Category: Work as a Team

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Brainstorm!

I don’t know if you or I are going to make it through this COVID-19 thing. I bet that we will, though.

How do Christians band together in a time of social distancing and self-quarantines? It’s an interesting question, and it’s going to take some innovative thinking. This is where the world needs your help.

Ordinarily the term “disruptive” has a negative connotation. “He’s disruptive in class,” etc. That’s not the only meaning of the word, thankfully. “Disruption” can also mean an upsetting of established norms in such a way that it forces a new norm. It’s what happened when motorized vehicles replaced horses. Digital cameras replaced film cameras. Cell phones took over for landlines. Amazon.com came on the scene and drove a lot of brick and mortar stores out of business. The people behind these seismic shifts are known as “disruptors.”

Coronavirus has certainly upended large portions of our lives and caused us to have to readjust in major ways. Schools and colleges are all of a sudden shutting their doors for the rest of the year. Churches are canceling in-person services. Bible studies and prayer meetings can no longer meet in the traditional sense.

People don’t usually like change. Well, this time around, a virus is forcing change on us all. Things are changing so fast that we don’t yet have established “norms” in the wake of this pandemic. For a lot of folks a major burden of our new reality is the loneliness and lack of in-person human contact.

We were created to be social beings. It’s simply how God made us. Some people need social interaction a lot more than others, but we all need it to some degree. When we’re suddenly unable to socialize in the ways to which we’re accustomed, it’s a major shock for a lot of folks. As Christians, we’re often reminded in scripture to meet together regularly, to “do life” together, and build one another up.

How do we do that when we can’t meet in person? I’ve watched church on my computer for the past two Sundays. I heard recently about a church that held a service at a drive-in movie theater. I think that’s a fantastic idea, but those facilities are not as common as they once were.

This is where you come in. I’m challenging you to think like a disruptor. Because this is an actual problem the world currently faces, I’d really like to encourage you to provide comments here. Here’s your challenge:

How can people still meet together to build one another up without physically being closer than six feet?

Technology is a mixed bag. Now we can have meetings without even being near the other attendees. You have Zoom, Facetime, and Skype, and those are incredibly valuable tools in some respects. Connecting two users isn’t difficult, but it gets a little more complicated if you want to have a dozen people in the same meeting. Also, when you’re stuck in your home, it’s a poor substitute if you’re facing anxiety or depression (to be sure, it’s better than nothing!). What other ways can we leverage technology to decrease isolation? Please post your thoughts!

The phone also works. I’m talking about actual voice calls. Everyone has phones, but nobody calls anymore. For some people, chatting on the phone versus sending an email or text goes a long way.

Then you have in-person meetings. These days I yell to my neighbors from across the street. It doesn’t quite have to be that far, but if you want to honor the authorities’ guidelines of having meetings no larger than 10 people, no closer than six feet together, is there a way to make that happen feasibly? This might be a ridiculous mental image, but it’s a thought-prompt; is there a way to have a dozen people sit close together by building little plexiglass “cells” (imagine a scene from a TV show or movie where someone is visiting someone else in prison)? What if a dozen cars came together in a circle in an otherwise empty church parking lot and everyone on the driver’s side of the car rolled down their windows to have a discussion? (That circle is probably a little too big and everyone would need hearing aids and megaphones, but can we make the idea work somehow?)

I don’t know what the answer is, I’m just trying to get the creative juices going. Right now Christians (and non-Christians, for that matter) need ways of meeting together and helping each other up after they fall or get knocked down. A lot has happened, and a lot of change has been forced on us. How can we implement change on our own to make this situation a little more bearable, especially for the people that need to be around other people?

“How does my idea help?” Well, you’re reading this, aren’t you? I don’t normally have a huge readership, but you’re not the only one that reads this. Your idea, even if it’s incomplete, can spark an idea for someone else. Let’s say you have no ideas. That’s okay, you can still help crack the code on this problem. Will you pass this entry on, either by forwarding it to someone or sharing it on your social media?

You are a string, but we are a rope. We WILL get through this…maybe in part by using your ideas.

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All Thrust and No Vector

Ever meet somebody that’s just sort of all over the place? They’ve got all kinds of vim and vigor, but they seem to be missing a purpose or outlet for that energy. A good way to describe them might be to think of them as a balloon you inflate, but before tying a knot in it, you let it go and watch as it flies all over the place without apparent direction.

In the Air Force we had a saying for people like that. We’d say they’re “all thrust and no vector.” The apostle Paul has a different take on it; he describes it as a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, Paul explains that even if you’re spiritually gifted and have perfect doctrine, it’s all for nothing if you’re using those assets for the wrong reasons or you have the wrong motivation. Christians in the early Corinthian church were unsatisfied with the spiritual gifts they possessed, or jealous of the showy or flashy gifts that others had, so they started arguing and bickering. It got to the point where they would do “spiritual” things or things that Christians are “supposed” to do, but they did it for the sake of appearance rather than out of love.

Paul’s point here is the importance of having the right attitude in performing ministry. It is to be done out of love for God and love for others. All other reasons for doing it are like that resounding gong: just noise.

You have a specific mix of spiritual gifts so that you can fulfill the purpose God’s given to you. The same holds true for Christians with other combinations of spiritual gifts. There are people out there that need you to do your thing, but before you do, make sure you’re doing it for the right reason. Check your vector before engaging the thrust.

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Playing Paintball With No Paintballs

Photo courtesy of pballcentral.com

After graduating from college I moved back home and worked construction to help pay off my school loans. During this time I helped out with the youth group at church on Tuesday nights and sometimes for weekend events.

One time that autumn our youth group went paintballing. I had never been paintballing before, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect and how much ammo I should buy. We played a couple of games, and I ended up not doing a whole lot of shooting, so I was able to make my ammo last most of the day. We played a few types of games on a couple of different courses, and then it was time for our last match of the day.

We had played a few games of capture the flag, but this time was a different variation. There was a really cool stockade fort that looked like something you’d see in the American frontier, and it was surrounded by a number of trenches that more or less served as a moat. Rain from the previous night made the trenches nasty and muddy, and there were still large puddles in many areas of the trenches. The stockade had a large courtyard, and in the courtyard stood a large stake with a flag on it. The only way for the assaulting team to win was to grab the flag off the stake without getting shot. If the flag was still on the stake when time ran out, the defending team won.

Since I was low on ammo, I couldn’t be much help in any kind of assault on the stockade. I noticed that the stake with the flag was near one of the trenches, so I decided I’d try to sneak through the trenches and go for the flag.

It took forever. I stayed low so people in the stockade wouldn’t know I was there. Stealth made for slow going, though. Every now and then I’d be able to take a pot shot at an opponent, or I’d be able to lay down some covering fire while a teammate tried something. I wasn’t able to help for very long though. I ran out of ammo. I was in the middle of a paintball match without having any paintballs.

I focused on the fact that the objective of the game wasn’t to shoot the most paint, but to capture the flag. Although it wasn’t the most natural thing to do, I pressed forward with a paintball gun that was little more than a decoration. I slogged through the mud until I finally arrived as close to the stake as the trench would take me. I waited until I heard a bit of a skirmish nearby, and rolled up out of the trench behind some cover. Now that my secret was out, I had to move fast; I sprinted toward the stake while shooting harmless bursts of CO2 in the general direction of defenders up on the stockade. The flag was just feet away!

I didn’t even get close. I got lit up with paintballs. I was muddy, wet, cold, and suddenly out of the game. Time expired, and the defending team won.

Photo courtesy of hurlburt.af.mil

It was an important lesson, though. As you go through your Christian life, you’re going to encounter situations you didn’t anticipate, and you’re going to feel unprepared for them. During those times it’s important to keep your eye on the goal. In this example, I didn’t need to have paintballs to help our team win a game of capture the flag. Don’t be distracted by things that seem like they should matter, but in the end have little or no bearing on whether or not you obtain your objective.

I’m not sure what your contribution to the Kingdom of God is, but don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you only have one thing to offer. If your primary means of service is sidelined for some reason, either temporarily or permanently, look around at other ways you can get in the game. This may be your opportunity to try something you wouldn’t have tried otherwise.

If something has recently sidelined your usual means of serving and you find yourself “playing paintball with no paintballs,” keep your eye on the objective. You’re still in the fight.

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It’s Not Just About You (Part 2 of 2)

The guy in the back with the dorky pose…don’t know him

The sun came out for our second day on the whitewater. The rain and gloom had passed, and we were all much more relaxed now that we had survived the first day of paddling. The mood lifted once the gray skies, drizzle, and apprehension gave way to sunshine and confidence.

As far as the water level, this was a perfect scenario; it was an April weekend that followed a large amount of rainfall in New York’s Adirondack Mountains, but the warmer temperatures and rain helped melt a lot of the snow, which also ran into the river. The result was a river so swollen with churning whitewater that even many of the local guides had never seen it quite this big.

Our second day was a little different from the first. This time we linked up with one of the local outfits that knew the river pretty well, and we stuck close to them for a collective “safety in numbers” advantage. Laura was still our raft’s captain, and I was still paired with her to project the voice commands a bit further, but we rotated some of the paddlers around between boats.

In the afternoon, the local boat was in front of us, and then the next two rafts were ours. As we came around a sharp bend in the river, all the color drained from our faces. Spanning two thirds of the river was a gigantic standing wave that had a nasty rip curl at the top. It was a freak river feature that could only occur when extreme amounts of water shot through that section of the waterway. The guides didn’t know it was there, and none of us out-of-towners expected to see anything like it.

The local boat saw it too late, and all they could do was try to paddle through it head-on. It was too much for them; the boat got flipped right away and everybody got dumped in the chilly water. The rest of us paddled for all we were worth to get to the safer route. We safely made it past the wave, then surveyed the damage. Since we were the first boat on the scene, we made for the biggest group of helmets bobbing in the water. We started grabbing people by the life jackets and pulling them aboard. The raft behind us picked up the guide, but we got everyone else. Our kayakers started buzzing around the area picking up dropped paddles, disposable waterproof cameras, and even somebody’s bottle of Coke.

We were very near the capsized raft at that point. I thought back to all the raft-flipping I’d done in the pool during the dull winter months. I must’ve flipped a capsized raft at least 50 times in the pool. All that training was perfect for a moment like this; if I couldn’t use that knowledge and experience now, what was the point of doing it at all? I wanted to go after it…

I actually put my foot up on the rim of the raft to jump into the water. I turned back to tell Laura I was about to go after the raft, but that’s when I realized the state of complete disaster our own raft was in. It was pandemonium. Our raft was meant for eight people, but we only put six of us in it at the start of the day. Now our raft was bogged down with 14 people, only half of which had a paddle. Our raft was a self-bailer, meaning it had holes in the bottom so water that splashed in would drain out on its own. Instead of the normal inch or two of water on the floor, now it was midway up our calves. We were still flying down the river, but we were largely at the mercy of the current, headed towards God-only-knows what kind of waves, whirlpools, or strainers, and nobody knew the plan to meet up with the other rafts.

The people we just picked up were understandably chattering away about what just happened. They loudly thanked us for plucking them from the water, but all their excitement started causing a major communication breakdown for our crew and all we wanted was for them to stop talking! Laura’s tiny voice was yelling, trying to establish some sense of order, but it wasn’t doing much to get through to the newcomers. I was paired with her exactly for the purpose of echoing her commands loud enough for everyone to hear. I wanted so badly to go after the flipped raft, but it would’ve meant leaving them in an even more chaotic situation.

I turned my back on the capsized raft and started echoing Laura’s commands in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. Our guests quieted down and our crewmembers in the front of the raft, no longer distracted by excited yammering in their ears, were able to hear us and start pointing us in the right direction. Everyone with a paddle dug just about as hard as they could, and we sluggishly moved out of the main current into the calmer waters near the riverbank. In the middle of it all, our trip leader, Tim, paddled his kayak up to the flipped raft and jumped on. I was pretty distracted with the situation in our raft, but the last I saw of him, he was laying on the raft with a big grin, paddling hard and looking like he was having the time of his life. (I know you’ll read this at some point, Tim…you beat me to it!) Anyway, it took awhile, but we eventually gathered all three rafts to reunite the guide and crew with their boat.

It was an adventure, for sure. In the moment, it was absolutely crazy and scary, but even now, more than 15 years later, I bet everyone on our trip remembers that portion of it. The trip had so many fun details that I had to journal about the experience (which is where I looked for a refresher)!

I can’t even tell you how much time I spent practicing how to right a capsized raft while in the pool at college. Most of it was done just for fun, but each time I did it, it helped contribute to the overall muscle memory and cementing the automatic steps that would need to occur when a raft actually flipped over on the river. What better time to use this experience could there possibly be than this opportunity?

Here’s the crux of it all though: just because you’ve focused so much time and effort into training or preparing for a specific type of ministry or situation that you ignore things that are “outside your lane” when God drops them in your path. To truly be a player on God’s team, you need to be willing to do what needs to be done, whatever that may be. Even if you haven’t prepared for a given scenario, He’ll make sure you’re equipped with everything you need when He presents a new challenge to you. The only thing you might be missing is a willing heart, and that’s something only you have the power to control.

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It’s Not Just About You (Part 1 of 2)

During my senior year of college I went on a whitewater rafting/kayaking trip with a club at school. It was April, and the following month was graduation, so it was sort of an early celebration of finishing college.

At our pre-trip meeting, our faculty adviser, Tim, told us that we’d have some non-students joining us. Some were alumni from the club, others were people he knew from other endeavors. There was one guy, Joshua John, that joined us for the trip, but he didn’t really know anybody else other than Tim. I thought that was probably kind of an uncomfortable situation for him, and I was one of the club’s officers, so I made a mental note to go out of my way to make him feel welcomed. Turns out he was into some extreme physical fitness workout routines. He was a man of few words, but was definitely someone you’d want sitting in the front seat of your whitewater raft, getting doused by big water while setting the cadence for everyone else in the boat.

We had some crazy experiences on that two-day trip, and I’ll cover one in the next post. We drove to the Adirondacks in upstate New York, and went rafting on the Upper Hudson River. When we left school, everything was sunny and warm and everyone was in good spirits. Everybody started getting quiet as we arrived in the mountains to find that it was raining and some spots still had a good deal of snow on the ground. After some scouting around we set up camp in the rain and in the dark, split up camp chores, and took care of whatever we needed to do, then headed off to bed. Somewhere in here I made sure to track down Joshua John and told him we were glad to have him along with us.

The next morning it was still raining, but we hit the water anyway. The river was even higher than normal during the spring thaw, and everyone was a little jumpy. We had two rafts, and there’s usually a bit of competition among rafters when there are multiple boats. It helps build camaraderie and teamwork, so the competitive spirit is generally a good thing. The other raft was fun; they’d start spinning while going through rapids, or in calm water the crew all stood up on the edge and tried to run around the outside of the raft without falling into the water. Good stuff like this helps make a trip more fun.

Run around the raft rim

The captain of the other boat, Steve, was mischievous. He was out to get the two of us that were co-captains of our boat, an alumnus named Laura and I. Laura was physically on the shorter and smaller side. The other boat’s crew took it upon themselves to sneak up behind us during calm water, grab Laura, and pull her into their boat, essentially kidnapping one of the captains. It was funny, unless you were Laura, who helplessly became a temporary hood ornament for the other raft.

Over the course of the two days they tried sneaking up to try to get me too, but most of the time we were able to either get away or fend them off. On the second day they snuck up on us again and a couple of their goons jumped into our boat and grabbed me. They tried throwing me over the side, into the river. They caught me off guard and I knew they were too much for me, but I didn’t want to make it easy for them. I resolved to hang on as long as I could before they overpowered and dunked me.

While my jaw was clenched hard and my eyes were shut tight, there suddenly came a clamor from the front of my boat. Bodies got shoved out of the way as Joshua John jumped into the fray. He picked up one of the attackers and threw him straight down hard into the water. The other invaders bailed out of our boat and jumped back to their raft. As the first guy surfaced again, confused and gasping for air, he asked with wide eyes “what the heck was THAT?!” He looked up to see Joshua John standing in our raft, barely breathing hard. He resolutely said “I have to protect my captain.”

I’m glad I found him early in the trip to say hi!

Just remember that as you go through life, the way you interact with people affects how they interact with (or on behalf of) you and others. It’s not always going to be quite this dramatic, but are you positively impacting others enough to make a difference?

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Where Do You Come From and Where Are You Going?

I left for Air Force Basic Training one December day in 2003. Young men and women from all over the United States converged on San Antonio, Texas, to begin their Air Force journey.

For those that aren’t familiar with military life, the whole idea of Basic Training for any military service is to take a collection of individuals with nothing in common and teach them, well, the basics of life in that particular branch of service. People of every race and economic background, political persuasion, from all 50 states, Washington DC, and territories like Guam, Puerto Rico, and various other areas, all need to learn how to cooperate and function as a team. The different branches of the military vary in how they do it, but in the Air Force, all enlisted members complete Basic Military Training (BMT) and then move on to train for the particular job they’ll be doing. In the same group of basic trainees, you might have someone that’s going to be an aircraft mechanic, someone that’s going to be a door gunner on a helicopter, someone that’s going to be a medic, someone that works in finance, and someone on the bomb squad.

Basic Military Training is a good idea, and is necessary for military service, but it’s a terrible experience for most. I hated it. The instructors are determined to make every round peg fit into a square hole. If trainees/recruits refuse to conform or play by the instructors’ rules, they don’t make it in the military. All men get the same haircut; we all march in unison; even the name of our clothes–uniform–explains the level of conformity to which we had to acclimate.

For the first few days, before we got our haircuts and initial uniform issue, we looked about as different as could be. After we got our haircuts and clothes, we all pretty much looked the same and even had some difficulties telling each other apart. Over time though, we learned to distinguish between fellow recruits that we couldn’t tell apart before, and we discovered that different people had different strengths. Some were good at leadership, others at academics. While one group might excel at marching, they might be terrible at physical training or shining boots. We learned that if we were to succeed as a team, those who performed at a high level in a particular area needed to help teach those who lagged behind.

In BMT we all worked together to complete whatever tasks the instructors gave us. We didn’t always see the point of a given task, but we knew that we had to do it or life would become more miserable.

It’s a little different in the body of Christ. We all bring something different to the table, but Christ values each individual more than we can know. Christ followers didn’t go through their own version of BMT, but they all have the shared experience of yielding control of their lives to Him. It’s a wonderful experience to “graduate” into becoming a Christian, but that’s when, like when we finish BMT in the Air Force, we scatter and perform our different jobs. We all have different strengths and weaknesses, and we’re free to use our strengths for the glory of God’s kingdom.

In major military conflicts, commanding generals/admirals must decide the best way to position their forces and resources to accomplish their objectives. They can break tasks down and assign them to specific units. The individual Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines in those units don’t have the whole picture available to them, but they have to do their best to accomplish their designated tasks, trusting that their senior officers have made the best decision.

Now imagine if the General assigned tasks not to individual units, but to individual people. Like in the military, in Christianity we don’t always know why we receive the order to accomplish a certain task, but if we don’t do it, our Commanding Officer has to figure out a different way to accomplish His objectives. In His matchless power and wisdom, this shouldn’t be a problem, but there’s always a reason why His “Plan A” was His first choice. When we choose not to accomplish our tasks, or not to accomplish them fully, there’s some sort of fallout for the big picture. We might not learn what it is on this side of Heaven, but I can’t imagine there’s much benefit from telling the Creator of the Universe that your way is better than His.

If that sounds like something you’ve done before, that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road for your Christian walk. Resolve not to make that choice again. Easier said than done, I know, but you can do it. God doesn’t tell you to do anything that He won’t enable you to do. If it looked like an easy thing to accomplish, people wouldn’t recognize that God had a hand in it. Everything will be in place by the time you need it. I leave you with these words from Joshua 1:9, after Moses died and Joshua, the new leader of the Israelites, had some enormous shoes to fill:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

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Valentine’s Day Gift

Ever think about how you don’t need help getting into trouble? Ever notice how you don’t need to teach kids to do bad stuff? For example, did you show them how to lie, or did they just kind of figure that one out on their own?

My son has told us some lies before. These were like, blatant, totally unprompted lies. He’s a little more slick about it these days, but when he was just a little guy, he once said “I don’t have anything in my mouth” after he got into a bag of chips without our permission. His mouth was…you guessed it…full of chips! On another occasion he was supposed to be up in his room napping. When he came down, without us saying anything, he told us “I wasn’t looking out the window.”

Dude, at least make it hard for us.

Most of the time instructions and laws seem to be phrased in negative terms. “Don’t lie.” “Don’t cheat.” It’s much more rare to have laws that are positive in nature. Most of the Ten Commandments are the same way. Only two of them are phrased in the positive (remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy; respect your father and mother).

Elsewhere in the Bible God gives other instructions. Sometimes He says stuff that’s intuitive or obvious. Other times He tells us stuff that maybe we’ve heard or read a few times, but we still miss it even though it’s something we ought to know and need some help learning.

Valentine’s Day presents the opportunity to reflect on one such instruction.

In many marriages, you can ask the husband “does your wife love you?” Often he’ll answer “well, yeah, sure she does.” Probe a little further, though, and you might identify a problem. “Does she respect you?” The answer probably doesn’t come as quickly, and if he doesn’t feel as though his wife respects him, there could be an issue.

Hang on though, guys, ‘cuz you’re not perfect, either. Stick with me, there’s a Biblical basis for this. The opposite is often true for wives. She might feel sufficiently respected, but she might not quite feel loved. (There’s a difference between knowing you’re loved and feeling that you’re loved.)

Regardless of whether you’re a male or female breadwinner, “working all day just to put food on the table and keep a roof over our heads” is great, but isn’t the only thing your significant other needs from you.

If either one isn’t getting what they need, that person is running at an emotional deficit. Wives, maybe you respect your husbands, but he may not feel it. Husbands, of course you love your wives, but you need to make her know it and believe it. For everybody…your spouse needs what they need; just because you don’t feel like you require extra love/respect doesn’t mean they can go without it. Don’t cut them off from what they need just because you look at them through the prism of you.

Take a look at the book of Ephesians. In chapter 5, God tells us (in positive verbiage) what to do. He doesn’t give us a “don’t,” he gives us a “do.” These days the first part is easy to misconstrue as being outdated and part of the “toxic masculinity” you hear about in men’s razor commercials. Don’t twist it; read the whole thing. Right on the heels of talking about how to live with and treat other Christians, the author turns his attention to household relationships in verses 22-33.

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might [g]sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, [h]of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Note how it doesn’t say “husbands, respect your wives,” or “wives, love your husbands.” Why not? Because most of the time, those things aren’t the shortfalls. We’re probably already doing them. This passage guides us to do something that doesn’t come naturally.

There’s a whole study on this topic called “Love and Respect” by Emerson Eggerichs. I’ve never read the book, but the DVD series was phenomenal. “Pink and Blue…not wrong…just different.” Great stuff for a small group setting or Sunday School class.

If you haven’t been offering what your spouse needs, and then you start providing it, watch how powerful an agent it can be. Flowers and chocolates are great and all, but how about this year, you make a concerted effort to deliver what your spouse or significant other really needs?

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Where One Person Sees the Worst Super Bowl Ever…

Photo courtesy of The Independent

I can’t even tell you how many people I’ve heard complain about this past week’s Super Bowl. The lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever…boring to watch…least exciting game in the history of the championship.

Let’s say all of that’s true. Let’s say it was a drag to watch. Does any of that change the outcome for even one second? Tom Brady has now won over 10% of all the Super Bowls that have ever been played. Coach Bill Belichick, with eight rings and 12 Super Bowl appearances (even though they were with two different teams and they weren’t all as head coach), has been to over 22% of the Super Bowls to date. (This past Monday I heard one Patriots fan say that Sunday’s Super Bowl was the sixth best game ever!)

People who complain about how dull the game was fail to appreciate what actually happened. Let’s pretend you’re on one of the two teams who played in the big game, and let’s go back in time two weeks. You’ve won your conference championship game and you know who your opponent is going to be. You can now study up on their strengths/weaknesses and start assembling a strategy to overcome them by playing to your strengths.

Both teams have high-powered offenses. In order to have a chance to win, you need to figure out a way to shut down your opponent’s scoring ability while exploiting the weaknesses in their defenses to maximize your own scoring opportunities.

The fact that this was the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever (where both teams combined only scored a single touchdown and three field goals) is a testament to the preparation, planning, and skill of both teams’ defenses. The casual observer doesn’t really appreciate that fact though; all they see is a low-scoring game that drags on. Neither team’s defensive efforts get much attention or recognition in the replays.

The cameras didn’t show it very much, but it’s important to realize that the whole time a team’s offense was on the field, the coaches, coordinators, and other staff were helping the defense prepare for the next time they took the field. Not exciting stuff for a spectator, but crucial if you want to win the game. I’m sure the last thing those personnel were concerned about was whether the game was exciting to watch on TV.

The Christian life is often like that. The glamorous jobs are the ones that get the attention, but things wouldn’t succeed without all the behind-the-scenes work. Every Christ-follower has been given spiritual gifts. Each person has a different combination of them. Some of them are high-profile. It’s the pastor, teacher, or leader that you see in positions of authority or taking charge. You might be surprised at the difference made by the ones you don’t see. Not only are there people that serve in places like church services or the kids’ program (do you have any idea how aggravating it can be to teach a Sunday School class to a bunch of 4th-grade boys?), but there are people that use their gifts outside of the church building as well. These people might arrange meals for someone in need, drive an elderly neighbor somewhere they need to go, anonymously deliver some cash when it’s needed most, or any good deed that goes unnoticed or unrewarded.

These are the people that make life work for those with a need. Everyone can make a difference, but these silent servants almost never get recognized.

If you’re one of these people…thank you. A lot of what you do goes unnoticed, so thank you.

You received spiritual gifts when you became a believer. I don’t know which ones they are, but I know you have them. You might wish you had a different set of them. Don’t think of it that way. The ones you have are there for a reason. I encourage you…get out there and use them. The world is waiting for you to use them in your own unique way.

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The Unexpected WILL Happen

Starting your senior year of college is unlike the start of any other year of college. Last year’s seniors are all gone, and now YOU are part of the class that’s graduating next. It’s the last time you head back to start a new academic year. You’re either excited about the prospects of the coming year, or terrified of what comes after you graduate. For me, one of the highlights of the coming year, to be sure, was a road trip across the country with a buddy to go see the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. We originally hatched our scheme a year earlier, and now here we were only about five months away from actually doing it.

At the start of my Senior year, I had no early class on Tuesday/Thursdays. That Fall I didn’t have to be in class until 9:40ish in the morning. One Tuesday morning about two or three weeks into the year I walked into a class in the science building and grabbed a seat in the classroom. Something was off, though. Everybody just had kind of a different mood and the place was abuzz. It took me a minute to piece together what was going on.

They told me that two planes had crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City and the two buildings had collapsed.

At first I was just confused and didn’t believe them. What was this, some kind of a sick joke? I had been to those towers before. They were immense. How could two planes have crashed into two buildings right next to each other on the same day? I didn’t yet understand that it was commercial jets that had crashed into the towers, that it had been done on purpose, and that there was a coordinated effort between terrorists on four different aircraft that participated in that day’s events.

I don’t remember what the lesson was that day. I just remember trying to wrap my head around the idea that those two buildings were no longer there. We had family in Brooklyn, and ever since I was a kid we had frequently taken trips there and would sometimes go sightseeing in Manhattan, including trips to the World Trade Center. After all the trips we’d taken into New York City, I couldn’t imagine the NYC skyline without the World Trade Center.

With some family atop the World Trade Center, probably a year or two before 9/11/2001

I thought back to the last time I had been there. I couldn’t think of anyone I knew who worked in those buildings, but I remembered riding in the elevator for the long ride up to the observation deck. The last time I took that trip, there had been a guy at the elevator’s controls that talked to us a little bit during the ride, and then without missing a beat turned to a little boy and started speaking fluent Spanish to him about sight-seeing in the city. I later found out about others I knew who worked in this area of Manhattan, but that day this elevator operator was the only guy I could think of in the towers. I still have no idea if he was in the towers that day or what happened to him.

I don’t think it became real to me until after I saw news coverage and replays of an aircraft striking the second tower, the subsequent collapses, and the terrified people running through the streets. Back then nobody had ever heard about the Taliban. Hardly anyone knew where Afghanistan was. Nobody knew what was happening, but everyone’s lives changed that day. As the reality settled in over the next few days, I started to wonder if there would even BE an Olympics for us to attend.

It was scary stuff, for sure. There are going to be times in your life where everything stops and your reality gets turned upside down. You’ll be devastated and in shock. It might be the death of a loved one; financial hardships; a diagnosis you didn’t see coming; a natural disaster. You can see no good reason why God would allow things like this to happen. The only question you’ll keep coming back to is “why?” In all honesty, you might not find an answer to that question this side of Heaven.

Some of you have already had experiences like that; others of you may not have. September 11th was a national tragedy, and it was on everyone’s mind and for awhile it was all anyone thought or talked about. The only good thing about it was that we mourned together. As time marched on and the events of that day have faded into the past, new or more urgent struggles have taken priority. It’s important to remember though, that the people with whom you come in contact any given day may be attempting to cope with an immense personal struggle.

Back in 2001 we mourned as a nation, but every day there are people who honestly believe that they are all alone in whatever struggle they find themselves. Please consider that the next time you feel the urge to really let someone have a piece of your mind. Not only that, but please be on the lookout for people that are fighting just to make it through the day. You might be the only lifeline God throws to them.

Taking a break from the Olympic chapter for a bit, but don’t worry, we’ll circle back later! If you know someone that you think will be encouraged by these posts, please let them know about DareGreatlyNow. Those are the people I’m posting for!

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The Right Friends are Important

In college I had different types of friends. Throw a bunch of high-school graduates together for four years and you’re going to find all kinds of people. I had friends I ate meals with, friends I exercised with, friends I studied or worked on projects with. Some friends I spent my free time with. There were friends I only saw infrequently, others that were “situational friends” for the duration of a class and then I never saw them again. Some people might be great friends, but would be horrible roommates. Some people were friends of friends.

With all the different kinds of friends out there, what kind of friend do you link up with if you want to do something audacious?

During my Junior year in college my friend Jeremy and I decided we wanted to somehow get from Western New York to Salt Lake City to attend part of the 2002 Winter Olympics. Out of all the people I knew at school, Jeremy was the only person I’d be comfortable attempting something like that with. There were other people at school that were perfectly capable of taking on such an adventure, but I hadn’t built the same level of trust with anyone else.

In my very first college class, Jeremy was a classmate. What started as a shared experience suffering through an 8 am history class neither of us cared about ended up as a mutually beneficial friendship. He taught me to shoot, and I taught him how to rappel. He showed me how to skin a deer, and I showed him how to cross-country ski. His instinct was to push forward or be more aggressive in pretty much whatever task he was involved. In the same situation, my instinct was to hold back and consider the effects of my actions. Our personalities meshed in such a way that regardless of our instincts, he’d give me the push I needed when it was time to get something done, and I’d give him pause during times when restraint was best.

Mom, if you’re reading, skip the next paragraph.

We did (or almost did) all kinds of bonehead stuff in school, but all of it ultimately built the trust we had in each other. One winter night when we were bored, we decided to do something dumb under the guise of “testing winter gear” for our upcoming trip. After dark, I put on some of my warmest headgear and ski goggles, and got in the back of his pickup truck. As he drove down a long, straight stretch of road, I may or may not have stood up in the back of his truck as he substantially exceeded the posted speed limit so I could see how the gear would stand up to the wind. (Don’t try this.) (The gear worked great.)

It’s a dumb story about my youthful indiscretions (one where my instinct of holding back did not win), but it helps show that level of trust. When one of us half-jokingly brought up the idea of traveling across the country to a place neither of us had been so that we could spend a week without heat while attending Olympic events, neither of us laughed. It was one of those occasions where we just kind of sat there silently for a moment and then looked each other in the eye as if to say “I’m up for it.”

You’ve probably had big, bold, brash ideas before. Big ideas are not to be shied away from, but you’ll probably need some help to tackle them. For the ideas that are merely “big,” you probably have a handful of people that you can think of that you’d be willing to partner with in order to try to make them happen. What I want you to focus on is your idea that is so immense, so enormous, so egregiously large or crazy that you can only think of one or two people that you’d be willing to even mention it to. This is the idea that you’re too scared to tell anyone about, and you have to pick and choose who you let in on it. The people with which you’re willing to share your idea are special people. You’ve developed a level of trust with them that even though you might not feel comfortable bringing it up, you’re not afraid that they’re going to make you feel like you’re a fool for having dared to dream so big.

This is a blog about encouraging Christians to live up to their full potential in Christ. For that, I make no apologies. I also recognize, however, that a lot of what I write on this site has parallels with the world of innovation. To both types of readers, I say: Live up to the full potential of your God-given gifts! If there’s an idea that’s been tugging at you and it won’t go away, giving it a try might be your best shot at getting it to leave you alone (unless it involves criminal activity, that is). Maybe Walt Disney can offer some additional inspiration. He once said “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”

Don’t choke those big ideas. Stoke them. Know that if you want to get them off the ground, you’re going to need some help. If you know who it is that you’re going to need to talk to about it, set up an opportunity to bounce it off them. Sometimes there’s only one person that can help you make it happen, and until they’re on board with you, your idea is going nowhere.

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