Below is a post I wrote almost six years ago - on the first day of school back in 2013. As I was re-reading, I realized that this is exactly how I’m feeling now - I CAN’T WAIT FOR SUMMER TO BE OVER! And it’s not just because I’m a party-pooper and the “fun police” as my kids call me, it’s because I see the value of structure, routine and SYSTEMS! And as I’m prepping for my second message in our latest series, STARTING SMALL, I thought this post would be the perfect lead in to prime the pump for Sunday. Enjoy!
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Whose Plan is Better: GOD'S Plan or YOURS?
Don’t answer too quickly. Of course we all know the “right” answer. We all know that God’s plan is better than our plan and that His ways are higher than ours. We know the right answer in our head, but let’s be honest – it’s not always easy to believe it, is it?
What happens when our plans get changed against our wishes? When the thing we planned for doesn’t happen the way we want it to or in the timing we "need"? What happens when our perfect plan is turned upside down by God against our wishes? What then?
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Leadership Question #2: WILL THIS GET ME CLOSER?
I’m talking leadership again today and this week I want to share the 2nd MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION when it comes to be being a great leader.
Last week, I said that the #1 question is “what would a GREAT LEADER do?” Or what would a great PARENT do? Or what would a great FRIEND do? Or what would a great SERVANT OF GOD do? Whatever the context may be, find someone you consider to be “great” in that area and ask yourself “what would that person do in this situation?”
That was question #1.
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How Did Jesus Make Decisions?
Decisions, decisions, decisions. Should I accept this job? Should I marry this person? Should I listen to that person’s advice? How do I know what to do?
If I had a dollar for every time I get asked that question, I’d be a rich man. Young and old, rich and poor, married and single, spiritual and non-spiritual people – all struggle with the same question: how do I know the “right” thing to do in the situation I’m in?
Read MoreTHE DANIEL PLAN, Part 3 – Goal Setting
One of the most important steps in making any significant life change is the process of SETTING GOALS. And that was the topic of this week's message. Check out the Week 3 message in THE DANIEL PLAN - delivered by my good friend Peter Karras - and learn why it's important to set goals and how you can increase your chances of success by setting godly goals for your health.
Come join us for The Daniel Plan - either in person or by following along at TheWellAtSTSA.com - and find out what it means to "glorify God in your body." Enjoy!
The Answer to Your Decision Making Dilemma
Yesterday I posed one of the most important questions in life: how can I know the “right” thing to do in whatever situation I’m in? Ultimately your life is nothing more than the sum of all your decisions. Make good decisions and you’ll probably find yourself in a good place. Make bad decisions and you’ll find the exact opposite. The question for us is: HOW DO I MAKE THE RIGHT DECISIONS?
I mentioned yesterday that sometimes it seems (emphasis on the word “seems”) that Jesus was inconsistent in His decisions. Sometimes He would heal people and sometimes He wouldn’t. Sometimes He’d raise the dead person, other times He wouldn’t. Sometimes He’d speak softly and compassionately; other times He spoke sternly and harshly.
How did He know when to heal and when not to heal? How did He know when to say yes and when to say no? How did He know the “right” thing to do?
Read MoreWould You Ever Build a House without a Plan?
The late Dr. Stephen Covey, best-selling author who helped change my life with his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, used to always say that “all things are created twice.” What he meant by that is that every new idea or concept or dream must be created twice: first in one’s mind and secondly in one’s life.
For example, let’s say you want to build a house. What do you do first? Start digging a hole? No. Before you start the actual work of building a house, you sit down and come up with a plan. You can’t just start digging and figure it out as you go. You first create the house on paper – in as much detail as possible – and then you begin the actual work of building the house physically.
The same holds true for a dream. Recently I wrote about the starting point of making your dreams a reality.
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Making My Dream a Reality
“I dream my painting and I paint my dream.” ― Vincent van Gogh That’s one thing that we don’t do enough of. We don’t dream enough. I believe that my life will ultimately be defined by my dreams. And so will yours. Tell me your dreams and I’ll tell you the ceiling of your life. Dreams set the destination and direction of our lives. You’ll never reach a point past your dreams.
Yesterday I spoke about having dreams and about how our heavenly Father has big dreams for us. Today I want to talk about the steps we need to take to turn those dreams into reality. I’ll talk about the first two steps today and then continue in my next post on Thursday.
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Dreams, Dreams, Dreams
Nothing’s better than dreams. Not the kind of dreams that come when we’re asleep (even though those are great too). No, I’m talking about the kind of dreams we have when we’re fully awake – the dreams about what we want our lives to look like and where we’re headed.
Some dream of graduating Harvard Law school one day, while others dream of discovering the cure for cancer. Some dream of making it on Broadway, while others dream of making it to the NBA.
Dreams dreams dreams. We all have dreams. And let’s be honest. WE LOVE OUR DREAMS! A life without a dream isn’t much is it? Dreams are what keep us going. They push us to fight through obstacles and barriers. Without them, life can be boring and quite difficult. Agree?
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Greatness is Not Just an Individual Thing
I tricked you yesterday didn’t I? Admit it. I tricked you because I asked you what it means to be great and I intentionally led you down the wrong path for answers. I’ll bet that most people thought in terms of prayer, Bible reading or other such spiritual disciplines. Most of us equate our spiritual success with the amount of spiritual practices that we do.
BUT GOD DOESN’T LOOK AT IT THAT WAY. If God looked at it that way, then the Pharisees would have top dogs in His eyes. They did all the spiritual practices and disciplines; and they did it religiously (pun intended). But while those things are all very good, it takes more than that to be GREAT.
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become GREAT among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28)
Read MoreWhat Does It Take to Be Great?
“Greatness is not given. Greatness is taken.”That’s a line from the new Gatorade commercial starring DC’s newest celebrity – Robert Griffin III, quarterback of the Washington Redskins.
In addition to being a fan of RGIII and hoping that he is the long awaited franchise quarterback that the Redskins have been waiting for, his commercial got me to thinking:
what does it take to get great? What defines greatness?
What makes a great doctor or a great lawyer? What makes a great husband or wife? And in a spiritual sense, what makes me great as a child of God?
I’ve always believed that the measure of success in any field isn’t based on what you DON’T DO, but rather it is based on what you DO DO. I even said that once at a retreat and it quickly became the catch phrase of the retreat: SUCCESS = DO DO (copyright coming soon, once I figure out how to do that :)).
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What I Learned from Running a 5K (Part 2)
SETTING a goal and ANNOUNCING the goal makes it easier to ACCOMPLISH that goal. That is what I learned from my recent 4th of July 5k run. Yesterday I spoke about step 1, SETTING THE GOAL. Today I want to talk about the second step – a step that I believe will increase your likelihood of accomplishing your goal exponentially.
Step Two: ANNOUNCING YOUR GOALS HELPS YOU OVERCOME OBSTACLES
Setting a goal is good, but there’s something extra motivational about announcing it publicly. Maybe it is just the competitive nature inside of me, but once I announce I am going to do something, I am going to do everything in my power to accomplish it.
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What I Learned from Running a 5K (Part 1)
I DID IT! YES! I DID IT!!! That was one of the first thoughts that entered my head yesterday shortly after I crossed the finish line of my first 5k race. I ACCOMPLISHED MY GOAL! I DID IT!
Of course, I’d be lying if I said it was the first thought – to be fully honest, I think my first thought was closer to “I NEED WATER AND A PIECE OF OPEN SPACE TO COLLAPSE ON FOR A FEW MINUTES.” But it wasn’t long afterwards that the feeling of exhaustion was replaced by a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment.
I think I finally understand why so many people like to run in these races. It never made sense to me before, but I think I get it now. I learned a lot in the process and I want to share some of lessons with you to hopefully make a believer out of you too.
The most important lesson I learned is this: SETTING a goal and ANNOUNCING the goal makes it easier to ACCOMPLISH that goal.
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Defining Your Roles in Life
Life is about relationships, not accomplishments.
That’s another one of those life changing sentences that I read several years ago that changed me and really helped me get my life in focus. I am about as “Type A” a personality as you can find. I am hard-working. I am driven. I take initiative and I take pride in getting the job done.
But one of the flaws that come with such a personality (one of the FEW flaws let me add) is that I tend to focus more on accomplishments at the expense of relationships. I am not a relational person by nature. But one of the things that I’ve learned over the years is that when you get to the end of your life – see yesterday’s post if you didn’t already – it isn’t about accomplishments. It’s about relationships.
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