Category: Mission

Some of our best ideas are still waiting for the right moment.

We call it preparation. It’s really procrastination. Eventually the due-diligence phase yields to the do-it-later phase. And another good idea gets covered in cobwebs.

Let’s remember what William Feather said:

“Conditions are never just right. People who delay action until all factors are favorable do nothing.”

There’s something to be said for beginning now and filling in the details as you go. It’s not that details aren’t important or that preparation isn’t necessary, but at some point you have to quit compiling data and start pursuing results.

Do you know what the problem is? There’s no failure to face in the preparation stage. There’s no disappointment to deal with in the dream-casting phase.

It’s only after the plan has been put into practice that you confront results that maybe don’t meet expectations. It’s easy to get nervous. It’s easier to plan just a little longer.

When Abraham was well past the age where most people consider slowing down, God told him, “Leave your country, your people, and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1)

Abraham went, not having a plan in place, not knowing exactly what lay ahead, only that he was following the voice of God.

If there is something you know that you should do, maybe it’s time to do just what Abraham did: take the first few steps, even if all the questions haven’t been answered and all the problems aren’t solved in advance.

The results might not be immediate, and they might not be all that you hoped for. It might force you to make you make some difficult adjustments along the way. But it beats living your life forever in someday.

There’s something to be said for beginning now.

Today’s memo goes back a few years. I look at it each year around the end of June, and I’ve even used it as a Monday Memo a time or two.

It’s a good reminder for this year, as well.

We’ve just about reached the mid-way point in 2020. Wednesday marks a new beginning, with a half year behind us, and a half year to go.

Have you thought about what the remaining months can be?

Earl Nightingale noted that if you will spend one hour a day on the same subject for five years, you can become expert on that subject.

True, no doubt. But for now, forget about five years and an hour a day.

Think instead about the next six months, thirty minutes a day.

Think about the potential that exists. What kind of headway could you make in one area of your life? Maybe attaining expert status is not realistic, but serious progress is.

• You could become conversationally proficient in a second language.

• You could learn to play the guitar; in six months you can reach the level of “decent.”

• You could walk 300+ miles.

• You could get in great physical shape.

• You could do a masters-level study of your favorite subject, such as church history.

• You could dig in-depth into one of the gospels or one of Paul’s letters, until you own it.

As one called to preach the good news, can you imagine how 30 minutes a day of focused effort could make a difference in your ability to communicate? What if, every day for the next 180 days, you devoted a half-hour to working on your craft? Can you imagine how the difference would be played out in the results you see?

The next 180 days will come and go, along with this 90 hour block of time. How will you invest it?

Some will watch 90 more hours staring at their phone. Some will catch an additional 90 hours of zzzzs. Some will do whatever they feel like doing at the moment.

And you? If you’re willing to take the road less traveled, you can use these moments each day to move forward in the calling God has placed on your life. 

“The hands of the diligent will rule.” (Proverbs 12:24)

Jack Elway, former football coach of Stanford University and father of Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway, was once asked how he dealt with being an expert in the same field his son had chosen as a profession.

Jack’s response was: “In your son’s life he’ll have many mentors, many coaches, many men to teach and motivate and correct him. He’ll have only one father. All you have to do is love him.”

Reading this quote (in Randall Wallace’s book, Living the Braveheart Life) reminded me of something I had heard John Elway say years earlier.

After his second Super Bowl loss — if you’re a Bronco fan, you’ll remember those first two Super Bowls qualified as embarrassing — the younger Elway was, of course, devastated. It wasn’t merely a team loss; John himself hadn’t played up to par.

That evening his father visited him. He didn’t break down his son’s performance or offer any advice. He just sat with him.

It was one of those moments in which Jack knew that his son didn’t need a coach. He needed a dad.

Fathers, there are many roles you will play in the lives of your sons and daughters. Keep in mind that your greatest role is to let them know that they are loved, always, as we are loved by our Heavenly Father.

As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. (Psalm 103:13)

In 1960, Dashrath Manjhi was a common laborer from Gelhour Hills in Bihar, India. His community was somewhat remote, with limited access to vital services, because traveling involved going around a three hundred foot mountain that stood between the towns.

Dashrath decided that what his community most needed was a road through the mountain. Since no one else was going to do it, he decided he would.

He sold some goats to buy a hammer and chisel, and set out chipping away at the mountain each day after work.

Of course, people called his plan foolish and said the project could never be completed, but he just kept chipping away with his hammer and chisel.

1960, chipping away.

1961, chipping away.

Then 1962. 1963 … let’s fast forward a couple of decades … 1980, still chipping away.

1981, chipping.

1982… And the project is finished. The road is 30 feet wide, cut 25 feet deep into the rock.

Now, instead of having to travel 55 kilometers for access to services, the people of his village need travel only 15 kilometers. And it was accomplished by one man with a couple of hand tools.

What an example of reaching for that which is beyond you. And what an example of making the most of each day.

Can you really carve a road through a three-hundred foot impasse of a mountain with just a hammer and a chisel, all by yourself?

Yes, you can. In twenty-two years you can do it, when you reach for it every day, and you keep chipping away.

To make your life what it can be, make it your daily resolve to aim for that which is beyond you, and reach for that which is above you.

Every day.

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)

When I was first starting out in the ministry, I asked a pastor of a growing congregation what are the requirements a successful pastor must meet.

He said, “You need to be an entrepreneur. You need to be organized and efficient, able to manage your time well, and able to see projects through to completion.”

I don’t know if he realized it, but he was basically describing himself. (And he certainly wasn’t describing me.)

A few days later I asked another pastor — approaching retirement, having spent his ministry in churches of all shapes and sizes — the same question. Without hesitation, he answered, “You have to love your people.”

I said, “What about being organized and efficient? What about being a self-starter?”

He said, “A person with good organizational skills will have a larger congregation — and you should develop those skills as much as you can. But a pastor who loves will make a difference in people’s lives for all eternity.”

This doesn’t just apply to those in the ministry. It applies to all Christians everywhere.

Do you want to build something big? Be organized, ambitious, and efficient. There’s no question that it works, and the results can be good.

Do you make a difference in the world, no matter where you are, no matter what your leadership skills? You do it by loving others.

Last week, for the 54th consecutive year, A Charlie Brown Christmas was broadcast on a major network to a national audience. It’s still as good as it ever was.

It’s interesting that the scene that stole the show almost didn’t happen.

Do you remember it? As the gang is preparing for their local Christmas play, everyone gets mad at Charlie Brown for buying a pitiful, almost hopeless, tree.

Dejected, he says, “Everything I do turns into a disaster. I guess I don’t know what Christmas is all about.” And he cries out: “Is there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”

Linus says, “Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about.”

He then steps center stage and recites the Nativity story from Luke 2 —the story of the angels appearing before the shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus.

When network executives previewed the program, they objected: “You can’t read long passages of the King James Version on broadcast TV; you’ll lose your audience.”

Peanuts creator Charles Schulz was adamant. He said, “If we don’t tell the Christmas story, who will?”

The scene stayed in, and it turned out that the network executives were wrong. After the program aired, critics praised Linus’ reading, calling it the “dramatic highlight of the season.”

Schultz has a point — one which every church, every preacher, every believer would do well to consider. “If we don’t tell the Christmas story, who will?”

I’m referring to more than merely repeating the sequence of events found in Matthew and Luke. I’m referring to proclaiming the message of the season … the meaning of it all.

Some may never know, if they don’t hear it from you or me, that Christmas means that God is in our presence: Our loving Heavenly Father sent his Son to take life’s journey with us, to make right that which had gone wrong, to save us from our sin and from ourselves.

In the coming days you may encounter a Charlie Brown, beaten down and discouraged, who wonders what this season — or life itself — is really about.

Be sure to let them know.

Last year some family members and I were talking about our favorite Christmas songs. Just about everyone named one of the many bouncy, cheerful carols that we all know and love.

Mine, however, didn’t quite fall into that category.

My favorite Christmas hymn is a contemplative tune that deeply resonates with my experience of knowing Jesus. It’s called In The Bleak Midwinter. Doesn’t sound very bouncy, does it?

Here are some of the words…

In the bleak mid-winter frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter long ago.

These words so resonate with me — and with so many others, I’m sure — because we know all too well the bleak mid-winter experience. Many know what it’s like to feel alone and abandoned, to feel discouraged and disappointed — in yourself, in others, and in the circumstances of life. I would venture to say that we all have weathered, at some time, the bleak mid-winter.

And for some, the bleakness seems to never end. Life appears to be like it once was in Narnia, before Aslan arrived: always winter, never Christmas.

The good news is that the winter doesn’t last forever. If you find yourself sometimes paralyzed by fear and uncertainty, there was a simple promise made to all people everywhere on that first Christmas night, a promise you can claim as your own: You don’t have to be afraid. You can even dare to yield to joy.

These were the first words spoken by the angel to the young shepherds, as they stood terrified before the heavenly host.

Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11)

Fear not, because God is here.

We know from experience that there is no solace to be found in the ice and snow, no comfort to gain from the frosty wind. But if you’re willing to reach beyond the surrounding elements of winter … to dare to put your future in the hands of the God who loves you, then you can be sure that joy, and hope, and favor await you in his presence.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter a stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.