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Naive, Fool, or Mocker…I’ve Been All Three!

Foolish

How long, you simpletons, will you insist on being simpleminded? How long will you mockers relish your mocking? How long will you fools hate knowledge? – Proverbs 1:22

Our small group (shout out to all my groupies!) is currently doing an ancient study (circa 2001) of Andy Stanley’s called The Best Question Ever.  The study is mainly about how to make wise decisions; not good or bad, but wise.  Wise decisions are basically defined in this way, applying all the truth and information that you have at hand, while also bringing into bear your past experiences, your present circumstances, and your future hopes and dreams.  Once you have all of that you can then make a ‘wise decision’.  It’s a great study and if you haven’t done it you may want to share this post with your small group leader and encourage him/her to do the study in the near future…hint, hint, hint!

But, I want to focus on one particular lesson in which Andy talks about the three categories of people within the book of Proverbs, the naive, the fool, and the mocker.  Andy takes great care in defining each and then gives some poignant illustrations as to how they would respond.  Here is a snippet of those definitions:

  • Naive: also called simple or simpleton, is someone who simply doesn’t know what they don’t know.  They just don’t have enough experience to be able to clearly discern.  The danger here is that this person will often wrongly believe that they do know, or they know enough.  This trap can be overcome by #1 gaining experience and #2 listening to older/wiser counsel. (Proverbs 14:5)
  • Fool: also called foolish, is someone who knows, but doesn’t care. They know that if they stick their tongue in the light socket that it will shock them, but they want to do it anyways, it was fun the first time, so let’s do that again.  A fool wrongly believes that just because it happened last time, it doesn’t mean that it’ll happen this time too, and/or they believe that unlike everyone else, they’ll get away with it.  The fool can only stop being a fool by accepting the truth and changing his ways.  Unfortunately for the fool this only happens after multiple times of things blowing up in his face and having to bear the consequences. (Proverbs 10:23)
  • Mocker: also called the scoffer, is someone who knows, doesn’t care, and will ridicule you for caring or trying to correct him.  They will continue down the same path, making the same mistakes, knowing that destruction is coming all the while humming their happy little tune.  They will make fun of you, slander you, attack you as often as they can, and there is absolutely nothing that you can do to help them.  In fact, the only solution is to cast them out of your circle of friends and hope that God grabs a hold of their heart. (Proverbs 9:7-8)

I’m sure as you read through the definitions you probably had pictures of multiple people flash through your mind for each of them.  It may have even inspired a verbal reaction of “that’s right!”…but pause in your indignation for just a moment, how often have you been naive, played to fool, or scoffed at others counsel?  Self evaluation is never easy and often painful, but always necessary if we are going to consistently make wise decisions instead of naive, foolish, or mocking ones!

Here’s to being wise my friends,

Dave

Posted by  |  February 26, 2015 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

Giving

Giving_jallfree_226x150At Friendship we strongly encourage all of our Ministry Partners to go through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University as we believe it is one of the best tools out there to help you understand what God wants from you for your finances. If you have not gone through FPU I would highly, strongly urge you to do so. Dave is not just the next financial flash in the pan, he’s been helping people for more than 30 years to handle their finances in a way that both honors God and frees them. I know that this is doing FPU a terrible injustice, but let me see if I can give bullet point highlights to what you’ll learn:

  • If you don’t tell your money where to go, you’ll never know where your money goes!
  • If you are willing to live like no one else now, you’ll be able to live like no one else later!
  • If you don’t get out of debt, as fast as you can, you are greatly decreasing your ability to enjoy financial peace!
  • God is the originator of all wealth, and he expects you to honor him!

Now, let me answer a two questions about giving:

It’s mine, why should I give at all? The Bible says that we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). And, that God is in his very nature a ‘giver’. First, he gave us life, then he gave us the world and everything in it, and after we rejected him, God gave us his Son, Jesus Christ. Giving is in our nature, and when we follow after our Creator he stokes within us the desire to be more and more like him. When we are generous with what God has given to us we literally become more and more like God. And, if you need more inspiration, Jesus says that when we imitate him in his nature of being a giver, he will in turn give us more so that we can continue being generous with others (Luke 6:38).

There are so many good charities, non-profits, mission organizations, community groups; why should it go to the church? The Bible says that the mission of the church is to reach the world for Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20). Other organizations can do a lot of good, and this is not a slam on them, but there is no other organization, business, entity, or enterprise that will change people’s eternal destiny! The church is the hope of the world, and when the church is working right, there is absolutely nothing like it! Why wouldn’t you want to invest in the greatest endeavor the world has ever or will ever experience? When you obey God’s command by regularly and faithfully investing in the vision of your local church you are fueling the mission of God to become reality!
I could invest multiple posts on this subject because God is so passionate about it, however, my hope is to whet your whistle for more, to encourage you to engage in the ministry of giving, and allow the Spirit of God to move you forward!

God bless my friends,
Dave

Posted by  |  February 23, 2015 | Categories: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Building Update #10!

Hey Friendship!building-render

Well, if you’ve been to church at all over the last month you know that all sorts of things are happening. Our construction crew has finished the demolition portion of our redesign and repair of our exterior, and are in the beginning phases of the reconstruction.

As I’m sure you have seen by now, not only are we getting a new drive through for the kids and teens area, but we also have new windows (that don’t leak or allow ants to bore through) that allow a tremendous more amount of light in and really open up the front of the building. They say that windows and doors are the eyes of a building, so I guess our building is getting an eye transplant…sounded better in my head!

Our construction crew also has the entire North side of the building resided, is beginning on the backside, and have started laying the brick on the front. Once the brick is completed then they’ll be able to finish of the front exterior and the drive through, and our facelift of what is becoming our teen and kid’s center, will be complete.

This week the crews have marked out the areas that will be excavated and the big beefy machines should be on site later this week as well. Our hope is that when you arrive on Sunday you’ll see piles of dirt all over the place and the beginnings of Lake Friendship…seriously, it’s gonna be like an acre and a half!

Our goal for the MOMENTUM giving is to be at 50% by December 31st, right now we are siting at 47%. I know that some of you have been giving consistently over the last year and I want to thank you and congratulate you for helping us get this far! I also know that some of you have only given a small percentage of your commitment, and I’d like to challenge you to get caught up in the month of December. Help us celebrate reaching 50%, push us over that mark so that we can start the new year right on track! The exciting thing is, you don’t even have to wait till Sunday to do it, you can jump online right here: Online Giving, and get things rolling.

See ya Sunday!
Dave

Posted by  |  December 9, 2014 | Categories: Building Updates, Church | Leave a comment

Building Update #9

building-render

We finally have some movement beginning to take place (and the people rejoiced)!  I’m sure most of you noticed that the pavement on Emerson was about 90% done on Sunday, and as of today (Tuesday, Sep 9) it is completely done and ready for marking.

What you may not realize is that under that road we have laid our new sanitary line hookup and our new storm water line hookup.  These two accomplishments will allow us to begin moving forward on the creation of our new retention pond.  If you are not familiar with where the pond will sit on the property, take a detour over to our plans on the wall next to the Nursery to get familiar with where you will begin to see a huge hole in the ground in the next month or so.  I know that the retention pond isn’t something that most people get super excited about, but it will allow us to detain all of the rain water run-off of all our new hard surface areas, and should prevent any type of flooding.  Again, not exciting, but essential for us to keep moving forward.

We’ve also been able to work out an agreement with the City that will allow us to do work on our current building exterior and some interior, while we are waiting on the final approval for our full project financing by using the monies already given to the MOMENTUM Project by people like you who have so graciously and generously sacrificed!  This will allow us to build our new drive through and resurface the exterior to match the new building, replace our leaking wood framed windows, and expand our infant nursery (and all the infant nursery volunteer rejoiced)!  These things will have a direct impact on how we do ministry and the way our building is seen by the community.

So, to wrap this all up in a profound, intellectually stimulating way…“Stuff is happening people!”

 

Dave

Posted by  |  September 9, 2014 | Categories: Building Updates, Church | Leave a comment

6 Positive Habits That Keep You Spiritually Healthy! PT 3

So far in our little series we’ve talked about Reading Your Bible and Prayer.  Two personal and often private habits that help develop our faith and bolster our spiritual health.  Positive Habit #3 however, is anything but private, in fact, it is one of the most public of the habits, Celebrating Community. This habit has many different names or verbiage attached to it: Corporate Worship, Services, Worship Services, Small Group, Life Group, Connection Group, going to church, etc…  So, it would stand to reason that there are a lot of opinions as to what it is supposed to be and look like.  The truth is there are about as many opinions as there are churches on the way “It’s supposed to be done”.  So, I am going to make a WIDE circle around the methods of Celebrating Community and veer straight into the why’s.

As I begin sharing the why’s allow me to first address a statement that I’ve heard many, many times, “You don’t have to go to a church to be a Christian.”  This statement is 100% true, salvation is not found inside a church, salvation is found in accepting Jesus Christ’s death on the cross as your substitute for your sinfulness.  Just as true is the statement, “You don’t have to go to a Colts game to be a fan.”  Interestingly though, if you were given free tickets to a Colts game, with free parking, and free food and you instead chose to sit at home and watch women’s golf (not that there’s anything wrong with that), I would have every right to question the authenticity and passion of your fandom!  The same is true of those who claim to follow Christ but rarely find the need or desire to actually join in with others who have the same passion and love to celebrate the one they claim to follow.  You certainly can be a Christian without going to church, but you won’t be a growing one, a passionate one, a knowledgable one, or an obedient one. So, here are some reasons why being a part of a local church body is absolutely essential to becoming Spiritually healthy:

  • It’s a clear instruction in the Bible.  I find it interesting that the first church did not have to be told to Celebrate Community, it was something that they did naturally.  They gravitated towards one another and enjoy developing those essential relationship that not only created accountability, but unity.  However, as the church began to spread around the world, it became evident that some of the people groups, more than likely because of their cultural backgrounds, had to be taught the necessity of Celebrating Community.  So, the writer of Hebrews lays it out in chapter 10, verse 24:

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

  • It is a sign that I truly know and love Christ.  Yes, you read that correctly, being an active part of a local church is something that identifies or marks you as a genuine believer.  Now, again, I emphasize, being a church member/attender doesn’t save you (Eph 2:8:9), but it is evidence to the fact that you are a believer.  Look at what the Apostle John, half-brother of Christ, has to say about it:

But, if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all our sin. – 1 John 1:7

  • It is essential for my spiritual growth and development. The New Testament writers list multiple benefits for those who obey this command and engage within a local body of Christ.  Here are just a few:
    • We experience genuine love (1 Jn 4:12)
    • We are held accountable for our behavior (Gal 6:1-2)
    • We are challenged to grow more (Heb 3:13)
    • We learn from each other and our spiritual teachers (Col 3:16)
  • The body is incomplete without me! You are absolutely essential to the growth and success to the local church.  Your gifts are not only wanted, they are needed.  Just like you as a believer will never reach your full potential on your own, your church will never reach it’s full potential without you completely engaged.  Paul says that each and every part of the church is necessary, that no one part is more important than the others, and that only when all of the parts are doing their part, will the church truly thrive:

In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. – I Corinthians 12:22-27

You matter, you are needed, and what you have to offer is valuable to the Kingdom of God!  Invest your time into something that literally has the capability of changing your world…your church!

 

I’ll see you on Sunday,

Dave

Posted by  |  August 11, 2014 | Categories: Christian Life, Church | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

6 Positive Spiritual Habits That Keep You Healthy! Pt 2

I shared with you the first Positive Habit with this post: Part 1.  Today, I’d like to share with you the second Positive Habit, the habit of Prayer.

Prayer is often seen as a mysterious, even mystical thing that somehow must be mastered over a lifetime of practice.  The other night I was bored and the movie Gravity was on…did I mention that I was bored? During one scene Sandra Bullock’s character makes this interesting statement, “Would you pray for me…no one ever taught me how to pray.”  I find that very interesting, and telling of our culture.  We have this ingrained belief that prayer and praying is difficult, tricky, and that there is some special protocol that must be followed, or else!

Whenever I teach about prayer, I usually go back to what I like to call the discovery of prayer.  It’s found in the book of Genesis, chapter 4, verse 26:

Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.  At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD.

You see when God created the world prayer was non-essential, because God and man communicated face to face.  The Bible says that Adam and Eve walked with God together in the Garden of Eden.  But, when man sinned that intimate connection was broken, or it would probably be better to say, it was significantly altered.  Because of the sinfulness in man, God had to remove his ‘physical’ presence from man or else his holiness would have destroyed them, even if He is/was/always will be ever present.  From that point on, however, God’s presence was not as obvious, and men’s relationship with God took a radical turn for the worse.  The first man born, Cain, actually killed the second man born Abel, in a fit of rage and jealousy!  Wow, it didn’t take long for that to go bad!  However, when the next son was born, Seth, his attitude in regards to God was completely different.  For some unknown reason, maybe a child was sick or the crops failed, Seth called out to God…and God answered him, and thus began what we now call prayer.

From that seminal moment forward men have realize that whenever they call out to God that He will answer them.  Prayer, in it’s most basic and fundamental form, is simply calling out to God, nothing more and nothing less.  You can call on God to praise His name, to thank Him for something He’s done, pleading for Him to intervene, to give direction, really whatever you need to say or ask of God, prayer is our mode of communication.

Okay, so let’s get into the specifics:

  • Is there a particular place to pray from? Nope!  Moses prayed on a Mountainside, David prayed in battle, Daniel prayed from inside the lion’s pit, Enoch prayed in the forest, Joseph prayed in prison, Abraham prayed in the desert…well I think you get the point.  Your location isn’t relevant to the delivery success of your prayer.
  • Is there a particular verbiage to prayer? Nope!  Recorded prayers in the Bible are as short as a couple of words all the way up to an entire chapter in the Bible.  It doesn’t have to have thee’s and thou’s, and probably shouldn’t since it’s the 21st century, and there isn’t a particular format.  The words you use in prayer are as specific to you as the words you use in regular conversation with others.  Trust me, God’s not judging you on your grammar or your use of language.  You’ll never here him correct your usage of ‘their’ ‘there’ or ‘they’re’!
  • Is there a limit to what I can pray for?  Well, lets see: Elijah prayed that it wouldn’t rain, and then later that it would. Isaac prayed for a wife. Joshua prayed for mercy. Solomon prayed for wisdom. Elisha prayed for a boy to come back to life. Jacob prayed that his brother wouldn’t kill him, and then wrestled…literally…with God.  The point is, as long as you are praying from your heart, about what’s going on in your life, then there really isn’t a limit, other than of course things that are sinful…yeah, don’t pray for those!
  • Is there a prescribed format for prayer? That is a great question, and many people will point you to Jesus model prayer that he gave to the Disciples in Matthew 6:9-13 but even that wasn’t intended to be the ‘be all, end all’ of prayers.  But, there are certainly elements that Jesus points are are good and valuable for us to pray to God about.

Jesus says that as we pray we should be reminded of how awesome God is (name be kept holy); we should pray to know, understand, and see His will become reality in our life (your kingdom come, your will be done); we should pray for any needs we might have (our daily bread); to give us wisdom for making decisions (lead us not into temptation); for safety (deliver us from evil); and for forgiveness of our sins (forgive us our sins).  Basically, what Jesus is doing here is giving us a list of all of the things that we can come to God for, take a look at that list again in a little more simplified format:

  • Who God is
  • Know God more
  • Know God’s will
  • God would provide our needs
  • God would give us direction
  • God would protect us
  • God would forgive us

You see, once you get past all of the years of thee’s and thou’s, God just wants you to talk with Him.  He is your Father and He wants you to let Him know what you want, what you need; He wants you to ask questions, to seek direction.  Prayer is simply your sharing your heart with God!  Don’t make it complicated, don’t make it too formal, and don’t avoid it like it’s difficult.

Whatever you are doing, just stop for a minute. Pause and say hello to God, He’s there, I promise you.  Tell Him about your day, your fears, your hopes, your dreams, just talk…and then listen.  It is often after we have poured our heart out to God that He pours Himself into us.  God’s most direct form of communication is through His Word, the Bible (I talked about this is Pt 1) but He loves to talk to us when we are still, silent, and listening.  It is often in those moments I can almost ‘feel’ God right there.  I’m no ‘spooky Christian’, but I do believe what the Bible teaches, so I’ll leave you with this.

Be still and know that I am God! – Psalm 46:10

Until next time!

Dave

 

Posted by  |  July 29, 2014 | Categories: Christian Life, Church | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

6 Positive Habits That Keep You Spiritually Healthy! Pt. 1

How do you grow spiritually?  Depending upon your background you may answer that questions using different words than what I’m about to.  But, the basics of growing spiritually haven’t changed since the beginning of time, when a relationship with God was the most important thing (see Adam and Eve in the Garden with God).  Yet ever since that fateful day when our grandparents rejected God we’ve been trying to create some type of system to get us back closer to Him, and often it’s on our terms.  We create religious systems that are, at best, flawed/cheap imitations of what God has truly intended.

Instead of trying to get you to do a particular thing(s) that fit a particular religious system, let’s just go back to what God has highlighted in His word as important stuff for us.  God doesn’t tend to waste his breath or talk just to hear Himself, so when God speaks our ears should perk up and take note.  My hope is that you can begin to build these habits into your life and move towards spiritual health, because that which is healthy…grows!

Bible Reading/Study

This particular habit is probably the least utilized, even though it may be the most important since it flows into our understanding of all the others.  Now, I’m not going to tell you that you need to get up at the ‘butt-crack of dawn’ and scour the Scriptures for the theological equivalent of a needle in a haystack!  But, it is absolutely essential to your spiritual health that you are listening to God.  The Bible refers to itself as the “Word of God”, let’s put that in a way we can grasp, “God’s words recorded for us, to give us direction, hope, and comfort for our everyday life”.  Often, Bible reading/study can feel like homework, but what it should be and should be viewed as is simply an opportunity for us to hear from and receive wisdom from the greatest source in all of the universe.

When I was a younger pastor, I often thought how helpful and informative it would be to be able to spend an hour with some of the great pastors of the previous generation and gain wisdom from them.  I even went so far as to try to get some time with some very well known men at my own expense.  Unfortunately, rarely did it pan out, and when it did I was often disappointed.  Yet, the greatest source of leadership teaching, wisdom, and coaching sat just inches from my hand on my desk.  It wasn’t that I didn’t read or study my Bible, but I saw it as one dimensional, spiritual, nothing more, nothing less.  But then I re-read a passage of Scripture that I’d read a hundred times before:

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT

Do you see it, “…every good work…”.  The Bible isn’t just a ‘spiritual manual’ it’s a Life Manual.  When you read it God is filling you with wisdom for living life.  The God who created and sustains all life is literally giving you the secrets to living a life of significance!  And, unlike all of those self-appointed gurus it’s not ‘3 easy payments of $19.99’ it’s free, readily accessible, and without any type of limitations.

So, how about you and I today spend a little time listening to God?  Grab your Bible, open it up, and just read, you never know what you might be inspired, challenged, equipped, taught, lead, encouraged to do until you start to listen to the ONE whose hand is guiding it all!

Dave

Next post: Prayer

Posted by  |  July 17, 2014 | Categories: Christian Life, Church | 2 Comments

Building Update #8

Well the old expression goes, “Slow and steady wins the race.”  Have I ever mentioned that I have a rather driven personality?  I don’t know about you all but I don’t think I can wait an awful lot longer before I start having to gnaw on something (or someone) to relieve the tension!

Thankfully, things are moving, but as with everything that has anything to do with governmental red tape, it moves way slower than what we’d like.  On the very positive side all of our information for financing is in the lenders hands and we have multiple banks who are now ‘competing’ for our business, this usually means good rates, which means a savings in the long run…even better!

On the exciting side…if our bond issue is resolved and our meeting goes well with the City, then nothing further stands in the way of us breaking ground!  We don’t have a date yet since it’s still dependent upon those last two hurdles being jumped, but all signs point to go as of right now.

You will notice that some of the property next to Emerson road is already getting dug up.  This is a part of the improvements that are being done to the road and are a part of our new acceleration and deceleration lanes that will make coming and going much easier on Sundays and for our Childcare parents when all is said and done.

Finally, as I shared with you recently, we just reached 40% of our $627,000 committed to the MOMENTUM project, way to go Friendship!  If you made a commitment and haven’t yet started giving or your a little behind, I’m going to challenge you to start or get back in rhythm to help us reach 50% even faster.  Let’s keep moving forward to make an impact that’ll last a generation!

Dave

Posted by  |  July 8, 2014 | Categories: Building Updates, Church | Leave a comment

Five Things the Spurs Can Teach Us About Teamwork!

I was really rather amazed this year by the San Antonio Spurs.  In spite of havingSpurs Championship the best record in the NBA they were rarely mention by sportscaster and prognosticators alike.  They were the forgotten powerhouse.  To most, they were to old, to boring, and to…well not the HEAT to win.  Now, as much as I would love to make this a blog, blasting the HEAT and Lebron James, I just can’t.  In spite of my disdain for them, did I mention I’m a lifelong Pacers fan, you can’t ignore that they’ve made it to four consecutive NBA Finals, and won two of them.  That’s impressive, plain and simple.  But, compare it to the Spurs, who since 1999 have won five titles, that’s a 33% title winning percentage over a 15 year period…Now that is amazing!

So, what can we learn from this ‘blue-collar’ team, that have been in the playoffs 24 of the last 25 years, captured 20 division titles, won 50+ games for 16 seasons straight, and had the same head coach for nearly 20 years?  Well, here are five things:

  1. ‘Superstars’ can’t do it alone: Often we fall prey to the idea that if we just get this amazing guy on our leadership team, or on staff, or as a volunteer, that will make all the difference.  And, for sure there is almost always an immediate impact.  But, if you’re looking for sustained, long-term impact, it can’t be about just one guy.  In 1997 the Spurs looked completely lost.  Even though they had one of the best big men of all time in David ‘The Admiral’ Robinson, a perennial MVP candidate, they were consistently getting bumped out of the playoffs in the first or second round.  It wasn’t until they drafted a young guy named Tim Duncan, that the Spurs began to take shape.  David Robinson now had a teammate who could shoulder the burden alongside of him.  In fact, Robinson made it his mission to mentor this young guy and help him become a top tier player in the league.  Robinson even lessened his role intentionally so that Duncan could begin to flourish.  Just two short years later, 1999, they were the NBA Champions for the first time.
  2. Old doesn’t mean finished: I honestly wish I had a dollar for every time that I heard the Spurs were ‘too old’ this year!  The three main guys on the Spurs, Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, are past ‘their prime’.  But, just like David Robinson before them, these guys had been mentoring the younger, fresher legs on the team.  Taking a few less shots, allowing them to experience what it was like to carry more of the load.  Just because you may be past your prime, doesn’t mean your ineffective.  Might your role be changing, would you be more effective as a mentor than a major player, maybe.  The bottom line is stop thinking you’re too old to be useful on a team.
  3. Teamwork beats star power every time: It was said that the Spurs offense was old, outdated, and boring.  Their main offensive philosophy; pass the ball to the open man, in spite of who it is.  Their belief was that the open man has a better chance at making a shot or a play than one of their big three in a double team.  So, on any given possession you would witness 3,4, sometimes even 5 passes before a shot was taken.  It was a completely unselfish ideal that every guy on the team had to embrace for it to be effective.  In a league where isolation and one-on-one play is the course of the day, this type of offense seemed almost foreign.  But to me, it was beautiful!  You see when you play as a team, it’s not about your individual stat line as much as it is how the team did.  Sure Lebron averaged a bazillion points and rebounds in the series, but the Spurs hoisted the trophy!
  4. Longterm success demands stable, consistent leadership: Greg Popovich may be the most boring interview in the history of sports!  But, what makes him boring to a reporter makes him invaluable as a coach.  He knows exactly what he wants to do, teaches it ad nauseum to his players, and demands that they run it with ruthless efficiency on the court.  His players buy in to it because he’s proven it works.  Sure, he makes tweaks here and there, takes input from his players, and makes in game corrections.  But, his players know and trust him because he’s always headed in the same direction.  As a leader sometimes you feel like you need to be perfect, but what is actually more important, is for you to be consistent.  If as a leader of a team you are all over the place emotionally, or with ‘new ideas’ or vision every couple of weeks, you will quickly fatigue your team and they will quit trying, not because they don’t care, because they just don’t know where your going!
  5. Talk less, do more: There’s an old expression that goes something like this, “Those that talk about it rarely do it; those that do it rarely talk about it.”  Basically, all of the hype, the fashion, the bling was all one-sided during the NBA Finals this year.  The HEAT were the talk of the town, ‘Can they three-peat’, ‘Did you see what Lebron/D-Wade was wearing’, ‘Just how many tattoos does Chris Anderson have’.  While people actually poked fun at the Spurs for their lack of fashion sense.  The Spurs simply went about their business, no one talked about winning their fifth championship, or that if they won again that Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili would have won four championships together.  They simply played their boring brand of basketball and won.

So, congratulations to the San Antonio Spurs, and thanks for the lessons in teamwork!

Dave

 

Posted by  |  June 16, 2014 | Categories: Leadership, Sports | Leave a comment

Where was God at Reynolds High School?

Whenever anything like this happens people always ask questions like this.  The assumption is that this happened because of God or at the very least, because God didn’t stop it.  Below is a re-post of my response to the Sandy Hook shooting, hopefully it will help you or help you in conversation with others:

 

“Dear Lord, I pray for those who have been devastated by the actions of this man. I pray for parents today who will not be able to pray with their child or tuck them into bed. I ask that you wrap your arms around them and send them your children who will display your true love. I also ask God that you would silence the mouths of foolish men and women who are using this tragedy as an opportunity to continue to spew their hateful words or agendas. I ask God that you would stir your church to action as we pray for and engage other in conversations and that these words I’m about to share will bring your truth into the conversation and encourage other believers to share this truth. In Jesus name, Amen.”

 

On more than one occasion I’ve been asked this question, or something similar, when a tragedy such as this strikes, “Is God unable, unconcerned, or unwilling to intervene when things like this happen?” I’d like to take each of the presented possibilities first, and then give you what I believe the Biblical answer to tragedy is.

Unable: Is God incapable or not powerful enough to have stopped this? Well the Bible is very clear on this subject: “For nothing is impossible with God.” Luke 1:37
Unconcerned: Doesn’t God care? Is he just so far removed from us that this type of thing doesn’t even bother him? I believe that the Bible is incredibly clear on this as well, John 3:16 says the God cares so much that he sent his Son Jesus Christ to die in our place. That Jesus loved us so much that he willingly gave up his life for us, no one took it from him (John 10:18). So, maybe he’s just not involved…actually the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is not just aware, but actively interceding, or working on our behalf, at all times (Romans 8:34)
Unwilling: Okay, so God does care, is powerful enough to do it, but he just chose not to for some reason…really loving God, right?! Well, here’s the problem with that thinking, we assume that everything that happens in this world is “God-approved”, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. At the dawn of our world God created Adam and Eve and gave them an incredible gift, the gift of being able to choose, theologians call it “free will”. God gave every human being the ‘right’ to choose whether or not they would serve God or reject God. God refuses to force himself on anyone, because a forced love is not love at all. But, if all men have free will, even those who do evil, than evil will always be present…even horrendous evil, and if men reject God then their minds will continue to be corrupted by sin…

Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. – Romans 1:28-32

So, why didn’t God try to stop this young man from murdering so many people? How do you know that he didn’t? God may very well have been putting person after person into his life attempting to get him to steer away from his life of destruction and corruption, but he simply rejected them. Maybe there were people in his life, who simply refused to do what was necessary to get him help, or discipline him the way he needed, or love him the way he needed. This is not just about one man and God, this is about hundreds if not millions of people interconnected along the chain of his life, any number of whom could have been the key to keeping this tragedy from happening.

BUT, here’s what I do know; No one of us is grieving more right now than God! The heart of God is broken over the sin and the sinfulness that led to this tragedy. Listen to how the Bible conveys the grief and the love that God shows those who are hurting and broken:

The LORD is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. – Psalm 34:18

Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. – Psalm 23:4

This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday. – Psalm 91:2-6

You may push back, “But I don’t feel God right now! How does God give me comfort if he’s just a spirit?” That is one of the purposes of the church. We as Christians are to be his hands, his feet, we are commanded to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” Romans 12:15.

Now, what I’m about to say may offend some of you, but maybe it is necessary. What happened today was an awful tragedy. It was a despicable act by a man who had allowed sin to be in full control and as he spiraled into the depths of his depravity he took the lives of others. We mourn today over those who are lost, we weep today with parents who lost children, children who lost siblings, and friends who lost friends. But, this happens every day in our world. In Somalia this Summer over 29,000 children died in a 90 day span because they did not have enough to eat or clean water to drink. That’s over 320 children per day! In Sudan, some 400,000 to 500,000 children have been murdered or made to engage in warfare where they were killed over the last 10 years. That means that every day in the Sudan 100 – 120 children are killed with guns. These are just two small examples, there are countless others.

Friends the evil in our world is far more expansive and profound than anyone of us could possibly imagine! That fact that things like this don’t happen in every community on a regular basis is proof that God is holding back the tidal wave of sin. Do not let this tragedy derail you from your faith, let it drive you deeper in discovering your faith. Pray for these families, but then pray for your world. Who in your life needs to hear about Jesus? But, don’t stay on your knees, get up and begin to do what you can to change your world with the truth of Jesus Christ.

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. – James 1:27

Posted by  |  June 10, 2014 | Categories: Uncategorized | 1 Comment