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Years ago Ken Medema told the story of an experience he had at a youth function in Atlanta. He had been invited to play for a youth party after church one night, and he entertained the kids with some of his old 50s love songs. After his part was over, somebody fired up the record player (yes, record player) and started playing some other music, and these church kids started to dance.
Ken remained off to the side; he had been raised in a home that forbade dancing.
Soon, however, what he called “this wallflower of a girl” approached him shyly and asked, “Would you like to dance?”
I should mention at this point that Ken is completely blind. He was horrified at the thought of being laughed out of the room for trying something so completely risky and foreign to him, and he tried to beg off.
But Miss Wallflower wasn’t taking no for an answer. [click to continue…]
Ronnie Blair spent a lifetime waiting for the perfect moment. And he never seemed to find it.
He waited to ask Lisa Crane to the Senior Prom. Ricky Styles beat him it to it. Now they’re married with two kids and a third one on the way.
He waited to apply for the college scholarship from his father’s employer; didn’t want to appear too eager, he said. He missed the deadline.
He waited for the perfect job to present itself upon graduation, and in the process passed up three good choices. He wound up taking an entry-level hourly position not even in his field.
He waited for the perfect time to ask Leanne Wilson to marry him, and to her it seemed as though he was afraid of commitment. They wound up possibly the only couple in town who got engaged as the result of an argument.
In Ronnie’s life, the pattern was always the same. [click to continue…]
Grab a pen and a legal pad. You’ve got some writing to do, and you get one chance to get this right. Soon your number’s going to be called, and there’ll be no more letters, no more encouraging, no more leading…
…no more living.
Everything you have worked for on this side of eternity is hanging in the balance. And the guy you’ve picked as your successor – your standard bearer?
He’s AWOL.
Some people, when they burn out, act out. This guy burned out, and hid out.
And you have one chance to light a fire under him before somebody, well, lights a fire under you, so to speak. What would you say? How would you say it? Is this a time for force or finesse? Rah-rah or sob-sob? [click to continue…]
During the days of the American Old West, a tribe of Apaches captured the army paymaster’s safe. The Apaches had never seen a safe, but they did know that it held a large amount of gold. So they went to work on it.
First, they pounded on its knob with stones. No results. Then they used their tomahawks on the tempered steel case. When that failed, they roasted the safe because they knew that iron can be softened by fire. But that didn’t work, either. Then they threw it off a cliff. All that did was break one of its wheels. Next, they soaked it in the river. Finally, they tried to blast it open with gunpowder, which only resulted in some of them being injured.
Totally frustrated, they tumbled the safe into a ravine. When the army found it, the gold was still inside.
As you lead your organization, reach out to friends, teach that class, or spend time loving children, remember that in any endeavor involving the hearts of people, are “going after the gold.” And like the gold in the safe, many people have encased their hurts, their failures, and their “real selves” with a protective shell and a “keep out” sign. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on August 1, 2011
in Ability,Five LV Laws,Life Currency,Love,LV Alter-egos,LV Cycle,Pleasers,Principle of Freedom,Tense Truths,Waiting
I.
It all started with a dream last week,
About a friend I hadn’t seen in more than a decade,
And hadn’t talked to in six years.
Even though it had been so long
And so much life had passed us by,
I realized how important he still is to me.
My love for him and his family is as strong as ever.
And that dream made me take a look at the tapestry of my relationships
And realize somebody was missing.
[click to continue…]
Bryce is a prisoner in his own home. His really nice home with the pool, three-car garage, RV parking, and more bathrooms than family members. His “friends” are (too) curious about his life and trappings, like something of a bad sequel to The Great Gatsby. And despite his material success, Bryce remains restless, empty, and hungry for that One Honest Touch.
Tony is a prisoner in his own accomplishments. A hyper-achiever, he lives in a world of “What mountain have you climbed lately?” Last year’s exploits are old news to a bored world, many of whom live vicariously through Tony’s courage and imagination. Inwardly terrified to admit he’s just as bored and scared as they are, Tony longs for that One Honest Touch.
Madison is a prisoner in her own skin. Always a head turner looks-wise, for as long as she can remember, Maddie’s life has been revolving door of one vain relationship after another. Superficial. Super-physical. Super-lonely. Her striking beauty has always ensured her all the attention she could ever ask for. But it never has given her what her heart cries out for most – that One Honest Touch.
Deep Connection
All of us were created with a capacity, and need for, deep connection. A Touch. And our spirits never rest until we have it. [click to continue…]
Where does she get this stuff? I know that verse about “out of the mouths of babes,” but seriously? So here’s the story…
Kyle, my son-in-law, had been away on his second mission trip in three weeks – this one to Ecuador. Back home, Carrie was shepherding Shepherd and corralling the one she calls the “Big Sasster.”
A certified Daddy’s girl, Laura Kate was ecstatic when he got back. There back at the casa, Sassy Pants exclaimed, “This is our castle and our king has come home!”
All was well.
The promise of “soon” was replaced with the presence of “the king.” And she was once again with the man she loves more than all others.
And out of the mouth of a babe – well, technically a three-year-old – God perfected praise.
If only she knew – and one day she will… [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…]
You wouldn’t have known from meeting Martha the first time that her life had been a sinking ship. Rewind from the near-poverty this single mother of two sons lived to the day she walked away from her “covering” – an abusive, controlling religious system. Go back a bit further to the time her minister husband left her for another woman. If you dare, rewind a bit more to the night she and her husband came home to find their third son, Matthew, dead in his crib from SIDS.
Life had not been kind. But you wouldn’t know it from the courageous smile, the ox-like willingness to work, and the radiant joy she had in her relationship with Jesus Christ. Sure, Martha had her moments, and could cry with the worst of ‘em. But a heart so captured by the grace of God will cling to it, even when everything else seems lost.
I once asked her why she didn’t just walk away, since loving and serving God had been so costly. I don’t remember any words – just the look on her face that let me know I had just asked the most absurd question possible.
A heart once captured will never let go. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on April 27, 2011
in Consumers,Enlarging Your Capacity,Five LV Laws,Life Currency,Love,LV Alter-egos,LV Cycle,Pleasers,Principle of Increase,Words
Frankford and 82nd. Sitting at the light. Laura Kate (age almost-3) and I have been on an adventure. And she is about to ask me a very important question. But first, a slight rewind…
“Laura Kate, first we’ll go to the grocery store. Then we’ll go by Grammy’s office and pick up some prizes she has for you.”
“That’s an awesome plan,” she says.
In between, she learns six (count ‘em) verses of an Easter song her uncle Joel and I wrote when he wasn’t much older than she is now. Which brings us to the traffic light near our house on the way home.
“Papa,” says the voice in the back seat. “Are you growed up?”
“What did you say?” I reply. “Am I growed up?”
“Yes,” she says, very seriously.
“Yeah,” I mutter. “I’m growed up.”
“Yay, Papa! You did it!”
Sometimes I wonder.
I wish it was that easy to claim maturity. Sometimes I think I’m still a kid when it comes to such things. And sometimes I feel, well, old. But there’s a difference between growing up and growing old. Peter Pan and his Lost Boys were only half right.
It’s OK to be a baby when you’re still a baby. But there comes a time when the word of God and the world of people come together to shout, “Grow up!” After addressing the Corinthians as a pack of carnal children, Paul writes to the Ephesians that “we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).
How do you measure your maturity? How do you know when you’re growing and when you’re floundering? Let me hasten to say that maturity isn’t found in big words or fat bank accounts, or your ability to make babies or get a job (although keeping a job may impress a few people).
In gauging your maturity level, I have found five things that act as measuring rods for progress. You are as mature as: [click to continue…]
Years ago Ken Medema told the story of an experience he had at a youth function in Atlanta. He had been invited to play for a youth party after church one night, and he entertained the kids with some of his old 50s love songs. After his part was over, somebody fired up the record player (yes, record player) and started playing some other music, and these church kids started to dance.
