Fertilizer

I was fertilizing my lawn yesterday, taking advantage of one of the few dry days this April.  I didn't think a lot about it.  I just knew I wanted to get the fertilizer down before the rain returned so it could soak deep into the ground.  I had previously replanted seed in some bare spots and thin patches and they were starting to fill in but there was still a ways to go.   This morning after a conversation in the coffee house window I realized that a lot of ministry was just like that--fertilizing seed that was planted a while ago.  We just came through Easter and at the end of the services gave away a number of copies of Lee Strobel's book, The Case for Easter.  And it hit me that what we had done in giving those books away to any seeker who asked for one was fertilize the seed that we hoped was planted that morning in worship, in the preaching of the word, in an atmosphere of love encountered.  We gave the book hoping that individuals who visited might choose to look more closely at the resurrection and the truths behind it.   Why did I get to thinking about fertilizer this morning?  Because one of those individuals we gave a book to was at my table, sharing with me how he had read it and passed it on to another.  Sharing how the book helped fertilize the seed, the Easter event.    Can you think of any seed that you have planted recently that could use a little fertilizer?  A note in the mail, a simple book, a CD, a phone call, a few moments in prayer.  Not for harvest.  But to fertilize the seed planted.   We cast seed, now it's time for the fertilizer.    The Man in the Window

Peach Tea

I was battling bronchitis or some other such chest ailment recently.  On the worst of the days my throat was raw and sore, difficult to swallow.  Now most people think of me as an exclusive coffee drinker.  And I've been known to drink a cup or two (often).  But most people don't know that in the afternoons and at home in the evening, I switch back to my childhood love of hot tea with milk.    Growing up there was nothing like a strong cup of black tea, English Breakfast, deeply steeped and rich with milk remains one of my favorites. But during the week of my real battle with bronchitis, I wasn't drinking much coffee or English tea with milk.  Most of the week I was brewing peach tea, drunk without milk sweetened with natural honey.  Why?  It soothed my throat.  It made me feel better.  It was what I needed.   99% of the time if I want a hot beverage I would never order, brew or drink peach tea.  I actually don't like fruit tea flavors; they smell too much like perfume to me.  They have little appeal.  But during that week peach tea with honey was the beverage of the day.   Sitting in the window this morning while I was reading on leadership, a lesson from the peach tea kept resurfacing in my mind.   Most leaders have some sense of what type of leader they are wired to be. They are a visionary leader, a strategic leader, a shepherding leader, a team building leader and 99% of the time we function best within the role in how we are wired.  But every so often we find ourselves in a set of circumstances that requires one of those other styles of leadership.  So we reach for the Peach Tea, because it's what's needed right now.   I've probably always seen myself as a visionary leader, one of those individuals who keeps communicating the vision, keeps placing it before the people, believing wholeheartedly that ultimately they will catch the vision and follow it.  It's the coffee cup of my style, the most reached for, most used style of leadership.  It's always been balanced by the strategic leadership style that wrestles with how does the vision become reality.  It's the English Tea, the other common cup in my life.   But every once in a while, what is most needed is a different style, a shepherding style, a re-engineering style, a bridge-building style.  One of those other flavors that need to be picked up because they make sense in the circumstances we are facing.   So what was my leadership lesson?   While I know I'm a morning coffee drinker and evening black enthusiast, there are times when peach tea with honey makes the most sense.   While I know that I'm wired to be a visionary- strategic leader there are times when another style makes the most sense.   What about you?  Do you know when it's time for peach tea?   The Man in the Window

Bruce D. Rzengota
Norwalk Alliance Church

Prayer is not preparation for the battle, it is the battle.

Deal 'em Again

After I finished the Man in the Window about playing Euchre and playing the hand you were dealt, almost immediately another leadership thought sprang to my mind.    When you're playing Euchre with friends it's amazing how twisted the conversation becomes when you are on a men's weekend away.  Playfully you begin to tease your opponents about how bad they are, or about how great your card playing skill is.  You get dealt a great hand and take all the tricks and we're quick to take the credit.  We make gloating comments like this: "Give up now, you can't play with us." "Watch the master at work." "How are you guys ever gonna stop us?" "Do you guys want some lessons?" When you are playing for fun with friends, the digs and jabs are a part of the game and we laugh them off.  You see most of the time, we remember it's not the skill of the player that leads to landslide wins, it's in the deal of the cards.  Sure you have to play the hand you are dealt well, but the landslide win is often out of your control.  Put four equally good players at the table and the wins will be determined by how the cards are dealt.   Sometimes we forget that it in our ministries.  We're too quick to take the credit.  Too brag on our own abilities, our own efforts, our own work.  But it is God who is in control of the situations.  He is the deal of the cards.  He calls us to be faithful, the results are HIS not ours.  Faithfully fulfilling the call is what is required.  He brings the results so if we're going to brag, let's brag on HIM.   Paul said it this way, "Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord."  1 Corinthians 1:31   Lord, make me a boaster, a boaster of all that You do and never of what I may think is my doing.   Amen!

Bruce D. Rzengota
Norwalk Alliance Church

Prayer is not preparation for the battle, it is the battle.