From the monthly archives:

July 2008

10 Things to Pray for the People You Love

by Andy Wood on July 31, 2008

in Five LV Laws,Principle of Legacy

PrayerI want to share with you 10 things I pray for my children, all of whom are married adults now, living elsewhere.  They are listed in order, but not necessarily order of importance or chronological order.  More on that later.

I didn’t make the list up – somebody already beat me to it.  But as soon as I found it, I decided that this was a good “handle” for interceding for anyone I love.  But I’m particularly drawn to praying this for my children, and their children as they come along. Here goes…

1.  Deep personal fulfillment.  I want them to be happy!  Not in that shallow, vain use of the word, but for them to find life satisfaction – true joy – in their lives, their relationships, and their work.

2.  The success and strength of their descendants.  To use a biblical term, I pray that my grandchildren and beyond would be “mighty on the earth” because of the things my children taught them and demonstrated to them.

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Out of the Sand – The LifeVesting Principle of Increase

by Andy Wood on July 30, 2008

in Executing Your Plan,Five LV Laws,Life Currency,LV Cycle,Principle of Increase,Waiting

GrowthA man goes on a long journey, so the story goes.  He gives different amounts of money to three managers – amounts ranging in today’s currency from around $300,000 to upwards of $5 million.  This ain’t chump change.

One day, the man returns, and asks the three managers a pretty simple question:  How much value did you add to what I gave you?

Two of the managers had done similar things with the money.  They started making trades.  Making the money work for more money.  They took some risks, added some work and ideas of their own, and increased the value of the initial stake.

Behind door number three, however, was a guy who buried his stake in the back yard.  He did nothing with what he had been given.  Assuming that somehow the landowner would be impressed, he beamed with pride as he returned the original stake.

Bad move.

You know this, of course, as a story that Jesus told.  But some of the most important words are some of the first:  “The kingdom of heaven is like this,” Jesus said.

So, while a lot of us imagine judgment as us standing before God while he counts the cusswords and dirty little thoughts we had, Jesus presents a different idea here.  We will give an account to God for how much more value we have added to the gifts He’s given us.  This is the LifeVesting principle of Increase:

I will receive an increase on my life choices in proportion to my willingness to invest and wait.

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DeCristo

by Andy Wood on July 29, 2008

in LV Stories

DeChristo“I am created for His kingdom and purpose.  I want to fulfill what I was created for.”  That was Connie Holloway’s firm belief and determination.  Little did she know where that would take her.

Four years ago, Connie was in a marriage that ended in a head-on collision.  A believer in Christ, she carries no anger toward her former husband.  He’s a brother in Christ, she says, and she means it. She has seen her share of hurts, but Connie is the second-happiest person I have ever known.  I’ve about decided that Molly Brown would have nothing on her.  Connie’s unsinkable.  She has that crazy idea that abundant life is available here and now – not just when we die.  What a concept.

One of Connie’s major breakthroughs happened a couple of years ago.  “We were in worship, singing ‘Enough,’ and God asked me, ‘Am I more than enough for you?’”

“Yes!” she said with joy.

On that day, Connie was set free from believing that a relationship with a man could heal her.  She learned – not just in her head, but in her heart – that our completeness is in Him, not in a marriage or the things she thought she needed in a spouse.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago.  Connie was enjoying a movie with Kaylee, her daughter.  The credits were rolling, and Connie saw someone’s name and thought how beautiful it was.  There she was seized with a thought:  It’s time for a new name.  For four years she’d carried a stranger’s name, and it was time for a change.

She mentioned it to Kaylee, who just seemed to get it.  Kaylee always seems to get her mother.  So there they stood – credits still running – and they started having fun, practicing new names based on the running list.

But how do you pick your own new name?  What would you do if you had that kind of freedom?

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The Stepmother

by Andy Wood on July 28, 2008

in Turning Points

 (A Turning Point Story)

Stepmother“Reverend Wood?”

I always know two things when somebody starts a conversation with that.  First, something interesting is sure to follow.  Second, whoever it is doesn’t know me very well.

It always feels a little awkward when somebody asks, “What should I call you?”  I never have liked the “reverend” thing; the only time I put it in front of my name is when I’m signing a funeral book.  I once had a reason for that; now it’s just habit.

My Baptist heritage made me “Brother Andy” to most people.  To me, that’s a higher life form than “reverend,” but still felt a bit, I don’t know, dated or preachy or something.

Whenever my wife hears the Abraham-Sarah story, she enjoys calling me, “My lord.”  “What would you like for dinner, my lord?”  She thinks it’s really funny.  I haven’t a clue why.

Since my move to Texas, I’ve been “Pastor Andy” to most people in church.  That’s OK.  “Andy” is even better.  I’ve always liked the simplicity of just being me.  But after watching people stumble over all that title biz for a while, I finally took a cue from one of my college professors:  a simple “Your Majesty” will do.

Anyway, “Reverend Wood” is at the bottom of the list.  And on this day the conversation that followed was interesting, to be sure.

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Bobo Brown and the “ART” of Politics

by Andy Wood on July 25, 2008

in Spoofs

Elections bring out the best and the worst in people. Fortunately, in order to preserve our sanity, they also bring out the funny and the philosopher in us, too.  Check out Walt Handelsman’s take on McCain vs. Obama: The 2008 Summer Olympics.

The amazing folks at jibjab have created this one:

Now for some real wisdom…

Athens had Plato and Aristotle.  Israel had Solomon.  Colonial America had Jefferson and Madison.  We had Bobo Brown.

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When Leaders Become Dangerous

by Andy Wood on July 24, 2008

in Leadership,Life Currency

I haven’t said anything about the current political scene for a variety of reasons, but this scares me.  I haven’t seen fawning like this since I escorted W. A. Criswell into a Baptist pastors’ meeting.

YouTube Preview Image

Something’s wrong when the same people who want to make sure terrorists get equal time and a “fair and balanced perspective” do this kind of drooling.  And something is even more wrong when the people whose vocation is to report the facts and to ask the tough question lose their calling to a thrill running up their leg.

Good grief, Chris, have some dignity.

But this isn’t about politics or the press so much as it is about healthy leadership.  I’ve seen the same kind of crap surrounding pastors, business leaders, and celebrity-types who never had to give an account to anybody for how they influenced people.

When leaders create or inherit an environment where nobody asks the tough questions, they are setting themselves and their organization (or nation) up for their own demise.

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Who Leads the Sheep to the Scary Places?

by Andy Wood on July 23, 2008

in Insight,Life Currency,Tense Truths

ShepherdTense Truth: Because every human has a great need for guidance and care, God promises to personally meet the need of every Christ follower, as a shepherd would his sheep.  Yet as our Shepherd, He will lead us directly to hostile or dangerous places, into the very presence of our enemies and death.  Nevertheless, my safety and peace are not found in where I lie down, but in Who stays awake when I’m resting.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Give your heart to Jesus, and it will be the end of all your trouble.

The front end.

Just remember as you’re bumping along the road to eternal bliss, you have a Shepherd, and He has committed Himself to meet all your needs.  Of course, if He’s the Shepherd, what does that make you and me?

Sheep.  The stupidest, most defenseless animal in the world.

But we’re sheep with a Shepherd, and we can rest in that.  It never ceases to amaze me how those inspired words of David, so comforting for centuries, continue to work their magic today.  I witnessed it again last week, as a grieving family said good-bye to their mother/grandmother.

I love how practical the Lord is when He meets our needs.  When God finds you hungry, He gives you food.  When God finds you with a broken heart, He’s not going to come and ask you if you’ve read the Four Spiritual Laws. He’s going to attend to your broken heart.  Whether the need is for strength to keep going, direction for decision making, encouragement along the way, or something more tangible, our Shepherd delights in solutions to the real problems in your life.

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Connecting the Dots

by Andy Wood on July 22, 2008

in Enlarging Your Capacity,LV Cycle

Connect the Dots 2Yesterday God played “connect the dots” with me.  He used a series of apparently random or loosely-connected ideas to form a whole – a picture of what He’s up to or what He wants to communicate.  I’d like to share what I learned in the process.  So here are the “dots”:

Be Ready
Tim Challies told an amazing story about a crash landing that took place at the Toronto airport in August 2005 during a horrific storm.  The plane overshot the runway and came to a crashing halt.

Some fifteen to twenty seconds had elapsed from the time the aircraft left the runway. Amazingly, the fuselage was largely intact. But as the plane had crossed Convair Drive, fuel had begun to leak and had immediately caught fire. As the plane came to a halt the fire began to spread and to intensify.

Keep in mind that it had been 27 years since a similar incident had happened in Toronto.

For twenty-seven years the firefighters had trained to deal with a situation like this one. An entire generation of firefighters had come and gone without seeing a single incident. They could almost be excused for being under-prepared, slow to respond, slow to act.

They weren’t.  By the time the tower controller activated the airport’s crash alarm, 26 seconds after the flight left the runway, the firefighters were already in route.  They arrived only 52 seconds after the plain left the runway.

Despite twenty seven years without an incident, those firefighters were ready and they responded well in advance of the parameters dictated by safety regulations. In less than a minute they were on the scene and were assisting the passengers. It took less time for them to get to the crash site than it did for fully half of the passengers to leave it.

Fifty-two seconds!  After not having an incident in 27 years.  The key was training.  They had disciplined, trained, and practiced so much that when the crash occurred, they were ready.

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Watch Them Woids!

by Andy Wood on July 21, 2008

in Life Currency,Words

Embarrassed Chimp 2Somewhere up in heaven, Aunt Ruth is probably hooting.  I know she would be if she were still around here.

Aunt Ruth (who was neither my aunt, nor was she named “Ruth”) used to love to catch preachers with their foot in their mouth; it was something of a hobby to her.  Nothing could penetrate her sometimes-sharp exterior and produce uncontrollable laughter like hearing that a prim and proper “man of God” had just said something stupid.  And she was cruel with it!  One little snafu from you-know-who, and I’d hear about it for weeks.  And between guffaws, as she would gasp for air, she’d always sound the same warning.  If I spelled it the way she said it, it would read like this:

“You gotta watch them woids!”

Rather than get offended, I played along.  We often entertained each other with stories we’d heard of other preachers.  Like the time a preacher friend of mine said three times in a sermon, “I’m praying that God would make our church a cesspool of His love! A cesspool of His grace!  A cesspool of his power!”

He was thinking artesian well.  But that’s not what his folks were smelling at the moment.

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Rip van Computer and Catch-up Stains (for starters)

by Andy Wood on July 19, 2008

in Uncategorized

Scattershooting, and wondering whatever happened to Blackie Sherrod…

Asleep at ComputerRip van Computer
I feel like Rip van Computer.  Last weekend I finished the book I’ve been writing with Kaye, the latest Regent class, and Carrie and Kyle’s move.  I found my email inbox with a record 761 messages in them (sorry if yours was one of them – I promise I wasn’t trying to diss you.)  My Google Reader had nearly 900 entries.  But this goes much deeper and further.  For seven months I’ve been in “hunker down” mode, time- and responsibility-wise.  The clouds have parted, and the time-sun is starting to shine.  But I feel like I’ve been asleep at the keyboard.

Catch-up Stains
Right after that, prophetically, I read this story from John Fischer, reportedly from the writings of Rabbi Kushner, about a group of tourists who went on a safari in Africa and hired several native porters to carry their supplies for them. After three days, the porters announced they would have to stop and rest for a day. When the tourists asked why, the porters said they weren’t tired, “…but we have walked too far too fast and now we must wait for our souls to catch up to us.” John talked about the need to let our souls catch up, and I can relate.  It’s time for some soul work.

Resumes and Cover Letters
My son sent me his resume with a cover letter this morning for me to review.  It reminded me of the massive staff search process we have just been through.  I absolutely know how the American Idol judges feel when they do their nationwide search.  Sometime soon I’ll share with you some of the good, the bad, and the you-gotta-be-kidding-me stuff we received (with names changed to protect the laughing).

Handling Fees?
Jackie Huba just shared an experience in which she was purchasing a $50 gift certificate from her favorite day spa. (I can relate – I just did that for my wife).  As the clerk filled out the certificate, she said the total would be $51.50.   “Handling fee,” she said.  When asked what kind of handling was involved, she said (with a straight face, I suppose), “Writing out the certificate,” she said. “It’s labor-intensive.”

I’m not sure whether to laugh, cry, get mad, or get inspired.   We all know about the airlines introducing fees for different things we all sort of took for granted.  Before long, I suppose, we’ll see all kind of new fees for “labor-intensive” or “optional” services: [click to continue…]

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