And it continues....

The story has been repeated a thousand times. Young person feels the call to serve God, and to minister to people. Young person finds that the Westernized "YMCA" Country Club church with Tithes and Offerings as Membership dues is the only avenue to pursue that call. X years later, said Pastor is out of ministry because X, Y, or Z, and all of these are due the Country Club mentality preventing them from actually ministering. Just found out another friend (who from all accounts was a TREMENDOUS Pastor), just left the ministry. He didn't leave his church...He left the ministry. God did not design the church to resemble what we have turned it into. The change is coming...be prepared...

Let's Make a Deal! Thoughts on business

Fall in love all over again! That’s the resounding theme for Valentine’s Day, correct? To us old married folks (15 years in May… Woot! Woot!) this is the time of the year when we are supposed to rekindle that lost flame and find a new sense of excitement and wonder in our significant other. We are supposed to open our eyes anew and try to gain some remote sense of the grandeur that can be found in the very soul of the one we have bound ourselves to until death do us part.

However, for me it is found in the everyday nuances of my wife and all of the small things that challenge me to love her more and more with all of the passion and dedication that I can rally out of my life. Every day I am gifted with exactly 86,400 seconds, and how I invest that time into my relationship with my wife is vitally important. She forces helps me to be a better man. If every day of my life someone invested 86,400 dollars into my checking account I can guarantee that every single day I would spend 86,400 dollars! The overarching question then is how I spend this time.

For many of you the question is the same, but the circumstance may change. How do you spend your time? This question need not be just about our relationships. Sound principles are sound principles, right? How do you spend your time at work? If you are gifted with 28,800 seconds at work every single day, how many of those would you say that you are productive? If your goal is to gain that promotion or to go to Atlantis with the Achievers Club, you simply cannot attain that goal if you are productive 25% of the time. It does not and will never happen.

Let’s make a deal! You remember that game show right? Contestants would win a microwave, but then have an opportunity to trade it in for what was behind the curtain. Sometimes they would be able to turn that microwave into a new car. Unfortunately, many of them also ended up with a one year supply of diaper cream. Well much the same, your career is found in making a deal. You can be offered the microwave, and go home and be perfectly content or you can risk it all and win what’s behind the curtain. The difference is if you pour your effort, energy, and time into your career, what’s behind the curtain won’t be diaper cream. This February take a step back, look at your career with eyes open a new, and rekindle the passion for making a difference in your workplace and in those around you. Look at the everyday nuances of your job and try to understand those things that make you happy, what causes you stress, and become an agent of positive change. Beyond anything else, find out where your passions are.

Dedicate yourself all over again to becoming a person of integrity and it will force help you to be a better you!