God Is My Coach

What Are You Living For?

2011-08-08T04:19:00.000-07:00

This summer I turned 55 years old and I am keenly aware of the fact that I'm in the midst of "middle age." However, I am very grateful to be alive since the last year brought me 2 separate incidents that could have been fatal. I'm also aware that many dreams I had in my 20's and 30's are now fulfilled. But there are many things that characterize my life now that I never imagined.

Life takes some strange twists at times and we never really know where we'll end up! All of this reflection has caused me to think about the question, "What am I really living for?"

As human beings we seem to live for 3 major pursuits. (In fact, 1 John 2:16 sums up my observation - but I'll share that in a minute!) The 3 things I see people (and at times myself) pursuing are:

Physical Pleasures (comfort, food, sex, recreation, etc.)
Material Pleasures (toys, possessions, wealth, etc.)
Emotional Gratification (recognition, power, acceptance, control, etc.)

Now I do not believe that any of these things are wrong in and of themselves. I think we should all enjoy these pleasures in the proper time and place. The problem comes when these things become idols or "gods" in our lives. Because, the truth is, all of these pursuits will eventually (or repeatedly) leave you disappointed!

When we do not get what we want in these 3 major it's easy to find ourselves slipping into pity-parties and poor-me sessions. It's easy to slip into anger and irritability. It's easy to slip into fear and anxiety, or even depression. All of this eventually has a destructive effect on our most important relationships!

After reflecting on this my mind went to 1 John 2:15-16 which sums it nicely,

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does — comes not from the Father but from the world.

There you have it: physical cravings, material lust, and emotional promotion. At middle age I realize more than ever that these things are passing away - they do not last! So what are we left with? What do we live for?

Three different themes are coming into focus for me now: eternity, legacy, and impact. I'll share more about these reflections in my next post! What do you think about what I've shared so far?

Are You Fighting? You Need To!

2010-03-01T04:40:00.000-08:00

Twice in 1 Timothy Paul tells Timothy to "fight the good fight." Then at the end of his life in 2 Timothy Paul acknowledges to Timothy, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." God expects us to be "fighters."

In 2 Corinthians Paul says, "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

It's important that we understand that, "our struggle is not against flesh and blood , but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Eph. 6:12)

Are you a fighter? I believe that our fight centers around 5 areas:

Anything that rivals my supreme love & devotion to Jesus
Anything that rivals my personal holiness & moral purity
Anything that rivals my commitment to love, protest, & provide for my family
Anything that rivals my attention & commitment to Christ's mission for my life
Anything that rivals my practice of living in community with other Christ-followers

This fight takes place in the mind, emotions, body, and ultimately the will. The outcomes effect my passion/ambitions, attitudes, affections, and behavior (particularly related to time, money, and relationships.) These outcomes lead to habits, character, and a lifestyle.

Join with me in fighting the good fight of faith!

Building Leaders in the Marketplace

2010-02-26T13:43:00.000-08:00

If you are a business owner or a manager my question is "Are you building leaders?" The great companies build leaders. If you are a Christian in the marketplace my question is "Are you building Christian leaders around you?" I have seen companies and markeplace environments transformed by strong Christian leaders who view their workplace as their primary field of ministry.

Leadership consultant Les Woller defines leaders as those who "create meaning so that others can think and act." Who better can create meaning than a devoted Christ-follower? We have the responsibility to serve those around us. This includes our colleagues, managers, followers, customers, and vendors. Our calling in the marketplace is to love people and serve them well. By doing this we reflect the heart and character of our Lord.

Several years ago Billy Graham stated, "I believe one of the next great moves of God is going to be through the believers in the workplace." This is beginning to happen as Christian professionals more and more see their workplace as their mission field and the people they work with as their "flock." I hope you will join with me in discipling Christian leaders in the marketplace!

10 Kingdom Things Business Can Do

2010-02-18T19:20:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading an excellent book by Robert Fraser entitled "Marketplace Christianity." In this book Fraser identifies 10 Kingdom Things Business Can Do. Think about these:

Life Skills: Business teaches people the critical skills of life that are needed to succeed.
Leadership Development: The marketplace is full of exceptional leaders! This is the place to learn.
Management Skill Development: While leaders create energy and activity, managers create productivity. We learn this in the marketplace.
Mentoring and Discipleship: The best place for this to happen is in the field!
Friendship and Community: Of course, this is where you spend most of your waking hours!

These are just 5 of the 10 Kingdom things that happen best in the marketplace. I hope you will view your work as your primary field of ministry!

The Purpose of This Blog

2010-02-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

I have taken a break since the Christmas holidays to think more carefully about where I am going with this blog. I've been praying for direction and clarity, and I believe I'm starting to see where God is leading me - at least a little.

The purpose of this blog is to provide Christian business professionals encouragement and insight that will help them live worthy of their calling as followers of Jesus Christ in the marketplace.

I believe that Christian business professionals are "called" to the marketplace just as much as any pastor or missionary is "called" into full-time Christian service. I hope to help Christ-followers in the marketplace to fully live out that calling.

This blog is as much for me as it is anyone else. I need this. I need the encouragement and insight. So I will share my journey with you through this blog. I hope you will comment and share your journey with me. My next few posts will be my reflections on an outstanding book I'm reading now entitled Marketplace Christianity by Robert Fraser.

Andrew Klavan on Culture

2010-02-06T09:06:00.000-08:00

The Most Powerful Video I Watched This Year

2009-12-29T05:27:00.000-08:00

I don't know when this video actually came out, but you must see it! It truly is the most powerful video I watched this year.

Never Lose Sight of What Really Matters

2009-12-29T05:06:00.000-08:00

The story of Jimmy Valvano is one of the most moving and inspirational stories I've ever heard. You MUST see this video of his moving speech at the 1993 ESPY Awards, given just a few weeks before he lost his battle with cancer.

"To laugh, to think, to cry; that's a full day."

Your Bible Reading Plan

2009-12-26T03:27:00.000-08:00

Friends ask me occassionally if I have a Bible reading plan, and the answer is yes. I encourage all Christian business professionals to take a time out everyday to focus your mind and heart in the Scriptures and to pray for your daily activity. This has been my practice for many years now. However, my Bible reading plan has changed over time.

I encourage you to find a plan or program that is meaningful to you and consistently fills your mind with Biblical truth. Some people read through the Bible each year. Others just read a chapter a day, while others read several chapters a day. One plan that is agressive is to read a chapter in the OT, a chapter in the NT, 5 Psalms and a Proverb each day. Some prefer to follow a devotional guide - many are available in print and online. One of my favorites has been My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.

Today I take a relaxed pace but I reflect and journal on both my reading and the events of the previous day. I want to look for God's daily activity in my life and to listen to His Spirit as He speaks to my heart through the activities and relational encounters of every day.

Currently I read either a Psalm (or 2) a day or I read a chapter from Proverbs each day. I'm also reading (slowly) through the Bible so I read a chapter in the OT. When I finish the OT, I will go on to read the NT. When I finish, I start over.

There's no "right" way. The important thing is that you and I are communing with the Living God daily and filling our minds with His truth. The most vital worship is typically not what happens on Sunday, but what happens between you and God Monday thru Saturday.

I Am Crucified With Christ

2009-12-17T05:05:00.000-08:00

Scripture speaks quite a bit about our need to “die” to our own selfish and self-serving agendas in order to become more like Christ. I see God “pruning” me almost daily in both my business and my personal life experiences. Consider these verses:

I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (Jn 12:24-25)

Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. (Lk 9:23-25)

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20)

When my flesh yearns for some prohibited thing, I must die. When called to do something I don’t want to do, I must die. When I wish to be selfish and serve no one, I must die. When shattered by hardships that I despise, I must die. When wanting to cling to wrong done against me, I must die. When enticed by allurements of the world, I must die. When wishing to keep besetting sins secret, I must die. When wants that are borderline needs are left unmet, I must die. When dreams that are good seem shoved aside, I must die.

Not my will, but yours be done, is what Christ trustingly prayed on the eve of His crucifixion. I must pray this daily. How about you? I would enjoy hearing your reflections on these thoughts.

A Heart for the Poor

2009-12-14T04:05:00.000-08:00

This excerpt touched my heart this morning. Hope you are ministered to by it as well.

Like nothing else could ever do, the gospel instills in me a heart for the downcast, the poverty-stricken, and those in need of physical mercies, especially when such persons are of the household of faith.

When I see persons who are materially poor, I instantly feel a kinship with them, for they are physically what I was spiritually when my heart was closed to Christ. Perhaps some of them are in their condition because of sin, but so was I. Perhaps they are unkind when I try to help them; but I, too, have been spiteful to God when He has sought to help me. Perhaps they are thankless and even abuse the kindness I show them, but how many times have I been thankless and used what God has given me to serve selfish ends?

Perhaps a poverty-stricken person will be blessed and changed as a result of some kindness I show him. If so, God be praised for His grace through me. But if the person walks away unchanged by my kindness, then I still rejoice over the opportunity to love as God loves. Perhaps the person will repent in time; but for now, my heart is chastened and made wiser by the tangible depiction of what I myself have done to God on numerous occasions.

The gospel reminds me daily of the spiritual poverty into which I was born and also of the staggering generosity of Christ towards me. Such reminders instill in me both a felt connection to the poor and a desire to show them the same generosity that has been lavished on me.

From A Gospel Primer for Christians by Milton Vincent.

I Don't Have Enough...

2009-12-06T04:29:00.000-08:00

In his excellent book From the Inside Out, Gregory Dickow calls attention to a very limiting mindset that I find in myself and in others at times. He says:

There is a mindset, an attitude, which says, "I don't have enough money," "I don't have enough time," "I don't have enough friends," "I don't have enough experience," "I don't have enough education," and so on. These thoughts are the invisible fences keeping people in the backyard of lack and insufficiency.

One of the names we see in Scripture for God is El Shaddai. This is probably best translated as "God Almighty." To me this means that God is more than enough! Whatever I need He is more than enough. I see this all throughout the Scriptures. However, the passage that speaks to me the most is Psalm 37:23-25:

If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm, though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.

Here are 3 suggestions on how to apply this truth:

Start believing you always have enough. Phil 4:19
Remind yourself several times a day, "I always have enough." Mal 3:10
Think/meditate on God's faithfulneess. Ps 37:25

I always have more than enough of whatever I need because God is my source. He provides me with enough money, time, energy, opportunities, or whatever is lacking. Your thoughts?

Small Thoughts About God

2009-12-05T04:42:00.000-08:00

This week I've been meditating on Psalm 139. Here are 6 things I learn from this psalm:

We are fully known yet fully loved.
We cannot hide from God.
We are wonderfully & uniquely made.
We are on God's mind - in His thoughts.
We are protected when opposed.
We are cleansed and led.

My overall impression of this psalm is that God is big. Really big! I think I (and maybe you) suffer from small thoughts about God. Derek Kidner in his commentary on this passage says:

Any small thoughts that we may have of God are magnificently transcended by this psalm; yet for all its height and depth it remains intensely personal from first to last.

Do you ever suffer from "small thoughts about God?" Would love to know your thoughts about Psalm 139.

A Marketing Strategy Every Christian Should Consider

2009-11-29T20:12:00.000-08:00

One of the basic marketing strategies that every Christian business professional should pursue is referral marketing. To build a strong referral base you MUST operate by basic Christian principles. You must keep your word. You must deliver excellent service or products. You must treat the customer with respect. You must build a trust-filled relationship.

These are all basic virtues of a Christ-follower and these should be characteristics of every Christian business professional. By focusing on referral marketing you create an accountability to live out your faith in these business relationships. Plus this is one of the most powerful ways to build your business. See The Value of Referral Marketing and What Is A Referral Marketing Strategy for more insight.

What do you think? LMK!

Take Responsibility for Your Mindset

2009-11-25T05:33:00.000-08:00

Before I take a break for the Thanksgiving holiday I want to wrap up this week with one more thought from my reflections on Colossians 3:2, "set your minds on things that are above."

This is a daily discipline. The world around us provides no support for our decision to center ourselves in Christ. I must take responsibility to do this daily, and I must take responsibility to find people and resources that will help me stay centered on Christ.

If we allow ourselves to be passive agents, our minds will be filled for us by the media or by the negative voices around us. The key to Christ-centered ambition is Christ-centered thinking. So we must make a conscious effort to fix our minds on the things of Christ.

I wish all my readers a very blessed and gratitude filled Thanksgiving holiday!

Seek the Things Above

2009-11-24T05:08:00.000-08:00

I'm continuing to wrestle with Colossians 3:1 where Scripture teaches us to "seek the things that are above." What does that mean for a business owner, executive, or sales professional?

Does it mean that I should only have "spiritual" goals and not "earthly" or "material" goals? Some would say so. However, that's not what this passage is saying.

One of the major problems that the Apostle Paul was addressing at Colossae was Gnosticism. Basically this was the belief that the material world was bad and only the spiritual realities were good. The truth is that God has given us all things richly to enjoy. There should be no seperation between the physical and the spiritual. I think Scripture teaches us to have a much more "holistic" mindset about life.

With that said, what then does this verse mean? Could it be that while we use our talents to create value for others and provide for our families, that in the midst of this activity we seek Christ and what pleases Him first and foremost? Is that possible?

Can we be passionate and ambitious in our work while keeping our highest passion and ambition centered on Christ?

Could it be that we most reflect the image of God when we function at a high level of production and job performance, always demonstrating the kindness, generousity, and compassion of Christ?

Does it have to be either/or? Let me know what you think.

Set Your Mind

2009-11-23T06:14:00.000-08:00

One of the things I talk to my clients about (a lot) is their "mindset." I've been thinking about several passages of scripture related to mindset. This morning I've been thinking about Colossians 3:1-2:

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (NEV)

What does it mean for you and me as executives and/or business owners to "set your minds on things that are above?" I will probably be thinking about this for days to come. However, one comment that struck me from Thomas L. Trevethan's book Our Joyful Confidence was this:

Life below is a style of living which ignores and excludes God, a life which centers on the creation and selfishly forgets the Creator. Those who are in Christ, however, are to be oriented toward things above. They are to view all of life from the perspective of God's rule through the Lord Jesus.

Today I want to view my business from the perspective of God's rule. What might be God's Kingdom purpose for my business? How do I need to view my employees, contractors, vendors, and clients? What if I saw my business and my key business relationships from God's perspective? "Lord, help me have this perspective and this mindset today."

God Is My Coach

2009-07-11T18:41:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the inaguration of a new blog: God Is My Coach.