Steve May, Author at Steve May

Choose Your Chair

As a teenager, Luciano Pavarotti had more than one good idea about his future, and more than one option to pursue.

He loved sports, and dreamed of being a football goalkeeper (what others would call a soccer goalie).

He loved teaching, and was attracted to the security this profession offered.

And, of course, he loved to sing.

When an elite professional tenor offered to take him as a student without cost, Pavarotti faced a decision: Which future should he choose?

His father said to him, “Luciano, if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.”

Pavarotti later told Guideposts: “I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it’s laying bricks, writing a book — whatever we choose — we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that’s the key. Choose one chair.”

Of all the words written by the Apostle Paul, perhaps his most powerful phrase is: “But this one thing I do.”

Everything about Paul’s life pointed in one direction. Everything he did led him to one chair. His prize was doing what God had called him to do — to know Jesus and to make Jesus known.

Life is a reverse of the game Musical Chairs, in which there are more players than places to sit. You have lots of chairs to choose from. Those who live life best are those who have the courage to choose one chair.

Have you chosen yours?

Who Needs a Team?

On May 26, 1959, Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Harvey Haddix accomplished something no one else in baseball has accomplished. He pitched 12 perfect innings in a game against the Milwaukee Braves.

It was enough to set a record, but it wasn’t enough to get a win.

The score was tied at zero in the bottom of the 13th when the Braves’ lead off hitter reached first on an error. Two batters later, Joe Adcock knocked in the winning run.

The Braves took the game, 1-0. And Haddix took the loss. The Pirates had men on base all afternoon — more than a dozen altogether — but they couldn’t manage to get anyone across home plate.

And so, with no help from the offense, Haddix’s brilliant record-setting performance wound up in the “L” side of the ledger.

Nothing Takes the Place of Teamwork

Today many leaders are convinced if they themselves can maintain a certain level of brilliance, it will be enough to guarantee the success they’re looking for.

While brilliance won’t exactly work against you, it will never take the place of teamwork. You’re not enough by yourself.

Whatever it is you’re trying to do, you can’t do it alone. You need a team — a team of team players.

Solomon wrote…

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up… Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:10, 12)

I encourage you to remind those on your team today that you’re committed to doing your part, that you’ve got their back, and you’re thankful that they’ve got yours.

Your Most Important Decisions

The most important decisions you make are the decisions you make every day. Much more so than the one-time decisions — even the big ones.

For example, getting married is a major one-time decision. And the decision you make today to love your wife today as Christ loved the church is in many ways more important.

Choosing a career path or taking a job is a major one-time decision. And the decision you make today to do your work as unto the Lord today is more important still.

Giving your life to Christ is the greatest one-time decision you’ll ever make. Yet even greater is the decision you make today to follow him today.

How many times do we decide each day?

According to the numbers I’ve seen, somewhere between 5000 and 35000. (A Cornell study says we make more than 200 daily decisions about food alone.)

Most decisions are made on auto-pilot. The best ones, however, need to be made intentionally, because our daily decisions give those big-time one-time decisions the meaning they deserve.

Or they take away their meaning all together.

Today you will decide — thousands and thousands and thousands of times — what to do with your time, what to eat, what to read, what to buy, what to wear, what to talk about, what to think about, and then what to give a second thought about.

Today you’ll also decide how you’ll speak to the ones you love, how you’ll do your job, how you’ll live out purpose — and many other things that will matter forever.

Before you let habit kick in, give yourself a second to think about what this decision means and where it will take you.

I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live. (Deuteronomy 30:19)

Life Takes a Team

Today’s reading is an illustration from a sermon I preached back in the nineties … and the principle is still true.

On July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, he was the focus of attention for the entire planet. Even today, his is the name most associated with the moon voyage. His statement “One small step for man…” will never be forgotten.

What often is forgotten, however, is that the Apollo expedition succeeded because a team of committed individuals sacrificed day and night for years to make it happen. Neil Armstrong was only one of 218,000 people involved.

He may have gotten most of the recognition, but he would be the first to tell you that it was a team effort.

The County Fair.

There’s a story about a horse-pulling contest held at a county fair.

The second place winner pulled a sled of 1000 pounds.

The first place winner pulled a sled of 1500 pounds.

But when the two horses were teamed up, together they pulled 4000 pounds of weight.

Life is a team sport. God intends for us to work together in order to achieve success.

It’s as Helen Keller said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”

And as Solomon said…

“Two can stand back to back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple braided cord is not easily broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

Do you want to accomplish more each day? Resist the temptation to go it alone. Look for ways to help those around you pull more weight.

This is a Football

In 1960, the Green Bay Packers’ season ended on a disappointing note.

They were playing the Eagles for the National Championship. (This was before the Super Bowl era.) After squandering a lead in the fourth quarter, they were unable to capitalize on a last-minute opportunity. They lost the game, 17-13.

During the off-season, Coach Vince Lombardi came to the conclusion that his players, though talented, had failed to focus on the fundamentals of the game.

So, when training camp began in the following season, he decided to take a back-to-basics approach in rebuilding the team.

And he decided to start at the very beginning.

In the opening team meeting, he held up a ball and said, “Gentlemen, first things first. This is a football.”

Lombardi’s lets-start-at-the-beginning strategy might not have been the only reason the Packers won the 1961 Championship — defeating the New York Giants 37-0 — but it certainly didn’t hurt.

When we lose sight of our priorities, it’s time to get back to the basics:

• This is my job.
• This is my family.
• This is priority one for me.
• This is a customer.
• This is a to-do list.
• This is a new day.
• This is a Bible.
• This is the Christian life.

Has an area of your life become more complicated than necessary? Maybe it’s time to locate square one, identify step one, and begin again — at the beginning.

Walk On

The day before Walter Carr was scheduled to begin a new job working for a moving company he found himself facing a dilemma: His car broke down and he had no way of getting to work.

Or, rather, no easy way of getting to work.

He realized his only option was to walk the 20 mile distance from his home to the job site — the home of a family he was to help move.

After sleeping a few hours, Walter left at midnight, expecting the walk to take about 8 hours. At the half-way point he stopped to rest. When police officers stopped him for a routine check, Walter told his story.

Intrigued by Walter’s determination to get to work on time, the officers gave him a ride to the jobsite — after taking him to breakfast.

The client family, as well as his co-workers, were impressed with his determination.

And so was his boss, the moving company’s CEO. So impressed, in fact, that he drove from his home in Chattanooga to have lunch with Walter Carr.

While Walter walked the half-hour distance to his lunch meeting, his boss waited for him — along with the clients, the Pelham police, and his co-workers. When he arrived, his boss gave Walter the keys to a Ford Escape SUV.

The clients said their family will be inspired by him whenever they have tough times. “He’s like the poster boy for no excuses. He’s just got this deep faith, he wasn’t alone.”

There will always be times when you can easily (and understandably) get out of doing what you know you need to do. Or … today you can choose to walk on.

For we walk by faith, not by sight…(2 Corinthians 5:7)

Stay a Little Longer

We have no control over most outcomes in life. We do our best to influence them: eat right to stay healthy; drive carefully to avoid an accident; invest wisely to accumulate a net worth — we try to influence outcomes, but we can’t control them.

Sometimes we get sick anyway, sometimes the fender-bender isn’t our fault, sometimes seemingly good investments go south.

You can’t always control outcomes, but you can control one thing that is biblically guaranteed to work in your favor every time.

What is it?

Perseverance. Stick-to-it-iveness. The habit of getting back up and trying one more time.

You can’t control results, but you can control whether or not you quit. No one else can make that decision. It’s yours alone.

This is how Johann von Goethe said it: “Perseverance lies within the affordings of everyone; its power increases with its progress, and it but rarely misses its aim.”

He’s saying: Persevering is something anyone can do. The longer you do it, the stronger you get, and the more likely you are to succeed.

Almost every minister, missionary, pastor, church planter and Christian disciple knows about this. You’ll have a chance, and sometimes many, to give up before you really get going. A greener pasture and a wider path will tempt you from time to time.

Sometimes quitting just seems to make sense: it’s easy and appears to be painless. But deciding to stay is often the key that opens the door to God’s abundant blessing.

Napoleon Hill said, “Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.” I believe he was speaking from both observation and experience; this principle has certainly been true in my life.

Babe Ruth’s take on it was, “You just can’t beat the man who won’t give up.” (Even the devil knows this; when you resist him, he flees. James 4:7)

Paul challenges us…

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

Let’s begin this week determined to keep doing good. Let it not make you weary. There’s a harvest waiting

Etched in Black and White

Last week’s Monday Memo (The Clanging of the Bell) told a story about Corrie Ten Boom’s struggle to forgive some friends who had taken advantage of her. Eventually, she forgave them to the extent that their friendship and fellowship were restored.

Many years later, an American friend who was familiar with the story came to visit her in Holland. They spent the evening together — Corrie, her American friend, and the ones with whom she had had the conflict.

At the end of the evening, as the group left, her friend asked, “Aren’t those the people who let you down?”

Corrie replied, (rather smugly, by her own admission), “Yes. You can see it’s all forgiven.”

And then she said, “But they still don’t see it like I see it. They still say there was nothing to forgive. They deny it ever happened. But I can prove it. I have it in black and white. I still have the letters and documents.”

Her friend paused for a moment, and then gently asked, “Corrie, aren’t you the one who said your sins are at the bottom of the sea? Why, then, are the sins of your friends still etched in black and white?”

She could think of nothing to say, except, “Lord Jesus, forgive me for preserving — all these years — the evidence against others.”

Before she went to sleep that night, she removed those letters and documents from her desk and tossed them in the furnace.

Paul said that we are to forgive others as Christ has forgiven us. How does he forgive us?

“I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.” (Isaiah 43:25)

That’s our goal in forgiving others.

One of the greatest gifts you can give to others is to leave the past in the past. When you forgive someone and let it go … when you make the deliberate choice to think of it never again … you set mercy in motion — in their life, and yours.

. . . . . . . . . . .

[Today’s post was adapted from Steve’s sermon: The Spark of Forgiveness.]

The Clanging of the Bell

Many years after her release from a concentration camp, and after The Hiding Place had become an international best-seller, Corrie Ten Boom found herself in a situation where she was taken advantage of by some Christian friends whom she loved and trusted.

It was an emotionally devastating ordeal for her. She struggled with the ability to forgive, even though their offense was small in comparison to what she had suffered from the Nazis.

Again and again she resolved to put it behind her … but the resentment kept coming back. She would often lay awake late at night, rehashing all that had happened, fighting anger and bitterness, wondering why she couldn’t let it go.

And then a pastor offered his perspective on the matter.

He said, “In the church tower, there is a bell which is rung by pulling on a rope. And after you let go of the rope, the bell continues to swing back and forth for a few minutes, and it continues to clang.

“The same is true of forgiveness…

“When you forgive someone, you take your hand off the rope. But if you’ve been tugging at it a long time, don’t be surprised if the thoughts of resentment keep coming back for a while. They’re just the clanging of the bell while it slows down.”

I think we all know about the clanging of the bell.

Whenever you hear the toll of unforgiving thoughts, it’s time to stop for a moment, make sure you’ve let go of the rope, and remind yourself once again that you have forgiven this person, just as God in Christ has forgiven you.

And move forward.

“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11:25)

Working With a Net

When the Golden Gate bridge was being built in San Francisco, a number of workers lost their lives by falling from precariously high positions.

As a result, the work proceeded slowly until someone hit on the idea of building a net under the construction area so that when a workman fell, he would not fall to his death but would be caught by the net.

A giant safety net was developed at a cost of $100,000. This was the first time something like this was used at a construction site.

With the security of the net below them, men were able to move about at a faster pace because they knew that if they fell their lives would be spared. With the security of the net below them, they could work without the dread of uncertainty.

We may not be able to see the net below us, but it’s there. Our security comes from a loving, all-powerful God who protects us every step of the way.

David said…

I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. (Psalm 16:8)

The Power of Words

When you’re sick and you visit the doctor, what’s the first thing he nearly always says?

“Let me see your tongue.”

It seems like a doctor is able to tell what’s wrong with you just by looking at your tongue, doesn’t it?

This is also true in a spiritual sense. Your tongue has the ability to spread poison throughout your life, and it can infect everyone around you.

That’s why James gives a solemn warning about the tongue: It is full of wickedness that can ruin your whole life. (James 3:6 NLT)

It doesn’t have to be that way. There’s a way to prevent — and sometimes reverse — the damage.

Instead of speaking words that belittle, you can make an effort to speak words that bless.

Instead of using words that hurt, you can offer words that heal.

Instead of resorting to criticism, you can aim for encouragement.

And when you miss the mark on any of these, you can say, “I’m sorry.”

The tongue is powerful, not only in its ability to wreak havoc, but in its ability to build up others in every conversation. And in the process, it has the power to create lasting change.

Those who control their tongues can also control themselves in every other way (James 3:3 NLT)

What if, today, we made it our objective to speak words of hope, healing and encouragement in every conversation?

A Legend of the Fall

Bobby Leach achieved fame and fortune when, at the age of 53, he went over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

After recuperating from his injuries, Bobby toured North America and the UK with the historic barrel in tow, recounting the experience for enthusiastic audiences in circus tents and lecture halls.

Leach had been a lifelong circus performer, so daredevil stunts were nothing new to him. Even into his sixties he was attempting crazy things, such as swimming across whirlpool rapids.

So how did he die?

He was the victim of a banana peel. No kidding. He slipped on it, injuring his leg. The leg became infected, leading to gangrene, requiring an amputation, but it was too late. He died within a couple of months.

It’s the little things…

Is it strange that the man who could survive Niagara Falls in a barrel couldn’t survive a banana peel?

Actually, no.

More often than not, it’s the little things that beat us. It’s because they catch us off guard. When you know you’re going over the falls in a barrel, you’re fully prepared and prayed up. Something as mundane as walking across the room, however, you’re likely to think you’ve got it handled.

That’s when we’re likely to slip.

And that’s why Paul said…

So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! (1 Corinthians 10:12)

I wonder how that banana peel got to Mr. Leach. Did he see it and think that the mere skin of a fruit couldn’t hurt him? Or was he simply not paying attention? Either way, the mistake proved fatal.

Think about the banana peels you encounter throughout the day. A missed devotional. A half-hearted effort at work. Spending without thinking. Carelessness in conversation. Neglecting those most important to you.

These things are more malicious than they appear. If you’re not careful, they can make you fall.

It works both ways…

The flip side of the coin is that these little things also have the potential to take you to the next level. Jesus explained it …

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” (Luke 16:10)

And he said…

“You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” (Matthew 25:21)

You will encounter many banana peels today. Or they could be stepping stones. Pay attention to each one, remembering that how you deal with this little thing will lead to the next big thing in your life.

Author: Steve May