Essential Data for our times

In the book “Leadership Challenge” by Kouzes and Posner, there is research data about the shifts in the context of leadership in today’s culture. The basic rules of leadership are still the same but it takes new avenues and new thinking to do it today. The things that enable a leader to influence others are more complex than ever because the challenges people face are more complex. The availability and transfer rate of data today is mind boggling. The power of computer search engines brings that data to our lap. When we make our choices with good data as our basis, the level of guess work decreases and efficiency rises. Since a rising tide raises all boats, our whole society has the “data base” to operate from. You no longer have to own a computer to access the search engines. Public venues such as the library offer free access. Laptop computers are as common in people’s hands today as wrist watches were fifty years ago. What we do with all that data is the key. Convincing others to want to do what we are convinced needs to be done is what true leadership does. I was reading this morning from John chapter 14, where Jesus shared deep truths about the peace that comes through the knowledge of heaven being a real place and the comfort that He was going to send to His disciples after He was gone. It was data that they would need for the coming days.

“Let not your heart be troubled….” John 14:1

God has the data all sorted out.

An evening with the Blu Cru

It was one of those special evenings last night as several of us had the opportunity to be guests of “Blu Cru”, a wonderful chapter of Campus Crusade for Christ, on the campus of Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs. I am always blessed when I see a nucleus of energetic young people in a campus setting, desiring to see God move in their lives and in the lives of their school peers. I saw a hunger for God in their faces. I took a heart snapshot and now have new friends and mental pictures of these ambassadors as I pray for them. The exciting thing about a group like that is the potential and the range. Each of these young people will be launching out soon in the phase of life after college. They will each be making decisions about the calling on their life. They will be deciding how and where they will invest their time, money and energy. Within each of them is seed potential to rock this world for the Kingdom of God. Pray for Blu Cru.

Where are we headed?

About a year ago I posted a blog about drifting. I think it is worthy of reading again:

There is a time to set sail and there is a time to drift. I like drifting once in awhile but so many I see today in that mode are leading quiet lives of desperation. We have so much “stuff” in our lives that we can begin to move in a meaningless direction. The Beatles did a song that described this concept.

He's a real nowhere Man,
Sitting in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody.

Doesn't have a point of view,
Knows not where he's going to,
Isn't he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere Man, please listen,
You don't know what you're missing,
Nowhere Man, the world is at your command.

He's as blind as he can be,
Just sees what he wants to see,
Nowhere Man can you see me at all?
Nowhere Man, don't worry,
Take your time, don't hurry,
Leave it all till somebody else
lends you a hand.

Doesn't have a point of view,
Knows not where he's going to,
Isn't he a bit like you and me?

Nowhere Man, please listen,
You don't know what you're missing,
Nowhere Man, the world is at your command.

He's a real Nowhere Man,
Sitting in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody.
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody.
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody.

A friend of mine once said that God didn’t create us to die from “Same Old” disease. We are created to have excitement in our lives. To be Someone going someplace. To have a destiny . Isaaiah 61 says,”The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” That excites me to know that a new level is mine today if I will go after it. David ran to the battle against Goliath. Whatever you are battling today, remember that God will fight on your side.

Do It

I start my thoughts this morning with a quote from Mother Theresa:

“We cannot all do great things, but we can each do small things with great love.”

I have often taught about the concept of our sphere of influence. Each of us has people in our immediate world that we can influence with our words and deeds. When I take that to the next step, I figure out that each of them also has individual giftings that can take what I have sown into their lives and do far more than I could have done. The tasks seem overwhelming and we can fall into the trap of not doing anything because we cannot do everything.

Indeed, I can do something about it today, no matter what “It” is.

The Goal and the Role

My anticipation point today is getting a better view of the big picture. To do this successfully today, I will need to figure out which is more important: the goal or the role. The role I may play today needs to keep the goals in mind. There are big goals that I spend a lifetime striving for and there are daily goals that require changing and adapting to meet. Bruce Barton once said, “ If you are through changing, you’re through.” Here are some questions that I need to answer today:

Am I aware of the changes going on around me? If I treat others based on how they were yesterday, I may miss significant things that they need.

Am I willing to change? If I do it grudgingly, I spend my life frustrated and hurt.

Are my ministries changing to correspond with societal changes? This one is a bit more complicated because society tends to move with fads that may not be healthy. However, if I do not speak to the issues such as blended families, divorce recovery, homelessness, addiction, downsizing of the industrial workforce, or time pressures of single parenting, I operate on a different landscape than those I need to reach. (A key to missions is going to the landscape of the needy.)

Are there any positions God is asking me to change today? My personal agendas have been developed and influenced by life. I do find from time to time that some of them need a tune up. It is humbling to figure out that I have promoted something that needs to be ousted in order to go the next step toward God’s bigger goals in my life.

I need to look sincerely at what sacrifices I am making. Every time I do that, I find that I really have not sacrificed much at all. There is no real growth without sacrifice.

A quote from Mother Teresa: “You can do what I cannot do, I can do what you cannot do, Together we can do great things."

Small Decisions in the Course of Destiny

I am currently reading a book by Don Piper entitled, “90 Minutes in Heaven.” “Without going into the story in this blog, I want to pass along one line that qualifies as a truism for all of us.

“Yet I would remind myself that even the smallest decisions often hold significant consequences”

There are always consequences to be faced in life. The law of sowing and reaping is as strong as the law of gravity. There are times in life that we must make the decision because it is right no matter what. James Otis once said:

“Let the consequences be what they will, I am determined to proceed.”

There will be literally thousands of decisions you will make today. Some big and some small.

Jim Rohn said:

“It doesn't matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions.”

Our decisions, more than our circumstances will determine our destiny. Take care today to make each one, big or small, a good one.