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If you intend to be successful in any area of life, sooner or later you are going to have to have to fight for it. I wish I could tell you that being intentional (a popular darling word) was enough. But it isn’t.
I wish I could prove to you that some simple formula – here a step, there a technique, everywhere a quick-and-easy procedure – would guarantee the fulfillment of your fondest hopes. Can’t do it.
I wish I could assure you that if it was really hard, or lonely, or dangerous, that the idea was certainly not God’s will. If that were true, the Almighty’s got some ‘slpainin’ to do with some people who are now in heaven.
But the truth is, sooner or later, you’re going to have to fight for your family. Or for your testimony. Or for your walk with God. Sooner or later you’re going to have to fight for answered prayer. Yes, answered prayer! Or the advancement of the gospel. Or the safety of one of the world’s most endangered species – American children.
Sometimes when you run to the battlefield you may discover that you are the only one standing there. You may find that you’re surrounded by taunting enemies, and for backup you have a bunch of gossips, critics and spectators – but nobody willing to draw a sword or raise a shield with you.
Still think that cause is worth the fight? David did.
In the familiar story of David and Goliath, the young man after God’s own heart – newly empowered and anointed by the Spirit of God – brought a giant to his knees while the army of the living God looked on in disbelief. What was the difference between David and the rest of the army of Israel? Didn’t they have the same power available to them? Yes. Didn’t they have the same God? Yes. So what did David have that they didn’t?
In the life of David, there was a difference in: [click to continue…]
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. [click to continue…]
When the Son of man comes will he find faith on the earth?
-Jesus Christ (Luke 18:8)
Welcome to the waterdown season.
Welcome to the days when we’re thankful, but not really sure Who to thank.
Where we count our blessings, but choke on the Name of the Blesser.
Welcome to the days where we deck the halls and hang the balls,
And sing wistful songs about traffic jams and bells and chestnuts.
When the world becomes a Winter Wonderland without a Wonderful Counselor –
And seeks peace on earth without the Prince of Peace.
But I’m not whining or pining away for the days of Rockwell or Currier and Ives,
Because God has always had a remnant of believing hearts and transformed lives.
And I’m still hopeful and expectant that in the city sidewalks or crowded stores,
In festive churches or feastful tables, someone out there still believes. [click to continue…]
Cohen and Me on a Trash Run
It’s a familiar old friend, comfortable as a favorite pair of shoes. Brokenhearted parents cling to it, and eager young parents rise to it. It’s a friendly reminder to us all that there’s a higher purpose in the midst of our most frustrating and confusing days. And yet it can say so much more to us than we ever dreamed possible:
“Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
We all know what that means, right? It means when you have children, if you get them involved in church, discipline them properly, and teach them how to behave, then when they become adults, they will live consistently with the things you tried to teach them. If you teach them to have high moral values as children, they will have high moral values as adults.
Right?
Wait a minute. How do you respond to the mom or dad who doesn’t understand why their adult children don’t go to church like they do? What do you say to the parent whose children have rebelled against their high moral standards and have rejected their values?
I’m convinced that many of us have missed some exciting possibilities because of the limited way we have interpreted this verse. [click to continue…]
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. [click to continue…]
How do you want to be remembered?
By what you did? What you said? Who and how you loved? What you accomplished or overcame?
That may or may not happen.
I was chatting with someone yesterday about the idea of legacy – one of those Five Laws of LifeVesting. He asked me to clarify what I meant and how people leave legacies after their time on earth is done. I said that legacy has two parts – the intentional and the unplanned.
There are some things I want to be remembered for, and I take action to make those memories while I still have a chance by investing my life in things that will live on after me. This is why people give money, write things, do art or music, or make memories with people, just to name a few.
But your legacy has a life of its own, and you’re making memories all the time, whether you realize it or not. Some of those are pretty routine. Some are painful. Some are glorious, and you don’t even know it.
Two days ago I got an email from Gotta-Love-Google-Land. It came from somebody I knew in my very first church staff position, 33 years ago. The message, framed with “thank you,” contained some profound memories. What was interesting, though, was what all those memories had in common. [click to continue…]
(From the forthcoming book, Coach Lightning)
(Note: Anybody can be an influence to people sitting right in front of them. But it takes a special kind of character to continue to shape lives you first touched 50 years ago. The following is an excerpt about the way Morris Brown did that, and how his influence lives on to this day. You can see other excerpts here and here.)
Benjamin Disraeli, the British statesman, once said, “The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.” That’s what you discover when you talk to the people whose lives were touched by Morris Brown. You hear the language of wealthy people. And they’ll tell you that Coach Brown was instrumental in revealing their riches to them.
One of the greatest contributions any leader, teacher, or friend can make in terms of influence is to “raise the bar” in the pursuit of excellence. Morris did that time and time again. Don Hunt calls him a “beacon in my heart and soul” to this day. From the days of Little League baseball until today, Don says, Coach Brown’s life and actions remind him to strive to be the best person that he can be.
It’s interesting to note that in all the conversations or interviews about Coach Brown’s influence, nobody went to a chalkboard and started drawing the X’s and O’s of a football locker room. Morris influenced players and students by first influencing them as people. As he helped raise up a generation of excellent people, the on-field or on-court play took care of itself. [click to continue…]
There’s this song I want to tell you about. I’ll get to that in a minute. First I want to tell you why I want to tell you. Or why you pass the word, purchase that ticket, read another book with that theme, or are drawn to a certain genre of storyline or TV show.
It’s all about the descants of the soul.
I don’t remember when I first noticed it or when I first mentioned it to somebody else, but it’s been a while. I began to notice that there were certain movies I found myself drawn to. No matter whether it was comedy, science fiction, intense drama or cheesy love stories, I found I was a sucker for stories where one person could make a profound difference.
It was my first discovery of the descants of the soul.
“Descant” is a musical term that in its most literal form means “a different song.” More precisely, a descant is an independent, ornamental melody sung or played above the main theme in a piece of music.
In life, it’s the story behind the story. The “song” that leaps from movies to music to conversations to dreams and has a way of knitting them all together.
A descant of the soul is an inner “melody” that sings to you – and through you to others. I have found that it’s also one of the ways that the Lord can uniquely speak to you or get your attention more quickly.
Descants of the soul are recurring themes that move us, fascinate us, and sometimes call us to action or faith or risk or change. [click to continue…]
Who is the shyest person you know? Picture them in your mind. Got it? Good. Now…
Imagine that person at the end of his or her life. And sometime just before they kiss this world good-bye they’re the guest of honor at the most amazing invitation-only celebration. This party is reserved for those whose life has somehow been touched – influenced – by Shy Guy himself.
Care to hazard a guess how many names are on the invitation list?
Ten thousand. A myriad. Ten thousand people whose lives are influenced by the most reserved, quiet girl or guy you know.
That’s nothing compared to the lives that have been impacted by bubbly ol’ you. And this isn’t about somebody else’s influence. It’s about yours.
This is about your myriad. Or in your case, perhaps your million. It’s about all the people who make decisions because of you. Who make changes because of you. Who establish relationships, try something new, dig deeper, grow wiser, or go farther because of your influence. Or, it’s about the people who grow hard-hearted, discouraged, dispirited, or fearful because you showed them how.
Somebody’s watching. Somebody’s doing. Somebody’s believing. Somebody’s changing. And they all have you to thank. [click to continue…]
(With humble apologies to the Mary Stevenson Estate)
One night I dreamed that I was dipping my feet in the dog’s water bowl
And walking the lonely journey across my patio,
Leaving wet footprints along the way.
Soon I noticed tiny little footprints appearing behind mine.
[click to continue…]
If you intend to be successful in any area of life, sooner or later you are going to have to have to fight for it. I wish I could tell you that being intentional (a popular darling word) was enough. But it isn’t.
