Preparation Matters

Getting ready to play a baseball game takes more preparation than you might think. Not only do the players have to go through their routines of warming up, but the playing field has to be readied as well. There are several hours of work that are necessary before the first pitch. You couldn't just decide you wanted to play a game, ignore the steps to get ready, and expect things to turn out well.

I think we forget about the need for preparation when we want to do something big in our lives. Our desire for something new or better serves as motivation for better decisions, but we falsely expect to see immediate results. Changing our physical health involves a plan for better eating and exercise. Improving our family relationships means taking the time to listen to each other, apologizing for the past, and honestly engaging each day. Taking the next step professionally means we have to excel at our current position while taking steps to improve ourselves and connect with other people. Being a vital part of our community involves ongoing honest dialogue and a willingness to enter into life with people in tangible ways.

What steps do you need to take to get ready for what's next in your own life? Commit to the necessary work of preparation as part of the path of growth and change.

Seasons Change

One of the things I have enjoyed most from living in Georgia is the changing of seasons. While our summers tend to be fairly hot, we also enjoy an actual spring, fall, and winter too. I like the anticipation of something new and the different activities the varying seasons bring with them. I find myself reaching the end of one season and looking forward to the next with some excitement.

While I can't manipulate the weather to change based on my preferences, I can have more of an impact on the seasons in my personal life. Even though some circumstances may be out of my control I still have greater influence than I do over nature. In times of great busyness, I can choose to continue that pace of intentionally build in down time and rest. In an obvious time of personal growth, I can spend more concentrated time in meditation and journaling to help clear my thoughts. When it is a season for action, I can create opportunities for reflection and rest to make sure I'm at my best.

I want the seasons in my life to change and look forward to the differences each new one will bring. I'll enjoy them more if I'm aware of which one I'm currently in and how God is working to prepare me for the next one.

What We Want

Our society is structured mostly for us to consume. Products are created, services are marketed, experiences are designed, and innovations are intentionally developed to satisfy the needs of the consumer. A consumeristic attitude is focused on the quality of what we receive and gives our wants permission to drive our actions. When we don't like something the responsibility falls on the provider to make things right or we'll take our attention (and resources) elsewhere.

This may be the basis of a capitalistic society, but it doesn't necessarily translate well to other areas of our life. A self-centered focus doesn't create positive change in our community, help our relationships mature, or encourage others to grow. We've got to actively engage in being part of the change we want to see. If we want things to be better, we've got to become contributors and not just be consumers.

Consumers point out problems. Contributors are part of the solution.

Surviving the Heat

The smoldering hot summer temperatures are here. Other parts of the country have been feeling them longer than we have here in Georgia and we are now in the middle of the oppressive heat. It's an overwhelming high temperature that tests the capacity of air conditioning systems and human tolerance. This obviously leads to complaints wherever you go about the summer time temps and how awful they are.

I can't do anything to change the triple digit heat, but I can try to do things to adapt. I've had to adjust my exercise routine and no longer run right after work. We're closing curtains to keep out direct sunlight and have added a window A/C unit in our bedroom. We've even adjusted our dinner habits on the hottest of days and don't cook anything that requires the oven to be on for long periods of time. Our best option is to make adaptations where we can for our best benefit.

There are many circumstances in our lives we can't directly alter. Complaining about the state of things often becomes the next natural step even though that only increases our frustration level. When we are faced with those seemingly unconquerable moments, we'll cope more effectively by shifting our perspective. We aren't always able to transform what we're going through, but we can revise the way we approach it.

If you can’t change your circumstances, you’ll need to change your attitude if you want to survive.

It's Possible

Seeing people make positive changes in their life inspires me. It's one of the things that is appealing to me in my calling as a pastor, but it has also been a part of my passion before ministry. There is just something beautiful about seeing someone take a step forward to change some piece of their life puzzle. It's one of the reasons I heartily applaud beginning runners who take the first step towards better health. It's why I get emotional when people who have felt trapped in bad habits confess their willingness to be transformed and make the first step in recovery. It's a reason to celebrate the family who escapes the overwhelming weight of debt and is now able to live generously.

The process of finding hope is powerful. Sadly, far too many people don't begin these small steps of change because they don't believe it's possible. I think the weight of past decisions, abuse, and poor self-esteem often create conditions where people don't believe they can change. Perhaps the greatest benefit we can bring to someone is to stand beside them and shine a light into their situation that allows them to see something new is possible. If we can provide just a tiny ray of hope, we might be the impetus others need to believe they can attempt to change. Getting another person to believe transformation can potentially be one of our greatest acts of compassion.

Keep Doing It

For years I would play a game with my weight loss and gain. I would commit to a healthier pattern of eating until I lost enough weight to feel better about myself. Shortly after my pants got a little loose I would revert to old behaviors and forget about the good things that brought about change. Naturally, this cycle would continue to repeat itself over the years. It's funny to look back and see how quickly I would shift from eating a salad to dipping my Oreo cookies in bacon grease for a snack. This created a toxic cycle of moving from moderately decent decisions to old practices and back again.

This isn't just true of our dietary habits unfortunately. There are times when we commit to new ways of engaging in our relationships, transforming our thinking, or processing stress through constructive behaviors. Once those new practices start to deliver mild improvement we often start to ease up and forget to keep doing the positive things that brought change to begin with. We either think we've got the old habits completely under control or we just get lazy. Before we often realize it we are right back in those old haunting choices that led us down a path of destruction. We've stopped doing the right thing and have slipped into negative routines like putting on a well-worn pair of shoes.

The key to continued forward momentum is to keep doing the new, right things even if we think we've got it under control. That might mean eating salad for a little bit longer than we would like, but the long-term changes are worth the commitment to better living.

Take a Hint

This week has finally brought some pleasant temperatures to us here in Georgia. It has made running in the morning much more enjoyable, allowed us to open our windows at night, and finally decreased the sweat level overall. I'm not fooled into thinking the warmer weather is completely over, but these lower temperatures are providing a tease of fall. This little hint of autumn is causing me to think about changes in seasons, cooler nights, college football, sweaters, and long runs in brisk temperatures. The heat of this summer has caused me to look eagerly ahead to a different season. It only took a small change before I started thinking about what was on the horizon. 

The bigger question is whether or not I pick up on other hints of change in my life. Am I aware of slight shifts in my relationships? Do I notice when people around me are struggling? Can I pick up on small hints of change in my community? Am I able to sense when God is leading me in new directions and is slowly transforming me? My ability to pick up on these subtle hints will help me keep pace with the rhythm of life and hopefully be a benefit to the people I care about in my life.

Invested Community

A friend gave me a unique opportunity to speak at a drug court graduation today. I'll admit this was a first for me, but I looked forward to the chance to share some encouragement. Speaking to a new crowd of people is always a pleasurable challenge even when some of your audience isn't there by their own choice. I anticipated it being a blend of people who were striving to make changes in their lives with some of them farther along the journey than others.

Today was the celebration of a tremendous amount of hard work from many different people. There are the faithful workers in the program who endure great successes and repeated failures. The room was full of family and friends there to celebrate the success of their loved ones after long times of shedding tears. There were seven graduates who had persevered for close to two years (and some for longer) and are now ready for the next phase of their life to begin. It was a poignant reminder that while an individual's choices may have led to a point of desperation it was the collaborative efforts of many that would lead to better life choices. All of us are better as part of an invested community.

Man of Integrity

It takes a great deal of courage to take a stand in the face of adversity. While we may find like-minded people willing to unite with us, there still has to be a certain level of individual strength. People of integrity possess a sense of what is right and aren't willing to tolerate the suppression or perversion of those values. They are willing to take action even when they aren't surrounded by supporters. This is the true mark of character-to peacefully call attention to inequity and injustice while seeking solutions that elevate people without diminishing others.

 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man who refused to accept the status quo, but instead gave himself unselfishly for what was right. His legacy of action will continue to be an inspiration to men and women regardless of race or social class. I am grateful for his vision of unity, peace, and restoration, and pray that we will continue to strive together in pursuit of his dream. Change is possible if we will stand for what is right regardless of whether anyone else will stand with us.

May we walk in the footsteps of Dr. King as we seek a better community. Pursuing that dream of unity will reveal our character and honor the memory of the man who helped lead the charge of change.

Do You Like It?

As I continue to seek out levels of personal change, I am also drawn to helping others do the same thing. It's part of my calling as a pastor and it stems out of my desire to see people's lives become more fulfilling as they trust God. Inevitably, I end up talking with people when things are not going well. They have reached a point of crisis or frustration and are looking for the hope of something different. 

The difficult part of this process is in realizing the personal changes that must take place for things to improve. Human nature leads us to hang onto old patterns of behavior even when those are the habits that have led us to this break point. We have reached a point of impasse: we want something new but don't want to change the very things that have led us to our moment of crisis.

I always ask a simple question at this juncture: "How has that been working out for you?" If the answer is negative, it's time to do something about it or find a way to be content in misery.

Different But Good

Our Christmas celebrations seem to change a bit every year. While we still have a few rock-solid traditions (like the gift of pajamas on Christmas Eve), the overall holiday celebration is more flexible. It's not that we don't place value on continuing traditions. Instead I feel that we have learned (and are learning) to be more adaptable as our lives change. Each home we have moved into and each new phase of life brings changes. We can either resist these changes and make our lives more complicated or we can make the necessary adjustments while honoring the heart of what matters most. A good friend of mine is fond of saying, "Life is adjustable." I think it's a healthy, growing life that adjusts to changing times and celebrates the journey along the way.

Seasonal

Even though I grew up in Florida there were often signs of the change of seasons. The signs may not have been as obvious as other states, but you could normally tell what season it was even without a calendar. It's a little more difficult to determine the current season in our personal lives, but it's more essential than just gauging environmental conditions.

Do you know what season of life you are currently in? If you don't/can't identify it then you won't be prepared for what is happening now or what will happen next. It would be like wearing a fur parka and long-johns in the heat of summer or a bathing suit and flip flops in the snow. You won't be very comfortable, there is very little enjoyment, and you'll be woefully unprepared for the conditions. 

Say Something

The fear of doing the wrong thing can be powerfully paralyzing. We can become afraid of saying something destructive to our kids so instead we don't speak a word. We are so worried about upsetting our spouse that we don't address issues that are necessary. We see wrongs in our community but become overwhelmed with maintaining political correctness instead of stepping up with solutions. In each of these areas we have falsely convinced ourselves that silence is better than making a mistake.

Things don't naturally get better without some investment and energy. It's time to cast aside our reservations and step forward (even if a bit anxiously & cautiously) into action. Becoming people of thoughtful action spurs us towards change.

Everything Changes

People can point to monumental events in history and identify many moments that have drastically changed the future. I personally believe that no moment in history changed things like Christ coming back to life after being crucified. I could probably enjoy some healthy dialogue about this with people who don't believe in Christ, but I doubt that I would get much argument from Christ followers.

Here's the big question for the Church if that is true:  If the resurrection of Christ has changed everything, why do we keep living like it has all remained the same?

• Instead of being free in forgiveness, we live as prisoners of our past.
• We refuse to change our thoughts & attitudes even if they are in opposition to God's commands.
• We ignore the truth by believing lies just because they've been told to us for our entire lives.
• Stubbornly, we refuse to take steps of faith and only do what makes us comfortable.
• We seek contentment and value in everything except Christ.

Our belief in Christ's victory over death should translate into us being changed people. That doesn't mean we'll always get it right, but it should be our aim. We certainly can't remain complacent if we believe He's alive.

Faith Results

Your system is perfectly designed to produce the results you are getting.

I have written about this from a leadership perspective and it also has great spiritual principles. Your current spiritual disciplines are producing exactly what they are set up to produce.

If we want to see increased faith in God, are we doing something to increase our faith or maintaining the same habits and hoping they produce different results? If we want to speak more kindness and love to our family are we doing something uniquely different to change our thought & speech patterns? If we want God to provide us with more influence we can't continue to think, speak, and act the same way we always have. We've got to begin to trust God more with our lives and let Him rewire us even as He changes our future.

We can't foolishly expect our same habits to produce different results.

Small Steps

There are always parts of our life in which we can find dissatisfaction. It could be a personal

relationship that is struggling, discontent with our job situation, continued frustrations over our own personal habits, or even financial difficulties. Sometimes these areas seem so overwhelming that we are unsure anything can be done about it. We may even reach a point where we resign ourselves to this negative status quo and believe nothing can be done. 

I know of very few big problems that can be solved overnight and yet I recognize the power in taking a positive step. If there are things that we don't like, then we need to change something even if it's just a small adjustment. Leaving things exactly the same won't bring about any transformation, but will only increase our frustration. 

Sometimes we can see a ray of hope by simply doing something different.

Changing Time

Habits eat willpower for breakfast.   John Ortberg

I am tired of starting and stopping things. I tend to get fired up about changing my health (in all areas) then end up falling short of my intended goal and giving up. It's a frustrating problem of running out of willpower when I tend to need it the most.

The truth is that my willpower is a limited commodity and I can't rely on it alone to make the difference in my lifestyle. While there are times when I need to be resilient, I also need to learn new ways of living. It requires a rewiring of my brain to swap out old habits for new ones. Writing these words is obviously much easier than fulfilling them, but I believe that consistency and a "one-day-at-a-time" focus will bring the change that I'm so desperate to see. Realizing that I can't will myself to be better, but must develop new patterns of thought and behavior is actually a relief even if it seems that it will take longer to become a reality.

Step One

I am trying to create some positive changes in my life and honestly they aren't always easy to do. I know that I want to be a healthier man in all aspects: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I see the direction that I want to move in and just need to develop the discipline to keep progressing in that direction even when it's difficult. I know that the consistency of my motivation will have an ebb and flow to it and that may be frustrating for my pace of growth. I need to remind myself that I didn't get where I'm at overnight and I won't fix it in one night either. My devoted attention to my goals today will help build another step for tomorrow. Nothing of significance is built all at once, but by being diligently faithful one piece at a time.

Minor Adjustments

"Small shifts in our thinking can redefine the way the way we live."

Kevin G. Harney, Organic Outreach for Churches

Where do you need to shift your thinking?

• Future goals
• Parenting
• Finances
• Maximizing personal strengths
• Community involvement
• Relationships
• Health
• Commitment to Christ
• Church
• Personal development

It might be overwhelming to think about the depth and width of wholesale personal change in all of these areas at once. If we can begin with a small shift in the way that we think about these specific parts, we can determine the next step in the right direction. The small beginnings will help us see incremental progress that will lead to success.

Get Ready

I just returned from another powerful week in Tennessee at the CIY Move conference for high school youth. I was honored to be the campus pastor this week which gave me an opportunity to invest in the lives of the adults that traveled with their high school youth. I had several adults admit to me that while they knew the conference was specifically intended to reach high schoolers, they were also deeply impacted.

Obviously, I wasn't surprised by this shared revelation. I would always tell our high school youth partners three things before we would head off to this conference:

1. Suspend your disbelief. Trust that everything we do will support the main point even if it may seem silly. If we (as adults) will engage in what's going on without being dubious our youth will do the same.

2. This event isn't for you. Please keep any negative talk away from our teens and preferably don't engage in it at all. If there is a legitimate issue please bring it to me so we can make it right.

3. Be ready for what God will do in all of us. Even though this event isn't for you, you will be impacted if you are open to it.

When we are willing to boldly share God's message our intended audience will not be the only ones affected. The message of surrendering your life and being transformed by the Holy Spirit is applicable to all ages. In fact, we will find nuggets of powerful truth in everything around us if we are willing to pay attention and do something with it once we receive it.