As you recall, we had a discussion of the $41 and $81 burger in this space last month. Now, word has leaked of the $175 burger. Since I’m going to New York next month you can imagine how giddy I am.
Yep, that’s the best I’ve got today.
1 Samuel 30:6
6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
KJV
Allow me to expound on some random thoughts bouncing in my head this evening. I am not feeling particularly discouraged so maybe this thought is for a reader. Who knows. Anyway, have you ever been down, discouraged, disappointed, disillusioned, or otherwise not at peak performance? Further, have you found that nothing seems to be able to pick you up out of the dole drums? Sometimes, we need to encourage ourselves in the Lord to pass through these times.
Personally, I like to sing. Now, as a singer, I am dreadful. I lead our worship service tonight and took special care to stand back from the microphone so as not to offend the ears of our good people. But when I’m alone in my office or car and need to shake a mood, for whatever reason, music does it for me (and yes, I do sing along). One of my favorite sites on the web is My Hope Radio which is sponsored by the Media Missions divison of the UPCI. I am a personal fan of either sanctuary or Bible College choir music (I really dig choir praise and worship). It is not uncommon for me to spend an entire day listening to this web site. In fact, I’m listening to music from the Woodlawn Choir as I type this post. Music feeds the soul and when I feed it from this site, it seems to stay happy.
So there you have it. If you’re discouraged, encourage yourself. Find some good music and feed your soul good things. And have a great week!
I have no idea why I’m posting this other than I love my Blackberry and I find Dolly Lenz fascinating. Maybe if my friend Rocky gets a Blackberry, he can sell over $700 million in real estate too.
I haven’t posted for a few days because, as usual, I’m busy with work and church stuff. I have been thinking a lot about transitions lately, probably inspired by this post that I read the other day.
I had an interesting discussion with my managing partner on Friday. Since our company’s inception, I have been handling all of our IT and finance in addition to my practice responsibility. In the beginning, this was an hour a week proposition. Now, it’s a day a week. We had a great talk about how to best make use of my time specifically; should we hire someone at this point to handle the day to day bookkeeping and have me concentrate on strategic finance and cash management (in addition to IT). In the end, my bill rate for work in our practice is about 5x what it would cost to hire a bookkeeper. Game, set match. In short, we had become successful enough that it no longer made sense for me to do the basic accounting. For the good of the firm, I needed to give up a degree of control to concentrate on the big picture. Easy in the head- not so much with the heart.
On a similar vein, I have watched a number of churches grow and die because of the lack of a transition plan. I did a study once of the number of pastors in our district who are over the age of 60. It was terrifying. Many pastors are unable (or unwilling) to implement a succession plan. They lose sight of the fact that it isn’t their church. It’s God’s. I remember having a frank discussion with my pastor a few years ago and imploring him to have a plan in the event that he dropped over dead (two caveats- I was not then (or not) interested in the job and he had already laid the groundwork). I have watched this transition begin to play out over the past two years and it has been fascinating. Both parties are respectful to the other and are mindful that the end goal is to see the church thrive. They realize that the church is bigger than their individual needs and egos. I am impressed.
Probably from watching the church transition I have learned how to apply this principle to my business. Step back, transition, and do what’s best not only for me but for the whole enterprise. It’s been a fun ride.
Courtesy of my friend Steve Cannon from Mississippi:
A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year
old son waiting for him at the door.
SON: ‘Daddy, may I ask you a question?’
DAD: ‘Yeah sure, what it is?’ replied the man.
SON: ‘Daddy, how much do you make an hour?’
DAD: ‘That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?’ the
man said angrily.
SON: ‘I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an
hour?’
DAD: ‘If you must know, I make $50 an hour.’
SON: ‘Oh,’ the little boy replied, with his head down.
SON: ‘Daddy, may I please borrow $25?’
The father was furious, ‘If the only reason you asked that is so you
can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then
you march yourself straight to yo ur room and go to bed. Think about why
you are being so selfish. I don’t work hard every day for such childish
frivolities.’ The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.
The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s
questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After
about an hour or so, the man had calmed down , and started to think:
Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25.00 and
he really didn’t ask for money very often. The man went to the door of
the little boy’s room and opened the door. ‘Are you asleep, son?’ He
asked. ‘No daddy, I’m awake,’ replied the boy. ‘I’ve been thinking,
maybe I was too hard on you earlier’ said the man. ‘It’s been a long
day and I took out my aggravation on you… Here’s the $25 you
asked for.’
The little boy sat straight up, smiling. ‘Oh, thank you daddy!’
He yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled
up bills. The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get
angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then
looked up at his father. ‘Why do you want more money if you already
have some?’ the father grumbled. Because I didn’t have enough, but now
I do,’ the little boy replied. ‘Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an
hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to
have dinner with you.’
The father was crushed. He put hi s arms around his little son, and he
begged for his forgiveness.
Originally uploaded by ryaninmtv
One of the super cool things about my job is that frequently, my family gets to come along with me. Such was the case today as I had an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon in Toledo, Ohio. Charity and the blossoms came along (Becky is still in school) and after my appointment we went to the Toledo Zoo.
We are huge proponents of zoo memberships. It is a fun, educational (and cheap) way to pass a few hours with the kids. Originally, we were members of the Cleveland MetroParks Zoo. That lapsed last year so, while we were at General Conference in September, we became members of the Tampa Lowry Park Zoo. Most of these zoos have reciprocating agreements which allows members free admission to other zoos. As members of the Tampa Zoo, we have had free access to the Cleveland, Akron, Pittsburgh, and now Toledo Zoos. Not bad for a $100 investment.
As for the zoo itself, it had some strong points (excellent aquarium and white tigers) but as a whole, I wouldn’t go to Toledo just for the zoo. Fortunately, I do a fair amount of work in Toledo which gives a chance to take another look once everything opens after Memorial Day. In any event, it was a great time. There are a few pictures posted from the day on Flickr and I’ll have up a couple of videos from the trip tomorrow for your perusal.
As I seem to be in a groove on these leadership posts, I have created a new category oddly enough titled “leadership”. Click on the category to see of the related posts.
I am currently reading Mike Bonem and Roger Patterson’s excellent book Leading from the Second Chair. It is very similar to John Maxwell’s concept of leading from the middle in his (also excellent) book the 360 Degree Leader. Bonem and Patterson’s book excellent expands on Maxwell’s thoughts regarding leading from somewhere other than the lead. It addresses questions of how to influence if you’re not the one casting vision and exerting yourself while remaining under authority. Good stuff.
One of the reasons this book has spoken so much to me is that it addresses people who have the dichotomy of first chair leadership in one area and second chair in another. I experience this phenomenon every day. I am a department head in our fellowship and therefore get to lead and cast my vision for Sunday School. However, when I enter our church, I become a second chair to our pastor. I will say that you need to be comfortable in your own skin (ie, not insecure) and flexible enough to know when you are “the man” and when you’re not. I spoke to a group of assistant and executive pastors some time ago regarding this. I would note that my pastor gives me tremendous leeway regarding things such as preaching out and even offering our pulpit to guests who come in for one of my events. I explain why I have such trust from him and the answer is simply I’ve never given him a reason to doubt my loyalty. If your senior pastor can’t trust you he needs to get rid of you (or you need to volunteer to get lost). As an assistant, you serve the man, not the church. I am an assistant to my pastor and by that office I get to minister to his flock. Any power or influence I have with his flock is derived from the shepherd as his is derived from the Chief Shepherd (the concept of being under authority). For more on this, pick up Terry Shock’s fantastic message from Because of the Times 2006.
This has probably been on my brain because of some events of this past week. I won’t delve into it as it was an internal church thing but they caused me to question my motives, ambitions, and whether or not I am truly a servant or a ladder climber. I was in prayer yesterday morning and the Lord reminded me that Elisha’s ministry was simply to pour water on the hands of the prophet. That was it. The reason he received a double portion of Elijah’s ministry is because he was the most dedicated water pourer around and he did his job with gladness; not to receive a blessing but because that was where his ministry was at the time. I don’t know what our future holds but if it is to be a water pourer I hope I am the best one around.
Still learning to be content.
I’ve already posted about my mom so for Mother’s Day, I think it’s completely appropriate that sent up a post for my kids’ mom who does double duty as my wife. I have had a bit of an education into her workload the last few weeks. Normally, she is a stay at home mom but recently she has picked up some project work which has necessitated that I do some of the mom work. Me doing mom work=FAIL. Never say that a stay at home mom doesn’t work. It just isn’t the case. In addition to the household management stuff she also home schools Michael. Side note- Michael missed only one point on his first grade evaluation so she must be doing something right. While I have years of higher education and job experience, I am woefully ill-equipped to be a mom. Fortunately, God was well aware of my shortfalls and matched me with someone who is more than qualified for the task. I’m glad these things worked out.
Happy Mother’s Day, Charity.
Psalm 119:67
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.
KJV
Let me just offer this for what it’s worth. I have an infected tooth. It was so bad that Tuesday night I was not able to sleep due to the pain. On Wednesday I started a course of antibiotics. In a short 48 hours I feel exceedingly better.
While I was in much pain, remembering to take my antibiotics was not a problem because I knew it was the key to me not feeling lousy any longer. Now that I feel pretty good, I have to remind myself to take my antibiotic. I’ve been a nurse for twenty years. I am well aware that just because you feel better does not mean that the infection is gone. That’s why you must take the WHOLE bottle of antibiotics to completely kill the infection. Don’t stop the treatment just because you’re not hurting anymore.
I’ll save the sermon from this point forward. Draw your own conclusions.
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