LifeVesting » Enlarging Your Capacity

The Nest and The Bow – A Fable

Andy Wood — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 06:11:22 +0000

They were two branches off the same Vine.

Designed in the Vine’s image, each a was unique expression of the nature of its Creator. One was tender and sensitive, with stunning intuitive wisdom. The other was strong and masculine, with a compelling view toward the horizon.

They loved being branches of the Vine. And they loved each other. But they’d cut themselves off from the flow of the Vine’s life. They believed the lie that they could thrive on their own. The result: An odd combination of life and death in the same form.

Form without flow.

Image without reality.

As they dreamed of a future together, they asked one another, “How can we shape ourselves so our offspring can know our love and be fruitful?”

The one, in her tender sensitivity, suggested, “I will build a nest of myself for my little ones to rest in. I will allow myself to be broken, again and again, so that I can be shaped into a warm, safe place. I will always be a refuge they can turn to, a shelter from the storm and a hiding place from the wind.”

“What if they take you for granted?” her partner asked. “And what will you do when they’ve left the nest?”

“My love for them is always greater than their capacity to understand or be grateful,” she replied soberly. “And my branches, though aging, will always welcome them home.”

The other had a different plan. “I will be formed into a bow,” he said. “I will form my offspring into arrows, capable of flying to distant places. Then I will offer myself to be stretched to my fullest capacity so that I may launch them to their place of destiny.”

“And what if, once you release them, they never return?” his partner wondered.

“My love for them is greater than my desire to control them,” he answered. “And my strength, though waning, will always send them forth.”

Time passed, and dreams died. After all, dreams always take on the character of those who possess them. Broken and separated, and helpless to do anything to change their plight, the Nest and the Bow surrendered to the curse of sorrow, hopelessness and futility. The only thing they despised more was the pathetic, distorted image of the partner they’d once dreamed with. All they had left to anticipate was their appointment with the fire.

Gathered up for the brush fire with others who shared their fate and waiting for their final verdict, they encountered a Stranger.

Strange because He looked so much like them both… tender, yet powerful.

Strange because He seemed so out of place. This was a brush pile, yet this One was so, so… alive.

“Who are you?” asked the Nest.

“I am the Branch, from the stem of Jesse,” He replied. “The life of the Vine flows through Me. A life of wisdom and understanding, counsel and strength.”

“And why are you here?” asked the Bow.

“The Gardener placed me here to offer you a Way,” He answered. “A Way to restore what time and death have taken from you. A way to experience the fulfillment of your deepest dreams.”

“And what will you make of yourself?” they wanted to know.

Suddenly, without warning, the hand of the Gardener plucked the living Branch from the pile and carried Him toward the fire.

“A bridge,” He called.

“I’ll be a bridge.”

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How Does Your Leader Make You Feel?

Andy Wood — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:54:31 +0000

Okay I need your feedback. Now. Humor me, it’s easy. Scroll down to the comments section. Or click on the article title if you’re reading this on the feed or email, then scroll down to comments.

When you get there, give me your first response to this question.

Think of someone who is in a leadership position over your life – work, church, nonprofit, political. How does that leader most often make you feel?

One word answers are fine. Diatribes are fine. Rants are fine. Gushing is allowed, too. First names are OK. Give your answer, then click “submit” and come back to the top.

I’ll wait right here.

(This is me waiting.)

Okay. Back? Let’s talk.

Regardless of whether leaders are the “get-it-done,” task-oriented type or the “we-love-each-other,” relationship-oriented type, one of the things that matters most to their leadership success is credibility. A credible leader is somebody that others would willingly follow.

Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner have been writing about that for 30 years, based on their research. One of the things they have discovered is that there is a direct connection between a leader’s credibility and how they make people feel.

And just how do credible leaders make people feel? Our research of over a thousand case studies shows 10 descriptors used most often:

Valued

Motivated

Enthusiastic

Challenged

Inspired

Capable

Supported

Powerful

Respected

Proud.

Think through your own experiences with both really good and really poor leaders. Would you say you felt some or all of those things with the good ones? Is it a safe assumption that if you had someone in authority who made you feel otherwise, you wouldn’t willingly follow them?

Now. Put on your leader’s cap (or parent cap) and start with the obvious question: How do you make your constituents feel? More importantly, regardless of the honest answers to that question, What can you do to build credibility by influencing the trust of those you lead? Here are four places to start:

1. Work on congruence.

Did you ever have a boss who said all the right things but made you feel all creepy or insecure anyway? Doubtless, one of the things missing was congruence between words and actions. Or between verbal and nonverbal communication. If you’re in leadership or aspire to be, remember – your words are only influential to the degree that they line up with your nonverbal communication or your actions. And given the choice, people will believe your actions and nonverbal communication every time.

In the words of that great leadership guru, The Fonz, when he was teaching Richie Cunningham how to intimidate, “Just once you had to have hit somebody.”

2. Think ahead.

In some cases way ahead. It’s the number one howl of people against bad leaders: What were they THINKING? And in many cases the answer is, they weren’t.

Is this vision? Partly. But vision without a plan or careful consideration of the consequences is vaporware. The more clearly you can see into the future and act prepared for it when you get there, the more you can convince people to follow you as you approach it.

3. Serve the needs of your constituents.

The hardest lesson I have ever learned about motivating people is that the sincerity of my motives or the clarity of my vision is never enough. People may respond to your call to mobilize, but they won’t necessarily respond to your motives for doing so. Both consciously and unconsciously, people respond to the direction of a leader for reasons that serve them, not the leader.

Does that make them selfish? No. Just human. And if your leadership doesn’t make them feel supported or competent or respected or needed, don’t be surprised by their lukewarm response.

4. Pursue and reward lifelong learning and excellence.

In the circles and boxes I move in, the idea of self-improvement produces four kinds of flawed responses.

Some people get on a theological high-horse about all that’s wrong with the idea of self-improvement, then go back to their hours of study and work to improve themselves.
Some people are too busy climbing to the top of their hill to improve their ability to scale mountains. After all, they have their diploma or degree – isn’t that enough?
Some people get all dreamy-eyed and can’t wait to get to that next seminar or workshop, but have no strategy for implementing all those great ideas.
Some people spend an inordinate amount of time ignoring their genius and working on their weaknesses.

Here’s a thought. Become a lifelong student of the things that you are already considered an expert at, and lead your organization to do the same. Work to make your team excellent, and yes, that means spending money for training if necessary. Learn! Grow! Yesterday’s genius is only ordinary today; tomorrow it’s irrelevant.

Keep a list of those ten feelings visible somewhere at all times. Ask yourself and others continually, “What can I do to generate that kind of response in the people I lead?”

And remember – regardless of what your leadership picture looks like today, tomorrow you have the privilege and responsibility of rewriting it.

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How Mrs. Mays Got Her Four-Year-Olds to Listen

Andy Wood — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:02:23 +0000

Jackie Mays was a legend. Maybe not everywhere, but certainly in some of the circles we roamed in when our kids were small. And to a couple of four-year-old twin girls, Mrs. Mays was larger than life.

Sending your kids off to school for the first time is a big adjustment. Especially when they’re your oldest, and they’re the ripe old age of four. Enter Mrs. Mays. Not only was she a faithful member of our church in Birmingham, she was one of the K-4 teachers at Grace Christian School. And a legendary gift she was, to both parents and their little darlings.

“Daddy, Mrs. Mays says…”

“Daddy, that’s not how Mrs. Mays…”

In Mrs. Mays’ class they learned the basics of reading and writing and that other “r.” They learned the pledges and the Star-Spangled Banner. (Cassie used to come home with that wistful, “I just love America.”) They learned to love God’s word, and learned the gospel and about heaven and hell and the price Jesus paid to snatch us from the one to take us to the other. And they had fun learning it all.

There were no assistants, aides, or volunteers. Just one amazing woman and a room full of four-year-olds, who most days sat mesmerized or did what was expected.

I want to tell you one of her not-so-secret secrets. It’ s one of the things that made Jackie Mays a teaching artist who could capture and hold the attention of her students. It was revolutionary to me at the time.

If you were talking and nobody was paying attention, and what you had to say was important, what would you do? If you’re like most people, including every teacher I’d ever had, you’d raise the volume. Say it a little louder. Emphasize a little stronger. Start naming names. Yell if you must.

But even a four-year-old instinctively knows, as Seth Godin recently pointed out, “yelling is a waste of time, regardless of how urgent the issue is.”

When Jackie wanted her class to listen, she turned herself down. Quieter. Almost whispering. Not mumbling, mind you. Clearly, energetically, passionately… she got soft. And like clockwork, it worked. Kids leaned in. Got still. Listened. Seth Godin again:

Have you ever encountered a really stressed, undertrained gate agent at an airport? She starts yelling into the microphone, strangling her words and insisting, demanding and EMPHASIZING just how urgent it is that David Johnson come to the gate immediately…

It doesn’t work, because we shut her out. Like a toddler ignoring his ever more insistent parent, it’s so easy to turn off the yelling. Just as we ignore the all caps emails, the flashing banner ad and the sirens in New York.

On the other hand, Seth says, “Whispering piques our interest and demands our attention.” Jackie Mays was a genius at it.

And so is God.

Remember the time Elijah had just about had it? Burned out, given out, and called out by a woman who was a real Jezebel, he just wanted to die. Remember what God did to reset his bearings? Standing in the mouth of a cave, past an earthquake and a whirlwind, Elijah finally heard the voice of God again… whispering.

You and I want God to yell it out. We want loud answers, clarion calls, roaring solutions, handwriting in the sky. And what’s scary to me… how many of us would have been content with the noise and the outward displays, even though they lacked the true voice of God?

But the problem is, humans are uniquely talented to filter out the loudness. And you’re no exception.

So… when God really wants to get your attention, He lowers His volume. Silent. Holy. Calm. Still. Peaceful.

Manger stuff.

Have you wondered lately why God seems so quiet? I think there’s a reason. He has something to say, and He doesn’t intend to mumble. But He does intend to be heard. And noisy hearts can’t hear on that level. So He waits for you to get some things out of your system.

The exhaustion.

The discouragement.

The rants.

The busy.

The noise – even good noise. (Reminder: The angel armies shouted out in the fields where the shepherds were. But the real glory of God in the highest was resting back in town in a feeding trough.)

Even the miracles and big displays of power.

He waits for you to be still and know. To listen for the whisper.

In all her ways of pointing my children to an educated, Jesus-filled life, that may have been Mrs. Mays’ greatest legacy. She taught them to listen for the whisper.

In the past, God spoke to our people through the prophets. He spoke at many times. He spoke in different ways. But in these last days, he has spoken to us through his Son. He is the one whom God appointed to receive all things. God made everything through him. The Son is the gleaming brightness of God’s glory. He is the exact likeness of God’s being. He uses his powerful word to hold all things together. He provided the way for people to be made pure from sin. Then he sat down at the right hand of the King, the Majesty in heaven (Hebrews 1:1-4, NIRV).

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What To Do When You Realize You Aren’t Going to Change the World

Andy Wood — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 07:20:52 +0000

Change your nation instead. Or your community. Or your neighborhood. Or in those really desperate cases, change yourself.

Changing the world has become a cliché.

“This generation will change the world.”

“You have the power to change the world.”

“That [insert role of another person] you [insert action you perform] may just change the world someday.”

Maybe they can. Maybe you will. And yes, it is possible.

And no, you probably won’t. The world is mighty stingy with who it allows to change everybody on it. It just doesn’t give up control that easily. And when it does, you’re likely to wind up dead in the process. Or hated by a lot of people. Turns out many people don’t really want to be changed. Imagine that.

I’m really concerned for a lot of people – maybe you – who have been told all their lives how awesome they are, and they have been led to believe that all they need to do is show up in their awesomeness, and universal forces begin to converge to produce galactic change.

Guess what? It probably ain’t gonna happen. And in other news, my son, who works at Sears, just told me that the Kardashian Kollection just was moved to the clearance aisle. Ouch.

Unless you’re one of the less-than-one-percent who has the gifts, platform, or patience to be a revolutionary, the world is not your oyster. So what do you do if you are one of the 99%? Well, I suppose you could band together with a bunch of other frustrated people and make a scene. Demand that the world changes to suit your preferences, or at least hand over some of that money. That’ll change something, for sure – most likely your mailing address.

But who said “changing the world” is the only measure of success? When did the only two choices become “world changer” and “nobody?” Maybe what the world needs is not somebody who can revolutionize it, but somebody who can train up and nurture its kids. Maybe what the world need is not somebody who can sell a new idea (much as I love ideas), but somebody who can execute the old ones brilliantly. Maybe what the world needs is not somebody who can innovate, but somebody who can stabilize. Maybe what the world needs is not somebody with a face and body for television, but somebody with a heart and soul for quietly adding value by sitting down to dinner a few times a week with the whole family.

Boring, I know. Decidedly nonglamorous. But dripping with character.

I hope you’re young enough (I’m 53 and I think I am) to learn from the unknown monk, who wrote somewhere around A.D. 1100:

When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town, and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.

Yeah, I know. I’ve quit preaching and gone to meddling. But what if changing the world really did start with changing yourself? What if that brick wall you keep running into isn’t really the rich and powerful or heterosexuals or men or women or the entertainment “industry” or the Bowel Championship Series or the Democrats or the Republicans or the Federal court system or white people or illegal aliens or drug cartels or Disney or Walmart or the Yankees?

What if the brick wall is insane belief that everybody and everything but you needs to change?

What if the brick wall is the smug complacency that somehow leads you to believe that you’re entitled to happiness as you define it – just because you’re, well, you?

Grow up. Please. We need you to show us the way. There’s still time.

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Fill My Heart

Andy Wood — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:08:49 +0000

As I give thanks to You at the end of the day or greet this day with hope, the one thing lately that I want above all else is to live with a full heart. The one thing I fear most is passing through what’s left of my days with sterile laughter, superficial comfort, or counterfeit gladness.

I don’t want to say, “I love you” and not mean it. I don’t want see your handiwork in all its glory and not be moved by it. I don’t want to chase a life of ease and catch up to an empty heart.

So I come to You, knowing there’s no one who can fill my life with that kind of love, or free my soul from that kind of passionless bondage, like You do. And I pray that just as the morning sun fills the earth with light even on a cloudy day like today, that You would do what only You can do:

Dear God, take this heart of mine and fill it.

Fill my heart with radical patience.

Give me the tenacity to change the world because I was willing to wait longer for it to change. Make me a steadfast extremist – willing to put up with more irritations or more inconveniences without a desire to get even. Give me the annoying capacity to overlook offenses again and again for the sake of a greater prize.

Fill my heart with heretical kindness.

In a world that preaches that goodness has to be earned, I want to be the unbeliever. I want to go first. I want to do something that’s dripping with kindness (not just feel it), expecting nothing in return.

Fill my heart with glad security.

Take away all jealousy, insecurity, or fears of inferiority. Free me from dependence on material possessions or the desire to be like someone else (other than You). And with a content heart, give me the grace to truly rejoice with those who rejoice, regardless of my own troubles or sadness.

Fill my heart with silent accomplishment.

I want to succeed – to fulfill my purpose or accomplish my goals. Give me the power to do that, and the wisdom to give You the glory for it. More than that, give me the heart to listen to and celebrate the victories and success stories of others.

Fill my heart with humble unimportance.

Somehow give me the divine strength to esteem others as more important. To defer to their views and work with them in unity. To take the time to be concerned with their needs and interests.

Fill my heart with sensitive awareness.

Help me to go from hall monitor to heart monitor. I don’t want to just know how others feel, I want it to matter. In a world of honking horns and high-class jerks, help me to be thoughtful, considerate and self-controlled.

Fill my heart with abandoned servanthood.

Help me walk away from my own possessions in order to meet the needs of those who have little. Help me set aside my plans in order to make it better for someone else. Help me see past my rights and entitlements in order to ease the pain and sorrow of someone else.

Fill my heart with tempered strength.

Give me power from on high to laugh at myself, and not take myself too seriously. Give me supernatural wisdom to recognize that neither I nor my circumstances are as important as my ago would lead me to believe. Give me revelation to know when I’m about the fly off the handle and the fortitude to handle it instead.

Fill my heart with lavish forgetfulness.

Help me to be so aware of my own failures that I don’t have time to remember the failures of others. Help me be so intoxicated with your forgiveness of my stupid choices that I completely forget the silly betrayals or disappointments I get from others. Help me thank you abundantly by remembering that we’re all a work in progress – even the people who greatly offended me in the past.

Fill my heart with quiet purity.

Shut my mouth forever if all I can talk about is someone else’s sin. Fill my heart forever with sadness if all I can ever laugh it is the moral folly of others. Protect me from a testimony that revels more in how I once was lost than in how now I am found by Your grace.

Fill my heart with delightful honesty.

Help me find my greatest pleasure in meaning what I say and fulfilling my commitments. Help me discover my truest self as a man of integrity. Help me to live in the wonder of being aligned with Your heart and in harmony with your truth.

Fill my heart with protective courage.

I want to be the one who runs to the battlefield when a brother or sister is wounded. I want to have whatever valor it takes to cover them when the world or other believers attack them. I want to have the strength to carry them when they can no longer carry themselves.

Fill my heart with creative faith.

Open my eyes to so believe the best in others that I see them – not as what they are today, but as what You are creating in them for tomorrow. Help me make the mistake of trusting others too much if it means I avoid being too suspicious or cynical. Help me to risk disappointment or rejection like You did to believe the best about me.

Fill my heart with steadfast confidence.

In a world that believes that failure is fatal, I want to be the last man standing for hope. Riveted to your faithfulness, love and power, make me an unshakable witness to the fact that you’re not finished with me yet. And let me apply that confidence to the shortcomings of others as well.

Fill my heart with stubborn endurance.

Help me stand faithful to my post, even in the most violent of battles. Give me the persistence to launch today’s advance, regardless of yesterday’s results. And just as You endured the cross because you saw my need, help me to see past my own hurts to meet the needs of others – even when they’re not asking me to.

What I’m saying, if I haven’t told You enough, is that I don’t have the capacity to love like You do. But I want it. So on this day, and the next, fill my heart with that love that exceeds all other affections.

Fill my heart… with You.

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The Glassblower

Andy Wood — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:51:54 +0000

Guided by a clear vision of what could be, and wisdom and skill known only to master craftsmen, the glass blower takes raw, shapeless material and goes about his work.

Molding.

Forming.

Bending.

Shaping.

A beautiful form begins taking shape, made possible by the searing flame.

If the little glass cylinders were given a vote, they’d choose to remain cool.

Comfortable.

Unbent.

Unremarkable.

But masterpieces only materialize when the clay says to the potter, “Have your own way.”

Or when stiff glass (or stiffnecked people) submits in faith to the heat of the furnace and the heart of the Creator.

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The Gratitude Tour

Andy Wood — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:37:22 +0000

Hey. Glad you’re here for the tour. I have something I want to show you. Well, actually, lots of things I want to show you. And it’s a little weird because you know more about this stuff than I do. You see, this building – and all the rooms in it – is actually your life.

That explains why the upper floors are still under construction.

It also explains why many of the lower floors are being renovated.

Yes, it explains why some of the floor and rooms are dark, dark, dark – and why many others are very bright and festive.

Now before we begin the walk-through, I have some things for you to keep with you at all times. First up – your hard hat. Hey, it’s a construction zone. Hard hats are required. Sure, you can call it the “helmet of salvation” if you want. I don’t care what you call it – just wear it.

Safety glasses are also a must. It’s important that you protect your eyes, and also that you see clearly. Some people say these are a rose-colored. I like to think of them as shades of grace.

Also, keep this little container with you. You’ll see why later. Inside you’ll find some bread (unleavened, of course) and wine.

One more thing to notice is the inscription on your container. After all, this is the Gratitude Tour…

always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father (Ephesians 5:20).

Finally, I have a bonus surprise for you. Each of the rooms you visit – which represent episodes or experiences in your life – has had a Custom Designer and a Famous Visitor. Some of the rooms have been so completely re-done, you may have trouble recognizing them at first. And in each room, the Visitor has left you a special message. I think you’ll like it.

The Rooms of Blessing

Can you believe how beautifully done these are? Wow. You sure have a lot to be thankful for. Friends. Family. Joys. Accomplishments. Answered prayers. Did you notice the light, airy design? The careful attention to the slightest detail to delight you?

And did you find the message from your Famous Visitor in those rooms? Yeah, that’s it: “Jesus was here. And He left you His name.”

Did you know that He visited those days of blessing long before you ever did? Did you know that He personally designed those seasons and days? Only one thing is missing: a little gratitude from you.

So… wearing the hard hat of salvation, seeing through the safety glasses of perspective and wisdom, let’s break out that bread and wine and remember… and confess our ingratitude… and be filled with the Spirit… and say, “Thank you.”

After all, “always giving thanks” is a result of being filled with the Spirit. And it’s one of the standards, or manifestations, for what a Spirit-filled life looks like.

And this is the Gratitude tour.

The Renovated Rooms

You’re going to find some surprises on this floor. As you revisit some old haunts of failure or pain, disappointment or rejection, you’re going to find that the Custom Designer has done an amazing job of transforming the look of the place. Talk about an extreme makeover!

This room that looks like a dance studio? Yeah. Once that was the place of your deepest mourning. That room with the view of the sunrise and the paintings of laughter? You may remember the day it was painted dark grey with despair or depression. And the beautifully painted room, all done in your favorite colors? It once was covered with ashes.

Same rooms. Same experiences. Just redesigned.

Oh… and here’s your note: Jesus was here. And He left you His name.

Did you know that He visited those days of despair and darkness long before you ever did? Did you know that He personally transformed those experiences – not just to heal you, but to give you beauty, joy and praise? Only one thing is missing: a little gratitude from you.

So… wearing the hard hat of salvation, seeing through the safety glasses of perspective and wonder, let’s break out that bread and wine and remember… and confess our delight and joy… and be filled with the Spirit… and say, “Thank you.”

Gratitude for all things. Not some things. All things. Thanks for the old feelings of sorrow or loneliness. Thanks for the redemption of your sins and shortcomings. Gratitude for the healing of your broken heart, and the liberation of your captured spirit. There is always a reason to give thanks when a person is filled with the Spirit.

After all, this is the Gratitude Tour.

The Rooms Under Construction

This isn’t easy. Here you’ll find the dark rooms. The waiting rooms. The crime scenes and torture chambers. Rooms with signs like, “Danger: High Voltage,” “Emergency,” or “Condemned: Keep Out.”

It’s hard to imagine how the Custom Designer will find anything to work with here. I guess it’s a good thing that’s not your or my job.

We won’t stay here long. But I did want you to see something. You have a message here, too – just like the other rooms. Jesus was here. And He left you His name.

Hmmm. You mean He didn’t wait until everything was cleaned up, fixed up and prettied up to enter into that room? Nope. It’s His name that does the renovating. And here is the secret of gratitude.

You have the breathtaking privilege of bearing the name and the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Worthy? No. But bear it you do. And in His name you can come to God the Father and give thanks. Those elements of communion are traditionally called the Eucharist, or the giving of thanks. The bread and the wine – the body and the blood of Jesus. You always have that to be grateful for, in any circumstance.

Name any pain, any dark place, any wound you may carry, and know this – Jesus died for that. He shed blood and entered into that place long before you were ever born. THAT is why you can give thanks.

His love and peace make the joys meaningful.

His presence and grace make the painful times bearable. And even there you can give thanks.

So… wearing the hard hat of salvation, seeing through the safety glasses of perspective and faith, let’s break out that bread and wine and remember… and confess our need and weakness… and be filled with the Spirit… and say, “Thank you.”

After all, this is the Gratitude Tour.

I’m going to leave it with you now – I’m sure you have lots of other rooms to explore, and I think you have your bearings. Just remember to keep wearing the hard hat of salvation and the grace-colored safety glasses. And remember also to look for the evidence of the First Visitor to every situation.

This is, after all, your Gratitude Tour.

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The Cry of the Wounded

Andy Wood — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:23:15 +0000

He was careless in the conflict, and a bit presumptuous in the battle. Unaware of the schemes or the true power of his enemies – unaware at times of who his enemies actually were – he went down, wounded in the battle.

This is not your typical military operation. This is a spiritual battlefield, known for its invisible armies and stealth weapons. Known also for its enormous array of spectators – some cheering you on from heaven, others just watching a battle they themselves should be engaged in.

Lying there, ashamed, in pain, and afraid, it’s easy for discouragement and fear to have the final word. But deep in his spirit another wounded soldier’s testimony from long ago begins to stir his broken courage and will:

Do not rejoice over me, my enemy;

When I fall, I will arise;

When I sit in darkness,

The Lord will be a light to me.

I will bear the indignation of the Lord,

Because I have sinned against Him,

Until He pleads my case

And executes justice for me.

He will bring me forth to the light;

I will see His righteousness (Micah 7:8-9, NKJV).

And there, against his fear and humiliation, his soul begins to awaken to The Cry of the Wounded.

I’m gonna get up when I get knocked down.

I’m gonna be led when I cannot see.

I’m gonna face up to the way I’ve sinned.

And the Lord’s gonna win the fight for me.

I’m gonna get up when I get knocked down.

Sorry if I’m the first to break this to you, but don’t be surprised by the fact that you – yes, you – could possibly fail. Micah didn’t say, “If I fall,” but “When.”

And since I’m in heartbreaker mode, let me break this to you as well: Don’t be surprised that you have enemies! I know you try to be everybody’s friend, and people think you’re awesome and all that. But when you’re wounded and bleeding on the battlefield, you will find out pretty quickly that you have enemies. They’re easy to recognize – just look at those verses again.

Enemies kick you when you’re down. They rejoice when you fall. Enemies abandon you when you are in darkness. And they accuse you when you’re guilty (they love to point out the obvious).

I don’t care if they appear to be an angel from God or a demon from hell, when someone acts like an enemy it’s because they’ve positioned themselves as one.

Proverbs 24:16 says, “A righteous man falls seven times, and rises again.” That’s the measure of righteousness – not whether you get knocked down, but whether you get up. And if it’s you I’m talking to, please don’t just lie there, wounded and bleeding. Get up!

I’m gonna be led when I cannot see!

Micah’s declaration shows three images of failure for a Christian. Falling suggests something you didn’t set out to do – something unintended and unnatural. Darkness suggests a complete loss of direction, where you are totally confused and blind to your surroundings (can you relate?). Sitting is being in a completely defenseless position, vulnerable and not moving.

Memo to the spectators: Just like on a physical battlefield, whatever else a person like that needs, he or she needs to be taken to a place of safety. Like your church! It’s a healing place for broken people, isn’t it? Isn’t it?

Memo to the wounded: You don’t have the luxury of waiting for fellow soldiers who may or may not “get it.” Ultimately in your life, do you know who meets that need? “When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me,” Micah says. Listen for His voice. Watch for Him to lead you to a safe place where the healing can begin. He didn’t stop leading you, even when you quit following Him.

I’m gonna face up to the way I’ve sinned.

Some of the most spiritually refreshing words you can say are, “I have sinned. I blew it. Nobody’s fault but mine.” The kind of person God can use is not necessarily the one who has never failed, but the one who can look his failure in the eye and call it what it is. Stop blaming the economy or your mama or the devil or your bad habit or addiction. You did it. And there is great power in owning that.

If I were to tell you that wherever you are right now, God could heal you, use you again, get you battle ready and back out there, would you be willing to admit you have sinned? Would you be willing to call your failure what it is? Would you be willing to bear your responsibility?

But aren’t there consequences? Yes.

Doesn’t he say “I will bear the indignation of the Lord?” Uh huh.

How long is that? Not nearly as long as the east is from the west, which is how far He has removed your guilt from you.

The Lord’s gonna win the fight for me.

When a soldier does down in battle someone has to take up the fight. Someone has to carry the banner, someone has to call in the reinforcements. Who does that for a wounded Christian?

Read this again:

I will bear the indignation of the Lord until He pleads my case and executes justice for me.

Who is it who holds the enemy back when you’re down?

Who is it that (literally) tells your critics and tormenters to shut the hell up?

Who is it that refuses to abandon you when the lights go out?

Who is it who rises to your defense against your accusers?

The same God whose indignation you bear! And the word for that is “grace.”

God is our Father, and He has the right to teach us, to correct us, and to discipline us. But He also rises to defend us against our accuser. Why? Because He has already carried your guilt to a cross and left it nailed there, once and for all.

Maybe you’re wounded, and your temptation is just to sit there and bleed.

Maybe you’re playing a game with yourself. You’re bleeding, but you don’t want anyone else to know it. So you just play the game and pretend everything’s OK when it isn’t.

Maybe you are in the darkness, and you’re confused and don’t know where to go.

But maybe your biggest battle isn’t with your enemies who are accusing you or with the wounds that are weakening you. Your battle is against your own distorted image of God.

Do you know what it’s like to be wounded? Do you know what it’s like to wonder if God will ever have any use for you again? Do you know what it’s like to sit there accused?

Learn the cry of the wounded. Quit playing the blame game. Quit sending out invitations to the pity party. Quit telling yourself that this is your third (or twelfth or twentieth) strike and you’re out.

For God’s sake… and yours… Get up!

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The Reunion Barbecue

Andy Wood — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 06:25:05 +0000

Alexander's Bridge over Chickamauga Creek

Imagine throwing a little backyard barbecue and inviting 12,000 of your closest friends. And even closer enemies.

It happened nearly 125 years ago, in 1889, at a place called Chickamauga, near Chattanooga, TN. And it took place where these friends and enemies had once gathered 26 years earlier to kill each other.

You don’t hear as much about the Battle of Chickamauga as you do Vicksburg or Gettysburg or Shiloh. But in two days, 66,000 Confederate and 58,000 Union troops staged two days of hell – desperate, often hand-to-hand combat. Somewhere around 18,480 Confederate and 16,240 Union soldiers were killed, wounded or missing when all was said and done.

One side won the battle. The other won the war.

Then as time passed, something remarkable happened. I don’t know who Tweeted the idea or who posted the Facebook page, but somebody believed that the country should establish memorials at significant battlefields. And their idea: Let’s have a reunion and invite soldiers from both sides to come back to Chickamauga and break bread – and swords – together.

Would you believe they did? To the tune of 12,000 people.

That’s a lot of barbecue.

That’s a lot more heart.

On hand that day was Major General William S. Rosecrans, who commanded the defeated Union forces at Chickamauga. Of that historic gathering, Rosecrans said, “It took great men to win that battle, but it takes greater men still, I will say morally greater, to wipe away all the ill feeling which naturally grows out of such a contest.”

Because of the efforts of those gathered that day, as well as others, Congress authorized the establishment of four national military parks to be established at Chickamauga/Chattanooga, Gettysburg, Shiloh, and Vicksburg.

All because somebody went first and said, “Let’s never forget.”

All because a lot of people agreed and said, “Let’s quit fighting.”

All because some courageous and big-hearted people decided to turn a battlefield into a barbecue.

Greater men still?

Morally greater?

No doubt about it.

Let’s be clear, though. This was 26 years – not 26 weeks – later. Some wounds take time to heal – especially wounds on a national scale.

Let’s also admit that a lot of folks probably chose to remain bitter and stay home.

That said, I wonder. Are there any battlefields you need to return to? Any swords you need to bury? Any personal memorials you need to establish, like the altars built in Genesis, as reminders of the past or symbols to declare, “Never again”?

It doesn’t take a grand reunion or an open-roasted pig. (Note to my Texas friends: It weren’t no cow on the pit that day.)

It doesn’t take an act of Congress.

Sometimes the healing begins with a chance meeting at Walmart (that just happened for me) or a willingness to be the first to say, “Let’s have lunch or coffee.” Sometimes it’s just a matter of treating a former enemy like a friend. Or at least like a human.

“Blessed are the peacemakers,” Jesus said, “for they will be called children of God.” There is never a time you look more like your Heavenly Father than the times you make peace.

Maybe it’s time for you to remember.

Maybe it’s time for you to return.

Maybe it’s time for you to reunite.

Maybe it’s time for you to make peace.

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Rewriting Your Life Story

Andy Wood — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:59:02 +0000

I know a guy named Garrett who has completely changed my impression of him in a matter of a couple of years. When I first met him, he came across as a slacker – lazy, unmotivated, and a pretty bad student. But the last time I saw him he had rewritten his story – at least the one that played out in my head. Truth is, Garrett is sharp, actually quite brilliant as a communicator, and a potential world changer.

What made the difference?

Time. Perspective. A little experience. In Garrett’s case, he never stopped anything or changed anything. I just had more time to get to know what he was capable of. The one who needed changing was me.

Sarah and Ben were a different case. Sarah came back to school to finish something the Lord had started in her heart decades ago. Problem is, her “reputation” in the academic community was stained by a string of failures that go back 30 years to a completely different season in her life. The problem wasn’t that she couldn’t do the work; the problem was that during that season her life was spinning out of control. School was just one of the casualties.

Ben’s trajectory was just the opposite. He was everybody’s All-American, captain of the Awesome Squad in every dimension of his life. Ben was the kind of guy that if he had grown a tooth out of the top of his head, Crest would have featured him in a commercial and a year later we’d all be wearing hats with dentures on them. Simply put, he couldn’t lose.

But he did. Badly. Lost his family. Destroyed his career. Ruined his reputation because when everybody was telling Ben how awesome he was as a kid, nobody ever bothered to teach him how to be an adult.

To Ben and to Sarah and to countless other lives I have been blessed to know, I have said the same thing: The end of the story hasn’t been told about you yet. You’re not dead yet, so quit acting like you are. If I have learned anything through success and failure, acceptance and rejection, hero and zero seasons, it is that all of us have the capacity to rewrite our story if we want to.

Let me hasten to say that I’m not talking about putting a new spin on your old ways. This isn’t manipulation of your image; it’s transformation of your life.

Second, the ideas I’m going to mention here aren’t reserved for massive overhauls alone. Even the little changes, the baby steps of growth, walk these paths as well.

So if you want a different ending to your story, here are twelve ways to change the plot

1. Put your reputation in God’s hands.

Stop trying to control what other people think. Stop being controlled by what other people think. At the end of the day – and of your life – the only opinion that matters is God’s. And you’re already famous in His eyes.

2. Change your thinking.

As you think, so you are (Proverbs 23:7). People in Recovery have taught us for years, “You don’t have a drinking problem – you have a thinking problem.” To rewrite your story, substitute “drinking” for whatever you see as your biggest obstacle. Acting differently means thinking differently.

3. Feel your feelings.

Quit medicating your pain with stuff that in the end only causes more pain. Mourn your losses if you need to. But also feel the joy of what a rewritten story can mean. You may need to get some help with this. Get the help. Today.

4. Surrender your will.

I’m not asking you to change what you want. I don’t even think you know what you truly want. I’m asking you to change who or what you serve. True, you may have been serving your greedy little self. Or you may have been serving a false image of God. Or a magical image of somebody else. Try praying this daily for 21 days – “Lord, I surrender my will to You, the One True God, and I will let you define what that means.”

5. Do something different physiologically.

Try this little experiment. Fold your hands together, fingers interlocked, in front of you. Now, fingers still interlocked, raise your arms up and put your hands behind your head, Ferris Bueller-style. Notice what that simple gesture does to your breathing and even to your relaxation level. Imagine what could happen if you started actually working out or resting or doing something different with your body daily.

6. Change your reputation with yourself.

If you want people to see you differently, maybe it’s time to shut off the trash talk you’ve been hurling at yourself. Or maybe it’s time you imagined yourself with a different label than “victim,” “loser,” “failure,” or some of those words you say to yourself in secret that you dare not say when others are around. Try replacing that with the truth of who God says you are.

7. Make peace with your family.

In most cases, while you can reinvent friends or workmates, you’re “stuck” with family. But that’s not a bad thing. It requires forgiveness and growth - sometimes restoration and healing – to walk the long haul with the same people. Walk it. Live it. It may take a while to see how this is redefining you, but trust me if you can… it is.

8. Learn the meaning of “friend.”

There really is a friend who sticks closer than a brother, and I’m not just talking about Jesus (and neither is that verse in Proverbs). If the people you call “friends” helped lead you to the mess you’re in, it’s time for new friends. If the people you thought were friends bailed on you at the first sign of trouble, it’s time for new friends. You’re a fool to try to live without friends. But you’re just as much a fool to be manipulated or controlled by vain friends. Don’t have any? Ask God for one. One will do for now.

9. Get Engaged in Community.

We are saved as individuals, but we grow in community. When I moved to West Texas 16 years ago, I stumbled into a new community of people who welcomed me, loved me, received me, and received from me. The look of my community has changed over the years. But what hasn’t is the truth that we need a larger community to draw strength, wisdom, and accountability from.

10. Know your bid-ness.

Yes, I’m talking about your money. This wisdom comes straight from a guy who helped me years ago in a time of crisis. “How bad is it?” he wanted to know.

“I don’t even know,” I replied, lost in a daze of brokenness.

“Well, one thing I wanna tell ya’,” he said. “Ya’ got ta’ know your bid-ness.” He was right.

11. Reexamine your career.

Maybe it’s time for a change. Maybe it’s time to go back to school. Every day I teach mid-life, mid-career professionals to take their professional game to a new or a higher place. They’re heroes to me. And the brutal truth is that sometimes you can’t change who you are without changing what you do for a living – or how you do it.

12. Resist your attacker.

In one out of twelve cases, like the one with Garrett, the problem isn’t with you. Maybe you’re doing everything right and are being attacked for it. When you lay your reputation and your will before the Lord and ask Him what needs to change and He says “Nothing,” then stay the course. Give God time to change the hearts of people. You just love them, and keep being who you are, without apology. Resist the enemy. He’ll flee.

The end of the story really hasn’t been told about you yet. Me, neither. Let’s just make sure when somebody reads to the end of our book, they see how we finished well.