Devotion 11.3.22

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's." Exodus 20:17

What do we covet? God points out in the Ten Commandments a series of commands, codifying our relationship with Him officially (since "sin" existed from the Fall of Man forward) into ten commands that cement our relationship with Him as God's people. The first few deal with our relationship with Him, the next few deal with actions we take (murder, steal, adultery) and the last deals with a condition of the heart (covet).

In a healthy way, this desire can make us take action to obtain the "want" in an ethical and legal manner. We can work harder to achieve the goal. We can seek a job that pays enough to live the life style we desire for our families.  In an unhealthy and sinful way, it can cause us to lie, cheat, steal or even murder (Cain killing Abel for having the more acceptable offering offended Cain's sense of desiring God's favor for example).

When is that line crossed? Interestingly enough, we see it almost daily. In large dramatic ways, we see sports franchises endorse cheating by their actions. My Astros as a most familiar way violating the directives from MLB to not use the electronic equipment for learning what pitch the pitcher is going to deliver. In other cases, we have two fishermen accused of adding weights to their fish to win the bass boat in a contest recently. We see Tom Brady in "deflate-gate" a few years ago, and even in marathons, people seeking to get a certain time to qualify for "the Boston" or some other event have been known to cut a course and shave a few miles off to better their time (marathon races have electronic mats used at the main points of a run, but all marathons add a mat or two in places unannounced to catch potential cheaters looking to shorten the course).

In a more sensitive vein, accounting firms don't make a ton of money on audits just because people want to see how well the books balance. We've even seen locally that Enron isn't the only game in town when it comes to attempting to present a false front and "cook the books." But corporations are made up of people, and as Promise Keepers once noted, the car doesn't break down over night. Our slide into they abyss of a heinous act is a slow boat to China as my dad used to say, usually starting small and then growing larger with each act.

What drives this behavior of willingness to live on the edge of danger to gain something illegally or unethically? It could be laziness. Worse, it could be a complete loss of perspective that blurs our vision between the right way to achieve and the wrong way to. That vision blurring condition is also known as sin, and as we confess from 1^st John, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." So, it's likely that what becomes a big sin started in a small way. 

The capacity is in all of us. The cure is available to confess that sin and to seek forgiveness. Our "repentance" is a turning away then. 

We seek God's counsel when we sin, in this case covet, and we seek His forgiveness, given freely through His Son Jesus Christ's suffering, death and resurrection.

Devotion 10.17.22

"You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings.... But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:10 - 11; 14 - 16 

This weekend did not disappoint when it came to sports at the college or professional level. You may have had a dog in a hunt of any of the marquee matchups, but in terms of sheer quality, the games did not disappoint. From upsets to a really long baseball game and all points in between, there was greatness on the field of play.

How can we account for all the great play? I'd like to think leadership has a great deal to do with it. We see in teams that bring on board the best of talent that talent can only get you so far. There are those intangibles in any organization or team that bring out the best in its members.The Philadelphia Phillies were greatly underperforming at the start of the season and now find themselves in the championship series this year. The difference? They fired their manager and brought on an interim. Did a baseball skipper make that much difference? The answer is apparently.

One thing any leader does is to teach and to learn. A leader adapts but doesn't do so absent of information and knowledge to make a decision which means he or she is constantly surveilling the horizon in terms of competition, best practices and how staff or team members best respond to the latest strategies. Paul says as much in his letter to Timothy:  You know my teaching - things I taught on purpose and things you saw me do as an example. Continue in your learning, and know that the scripture you have known since birth and continued to learn daily is great for many things.

We all lead whether or not we believe that. Paul notes in early in the passage. People are watching us, not just as Christians, but they do watch us because our actions speak volumes about who we are, what we believe, how we practice living. By professing our faith, we have an opportunity to lead others to Christ in fact, but we profess that faith by our actions. As Paul notes, we learn scripture to be prepared for every good work, not for salvation purposes, but because we are leaders in our own right.

Paul was the consummate leader. He led by example and by his teaching, writings and visitation to places to see how they were doing in terms of their faith and to resolve conflict. We pray God use us and our skills to lead where we are planted - in our families, with our sphere of people around us and with those we may encounter who have yet to know Christ.

Devotion 10.12.22

 "Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28

If you cannot follow, you cannot lead.

Michael Lombardi (no relation to Vince but an NFL exec himself) writes a column called "The Daily Coach," and in it is example after example of failure to follow that creates doubt in one's self to your team to your coach simply because "my will be done." His writings apply to life using sport as an example.

That applies to life, from the family to organizations to government to you name it. I know in my personal experience to lead, problems arose when I failed to listen, to clarify, to make clear our mission and goals, to express our hopes and aspirations...basically when I failed to speak in terms followers desire to hear and understand or act in ways that drew out the best in people.

Christ is addressing a mom in Matthew 20 who wanted her two sons to be at His right and left side when He triumphed. His response was, "Do you even know what you are asking?" You want the glory? Here is what that will look like. We eventually see who is at Christ's right and left side at the day of crucifixion.

When we are placed in leadership, the key ingredient is humility and the ability to serve. We pray for that in all of our leaders, especially for our families and in the church.

Devotion 9.15.22

"And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the say, and when you lie down and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between our eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of our house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:6 - 9

"...teach them diligently..." at the start of v 7 has some interesting notes in my bible. The phrase comes from "Hebrew 'shanan;' verb for sharpening by repeatedly running the blade over a whetstone. Parents are to teach God's Word faithfully and repeatedly to their offspring so that God will continually dwell with His people." (Lutheran Study Bible notes, pg 288) So, what do we take from this?

Parents are noted as the primary source of instruction in this passage. In many places in scripture, it notes a father's role in discipline.  This goes beyond "punishment" as we so often define it, but rather in teaching, guiding and leading a child. What's interesting in this is the motion given by the Hebrew word "shanan" in terms of sharpening. My dad was a meat-cutter who could sharpen a knife blade to a razor's point. The motion mentioned in the definition of the Hebrew word, "repeatedly running the blade over a whetstone," indicates a rhythmic approach, made clear in v 7, "...shall talk of them when you sit...walk...lie...and rise." That doesn't "imply," it states directly to talk of God in every available moment.

So, why do we forget? Forget what you ask? Forget history? I have a love for history and taught it in school for six years before moving to administration. My observation was that kids would retain history better if you could link it to the here and now. How do you do that? You can start by teaching that there is literally nothing new under the sun in terms of what happens today. It is linked to our story of how we arrived to where we are today. It's found in every day life, not just in the headlines, but in many aspects of what we do, why we do it, and how we do it.

What about your family? My observation as a teacher is that it was good to link issues of the day to the everyday life of people in our community. The family unit being the most significant part of a community, each family has a story about how it got there and what brought them there. Not separate from that is the church (or churches) in that community. So, you have a basis under your own roof to talk about your family in the context of its history, how you got here to this point today, and faith's role in your family. What do we talk about around our dinner tables, in the car, as we pray and as we have time to talk/teach our families about their past and the faith that is a significant part of that?

That makes history and faith active in our lives. Rather than say, "Never forget," we say, "Always remember." Remember who we are, where we've come from and how God has a plan for us in our past and in our present (Jeremiah 29:11). We pray that our parents are taking an active role in the development of our children, and we pray that we, as members of a larger faith community, the church, take our role in helping shape those children when opportunities arise.

Retreat Devotion 9.12.22

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10

(This will be part of our devotion at the retreat, but since some won't be there, we will share in advance for all to benefit and prepare.)

What is your purpose? Why am I here on this earth? Am I significant and do I make a difference?

These are all questions we ask ourselves at some time in our lives. If you do a simple scan of my life, let's say look at my calendar and see what my schedule looked like from 22 years of age until now, you'd come to the conclusion my purpose was to be in meetings. In fact, it is almost a steady march each day, especially in my education years, of meetings. Even in retirement, I meet. Don't try to draw a distinction between being an educator and the "real world," because when I retired and went to the private sector, the meetings increased.

Surely I am meant to do more than to convene around the table or in a room with others, and I bet you feel the same. We all seek significance or meaning in our lives, but where do we turn for this?

Scripture tells us in passages like Ephesians that we were created with a purpose. In fact, our being means that we were put here to do "good works," which God prepared with us in mind. That means that God is intimately aware of us and what our time on earth is for (Psalm 139), as He "knit us in our mother's womb." My task, then, is to seek God's Will in my life, to open those doors maybe I haven't been, to make that call I haven't made or to seek out that visit with someone I have been putting off. 

We pray for insight into God's will for us and to open those doors of opportunity that we may have walked past many times. We ask for God's Spirit to guide us to help us see those opportunities and to equip us for service as needed.

Retreat Topic 1 - Devotion 9.5.22

"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41 - 42

(These next several devotions will be part of our conversation at the retreat, but not everyone can go, so we can share and prepare in advance.)

Which is more important? Leadership or management? I wrestle with this from time to time because of my former role in education leadership.  I'm not alone though because I know for a fact the military wrestles with this as well.  None other than one General (then later President) Dwight D. Eisenhower left us a management tool that to this day still bears his name:  The Eisenhower Matrix. It's divided into four quadrants. Across the top it says "Urgent" over one quadrant, and "Not Urgent" over the one to its right. Then on the descending left side of it at the side of it reads "Important," and the one below it is "Not Important." (Like me and need to see these things? A link is at the bottom of the email to a site that explains it fully.)

Martha, the subject of the occasion, finds herself worked into a frenzy. She is in the "Urgent"  and "Important" quadrant (Q1). This is not a good place to be. Eisenhower realized that being in the Army and leading the Army in Europe could mean everything is urgent and important all at once (generally crisis management 24/7). The problem is that requires too much energy because much of what some people think is urgent and important is really a crisis caused by poor planning.  General Eisenhower knew that to be effective, he needed to focus on "Important, Not Urgent." Strategy, reflection, sharing leadership thoughts, teaching, and planning can go into that quadrant two (Q2). It's important, not urgent.

Mary is at the feet of Q2: Christ. Christ all but tells an exasperated Martha that when she interrupts his teaching and presence by protesting Mary's lack of help. "Mary has chosen the good portion."

I realized in administration that if I was going to lead, I had to manage effectively. So when a mentor of mine showed me this and a corresponding folder system, I went back and implemented it immediately. Want something signed? It goes in the "Signature" folder. Why? Because if I signed based on employee need, that is all I would do because people arrive a decisions independently and bring things to you individually. The staff soon learned I review and sign every day during lunch. Get it in before noon. (There were two other folders, but save that for another day.)

Why is this important? Because one area of focus for all of us is "Reflection." How and when do I give myself time to reflect? Where am I and how am I doing in my four pillars in life - faith, family, learning and giving/sharing. What are your "big areas" in your life that drive your activity? How much time do you give them in reflection daily, weekly, monthly and yearly? It's important, as Christ notes, and if it can make the difference in winning and losing a war, think about what it can do with your life.

How and when do we reflect on God's Word and will in our lives? How do we become men of action, not activity?

Pray to God for time to reflect on what is important in our lives as He sees it and pray for the ability to act when we begin seeing these things more clearly.

https://todoist.com/productivity-methods/eisenhower-matrix

Devotion 9.2.22

"And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay." Daniel 2:41

You've probably heard the phrase "feet of clay" used when it comes to describe the state of man. We hope to be iron, as in the passage "iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27)," but in reality we are in a constant state of being. That means we move forward, and we slide back. Much like the kingdom described in the dream Daniel interprets, we are a combination of iron and clay. Both will decay, but one is stronger than the other. One is less fragile than the other.

"Only what's done for Him will last" is the refrain penciled in a print my wife and I bought at the start of our marriage at an art show. Of course, it's at the bottom of an old church somewhere in everyday America. It's a wood frame church that is deteriorating. That line comes from a poem by the same title. Rather than focus on being feet of clay, we'd rather focus on the source of our faith, salvation and strength - Christ.

"I can do all things through him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13) As we seek to be more Christ like in our walk, we focus on Christ, His Word, his sacrificial and sacramental acts that saved us and give us faith, which give us strength and hope.

The theme for the retreat this is from this brief devotion:  "From Feet of Clay to Feats of Strength." We will have devotion time, activity time, and meal time. What we hope it all adds up to is an enjoyable time for everyone who participates. Please consider joining us Sept 30 - Oct 2 in Mason, TX at the Schwede Ranch where there will be abundant opportunities for learning, fellowship and fun.