Devotion 10.29.20

 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." John 15:12 - 13

I've just finished a book about a specific aspect of World War II, "Solo into the Rising Sun." (If you are too young to remember, the Japanese flag was known as "the rising sun.") The book is about a squadron, VPB 117 (visual patrol bombers). That was the squadron my dad belonged to as a "naval ordinanceman," better known as a gunner.  The squadron was comprised of B-24s the navy had converted and referred to as PBY4's (1 and 2).  Dad flew in the nose of the bomber (click here for an image of the bomber), and he went into combat in the Pacific in late 1944 after over a year of training.

Visual patrol bombers were different in the navy than in the Army Air Corps for several reason.  One was the look of the aircraft (the front gunner was in a turret and not a glass enclosed front like the image above). Secondly, and most importantly, the navy used them as reconnaissance to advance into forward territories occupied by the Japanese, a particularly hostile and aggressive enemy to confront. Consequently, the bombers flew solo, not in formation like you might remember from any movies about bombings in Europe (hence the title, "Solo into the Rising Sun").

There are many things I learned in the book which I may reference from time to time in devotion, but one thing I learned was just how hostile the action actually was that my dad and others in the squadron was. To listen to my dad talk of his days in the Navy was like listening to your son come home after a great experience (going to a game or out hunting or something along that line). My dad loved it.  First, flight was still in its youth at that time, having been achieved earlier in the same century, so the fascination with an aircraft and being in one was truly an experience of awe. Secondly, it was my dad's first experience with indoor plumbing having grown up in rural Minnesota and shared a bathroom with five sisters. Third, my dad loved the camaraderie which he often spoke fondly of.  

The war?  I learned in the book of his actual war experience, because when he spoke of it, it was always a very positive experience.  In the book, a factual record by the son of one of the pilots in the original squadron, it was battle.  Search areas on Southeast Asia along the coast of Vietnam or China or "Formosa," see Japanese fighters or guns from destroyers or fleets you inadvertently stumble on (remember, they are doing reconnaissance) and find yourself in a hot mess. About five crews were lost (35 men).  Plane crashed or were shot down (low on fuel, engines stop, took fire and crashed or crash landed into hostile territory). In all of it, the glue that holds the unit together is the love between the crews.  Competition?  Yes.  Love? Absolutely. There was a bond. The pilot and HIS crew, and among the crew itself.  To account for each other and to seek until exhausted in a loss is a theme. 

What about us regular guys on a daily basis?  What does Christ mean in his famous passage, "greater love has no one than this...?" How do I give up my life for my brother when I don't face hostile action? How about this: you give your life to Christ and reach out to your brother or sister in need? We love one another in our actions.  We surrender to Christ and not the daily enemy who dwells among us (temptation) and we account ourselves to one another.  We ask each other how the day is and we are sincere. We give up this desire to win and win at all costs and reach out and help a brother or sister behind us as Christ stopped and reached down to Peter as he sank in the sea, but we do so because one day we will sink and need a brother in Christ to reach out and pull us up.    

Maybe that is the start, but it is certainly our prayer, that we be there for one another as Christ is for us.

Devotion 10.26.20

 "...Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me." Matthew 25:40

There was a superintendent in these here parts who I spoke with a few years ago.  We were both close to the end of our careers, but I enjoyed visiting with him annually.  He was both a good man and a man who expressed his faith openly.  His faith clearly guided his work as a school leader.  

When we spoke, we were talking education philosophy, and he said, "I work with staff all the time, and we are clear on one thing: It's not the students we know that I think about in my work, but it is the one of least concern - that kid who is not involved in much, whose story we don't really know.  He's the one who comes and goes quietly and goes unnoticed. He makes enough of a grade to stay off the radar, but really, he is the student of least concern.  That's who we need to search out and see how we can teach them and help them better." That stuck with me the day he shared that, and I began immediately looking at people very differently.

The passage in Matthew is one of the clearest pieces of evidence of what we will hear on the day of judgement as we are divided - sheep from the goats (not the "greatest of all time" acronym either).  It's the worst passage to teach with adults for me, because the questions come from a justification standpoint immediately.  "Okay, so, when I drive past a guy with a sign that says, 'Out of money, no work, need help' and I don't stop or give him money, does that mean I've not done what Jesus is asking here?"

You can wrestle with that as well because my answer is always about faith and salvation.  In fact, the note in the study bible is very clear:  Salvation is the result of faith in Christ, not works.  "Scripture teaches that people do good works in God's sight only after they have come to faith and been justified by Christ. Good works are the result of salvation, not its cause." So, in this world, we will blow it from time to time, but in the big picture, do we spend time seeking out that person of "least concern?"

In the pastors' continuing series on people who have a passion for the gospel and God's work as His people, Pastor Dan used yesterday's observation of the Reformation to remind us of the gospel and Luther's desire to get people to understand that it is faith alone, grace alone, and scripture alone.  Yet as God's people, we do have a role to play in the least of these among us.  We pray that God opens our eyes and our hearts to be servants to the least of these and that we recognize the opportunities as they arise.

Devotion 10.22.20

 "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." Philippians 2:3 - 4

Pastor asked us last week, "How do you create a passion for souls" in the church? That's an interesting question even from the perspective of creating a passion. Are you passionate about sharing good news because doing so may ensure the Spirit's work to bring that person successfully to faith and then eternal life?

Did you know, on any good day according to Gallup, that maybe 35 percent of the staff in any workplace is fully engaged? 35%.  You've experienced it when you walk away from someone when you've been out shopping and mumble, "Man, don't bend over backwards to help me out today." What is workplace engagement? Simply put, it's being "in the moment." You intentionally seek ways to improve the space you occupy. In a thriving organization, leadership engages staff to intentionally improve the customer, client, or student experience.

In team sports, that is the coach doing several things at once:  getting the players to lift the team above individual performance; getting the team to leave it all out on the field; getting the team to see something greater than itself; and seeking/giving constant feedback to bring out the best in a player. As I noted in the last devotion, when you've studied it enough, you know it the minute you experience it.  An employee engages you and your experience is negative, you know that behind every action is a manager failing to engage staff. A lack of engagement in staff is a lack of leadership and management. Oh yes, it is that simple.  

Paul talks about it among believers in Philippians - we are passionate because we know the cause is greater than any one of us.  We are passionate because of the love of Christ that binds us and drives us.  We are passionate because that same love for us and the grace it extends should be shared with others, so they, too, may come to know the love of Christ. "...but also to the interest of others." Paul is clear.  It's not just about ourselves. In Christ, we are about more than just ourselves.

We pray that we constantly engage and seek those who don't know Christ to share that good news with them. We pray for our leaders as they remind us in prayer and God's Word in sermon of our commitment to that passion for finding the lost and sharing the good news.

Devotion 10.19.20

"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died, and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised." 2 Corinthians 5:14 - 15

"Good is the enemy of great." Jim Collins, Good to Great

I have been a student of leadership studies since 1985.  I have taken formal classes, formal trainings, studied awards that recognize leadership, and have read informally (on my own) about leadership during that time.  As my studies developed and furthered, I began to notice you dissect the world through that lens.  I say that because I watched high school football on Fox Sports Southwest last week to see how my old high school team did. I could only watch through the lens of leadership as they played and then did postgame interviews.

Galena Park North Shore, or North Shore for us alums, won handily on their way to what is predicted by Dave Campbell's annual magazine and others as another championship season.  Should the Mustangs win this year in their 6A division, it will be a three-peat and five since 2003.  When I went to North Shore, we could hardly field a winning team.  Their best record came in my junior year when they went 5-5, bookended by two 2-8 seasons. 

Winning is not just performance, but it is a by-product of culture.  Winning starts with mindset and attitude which is shaped by the culture of a program.  How does that look and sound at North Shore?  When the game was over, Fox interviewed their blue-chip receiver (several blue-chips I might add) and asked about his incredible game.  His answer went something like this:  "You know, we have a great team, and it was a team effort.  The QB (a blue-chip as well) and the line deserve all the credit.  I'm blessed to be part of such a great program.  Coach always tells us...." You get the idea, and as he spoke, I thought, "North Shore has an incredible coach who can get kids to say things like that with almost a natural sound."  They sounded the same way last year when they won the championship and were interviewed.  Great team.  Great sacrifice.  Not me.  Like to thank the team.  

The coach, to his credit, sent a player home last year before the big game (running back signed with an SEC standout if I'm not mistaken) for violating team rules.  The coach met with the team and asked their input before his decision, along with the district staff (I know many of them) and the player's parents. The team didn't miss a beat.  They won easily.  THAT sends a signal that no one is indispensable or irreplaceable.  THAT puts the team on focus about what's important.  The team is most important.  No individual is the team or above the rules of the team.  THAT is mindset and culture.  The coach doesn't settle for yesterday's performance or a player's individual stardom, that is reflected in settling for good and not pursuing great as Collins notes.

A winning culture has a passion for excellence, not just winning.  Read about John Wooden, the all-time winning coach in NCAA basketball with UCLA and you read about culture, excellence and winning.  

This serves as a lead in to Pastor's sermon yesterday, part of a series on "People," this sermon focused on "A Divine Passion for Souls." The early church, and the early Lutheran church under C.F.W. Walther, the first president of the LCMS in the 1800s, had a passion for Christ and winning souls for God.  Pastor talked about it from the perspective of Paul in Corinthians, whose passion boiled down to the passage at the start, "For the love of Christ controls us...."  A great church is passionate and has the culture centered around that love of Christ.  It seeks excellence in sharing the gospel.  Pastor spoke of working together with Dan and staff on creating ideas that further the gospel through our efforts as a church, but a winning program doesn't just include ministry staff, nor is the burden for excellence theirs alone. The passion and excellence in ministry is a mindset and culture that brings the entire body of Christ, as it did in the early church and the early LCMS.  The pastors and staff shape that culture and add value to that culture, as do the lay leaders, but the passion and the excellence is reflected in day-to-day activity and action for the members of the body.

As a friend from Uganda on Facebook asked me last week, "Hello my beloved friend in Texas, what are you going to do to the glory of God today?"  I've never been asked that before, but perhaps that should be our morning prayer each and every day and maybe we should ask each other that daily.  Let that be our prayer this week, that each day we seek to bring glory to God through our thoughts, words, prayers and actions.

Devotion 10.15.20

"Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord or what man shows him counsel? Whom did he consult and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding." Isaiah 40:13 - 14

Interesting that this chapter of Isaiah is titled, "Comfort for God's People." It's interesting because this chapter has language comparable to Job when God finally comes to Job, upon Job's request, to hear his complaint.  "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding?" (38:4) It continues from there as God lays out question after question to humble Job.

We seem to have a number of experts these days speak for God.  Sure, it's a political year coupled with a virus we still don't quite understand, but in truth, this year is no different than any year where believer and non-believer alike question God or speak for God. Social media lights up with comments such as "Jesus was a socialist," "God loves (fill in the blank)," "Why does God allow...?", and now, we read where one political leaning is clearly aligned with God over the other. 

The pastors have done a great job this year in the midst of all the turmoil by giving us a forum to analyze these various issues through the light of the Gospel and through the lens of the Word of God. Through it, we have learned about the issues and the grace we as Christians show as we seek to be active citizens in this world, navigating the world like an untamed river, while focusing on the heavenly kingdom as well.  This is not a new phenomenon through.  When an advisor stated to President Lincoln that God was on the side of the Union, Lincoln replied, "My concern isn't whether God is on our side.  My greatest concern is to be on God's side."

Paul says it this way, "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." (1 Corinthians 2:16) The reference note takes us to Matthew 11:27, where Christ says, "All things have been handed over to me by the Father..., and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." 

The comfort in this life is we are here as Christ's disciples, and in that light, we take the gospel to all to give them the words of eternal life. We know that life will give us uncertainties.  In fact, we are promised that.  Yet with the Spirit and what is revealed to us, we know God's grace and forgiveness and are to share that news to others. Obstacles that stand in our way are opportunities to overcome then as we seek to spread the gospel.  As we look back over the last century, we see the world in constant turmoil, but Isaiah 40 ends in the message of comfort for us as we navigate the world in which we live:  "Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." (30 - 31)

Our prayer is for guidance from God as we face obstacles. Our prayer is for strength, wisdom and discernment as we navigate as citizens of two kingdoms, earth and heaven, and our prayer is to be witnesses to God's message of forgiveness and grace, to be lights in the world.  Amen