Forgiveness

Some thoughts on forgiveness:

• David shows it in 2 Samuel 19


• Don Miller blogs about it here


• Pastor Doug preaches about it here (see December 18- the gift of forgiveness)

Asleep at the Wheel

Every time I read through KingDavid's story, I am struck at the lessons we can learn. 2 Samuel 15 opens with Absalom- one of David's sons- plotting to take over the kingdom by schmoozing the people. He laments with them, gossips with them, sympathizes with them, and wonders with them how things might be different if he were in control. And this goes on for four years! What is David is doing?!? How can he not know what Absalom is up to for four years? Are there no grumblings, no early warnings, no trusted advisors warning him about what Absalom is up to?

I have a hard time believing that David allows this to go for so long and then is surprised when Absalom’s plan (finally) comes to light. But, King David’s downfall begins with the Bethsheba incident- but not for the adultery- but rather from the observation that he stayed home at the time when kings went to war (2 Samuel 11:1). He failed to keep doing the work of being a king, even though God was on his side.

I sometimes think we take the fact that God is on our side for granted. It is as if we feel we no longer need to do anything since God is on our side. But knowing that God is on our side ought to compel us to work even harder or better, doing all we can to make sure that we don’t squander all God has entrusted to us. Leaders- even spiritual ones- can’t confuse their relationship with God as evidence that they can put their lives, their organizations, and/or their churches on cruise control. I’m willing to bet it took some work and effort to get to the closeness of your relationship with God that you have in the first place, so why would we think that once we get there, we should stop doing those same things?

The Flinch and New Years

A couple interesting thoughts from a short little book called The Flinch (best of all- the book is free on your Kindle!):

• You say you want to be successful. You think you’re working hard. You think all you need is your lucky break. Wrong. You haven’t done what’s necessary at all. You haven’t made the sacrifices. You haven’t put in the time. You haven’t faced the flinch. You haven’t learned the lessons and you don’t have the scars. Not for the fights that matter. Look, there’s a fight happening right now- quite a few, actually. You can turn on the TV and watch them on any channel. World hunger, AIDS, the next billion-dollar business, even in your own family- they’re all there. You watch these fights all the time, but are you actually fighting right now? Most people rarely get in the ring for what matters. Instead, the fight gets fought by other people, elsewhere. Everyone talks about it like they want to be involved, but it’s just talk. The truth is that they can’t handle the pressure. They’re not in the ring because they aren’t ready to do what’s necessary to win.

• The common will capture your attention as long as it’s allowed in the room. Whatever you’re used to, whether cigarettes, shopping, or Twitter, must be eliminated in the quest to get into the ring. You must make a sacrifice on the altar of greatness and perform acts that others will now. If you aren’t willing to sacrifice your comfort, you don’t have what it takes. Set fire to your old self. It’s not needed here. It’s too busy shopping, gossiping about others, and watching days go by and asking why you haven’t gotten as far as you’d like.

If you're considering making a New Year's resolution, some words to ponder.

And while the author is primarily concerned with the world of work, so much of this rings true for those who want to grow closer in their relationship with Jesus. In my last sermon I talked about time and how much (or little) time it actually takes to begin spending time with Jesus each day. Hillcrest produces a daily devotional each week- it's part of our bulletin- and each day has a scripture reading, a short commentary (written by a Hillcrest volunteer!), and a couple of questions. We actually did in both morning services. It took 3 minutes in the first service and 4 minutes in the second! Now, who doesn't have 3-4 minutes to spend on their relationship with Jesus?!? But if we're starting from nothing, we'd be wise to heed these words from the Flinch and make sure we're willing to sacrifice- even if it's 3 or 4 minutes.

Diamond in the Rough

After David's affair with Bethsheba, life spins out of control for David and his family (and soon, the entire kingdom). A brother rapes a sister. Another brother kills a brother. Family members are banished from the kingdom. And it will get worse. But in the midst of all this chaotic depravity, a woman from Tekoa offers these wise words both to King David and to us:

Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him (2 Samuel 14:14).

What a wonderful statement of hope and a reminder of what God is in the business of doing- devising ways to bring us back when we get lost.

Merry Christmas!

Thinking and Doing

Are you a thinker who does?

Or a doer who thinks?

There's no right answer- both are good and the world needs both- and knowing who you are can be important.

What the world doesn't need? Thinkers who never do anything. And doers who never think about anything.

The Economics of Child Sponsorship

We sponsor a child (Luis) through World Vision. We receive letters from our child as well as information about how the child is doing, what's going on in his community as well as the country, and what other opportunities and challenges there are for our child. We've sponsored a child for several years now as a way to connect with under-resourced from the developing world.

World Vision, Compassion, and other organizations, in fact, market their operations in these terms: for $30 (or comparable amount) per month, you can educate, feed, and minister to a child in XYZ. It's a brilliant and successful model. We- and thousands of others- give each month, and our gift directly helps out Luis.

By now, I realize it porbably doesn't work quite that way. It's not that I think that Luis isn't being helped by my gift, it's that I understand the costs of supporting Luis in Ecuador have to be different than the costs of supporting a child in Ethiopia. Or Romania. Or Vietnam. They have to be different, because so many of those costs- the education, the food, the supplies- are contigent on local conditions. But for World Vision it'd be an administrative nightmare to market child sponsorship in Ecuador at $22.50/month but $31.58 in Vietnam and $16.47 in Romania (those prices are completley made up, by the way!). Somewhere along the way they determined that $30 was the magic figure that people would buy in at. And it's brilliant, really. My gift helps out the world's most under-resourced and World Vision gives me a story of how my giving makes a difference. World Vision also gets to use those monies for developing under-resourced communities- which Luis is certainly apart of- without the trap of having to explain each and every cost of working in each and every community they work in. I mean, if I found out that it only cost $20 a month to sponor Luis, would I consider World Vision to be ripping me off since I pay $30?!? Of course not. I'd trust them to then allocate that extra $10 to another Luis in another community.

You can see other examples in World Vision's Gift Catalog (for instance, 2 chickens might cost $25. A great gift- and one I've done before! But again, how much do the chickens really cost and can we be sure they cost the same throughout the globe?!?). Our local Union Gospel Mission advertises how many Thanksgiving meals a certain amount will buy (without knowing how many will eat that meal, how much the food will cost, etc). Our Food Bank does the same thing.

The point in all this is that these non-profits discovered unique and creative ways to partner with their donors. Their marketing pitches tell a creative heartfelt story and invite people to partner with their good work- which many of us are happy to do.

Where's MY grace?

I'm at Lewis the other day, standing in line at the customer service desk to mail a package for work. There's at least 6 people in front of me, all mailing packages. No worries. At least 3 of them require additional assistance with their packages. One woman put a priority label on her package and wasn't supposed to (the Lewis worker helped her find the correct label). Another woman hadn't even addressed her envelope or put the contents into it (a second Lewis worker let her do it right there instead of doing it over at the table where she should have done it to avoid getting out of line). Another woman was unsure how to ship her package and what priority box she needed (the first Lewis worker found her the right one).

I was pleasantlty surprised at the great service these other patrons were receiving . . . until it was my turn! I was mailing some pictures in a manilla envelope- the kind with the metal clasp- and was told (several times) that I wasn't allowed to mail it with the clasps. The Lewis worker almost begrudgingly put a piece of tape over it all the while explaining that this is bad for the machine that sorts the mail. So bad, in fact, that it's almost the worst kind of mail to send (really? Is there a 'most wanted' poster that depicts the worst type of mail to send?!?). The second worker piped in about wondering why they even make this envelope anymore because it is such a hassle. Nevermind you the previous patrons in front of me who were uneducated and unprepared, I get the lecture because of a metal clasp! Tis the season . . .

Great by Choice

I finished Jim Collins' latest book Great by Choice and really enjoyed it. Collins is one of the authors whom I will read almost anything he produces and he also backs up his writing with lots of data and research- right up my alley. Here are some of my favorites quotes:

• On the one hand, 10Xers (leaders who led at companies who did 10 times better than their comparison competition during the same time period; Southwest vs. PSA, in the airline industry, for instance) understand that they face continuous uncertainty and that they cannot control, and cannot accurately predict, significant aspects of the world around them. On the other hand, 10Xers reject the idea that forces outside their control or chance events will determine their results; they accept full responsibility for their fate (19).


• The environment doesn’t determine why some companies thrive in chaos and why others don’t. People do. People are disciplined fanatics. People are empirical. People are creative. People are productively paranoid. People lead. People build teams. People build organizations. People build cultures. People exemplify values, pursue purpose, and achieve big hairy audacious goals. Of all the luck we can get, people luck- the luck of finding the right mentor, teammate, leader, friend, is one of the most important (161).


• The difference between Bill Gates and similarly advantaged people is not luck. Yes, Gates was lucky to be born at the right time, but many others had this luck. And yes, Gates was lucky to have the chance to learn programming by 1975, but many others had this same luck. Gates did more with his luck, taking a confluence of lucky circumstances and creating a huge return on his luck. And this is the important difference (163).

Sometimes we're tempted to blame our misfortune and other's good fortune on luck. Most of the time, though, there's a whole lot of effort and energy and work (or lack thereof) behind those fortunes.

A Tale of Two Davids

As I make my way through 1 and 2 Samuel, the story of David always strikes me. Much has been written and analyzed about David's life- his heroic defeat of Goliath, his shrewd loyalty as Saul pursued him, and his tragic flaw and subsequent repentance over the Bathsheba incident. But the authors of 1 and 2 Samuel almost intentionally divide David's life into two parts- the first part, where David seeks the Lord almost every chapter, and the second part, where David stops seeking the Lord. The first part you could count until 2 Samuel 6 and then after 2 Samuel 6, there's maybe one more mention of David seeking the Lord. Is it coincidence that one could hardly say that David 'finished well' or is there a direct connection between the latter part of David's life and the fact that he no longer sought God?

They

Who is 'they'?

You know, as in

• 'they say never eat before going to bed'


• 'they say opposites attract'


• 'they say you have to wait 30 minutes after lunch until you can swim'


• 'they say it's your birthday'

Perhaps 'they' is well-tested research, but sometimes it might be an old wives' tale. Sometimes 'they' is wisdom, but sometimes it might just be Oprah.

Who is 'they'? And how much say do they have in your life?

Chrismas Lights

A great post from Seth Godin on the 'economics' Christmas lights here.

Couple extra thoughts:

• My dad is awesome with Christmas lights! And, he, my brother and me have a great story about hanging lights one season that invovled two ladders (one on the roof!), freezing rain, and those infamous words, 'uh oh'. Classic!


• I am not so awesome with the Christmas lights, but hang them each season with the saying 'happy wife, happy life' in the back of my mind. Currently, two different strands of my icicles have sections that don't work. I've tried switching out bulbs and replacing fuses. Nada. So, I will turn them on, suffer the ridicule of having half-lit lights, and have T get some new ones when they are half off after Christmas!


• Finally, it's probably not a good sign when more of my neighbors decorate for Halloween then for Christmas . . .

Read This Before Our Next Meeting

From Read This Before Our Next Meeting:

Every meeting should require pre-meting work. Any information for getting attendees up to speed should be given out beforehand. If the attendee doesn’t have time to read and prepare, she doesn’t have time to attend.

Fair? Or too harsh?

A Marketing Disconnect

Once a month my wife teaches voice lessons and thus I have to find something for me and the kids to do- not that hard when the weather's nice, but a bit of challenge when the temp head south, so last month we visited a local Sioux Falls establishment that markets itself as a family friendly place. We arrived at the place and were greeted less than enthusiastically, as if a dad with 4 kids would be disrupting their afternoon of being paid to do nothing. We went to the first area and it was ok, but things soon changed when we went to the main area (I realize I could tell you where I was, but I will spare them and you!). Now, to be fully honest, it was a Sunday afternoon so I might have been a little distracted checking the Packers score, then my fantasy team's score, and then back to the Packers, but I was still plenty of engaged. My kids broke the first rule within 10 seconds- no touching. Ok, fair enough, but the reason given for no touching was ludricous. After five more minutes, my older two broke another rule- no 'heelying' (for the uniformed, as I was a few weeks ago, a 'heely' is a shoe with wheels so it doubles as a shoe and a roller skate). Pretty sure that heelying isn't in the rules, but you get the drift.

By now, I am annoyed, as the no heelying is what I call an 'annoyance rule'- it's a rule we make up because we're annoyed, not because it is wrong or immoral. We left the establishment soon after that and I told T I don't want to go back.

I am sure the spot is just fine, but they ought to market who they are- an organization that appeals to senior citizens, hermits, and kids- but only kids who are sleeping or in strollers (and preferably, both!) not market something they're not . . .

Storytelling

We all like stories. From our earliest formative years to adults, we all enjoy stories, whether those stories are in books, on a TV or movie screen, or told to us. We enjoy- and tell- stories for all kinds of reasons:

• To entertain


• To inform


• To understand


• To teach


• To advertise


• To inspire


• To manipulate


• To correct


• To caution


• To persuade


• To project

and to do a host of other things. The thing about stories is that they either bring us closer to truth or farther away from it.

What kind of story are you telling these days? Does it bring you (and your listener) closer to truth or farther away?