Performance

It will eventually come down to performance. What you have learned and the manner in which you have learned it are important, but the dean's list is not going to keep you on somebody's job. Recognitions from the past are nice, but they will not carry you beyond where you are. A good reputation is an ally, but it will only keep people off your back temporarily. There will come a time where you and I must prove we can get it done consistently. Life has been studied, but life is more than a science. Life has been observed and appreciated, but it's greater than art. Even if the question is not asked out loud there are people around us that want to know how we will perform to make their lives better. They are not really even all that interested in what we have done. Folk want to know if we can make it happen now. Performance will ultimately exceed credentials. Bill Gates has shown us that. Performance is also superior to our history. Just look at all the hullabaloo surrounding Peyton Manning. We may not be on a stage like those gentlemen, but we can be sure we are being evaluated based on what we can do. Excellence is the name of the game. Have a great day doing your very best because people are watching.

Virtuous Conduct

At some point virtue needs to be ingrained in our everyday lives. Virtuous thought and speech are good, but they fall short if they don't lead to a virtuous lifestyle. A commitment to one woman by a man and one man by a woman through marriage is still the standard God has set. Floating around like a butterfly from flower to flower may be popular, but it's not virtuous. Men with men and women with women may be politically correct, but it's not right. Living first as good examples before our children is still a ton more valuable than telling them what they should be doing. They will get much more from seeing good conduct than from hearing about it. Then, right is right and wrong is wrong. Virtue does not adjust standards based upon the situation we are in, or the people we are dealing with. Virtuous conduct means doing the right thing for the right reasons. Where we go, what we handle, how we treat one another, what we aspire to are all a part of our everyday world and these things should be done right. Temptations to do wrong are always going to come, but we don't have to yield to temptation. It is almost certain that we will face a fork in the road where one choice is to do right and the other to do wrong. Have a great day walking the path that is right!

Knowledge Virtue

I'm sure most of you are aware of the fact we are in a knowledge based age. It was once said lightly that "knowledge is power." That is far from a fluffy statement now. Without the right information everything we do can quickly become obsolete. Life long learning and continuous learning are essential in these times. What we need be careful about is how we morally use information. We can't just take the things we learn and selfishly twist them for our own advantages. There is a purity in the way information can be applied. If we just do the opposite of modern politics we will come pretty close to hitting the target. Have you seen how similar statistics can be utilized by opposers in political races? Views and counter views can be so far apart that it's hard to know what to believe. The reason for this cloud is a motive to win at any cost. That is far from virtuous. We have to be better than that. We need to gain information in a wide variety of areas. We especially need to be stretching ourselves in whatever specialty we practice. Staying mentally fresh is important. Then we must strive to be the best that we can be without manipulating others. Have a great day learning and then using the knowledge for good!

Virtuous Speech

When it comes to virtue we need places that we can check on ourselves. Speech is as good a place to start as any. The Bible says our speech should be with grace seasoned with salt. It's obvious that most of what we hear does not fit into either of those categories. The question then becomes what is the contribution you and I are making with our words? If we use profanity at all, we are making the wrong contribution. Harsh, critical, judgmental commentary is also the opposite of grace speech. Salt is a preservative so if our speech destroys rather than protects we have work to do. Gossip, slander and rumor repeating do not preserve anything worthwhile. Words are powerful. We need to talk in ways that are clean, gracious, and encouraging. It's just as easy to use phrases like "I love you, that was a good job, you look very nice today, and I'm glad you're in my life" as it is to rip someone apart. Have a great day carefully using your power of speech!

Private Virtue, Where Are You?

These dangerous days of ours demonstrate we are consumed with the stage to the neglect of personal conduct. Politicians that have proven themselves scoundrels can still climb to the top. Sports figures do amazing things in competition only to have home lives that are train wrecks. There is "mega" success with many churches only to find leaders that have horrific private lives. It's hard to figure out how we got here, but it's a real bad spot to be in. We have the whole thing backwards. We have to find a way to reverse how we see things. Managing our private lives is far more important than how we perform somewhere. Self control is still a valuable component in life. The way we live in the dark is just as crucial as what we do on our stage, whatever our stage may be. The path we tread when nobody is looking means more than how the public perceives us. Doing the right thing behind closed doors is important. It seems we have actually arrived at the place where we believe in selecting talent over character every time. What a terrible legacy to leave for our children. If it is by no other means than one by one we must restore the importance of personal virtue. Have a great day doing the right thing when nobody's looking!

Are You Listening?

Listening to God can be every bit as powerful as speaking to Him. In Elijah's deep depression he heard a still, small voice that changed everything. When the threat of annihilation from the armies of Egypt came against Moses and the people, the Lord said stand still and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you. When it was time for Samuel to begin to fulfill his mission, he heard the voice of God calling him by name and his response was speak Lord your servant is listening. In the ministry of Jesus he said whatever I hear the Father speak that's what I say. We are pretty good at pulling out our list of requests and telling God what we feel we need. We have every right to do that, but are we taking advantage of the other side of prayer? Prayer is after all at it's most basic level a simple conversation with God. A big part of conversation is listening. Who would have more insight into what we need to hear than God? We know that the ears of the Lord are always open to hear us. The question is are our ears open to hear from Him? Have a great day listening for I can assure you the Lord is speaking.

DON'T STOP PRESSING

One of my heroes in the Bible is the Syrophonecian woman. She impresses me deeply because of her tenacity. She was willing to go through what ever she had to in order to get her request answered. She pressed her way through silence. We know that Jesus is too loving to ever be mean, but she pressed her way through what could have easily been perceived as an insult. She even pressed her way through the idea that she was not qualified for the blessing she was seeking. What does that tell us? Once again we are faced with the very real spiritual truth that things just don't always come quickly. We have to press our way into many of the blessings we seek. What do we do when we are faced with a silent heaven? She kept pressing! What do we do when we feel like heaven has been mean to us? She didn't allow that to stop her. What do we do when we are believing that others may qualify for the blessing, but not us? She continued to stay in the presence of the Christ that could help her. The bottom line is she got from the Lord what she needed. The lesson for us is we can too. Have a great day continuing to press for your breakthrough!

Thank You Dr. King

This summer my wife and I had the privilege of going to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural Center in Atlanta. Even though he has been gone for so many years it was still a jarring experience. I can't even begin to describe the feeling that overcame me as we sat in the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Looking at the pulpit where he would speak heart stirring messages to parishioners made a huge impact. Looking at the videos of a life given in service to mankind filled me with thank you thoughts. The eternal flame and fountains that mark his final resting place made it easier to remember his great sacrifice to try and bring peace to a fractured nation. I really don't want to speculate about how large his contribution was, what this nation would have been like without his life and influence, or whether or not he was as great a man as we in the black community believe. All I want to do in this writing is feel a personal sense of gratitude for what his life and work means to me. Thank you Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for the powerful impression you made on me, the nation and the world.

MERCY

If we would only give to others the same consideration we want for ourselves, at least our little slice of the world would be nicer. We would like to think we know ourselves and our judgements toward others are in concert with that self knowledge. The truth is we are far more merciful to ourselves than to others. We ignore, or at least try to ignore, how unworthy we really are. We try to silence our deep desire to love and be loved. We say "they" are so needy. We know down deep we are capable of much more evil then we have committed. Yet, we say how could "they" do such a thing? We don't take into account the advantages we have had that others did not have. We just shake our heads at "them." In short we are quick to slam others when we would look for mercy if guilty of the same offences. We know the verse well, we just don't always act like it. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) Have a great day living by God's mercy and extending mercy to those you meet!

Applying our History

We really are a people that are traveling through life. It is absurd to think that everything we face on the road will be brand new. There are going to be many situations that pop up over and over again. We may have a strong distaste for ruts and patterns but we will see them none the less. To win from the information in this minute we need to become masters of applying what we have learned. We can't get so caught up in yearning for the new that we make the same mistakes when we are faced with the recurring patterns in our lives. If I got a rash on my neck from rubbing against a bush cutting my grass, I'm gonna avoid my neck touching that bush when I cut it next week. If I smash my chin into an open drawer walking in the dark, I'm gonna turn on the light the next time. Are we gaining anything from the stuff that we see again and again? If we are not, the traps that we have fallen into before will snare us again. It's not always circumstances that are obsolete. Sometimes it's our approach that needs to be freshened based on experience. Have a great day applying what you have already learned.

Don't Fool Yourself

Many may try to hide the truth from conscience, but it doesn't make it any less true. The reality of good and evil, God and Satan, the kingdoms of this world and the kingdom of our Lord do exist. We can live with an understanding that there will be some accountability; or we can live as if nothing really matters but what we want. Putting blinders over our minds does not make God and good disappear. Living with careless abandon does not make Satan any less evil, or destructive. The goodness of a loving God is always available for us to live in. The evil plots of killing and stealing are always being aimed at mankind from the adversary. These are just spiritual facts. There are very clear lines that have been drawn and we have the freedom to do whatever we will with this truth. The Bible simply states it like this in John 10:10. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Have a great day, but don't fool yourself!

Starting Fresh & Staying Fresh

We have both feet planted now in the New Year. No doubt there have been many thoughts of doing things in a fresh way. I want to encourage you to hang on to that type of thinking. Don't allow a few days, which will soon turn into a few weeks, steal that fresh zeal to make a strong change. If you have re-evaluated how you have been spending your time, stick to your plan of change. If you have thought about taking better care of your health and fitness, don't let the fact that some sort of miraculous difference is not already evident make you forsake those goals. If you are dedicating yourself to spiritual growth, stay with it. Get the vision of your future self firmly entrenched in your mind. Make it your mission to see that new self develop step by step. Keep adjusting your activities so that daily action lines up with what you need to happen. We are so spoiled in this day and age with speed. We want everything to occur instantaneously and that is just not how life works. Don't forget the strong lesson from the turtle and the rabbit engaging in contest. Slow and steady wins the race. Have a great day sticking with it!

It's Over

I suppose I'm about as big a Steeler fan as anybody I know. I watched the game yesterday with my "Terrible Towel" in hand. My belief was we would find a way to win somehow. Even though the team was decimated with injuries I thought we would find a way. I went crazy when we tied the score on a great pass by a banged up Roethlisberger. I felt like we were in position to close the game out in regulation with a last second field goal, before the sack occurred. The truth is Denver made the plays that had to be made to win a game like that. I'm rehashing this for a reason. Many fans of games and teams have a hard time accepting a big loss. Worrying and wondering what would have been if folk were healthy is not productive. Getting down on what has been a great coach for playing Ben trying to get home field and a bye prior to this game is not productive. Ripping our own guys that were out there short handed and played their hearts out is not productive. Not giving credit to a Bronco squad that took advantage of their opportunity is not productive. Just being mad in general because we lost is not productive. About the best thing we can do is take a deep breath and just admit to ourselves it's over. There are allot of things in life that are just like that game. They are not really earth shattering, life changing events, but we make them that way. They don't have to destroy the balance of our lives for weeks unless we allow that to happen. There really are "more fish to fry." Whether it's the woes of your favorite team, or some other mishap that has happened, don't let it ruin what you have before you now. Have a great day knowing that when it's over it's over!

God Can Be Found 4

One of the most beautiful places to locate God is in people. We were made in the image of God and after His likeness. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. To put it in the unusual terms of the Apostle Paul, "we have this treasure in earthen vessels." The presence of God in us is like fine jewels in a clay pot. The beauty of that comes across in two ways. We should not be overly impressed with the vessel, but the treasure is the one point. The second point, that I believe is relevant in today's minute, is that Christians are containers that carry God everywhere we go. We so often underestimate or just plain forget that God is inside of us. He wants to do Godlike things through us to touch others. He wants to do Godlike things through others to touch us. God seems to enjoy seeing His power flow from life to life. He loves watching His joy go from one heart to another. Have a great day enjoying the presence of God in people!

God Can Be Found 3

Do you remember as a child racing your matchbox or hot wheels cars across the floor? You could then have them drive up a wall, fly over to the table and then jump off the table back onto the floor. We believed anything was possible. Do you remember your children when small jumping off the steps into your arms? They never even considered the possibility that you would, or could drop them. My friends that is faith and trust. God can be found in our ability to believe that anything is possible. God can be found in our trusting Him to the degree that we will dive off of our circumstances right into His arms of love. When we are feeling like we cannot find Him we must go back to the fundamental verses we have memorized from long ago. Verses like Proverbs 3:5,6 "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Have a great day amping up your ability to believe Him and trust Him!

God Can Be Found 2

Another location that God can clearly be discerned is nature. The mighty mountains, the rolling ocean, the beauty of the sky, the sun, moon and stars are just a few of the items of evidence pointing to an intelligent designer. The God that made the sun can light up your way even through circumstantial darkness. The God that made the mountains can teach you how to navigate yours. The God that tells the ocean where to stop knows the limits of your trials. The God that provides for squirrels and birds will provide for you. When you just peek at your surroundings be reminded that the mighty God that made all of that cares about you. Have a great day relying on your Creator!

God Can Be Found

One of the big questions in times like ours that are harsh and hard is where is God in all this? I want to encourage believers especially in the simple truth that God is often found in our words. Many people are bruised and broken. Others are frustrated and confused. We who know what it is to have a relationship with God hold the answer these seekers are looking for. It is in the very basic concept of speech that the Lord is often found. We need to tell others about our God experiences. I'm not talking about becoming rude and obnoxious. I'm not even talking about being super religious. It is all about easily discussing the love and power of God we have found in every day conversation. We can talk so easily about the weather, sports, family life, food and so many other subjects. The wondrous works of God should flow off our tongues just as easily. We haven't a clue as to how many people need to hear what we can share. It can literally change somebody's life. Have a great day talking about what our Lord has done for you!