Ravi Zacharias, internationally known author and speaker says, “When you throw mud at someone else, you not only get your hands dirty, but you lose ground.”

Have you had ‘bad’ things happen to you?  Give your hurts to God!  Don’t let bitterness ruin your life!  Keep your head up, and keep looking up!  Let God be at work in your circumstances and in your life.  Pray that in all things He will be glorified!  Let Him work out His purposes as He sees best.  He LOVES you and wants the BEST for you!  

“…you meant these things for evil, but God has used them for good…” (Genesis 50:20). 

How many times have we found ourselves running around in circles trying to take care of every ‘little’ issue, problem, or situation that comes our way?  We feel like the man in the circus routine who is trying to keep 10 plates all spinning at the same time.  About the time he gets five or six plates spinning, one falls and breaks.  By the time he gets that one replaced and spinning, another falls.  This man feels hopelessly trapped in an exercise of futility!  

Don’t sweat the small stuff!  I mean, evaluate the issues that need to be addressed by your leadership and make sure that you are saving your best energies and focus for those really ‘big’, ‘important’ issues!  I have seen so many leaders who are completely exhausted, frazzled, befuddled, and worn out because they are trying to take care of every little thing that comes along.  The result is that they become distracted, they lose focus, they become fatigued, and discouragement sets in.  When you spend  spend all of your energies on things that you feel are ‘urgent’, then you never have the energy and focus for the really ‘important’ things that need your attention!

The secret to being a good leader is asking God for the wisdom to discern what the really ‘important’ issues are that call for your personal attention, your best energy and single-minded focus!  At the end of the day, all of us have lots of issues that must be dealt with…but, we want to make sure that the ‘important’ things are being done!  What will help each of us as leaders is to take ‘the long look’ at life, our work, our goals, our leadership–and press on with all of our energies towards those things that will really matter and count!  A lot of things we need to say, “No”, to!  A lot of things do not need our immediate attention.  Don’t allow yourself to get ’sucked dry’ by meaningless things!

Stay strong!  Stay focused!  Give your BEST every day!  Trust God with everything!!!

This Thanksgiving Mary Lou, Matt, and I traveled to Waterloo, Iowa to spend the holiday with our son, Jon, and his wife, Michelle.  We have had a wonderful day relaxing, eating good food, sharing stories, and just being together.  Thanksgiving is truly a great time to be together with family and friends, and share our love for one another.  It is also a good time to be able to express gratitude for the many blessings that God has brought into our lives.

With the hectic pace that many of us live in today, we need special times like Thanksgiving to just ’slow down’ a bit, quiet our hearts, and spend some valuable time reflecting upon the many GOOD things in our lives.  I am so thankful for my wife, my sons, my daughter-in-law, my brothers, my sister, and many, many friends who have supported, loved, and mentored me through the years.  I am so blessed!

I also want to give thanks for my Savior, Jesus Christ!  Jesus is the One who brings meaning, purpose, forgiveness, peace, love, joy, and hope to my life!  I am so humbled that He would be willing to die on a cross for my salvation.  This is why I want to be a devoted follower of Jesus!  I want my life to point others to Him.  I love Him so much!

What are your Thanksgiving joys today?

The Thanksgiving holiday is upon us!  Naturally, our hearts turn toward those things for which we are thankful.  When each of us take time to reflect upon the many blessings we have, and have received in life, our hearts are filled with deep gratitude.  It is important for us to find a way and a time to express our thanksgiving to God for His grace and kindness to us.

For some this year, expressing thanks may be difficult.  The holiday season does not come so merrily to their home.  When reflecting about happenings in the past year, their hearts may turn to a loved one that has died, a job or a home that has been lost, a business that has failed, friends that have experienced a tradegy, elderly parents who are frail in body and mind, a community that is reeling under economic depression, and on-and-on.  Many may find it hard to give thanks this year.

I have a word of encouragement for you!  Find a way to give thanks anyway!  Sure times are tough, sure we may have experienced som losses this year, sure we’ve had our share of dissappointments, sure things haven’t always gone the way that we had hoped.  But give thanks anyway!  Open up your heart and let a spirit of thanksgiving flow out of you.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 we read, “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  I believe that  when we can give thanks in all things, we are learning how to trust God with all the circumstances and events of our lives.  When can tell Him about our problems, and our troubles, and our griefs, and know that He cares!  I believe that God can take the bad things in life and transform them into good things when we let Him have His way!  When I am learning how to give thanks to God, I am learning how to move away from my own ’self-centered’ life to a life of surrender and obedience to God.  I will be learning how to commit my ways to Him and letting Him direct my path.  Giving thanks lifts my spirit and warms my heart.  It reminds me how blessed I really am!

Whatever your present situation is, or how your past year has played out, I do pray that you will find some time this holiday season to lift your heart to God and express sincere gratitude to Him for how much He loves you!!!  

When the German poet, Heinrich Heine, first viewed the statue of Venus he cried in despair, “It’s beautiful but it has no hands.”  It was indeed sad that both the arms and hands of this famous statue had been broken off!  “She has no hands!”  Several evangelical leaders in India recently met with pastors in their country and exhorted them by saying, “The reason people in India are not listening to the Gospel we are preaching is because they don’t see in us the compassion of Christ.”  Wow! “They see our buildings, they hear our words, but they do not see us reaching out to people where they hurt.”  What good is our Christian faith if it is not impacting the lives of others for good?  If it is not bringing healing?  blessing?  love?  forgiveness?  deeds of kindness?  “She has no hands.”

It’s amazing the money that some churches spend on buildings, equipment, materials, and resources today.  I’m all for the church being ‘excellent’ in all she does and having the resources to minister effectively.  I’m all for churches having nice buildings and adequate facilities to do the Lord’s work.  There are times, however, when churches become so strapped financially with “so much stuff” that they then do not have the financial means to do community outreach and compassionate care to others.  Too many believers today are content to let their faith ’sit in church’, rather than getting involved in the community where they live.  “She has no hands.”

We need to be putting our faith into action!  Sound doctrine does not just come from the pulpit, but is lived out in the lives of believers as they follow Christ in their everyday lives!  People need to “see” our faith!  People need to “feel” our love.  People need to “experience” our compassion.  THE CHURCH TODAY NEEDS TO BE A PLACE WITH HANDS!  Let’s find new ways to share the love and mercy of Christ with those that live around us!  Put your faith into action!

Marshall Goldsmith, one of today’s top Leadership experts and mentor to some of the top CEOs around the world, tells us that we must always be about the business of managing our careers.  No one else will do this for us.  You must take charge of your career.  Mr. Goldsmith suggests three ways that we can do this:

          (1) You need a strategy — what do you love to do?  what skills do you possess?  what is my strategy for personal development?  what plan am I working in order to achieve my goals in life?

          (2) You need a brand identity — what are you known for?  how do you distinquish yourself from others?  how do you want others to know you?  how will people remember you?  what do you offer others?

          (3) You need a mission — why am I doing what I am doing?  what is my purpose in life?  what do I want to accomplish with my life, my talents, and my influence?  how will my career help me fulfill my mission?

As I have been reading more of Marshall Goldsmith’s books, I have appreciated his thoughtful insight into how we might develop ourselves to reach our greatest potential.   I hope that sharing these thoughts today will help you in your personal life and career.  You are an important person–and you are important to someone!

Legendary radio newscaster, Paul Harvey, had a unique trademark to his broadcasting.  Mr. Harvey would begin telling his audience a real life story about an incident, or an individual, and then come to a pivotal point in the story where he would fill in “the missing details/or information” that made the story so fantastic!  Mr. Harvey would then conclude by saying, “Now you know the rest of the story!”  People by the millions would listen to his broadcasts every day just to get the rest of the story!

As I pass through the pages of the Bible, I too would like to know “the rest of the story” about certain individuals.  There’s the boy who gave his lunch to Jesus to feed 5,000 people.  What ever happened to him?  How about that tax-collector named Zacchaeus.  You know, that “little” man that climbed up into a tree and invited Jesus to his house for dinner.  Whatever happened to him?  Or, how about that little girl, Jairus’ daughter, that Jesus raised from the dead.  What kind of young lady did she grow up to be?

It would be interesting to know how their lives progressed from this points of contact with Jesus!  Did they become leaders?  Own businesses?  Lead others to the Savior?  Did they have children?  What went on in their lives?  It would be fascinating to know, wouldn’t it.  The Bible doesn’t tell us any more than the storylines we are given.  The writers of the Bible felt that that was enough to know. 

As for you and me, we are still writing the chapters of our story!  God is writing that story every day by how we live, how we treat others, the decisions we make, the priorities that shape our lives, the daily witness we give.  While we may NOT know the “rest of the story” for the individuals we made reference to earlier, OUR STORY is still being written every day as we trust God’s grace to have it’s way in our lives.  What a wonderful story is being written!  Let’s live each day for HIS GLORY and HIS HONOR!

Who knows, maybe after we’ve passed from this life someone will speak at our funeral and say, “Now you know the rest of the story!”

“You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.”         2 Corinthians 3:2-3

If life teaches us us anything, it is that we must work through our ‘failures’ in life and keep pressing on!  Milton learned this truth.  As a young man he opened a business and it failed.  Milton moved out West and started another business.  It, too, failed.  He then moved to New York and started another business.  It failed. 

Milton then started a candy business in Pennsylvania and it took off very successfully.  While this business was prospering, Milton spent extra time working on a new recipe for what he felt would be a very successful line of candy.  After some time, Milton was ready to produce his new product–milk chocolate!  Yes, Milton Hersey, did not give up on his dreams even though he went through failure many times.

Failures in life are difficult experiences to go through, but can become the catalyst for deepening our character, strengthening our resolve, and clarifying our dreams.  Many times after failure we have to fight the temptation to give up and throw the towel in.  I’m sure there are many today who have been totally knocked off track from where they wanted to be by failures that were allowed to destroy their confidence and their dreams.  Like a prize fighter who gets knocked to the canvas, we must pull ourselves together and get back up on our feet and keep fighting.

All failure is not final.  Learn from your failures.  Sharpen your focus.  Strengthen your gifts.  You do have something valuable to share with others.  You are important to someone.  Let your life count for God!

The story is told of a shoe company that sent two of its salesmen to another country where most of the people went barefoot.  The company believed that this would be the perfect market for selling its shoes.

After the first week, both salesmen called into the office.  The first salesman said, “Please get me out of here!  There’s no one interested in buying shoes, they all go around barefoot.”  The second salesman called in and said, “Please send me all the shoes you have!  Everyone here needs a pair of shoes!  They all go around barefoot.”

It’s interesting how both salesmen saw the same situation differently!   One only saw obstacles, the other saw opportunities!  One man saw the people as not being interested in what he had to sell, while the other man believed that everyone would want what he had to sell!  What a difference of perspective! 

How are you looking at your present situation?  Are you focusing too much energy on the problems that surround you, and not enough time on the opportunities that may be waiting to be embraced?  Many times our work demands that we bring a spirit of openness, flexibility, and creativity.  Often, great opportunities are lost because of narrow thinking and prejudiced attitudes that blind people from seeing what is before them.   Too often people move in directions that become predictable and routine.  When this happens, the sense of adventure and risk is lost and new avenues and ventures are lost. 

Every day we need to pray for fresh vision to see clearly the great opportunities that come our way!  And then, with great joy and enthusiasm run out and embrace them!

The baseball world was saddened by the news that Mark ‘The Bird’ Fidrych passed away the other day at age 54.  Mark burst on the baseball scene in 1976 taking the baseball world by storm!  Mark was a quirky, fun-loving, spontaneous good-natured young man who pitched for the Detroit Tigers.  When Mark would take the mound, his antics of talking to the baseball and patting the dirt on the mound, won the adoration of fans all around the country.  He was different.  He was fun.  He made baseball interesting to watch.  A sportswriter nicknamed Mark, ‘The Bird’, after noticing similarities in Mark’s behavior with the Sesame Street character, ‘Big Bird’.  It stuck!

In 1976 Mark Fidrych won the AL Rookie of the Year Award.  He also went 19-9 that season with an E.R.A. of 2.34!  Mark finished second in the balloting for the Cy Young Award in 1976 and was voted to the AL All-Star team.  Unfortunately, injuries sidelined Mark for the next three years and he never returned to the form that he had in that first season.  After 5 years in the big leagues Mark Fidrych retired.

Mark Fidrych is a wonderful reminder to all of us about being yourself.  Mark never tried to act, pitch, or emulate a particular style, of any other big league pitcher.  Playing ball was all about having fun…using his God-given talents to the maximun…being a great teammate…being himself!  That is a great lesson for all of us to learn.  Just be yourself!  Don’t try to copy someone else.  Don’t try to act like someone else.  Just be yourself and use the talents that God has given you!  Play to your strengths!  You are unique!  Celebrate yourself!