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Wednesday, February 12th, 2025
One of the essentials of any leadership team is the element of trust. If the CEO or pastor or whatever title is given does not have the trust of those under his watch and care, the business/church/entity will go nowhere. Stagnation is the result. Likewise the other way. If the main leader cannot trust those under his watch to do what they are supposed to do and work as a team, the entity will falter.
I have been devouring books by Jon Gordon, Patrick Lencioni and James Hunter since the first of the year. I want to be the best leader I can be as the pastor of the church, but know there are some serious blanks in my abilities. Along with that, at the age of 72 I need to work on a succession plan (and have been). None of us will live forever-including Bryan Johnson, the centimillionaire tech entrepreneur who has that as his goal-so I need to have a plan in place. Frankly, I need to “shore up” my leadership skills to be better prepared to lead and to hand off my role here.
But the question which haunts me and should every leader (and maybe all of us to some extent) is Why? Why am I doing what I am doing? Patrick Lencioni has written a leadership fable called The Motive and I have yet to dive into Simon Sinek’s book Start with Why, but Lencioni writes, “At the fundamental level, there are only two motives that drive people to become a leader. First, they want to serve others. Two, they want to be rewarded.” (Edited for space-found on page 131) When you think about it those really are the two reasons why we do what we do. It comes down to this question: do I want to benefit someone else or do I want to benefit myself? Do I want to make another person’s life richer or do I want to promote myself to enrich the only one who matters…me?
I don’t want to belabor this point but want to simply ask one question: as you go through your day today, who are you looking out for? Whose life will be made richer by your presence and an interaction with you? You or another person? I was deeply moved by a book I would like to recommend to you on this topic: The Hard Hat by Jon Gordon. It set me back on my heels as it talked about a lasting legacy.
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Tags: Choices, Christian Living, Church, Humility, Leadership, Ministry, Motive, Opinion, Reflection, Story
Tuesday, February 11th, 2025
“You matter to us because you matter to God.”
That was the mantra of what has become known as the “Attractional” church. Or perhaps you have heard it called “The Purpose-Driven Church.” On the surface that sounds really good. And it is. But as time moved on it morphed into a mantra that began to signal some really strange practices. Churches began to replace hymns and truly good worship songs with contemporary “secular” songs with veiled meaning. Some lyrics were changed into really bad songs. I read of one church that did “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC as an opening song for their Easter service. Seriously? I have to admit that when I read that I about spit out my Diet Dr Pepper. While many have abandoned that “all things are a go” approach, they graduated to some really bad songs with horrible doctrinal errors.
Back to my original words and off the rabbit trail… 🙂
On the surface, that statement is true. People should matter to us because they do matter to God. We could point to the cross for proof. Or, strangely enough, we could point to Numbers 1-2. “Are you kidding me Bill? Have you ever read Numbers 1-2?” As a matter of fact, I have and did again this morning. Only this time I approached it differently. Thanks to Paul David Tripp’s devotion for today in his Everyday Gospel Devotional, he brought several ideas to the forefront. He began by writing, “On the surface these accounts seem like unneeded historical detail, not very interesting, and easily forgotten. But the apostle Paul says that they are in your Bible for your spiritual maturation and readiness.” (p.52) I took those words to heart as I read this morning. I underlined what Moses wrote in chapter 2 about where each tribe was to be in the order of moving from place to place. (Check out verses 9, 16, 24 and 31. Verse 17 shows us the Tabernacle was put between the second and third group).
God was orderly and efficient. The inclusion of these two chapters was not just willy nilly filler space. I borrow again from PDT when he writes, “It reminds us of the intimate and specific care God has for His people.” And there you have that opening statement statement in a different way. God chose His people and ordered the numbering of his people (especially the warriors) for a specific reason.
If He took that much detail in numbering and giving His people specific places to be, imagine how concerned He is about you and me. Kind of makes your day doesn’t it? 🙂
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Tags: Christian Living, Church, God, God's order, Identity, Jesus, Leadership, Love, Ministry, Opinion, Reflection, Story
Monday, February 10th, 2025
Finally it’s over! Now we can get onto the sports that really matters (at least to some): Spring Training and baseball!! 🙂 I have a daughter who would most certainly agree with me.
Actually, I really don’t care what sport it is as long as it is not the NBA. WNBA. NFL. Soccer. College football. NHL. UFC. Or the others with initials. I follow the Pittsburgh Pirates, but I’m not a rabid fan, so even that takes second place (or wherever the Pirates find themselves at the time). I used to follow professional cycling until blood doping became a major scandal. I am not a prophet but I can only see more danger ahead for players and non-players due to the “licensed” betting which is now being allowed. I see no good thing coming out of that, only heartache for players, people and families. I have never placed a bet in my life and have no desire to. Shoot, I’ve never even bought a lottery ticket. I certainly have no plans to start going down that road at the age of 72.
Why am I so cynical when I’m not normally that way? I’m glad you asked! 🙂 I guess it is because there are so many more important things to do and to like and to allow to occupy my time. As I’ve just said, I see nothing but heartache in the future. Plus, and this is a big plus, I used to spend so much time eating and breathing sports, especially basketball, that I got “lost” along the way. I have two adult daughters who are obviously on their own. I have a grandson who will be attending THE Ohio State University (according to the pundits) in the fall.
What flashes before my eyes is what am I leaving behind? What is my legacy? They aren’t going to stand at my grave and say, “Thanks Dad for being a sports fanatic.” “Thanks grandpa for being a Pirate fan (he is a Reds fan).” 🙂 My wife of almost 52 years this June will not say, “Thanks Bill for loving sports so much you watched all the games.” What I want them to remember is that I loved them, made time for them, laughed with them, cried with them, celebrated with them, and chose them over sports or money. You see…I was made to bless others. You were made to bless others. God blessed me and He blessed you not for my or your own good but because He can then use me or you to bless others. I’m reminded of Micah 6:8-“This is what the Lord requires of you: to do what is right (to do justice), to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.” What a much more meaningful legacy to leave! I applaud each athlete who competes according to the rules, but their greater legacy is not whether they were the GOAT, but whose life was changed for the good because of their influence.
That is a true legacy worth thinking and talking about.
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Tags: Christian Living, Generosity, Humility, Kindness, Leadership, Legacy, Lifestyle, Love, Ministry, Opinion, Reflection, Story
Wednesday, February 5th, 2025
Boundaries. Most of us have a love/hate relationship with them.
Take the adolescent. He wants to test the boundaries. The teenager is not fond of them at all. College students think, “Hey! I’m out of the home. I can do what I want!” They want to discard or disregard boundaries. Many young adults and even older adults want nothing to do with them. F-R-E-E-D-O-M!! is their cry (tapping the inner William Wallace there). 🙂
But while boundaries are seen as confining and stifling and downright unnecessary, they actually are or can be a good thing. It used to be stove doors were not insulated against getting burnt. When they got hot they got HOT. Ask my youngest brother. He was learning to walk when he got too close to the stove. He touched the stove (after being told constantly not to) and felt the burn on his hand. His reaction was to use the other hand to catch himself. Result= trip to the ER to have severely burnt hands wrapped like mittens. Fortunately, God answered prayers and his hands healed with no sign of burns or inability to use his hands. The boundary of “Don’t Touch!” was for a good reason.
But, our natural inclination is to kick against the boundary. Teens don’t like the rules mom and dad have established so their natural desire is to kick against it, or to see how much they can stretch it. Adults do the same thing. We eat what we know we shouldn’t, even though we know it is leading us down a bad road health-wise. That friendship/relationship needs to be checked. It is getting too intimate or too familiar. That financial arrangement is shady. Someone has said, “When you play with fire you either get burnt or smell like smoke.”
Reading Leviticus 14-15 this morning was almost mind-numbing. It was all about skin diseases and bodily discharges and contaminated/mildewed houses. Seriously? Two whole chapters on that? Yes indeed! And a quick look ahead tells me there is more of the same-prohibitions against eating blood and forbidden sexual practices and multiple other prohibitions. Or shall I say boundaries? I don’t know all the whys and wherefores of these boundaries. I just know that they matter to God because I matter to Him. God is not setting these boundaries to be a killjoy but because He knows what is best and wants me to avoid heartache and sickness and even injury. These boundaries seem like minutia to me/us, but let’s not see them as that. Let’s see them as an act of a loving God who only want the best for his child.
Sort of like a parent with a child.
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Tags: Boundaries, Choices, Christian Living, God's Word, Leadership, Love, Opinion, Parenting, Reflection, Right/wrong, Scripture look, Story
Tuesday, February 4th, 2025
As I read this morning from Leviticus 11-13 during my reading through the Bible, I kept wanting to either skip past some things or to simply say, “I read this” and close my Bible. After all, no one is checking up on me. Right? I mean, who would know? Well…you know the answer to that question. 🙂
Now…in case you are not in the “read-the-Bible” mode, I’ll just tell you that Leviticus is part of a mind-numbing section of Scripture where rules, laws, and stipulations are laid down for the people to follow. I recently had someone ask me, “How in the world could they remember all of those laws and ‘eat this and don’t eat this’ or ‘don’t touch this'”? That’s a great point! The answer is: I don’t know. Leviticus 11-13 is about what they can and cannot eat, touch or get near. It is about skin diseases and what is clean and unclean and how long to be in quarantine and when to get out. See why I was looking for a way out?
Then I went back and read a couple of sentences I highlighted in Paul David Tripp’s Everyday Gospel Devotional.
“By the loving miracle of God’s grace, unclean hearts are made new and pure.” (p.42)
“Although the laws surrounding leprosy had to do with God’s lovingly and wisely protecting his people from a deadly infection, they also point to something profoundly deeper. Sin is the ultimate infection. No one escapes this disease. {My note: Romans 3:23 shows us that}. It separates us all from our Maker. It cries out for the ultimate cure, one only the Messiah can provide.” (p.43)
Psalm 69:5-6 is rather poignant: “O God, you know how foolish I am; my sins cannot be hidden from you. Don’t let those who trust in you be ashamed because of me. O Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies, Don’t let me cause them to be humiliated, O God of Israel.” (NLT) What a difference our lives would make if that verse was a daily prayer. The stain of sin won’t just go away. We can’t wish it away, hope it away, dream it away, fantasize it away, speak it away, sleep it away, or pretend it away. It is humanly unremovable and can only be taken away by an act of grace. 2000+ years ago that act of grace was done on a hill outside Jerusalem.
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Tags: Choices, Forgiveness, God's Plan, Grace, Jesus, Ministry, Opinion, Reflection, Sin, Story, Surrender
Thursday, January 30th, 2025
One of the more frequent comments I hear is “I don’t have any special gifts or talents.” People often feel like they don’t have much to offer if the gift or talent is not something big. I’m sure you know how that goes: “I can’t do what so-and-so does, so what do I have to offer?” The comparison game is an unwinnable game to play or at least it seems to go on forever like Monopoly or Risk or some other seemingly forever game. We will never measure up (in our eyes) to that other person.
The Bible tells us that God has given each of us a gift or gifts to use to build up the Body of Christ, the church. Some of those gifts stand out; some are behind the scenes. Just FYI: a gift and a talent are different. A talent is something the seemingly comes fairly natural or can be developed, whereas a gift is something given by God to be used for a specific reason. But whether we are talking gift or talent it is to be used not kept to oneself.
I was struck by this as I read Exodus 36-38. Yes, it was sort of tedious because it involved the building of the Tabernacle and furniture for the Tabernacle according to God’s design. But what struck me were the opening words to chapter 36: “The Lord has gifted Bezalel, Oholiab, and the other skilled craftsmen with wisdom and ability to perform any task involved in building the sanctuary. Let them construct and furnish the Tabernacle, just as the Lord has commanded. So Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and all the others who were specially gifted by the Lord and were eager to get to work.” (Verses 1-2)
I’d like to echo Paul David Tripp (January 30 from Everyday Gospel Devotional) as he makes two important points:
- We are told that God put skill in these men’s minds. What an incredible statement of the power and presence of God.
- It tells us that God not only gives gifts, but stirs up our hearts to use the gifts He has given.
Those two thoughts tell us that we have been given our creative ability by God, and two, we need to be thankful for the One who gave them. They have been given to us for a reason. Use them. Don’t hoard them.
{Note Scripture used is from the New Living Translation}
Today is Jo’s birthday. It would be bad form to tell you what number. 🙂 I am taking her to Ohio to see our grandson (and our daughter). 🙂 Please feel free to post a comment. I will approve it when I have a chance to do so. And please pray for a safe trip. We are both driving there and giving Jo’s car as an early graduation present to our grandson. It is an 8 year old car with 42k miles on it. It should serve him well as he graduates and heads off to college (which I am not allowed to reveal yet).
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Tags: Christian Living, Church, Generosity, Gifts, God, Leadership, Ministry, Opinion, Reflection, Scripture look, Story
Wednesday, January 29th, 2025
The year was 1969. The group was Blind Faith. One of the main members was a man whom you probably have heard of. At the time he was also one of the founding members of another well-known group from the era: Cream. His name was Eric Clapton. Cream was known for “In the white room with black curtains is a station.” By the way, did you know that was not a drug song or about a drug trip? It was a song about purity and innocence-no drugs, no Nam, and no trouble. Okay…circle back. Blind Faith recorded a song that was so strange at the time called Presence of the Lord. The final chorus had the following lyrics: “Everybody knows the secret/Everybody knows the score/I have finally found a place to live/Oh, in the presence of the Lord.” I’m not sure what was on Clapton’s mind or heart at the time. Perhaps he was figuring out the futility of the 60s kind of love. (As many of you may know Clapton again wondered about heaven and would his son know him in “Tears in Heaven.”)
My reading this morning was from Exodus 33-35 and its main them was the Presence of the Lord. At one point God told Moses He wanted him to go back up the mountain in order to receive the 10 Commandments again (Moses had smashed the original ones out of anger). I was struck by Moses’ requests from God. Here they are in a nutshell:
“Lord, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully.” (33:13)
“Lord, guarantee your presence.” (33:16)
“Lord, show me Your glory.” (3318)
For each of these requests God has a favorable answer. He desires we seek Him. He desires that we know His ways in order to follow. He desires that we know His presence will always be there. And He desires that we seek/crave His presence.
Blind Faith (and Moses) had it right. The best place to be is in the presence of the Lord. I’m not naive to think we won’t have distractions today. But I also know those distractions do not and will not impact our day as deeply if we are living with the promise of God’s presence. Why not begin today…right now…by praying these three requests Moses made? I can’t and won’t promise you a pain-free or trouble-free day. But I can promise you God’s presence throughout the day. Stop right now and pray those three thoughts and then live today with them in mind.
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Tags: Choices, Christian Living, God, God's Presence, Ministry, Opinion, Reflection, Scripture look, Story
Tuesday, January 28th, 2025
“Some things never change.” I’m sure you have heard or used that phrase before.
It struck me as I read today’s Scripture in Exodus 30-32. Short recap: Moses and Joshua are up on the mountain where Moses is receiving instructions from God for numerous things. The Tabernacle. The Altar of Incense. The Table of Shewbread. The Lampstand. The Ark of the Covenant. The clothing for the priests and a myriad of other things. He is also receiving the Law, commonly referred to as the 10 Commandments. But there is trouble in the camp.
In chapter 32 the people come to Aaron and ask him to make them some gods who can lead them. Moses, after all, is an unknown to them (so they say) and they have no clue as to his whereabouts. So in Exodus 32:4 it says, “Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf.” That latter phrase is especially important. When God tells Moses to get down to the camp, he is livid. He throws the tablets down breaking them into pieces and then turns to Aaron and asks, “What did these people do to you to make you bring such terrible sin upon them?”
Now…here it comes. Two vital thoughts:
- Aaron’s first response: “Don’t get upset, my lord. You yourself know how evil these people are. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.’
- Aaron’s second response: So I told them ‘Whoever has gold jewelry, take it off.’ When they brought it to me, I simply threw it into the fire-and out came this calf!”
Okay…do you see the two thoughts? One, Aaron placed the blame on the Israelite people. Not himself. Remember when that happened once before? “The serpent tempted me.” “The woman you gave me.” The apple didn’t fall too far from the tree with Aaron did it? Two, do you notice it says he melted it down and molded it into the shape of a calf. But then he tells Moses that he threw it into the fire and out came this calf. WOW!
I think that is called “Passing the buck” and then “Lying.” But like I said at the very beginning: some things never change. The Garden of Eden. Aaron. January 28, 2025. It may be a new dog but it is the same old tricks. Let’s break that cycle. Let’s stop the blame game and let’s start telling the truth.
{Note: All Scripture from the New Living Translation}
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Tags: Blame, Choices, Christian Living, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Opinion, Reflection, Scripture look, Sin, Story, Taking Responsibility
Monday, January 27th, 2025
As I sit down at my computer to write this morning, I’m speechless…or is that write-less? I could complain and say I am super tired. Which I am. (I have been up since 1:00 because my knee hurt and I could not find a comfortable zone). I could say my brain is mush after a long day yesterday of preaching, interacting, building relationships, studying, and drinking one bottle too many of Dr. Pepper Zero. (At the most I drink one every other day or so. I drank two yesterday afternoon. I think I’ll think twice before I do that again). To top it off I have a whopper of a headache that I have just now taken some ibuprofen to take care of (I do that very sparingly). Then when I got to the office the young people decided to “decorate” my office. I think it took me almost 1/2 hour to get it cleared out.
So what do I do? I remember a book I read last week by Jon Gordon called The No Complaining Rule. I just hate it when something I read comes home to roost so quickly. Well…not really but I wanted to get that off my chest! 🙂 Jon likes to write Leadership Fables and this was in an office setting of a company that just had a disaster hit its product. It is well worth the time to read it. It is a quick read of 120 pages with suggestions after the story. One of the solutions to complaining is what I needed to practice and see again this morning. It is called Five Things to Do Instead of Complaining. I decided to practice them and to share them with you:
- Practice Gratitude. Counting our blessings changes our perspective and our attitude. I needed an AA (Attitude Adjustment) this morning to be thankful that I have wife and family who loves me; a church who is grateful for me and whom I love; for the two who made public confessions of their faith yesterday and then were baptized; and for another day vertical.
- Praise Others. Part of my sleeplessness last night was doing just this: how can I thank the two at the YMCA who opened early for us to use the pool for our baptisms?
- Focus on Success. We had a good day yesterday. Many pastors focus on numbers and I’ll admit I’m not immune to that (although I try to be). But from the very first note of our worship, I sensed God’s presence. I loved the songs we sang and one of our men did a bang up job (with help from his daughter and wife singing) on his Communion Meditation.
- Let Go. Focus on things we have control over, not those we don’t.
- Pray and Meditate. I will say Pray and Read Scripture. This morning I read Psalm 57 and 58, as well as Proverbs 27. I triple dog dare you to read them. 🙂
As I look this over, I have written more words than I thought I would. Guess that is what happens when you stop complaining!!
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Tags: Choices, Christian Living, God's Word, Humility, No Complaining, Opinion, Reflection, Story, Words
Thursday, January 23rd, 2025
God’s provision is seen in so many ways. I’d like to share two of them with you today.
The first is from a section of Scripture that gets a lot of traction simply because of its unrelenting grace and goodness of God. The people of Israel have been major complainers for quite a long time. They complained about the servitude in Egypt. God raised up Moses to lead His people out of Egypt. They complained and panicked when they saw Pharaoh’s army coming and they were trapped between the Red Sea and the army. They complained about a lack of water so God told Moses to strike a rock. They complained about a lack of food so God provided manna and quail. It blows me away to see how God took care of His people. I read this morning about God’s abundance in Psalm 50:9-11: “But I do not need the bulls from your barns or the goats from your pens. For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird on the mountains, and all the animals of the field are mine.” And yet, when you read passages like Exodus 16-17 one can’t help but be amazed at God’s willingness to provide for His people, even though they were ungrateful and wayward at times. Even though they were faithless and discontented way too often, He continued to provide out of His grace! They certainly didn’t deserve it but it was given nonetheless.
The second kind of provision is one you might never give a thought to. Last night at midnight I received a call from someone in the church that her mother had passed. This lady was an elegant 97 year old. Her “boyfriend” of almost 20 years passed away last October one month shy of being 101. I have boyfriend in quotes because she kept saying, “He is not my boyfriend” but at his deathbed she said, “Thank you for being my boyfriend.” 🙂 Ruth fell and broke her hip this past Sunday morning and a CAT scan showed she had suffered a stroke a few days before. I visited her Tuesday and knew it would not be long. She was a sweet lady and she got a chuckle whenever I saw her, hugged and said, “Good morning gorgeous!” Sometimes she would giggle. Sometimes she would roll her eyes. God’s provision for her is a home built just for her. John 14: 2-3 says, “There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” Ruth is home in a home provided for her by the Father. The great part is that I will see her again.
God’s grace and provision is seen in so many ways. I just gave you two of them. Can you think of any more?
Note: All Scripture is from the New Living Translation
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Tags: Christian Living, Death, Generosity, God, God's Provison, Heaven, Kindness, Miscellaneous, Opinion, Reflection, Scripture look, Story