeners. All these we now share.

What happens when mentors, mentor?
They increase their impact on the world and the kingdom, and they share with others what they have learned and know about their gifts.

What happens when mentors, mentor?
They develop deeper relationships with those in whom they invest.

What happens when mentors, mentor?
They enjoy the satisfaction of watching others succeed in areas they have traversed.

What happens when mentors, mentor?
They lead.

The Call to Lead

I buried a friend last week. A West Virginia, Ohio steel mill worker who for 40 years impacted the kingdom of God by faithfully serving alongside a line of pastors in a local church. I was privileged to have been one of those pastors.

In my wife’s words, he had always been the pastor. Those of us paid to do ministry there simply joined him. Not that he lorded it over people. He simply shepherded the flock. He was a faithful leader. In his local church they will feel the loss, not just in grief but in ministry impact.

What do leaders do when one of their own dies in their midst. They look to the rest, to the others left behind and wonder, will another rise to the challenge of the task? Will another be raised up to shepherd, to lead? The Holy Spirit will nudge others, tapping them on the shoulder. Will they respond to His call? It’s your turn now.

Leaders lead, and when their day is done, others will need to shoulder the task. When your turn comes, when you hear His voice urging, will you rise and lead?

Addicted

The leader of leaders said, “Come, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Interesting thing about fishing, it gets addictive. My wife and my son are now battling their own addictions with it.

Cheryl and I were fly-fishing recently and she was having a good day. Using a side cast, her left hand technique was perfectly dropping an egg pattern under the boughs of a low hanging pine. Time and time again she coaxed a trout out from its hiding place, enticed by the potential of a tasty morsel. For the first time, my wife was in a double digit tally count. I knew that she was addicted. It was apparent when late in the day as it approached the time to leave after catching and releasing another fish, she said to me, “I guess once you get started you keep wanting to catch just one more.”

Addicted.

Followers of the Forgiver are meant to be addicted. Once we discover the satisfaction of catching men, leading individuals into the journey with the Forgiver, we find ourselves compelled to continue casting, working the streams of life, yearning for yet another one to catch-one who is enticed by what we share, and picks up the offering, not to be caught but ultimately set free.

How’s your addiction? He will make us addicted to fishing for men.

What happened?

Gas hit $4 a gallon for the first time this last month. I’ve noticed a number of things.

When gas hit $3 a gallon, people complained and griped a lot! But they drove. They searched for cheaper gas stations and saved up their fuel perks. They may have combined a few more errands in one trip, but they drove.

When it hit $4, people complained but other things began to happen.

 I saw people walking home with grocery bags.
 Bikes are everywhere.
 I saw a middle-aged woman riding her bike in the rain.
 Motor scooters are in vogue.
 People are staying home.

What happened? The price of gas got high enough that we knew we had to make changes.

Sometimes as leaders we approach challenges the same way.

First, we complain about the problem. We acknowledge it, we talk about it, but often that is all we do.

Then when the situation is finally tough enough, critical enough, we figure out a way to address the problem.

Once the issues create the challenges in your life, your calling, your ministry, how long will you wait until you address them?

Lost your edge?

It was my wife’s birthday and she wanted me to create a special dinner centering on a salad. So after a trip the store, I decided on a Surf & Turf salad with a champagne vinaigrette dressing.

As I was searing a NY strip in Cajun spices, I went to slice some tomatoes for the salad. My 5-inch chef’s knife was dull.

I was faced with a number of choices
 skip the tomato
 let someone slice them
 saw away at them
 mash them up

OR
I could get out my steel and put a new edge on my knife.

Sometimes every leader gets a little dull. He is faced in that moment with a number of choices.

 ignore the issue
 let someone else do it
 accept poor performance
 pretend it doesn’t matter
 make excuses

OR
Do what is necessary to sharpen the skill once again. Read a book, evaluate with others, refocus, refresh.

Lost your edge?

Leaders know when it’s time to hone their skills.

Marking Time

Just marking time.
Just counting the days.

It’s the attitude a high school graduate feels in his final weeks of school. Papers are done, tests are finished, and all that’s left is graduation.

Just counting the days until, “it”, the big day arrives.

That’s an okay attitude for a high school senior with only a few days until graduation. But would you hire someone with that attitude on life?

“I’m just marking time until payday, until the weekend. I’m just putting in the days until my next vacation. I’m just waiting on retirement.”

Followers of the Forgiver often fall prey to the same attitude. Often it occurs late in May as we look toward the summer. Sometimes we can find ourselves saying, “I’m just marking time until my summer break”, “When fall get’s here. . . “ , and “After vacation . .” It has become so easy for us just to mark the time during the summer.

The writer of Hebrews said, “Let us run the race set before us.” No marking time in a race. No “just coasting” until the finish. Nope. If you are in a race, you may pace yourself but you are running to win.

So one leader to another, on the edge of another summer season, run hard.

The race is on.

Distractions! Argh!

They may be the bane of my existence. I can be distracted by so many things. I go outside to mow the grass and I’m distracted by the stoop that needs painting. The screen door needs washing. Before I know it, I’m rushing and striving to accomplish everything. Mow, weed, fertilize, clean the garage, trim, fix the edger, repaint the concrete, replace the bricks, till the garden, make the fire-pit, trim the shrubs, and power-wash the siding.

Why did I ever decide to go outside to mow?

Right now all of those chores are on my maintenance list. Actually there is probably a lot more.

What’s the use? Every time I walk outside numerous items beckon for my attention. So what do I do? I tackle the mission critical things first. Grass has got to be mowed. The other things need attention, but the grass has got to be mowed! Then a little evaluation helps me make the next choices.

I’ve got another hour free, what can I accomplish in that hour that will have the biggest bang for the effort?

 Fix the edger and edge
 Paint the trim
 Build a fire pit

The edger won the day. But if we were having a BBQ it might have been the fire-pit. If we were having an open house, it would have been the trim.

Leaders understand this principle. What do they give their time to in a world where so many distractions call for their attention?

Mission Critical takes priority
– The A list is a smart evaluation of time, resources and circumstances that determine…
– The B list which is the “getting done” list, that leads to…
– The C list which is “when the time is right” list.

Good leaders succeed because they are good at their ABC’s.

He Must Increase

He must increase, I must decrease. John 3:30

He gives me my truest dimensions in a world of pretenders.

“Love is my legal jurisdiction.” David Teems
-- The margins that surround my life, the guardrails that limit the road I travel. The compass rose upon the map that defines my life. It must be my book of etiquette, the Book of Hoyle, my worn Robert’s Rules of Order, the by-laws of my character. Without its refining power in my life, I become a clanging cymbal, a blasting horn, a blowing wind.

Love must permeate my being, saturate my soul, season every relationship, scent every act, flavor every moment. It must be my highest goal, my greatest dream, my purest pursuit, my self-fulfilling prophecy.

To be self-actualized in love—transformed—an agent of transformation—to be love in an often loveless world.

For me to live is, no must be, Christ.

Crocus in the Snow

It’s been a strange spring. A few weeks ago warmth finally arrived to northern Ohio and cabin weary citizens flowed out of their hibernation homes into their yards. Rakes, wheelbarrows and mulch were ubiquitous. As flower beds were prepared, twigs gathered and yards fertilized, neighbors called out to one another.

“So glad there is no more snow!”
“It’s great to be outside!”
“What a wonderful day!”

Like so many around me I felt the revitalization of the emerging season. Winter was past. Then it occurred. Shocking the community, just as we seemed to have turned the corner from winter to spring, it snowed. Not just flurries, walks were covered and lawns turned white. Rakes were traded for snow shovels once again.

It seemed like everyone around me was in a funk. Complaints and expressions of disgust with the weather were commonplace. But while I didn’t enjoy digging out a warm jacket again, I was far from discouraged. All around me were signs of winter’s passing and spring’s advent. Poking defiantly through a blanket of snow were the purple and yellow heads of spring crocuses. Spring was arriving. I was encouraged.

Leaders recognize this phenomenon and find similar encouragement.

Sometimes we labor, strategize, implement plans and visions to help our groups, lead our businesses, and guide our ministries out of winter into a coming spring. Then just when it seems like the cold hard days of winter are giving way to spring, it happens--a late season snowstorm.

 A set back in our plans
 A program fails
 A down turn in growth
 An old problem resurges

Frustrating? Yes. But even in the face of set backs, leaders learn to focus on the signs of spring. Sometimes it doesn’t take much, just a few little things poking up through storm.

Are you in the midst of a late season storm? Look for signs of the coming spring.

Choose Well

This is my first rambling back in the window since I’ve taken my father back to N.Y. I began that day noting a sense of gratefulness that my schedule would finally return to normal. Then I realized by normal, I meant in my control.

No more quick trips back to the house to get him up in the morning. No more times washing his feet, applying cream, fixing breakfast or rushing to fix lunch. And I am grateful for that.

But, I am also sorry that he isn’t here, that we won’t get those afternoon drives, and those dinners together.

I buried a man’s wife yesterday; a woman nearly the age of my parents. I knew her boys. I saw their tears, the pain in their hearts. Her death came quickly. The onset of pneumonia, kidney failure, heart arrhythmia, and suddenly she was gone.

Both events, taking my dad home and the funeral remind me of important lessons.

Leaders know days and time are precious. Events can change quickly. Opportunities are missed. We must choose well. I chose to have my dad with us for 4 months. Reminded that life is uncertain and can end swiftly, I am confident I chose well.

The choice- Leaders do it well.

Dead Leaves

Saw a leadership principle at work yesterday. My wife had a free day and desired to do some outside work, so she spent the morning raking dead leaves out of the flowerbed.

Our front beds are filled with crocuses, irises, daylilies, daffodils, tulips and many other spring perennials. They will come up and bloom with little work. They are established plants; every year dependable.

But lying all around them are the few scattered remnants of the fall foliage. Dead leaves now brown and withered and looking pathetic. Clearing them away, the colors of the new plants just pop.

Sometimes as a leader we need to clear away some of the “dead leaves” around us. Sometimes before the beauty of new growth, a new initiative, a new strategy can be discovered and truly appreciated. Some of the old dying or dead things need to be cleaned away.

Have you looked around the flower beds over which you have care? Is it time to break out a rake?

St. Patrick Who?

I sat in the coffee house the other day, and overheard an interesting conversation. It was the day after St. Patrick’s Day. The day after the wearing of the green. The day after green beer in NYC and Chicago. The day after the “Kiss Me I’m Irish” pins, the day after “The Everybody Is A Little Irish Today” signs went up. I realized how true it was that so few of us know anything about the day, the man St. Patrick.
We know he’s English and one of the patron saints of Ireland. He had something to do with snakes, didn’t he?
In the midst of the wearing of the green, it is too bad we cannot see the character that shaped the man we call Saint.
This was his prayer.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ under me, Christ over me, Christ to the right of me, Christ to the left of me, Christ in lying down, Christ in sitting, Christ in rising up. Christ in the heart of all who may think of me! Christ in the mouth of all who may speak of me! Christ in every eye which may look on me! Christ in every ear which may hear me!
No wonder they called him Saint.
What prayer shapes your life?

Lessons from the Snow Bank

Wow, did it snow last weekend! It started at about noon on Friday and snowed through Saturday evening. By the time it was over, 19.7 official inches of snow lay on the ground in our area. Throughout the storm I was being reminded of important leadership lessons.

Sometimes no matter how well you plan, you can’t stop a storm. Good leaders try to head off storms through good planning and management of resources. Costs are weighed, risks analyzed and decisions made, but sometimes you can’t stop a storm. For about 30 hours snow fell and nothing could stop it. Well laid plans for a men’s retreat were hampered and Sunday morning services were impacted. Both were events that had been well thought out and planned, but each was at the mercy of the storm. All we could do is let the storm pass and begin to dig out.

Every leader will eventually find himself at the mercy of a leadership storm. A time when circumstances cannot be altered, only faced and endured. Some leadership storms will occur just because circumstances arise. I remember a leadership storm over the qualifications of an elder that blew up at our last church. No one foresaw it coming, but once is began nothing could stop it. All that could be done is face the storm, let it pass and dig out from under it.

Facing a storm is not necessarily a sign of incompetence; some storms simply cannot be avoided. They can be frustrating, a lot of work and they can force us to change plans, but they are not necessarily a sign of failure.
Good leaders know that eventually storms will blow. When they come they are not afraid of the snow.

The Man in the Frosty Window

The Big Fifty

Hit the Big number this week. Didn’t feel any different, but faced a melancholy mood most of the day. Why? Because now in my childhood eye that once looked forward, I am old. That’s right! By my own declaration I am an old man! That’s how life looked as a kid; thirty was middle age, fifty was old, and next was dead.

I don’t feel real old. But I know time is leaving its mark. My knees make more noise in the morning than rice krispies. My arm is just barely long enough to read a menu. The hair that disloyally abandoned my head sprouts in areas hair just shouldn’t turn up. The excitement of the five letter word “candy” has been replaced with a fondness for a new five letter word “fiber.” The “night out” has developed a fondness for “cat naps.” My wife and I get a night away and sometimes the most exciting thing that happens is sleeping in.

I cannot deny it. I am not the man I was twenty years ago, ten years ago. The mirror doesn’t lie. And, I am glad for it.

It is a wiser man that pens these words than the man twenty years ago; a man who has had zeal tempered with experience. It has produced a steeled vision and passion for my calling.

A less shallow man has discovered deep rivers of intimacy with God, my wife, my son, my daughter. True friendships have been forged over these years; men who have sharpened my iron.

A more committed man turned fifty this week; more committed to pursue the Savior. To complete the task He calls me to; to run, to finish stronger than the man of twenty years ago.

This leader has discovered there is a lot that’s old about being fifty. But good leaders embrace growth that aging brings to our character.

Hey, I’m 50! I’m not the man I was!
Thank God!

The problem with problems

We’ve fallen into a great trap. I see it in myself most days. You see I’ve begun to have a problem with problems.

Like anyone else I love it when my day or a few days pass by problem free. I enjoy the ease of life of work in those periods of carefree schedules.

Unfortunately, like to many others I cherish and covet those days. It’s too easy to see problems as set-backs, stumbling blocks, energy traps so when problems spring up I feel like I’m encountering a bad day.

But is it true? Where would we be without problems? Leaders understand problems cause us to think and rethink situations mulling our possible choices. Problems force us to wrestle with issues we would otherwise avoid.

Problems are the catalyst of change in a leader’s life. Problems motivate us to work hard, to study, to learn, to grow, to analyze, to plan, and to execute. Without problems it would be too easy to coast- to go with the flow – to simply maintain rather than advance.

James understood this when he wrote, “Consider it all joy when you encounter various types of trials.”

A Leader’s Heart on Valentine’s Day

Two worlds are merged. The singleness of the past evolved into a future duet. A dance of love and excitement unfolded. Two hearts, two dreams mingled into one. Through the days of me-ness we learned to seek we-ness. The Forgiver’s bond on our hearts lit a light of hope in the dark days; a season of brilliance yet discovered set before us. When resentment and disappointment was sewn by the hand of the deceiver, patience and long-suffering won the day.

When others have run from the vows, when others have settled for less, we will endure, we will persevere, and we will press on because of the secret we have learned. One-ness is not discovered in an arrival but chased as a present future.

Complete in Him yet not complete in each other, knowing more lies ahead, the gate is open, the chase continues together we run toward all it means – “AND THE TWO SHALL BE ONE.”

May every leader graced with a mate, chase the oneness destined for them. May there be joy in the running.

Forgetting Names

Okay I admit it. Forgetfulness is frustrating. I work hard at remembering names. I repeat them when I hear them. I use them again right away. I even make notes on my PDA or on scrap paper. But even with all this effort names can still escape me. They slip away.

For my dad it is much worse. Since his stroke, the aphasia makes recalling names even more difficult. He’s called me Tim, Gregg (my nephews) and Chris (my son). The aphasia gets in the way of recalling the correct name. He knows he has used the wrong name, but he cannot recall the true name.

That is just like God. Okay bear with me in this.

David Teems wrote, “God has written a law of forgetfulness against his omniscience.”

Wow. Did you catch that. God has written a law that won’t let him remember our birth names. The names that reflected our birth character he can’t recall.

So when he looks at us instead of calling out “liar”, or “cheater” or “thief”. . .

Instead of calling out “disgrace” or “loser” . . .

Instead of remembering our true birth name, “sinner,” . . .

He calls out to our souls a new name, “beloved,” “son,” “daughter,” “co-heir,” “precious.”

Every time my dad stumbles over a name I’m reminding myself that my other Father forgets names also. My God cannot recall my “birth” name. He calls me by another.

Saint.

Wading past the jargon

I have friends who are much more abreast of certain technical issues than I am. They can explain the significance of an RSS feed. They can walk me through the process of portioning a hard drive. They can explain “VPN” connections. They know about smtp-outgoing mail servers and a myriad of other technical things I just take for granted. I trust that their answers are right and sound.

Leaders, spiritual leaders are in a similar position. Everyday people around us expect us to know the answers and to be able to demonstrate and explain spiritual truths. They may never understand the answers as well as we do, but they trust us for the answers.

Therefore it’s important for us to stay up to date! Just as I.T. Techs and Technology Directors keep studying and keep learning so should every leader keep on the grow. People will always expect us to have greater understanding, greater knowledge.

It comes with the mantel.

There is no such thing as a leader who does not keep growing.

Are you ready for the next question?

The nature of the crowd

I had one of those major thought threads today. You know what they are like. You read one thing, hear one thing and begin to muse on it and you follow the thread in your mind as it unwinds, not quite sure where it is going. Then all of a sudden a major truth hits you between the eyes.

I had one today. Follow this with me.

I was thinking about the crowd in Mark. It’s a major player in the book. The crowd is everywhere. That led me to start thinking about the crowd, how it had one time raced around a lake to beat Jesus to the shore so they could hear more, experience more. Then I was thinking about how this crowd could so easily betray him later. How?

Then I was thinking about the nature of a crowd, any crowd. People in a crowd are different. They act differently then when they are alone.

 Together in a crowd you can hide, acting alone you can be seen.
 In a crowd you can embrace evil, alone you know accountability. Everyone is doing it; you can get away with it. Why not throw the stone?
 In a crowd you can excuse apathy, after all someone else can always respond. But when we are alone we feel compelled to respond.
 Together it is easy to blame others, alone we face responsibility.

In essence, I was being reminded that in a crowd it’s easy to hide from my individual responsibility.

Then I got to thinking about our passion for church growth. We want to see healthy thriving churches, but as the church grows does it just turn into a Christian crowd? One where it’s easy to be apathetic, easy to blame others, easy to shirk responsibility.

Then it hit me hard. We “live this call together”, but we are held individually responsible. The reckoning is not faced in the crowd. The judgment seat of Christ is not a corporate lawsuit. It’s the ultimate day of individual accounting. No hiding in the crowd that day. Standing unclothed from the trappings of the church, the crowd we so often hide in, we will individually be held accountable.

Have I (not we) lived the call? Have I known Him AND made Him known?

Beware the crowd!

Lessons from My Father’s Feet, Part 3

The Return of Joy

I’ve been learning another lesson these days. It’s an interesting one. You see my dad and I were often like oil and water. We didn’t mix well. By the time I was a teen, the fond memories of baseballs hit in the yard, footballs kicked, sun fish caught had all but been forgotten. Replaced instead with arguments over chores, privileges, failures, and my own laziness. Add to those the strife of a home in conflict, a man struggling with the death of his own parents, his own demons of alcohol, l and any joy in our relationship was lost. Gone were the days when at five or six I would wait on the porch for the first glimpse of my dad walking up the street and run just to walk the rest of the way home with him.

Here is my lesson. The enemy steals so much from us. He multiplies the hurts of the past and infects them until they taint every moment of the present But when we allow God to heal the hurt, He changes the inside of our lives and a marvelous thing occurs. Joy returns.

A lot of healing has taken place. Years ago mine began as I embraced the
transforming Savior. Slowly the hurts were healed, the pain released and the whole man emerged. Dad began his transformation years ago. He did what he could. Soberness was embraced. He fathered a grandson with an absent father. He never missed a game, an event. And when he could transform nothing else, last year he open himself to the Forgiver. Two men both carrying great hurts, both who once hurt each other, so easily are healed. Joy returned.

My dad and I fished with a friend yesterday. He sat in a golf cart and rode around as we cast our flies on the water. He held a pole, he landed fish. And he and I glowed with joy. No anger about the past, no regrets, just joy moments in the present.

The lesson being reinforced in me is this: our God is a God of the present. And when He does His transforming work, He can restore joy even where the past was often dark with sorrow.

Lessons from my Father’s Feet, part 2

My dad was a steel worker for most of my life. I remember the heavy boots he wore everyday. Big heavy boots with steel safety plates across the front. As soon as he would get home, those boots would come off and most of the year his gardening boots went on. Late in the evening when he finally settled into a chair in front of the TV, those boots and his socks would come off.

There they were-his calloused, sweaty, gnarly feet. I thought they were the most disgusting things I had ever seen. I hated it when he would ask me to carry his socks to the hamper. I’d pick them up by the top edge, hold them at arms distance, and hold my nose and carry them to the hallway hamper. I can still remember my revulsion.

Now most mornings between my quiet time and the start of my office hours, I help my father get around for the day. He’s slow, but most of his morning routine he accomplishes on his own. Except that he can no longer reach his feet. So every morning I find myself, cloth in hand, washing my father’s feet. After breakfast I’m on my knees and I help him into his socks and shoes. If you told me growing up I would one day be doing this, I would have laughed.

I have come to cherish the routine: honoring my father by washing his feet, even though he was not always the most honorable man. It is a joy to hear him sigh with contentment that it feels good when we’re done. It’s a unique thing that is going on. We talk about the day. He asks about my schedule, about my ministry, about what’s ahead. We talk about people he has met, sports, fishing, life. The most amazing thing is taking place in the mornings. My father’s feet are drawing us closer together.

Here is the lesson. Sometimes we focus on what repulses us in a relationship and it pushes us away. Or we choose to avoid the ugly, the repulsive, the uncomfortable in our relationships with each other, and push each other away. Perhaps we should look for ways in which our brokenness, our imperfections can draw us together.