I have learned through the years to look for four qualities in leaders, whether they are men or women. I look first for a searching mind: a person who is mentally alert, who has curiosity about life, who wants to learn all the time. Such a person is always reading, always listening, always thinking about what he or she hears, and trying to reason out what is behind it.

-Ray Stedman

Does anyone want to get that piece of mail that invites you to jury duty? I have postponed this inevitable day for months for one reason or another. But today I sit in a large room with about 30 other people waiting, waiting for another court to need us. The first was a criminal court and when we got there to “report for duty”, they said the case had been resolved. So we wait.

There are those times that we believe our time is much more important than this. That is exactly how I’ve felt knowing this day was coming, but as only God can do, he appointed this time for me to sit here and find that a dear friend I had not seen in a couple of years was just a few rows away. We caught up very quickly and found that she had faced some very hard issues over the past two years with one of her children. It was hard to listen to her story. I hugged her and let her know I loved her and would pray.  Then she was gone to due her “duty” as a juror.

So, this was not wasted time, this was God’s plan for me to meet her and for us to mutually encourage one another. It reminds me to be aware of what’s going on in the spiritual world around me. How selfish we become when we can only see our own needs. I am sitting here waiting and so thankful for the fact that God chose this day for me to be here to meet my friend. Perfect timing.

Change is one of the hardest things most people face in life. Sometimes it is slow in coming and we almost don’t notice. But then there are those times when it just smacks you in the face. You loose your balance. You grasp at straws for answers. You pray. You beg and plead for wisdom and wait.

Some people love change. Typically I am one of those. I like rearranging things in my house. I like to try new things. I like to see new places. And I love to see people change! But that doesn’t happen often enough.

Over the past weeks we have had some very hard changes in our family. These are changes I really bristle against. Most of us want our families to grow, but stay in tack. So when death or divorce or movement comes, it’s really hard.

God really has never promised us stability outside of him. So when things come our way that we are blindsided by, and they do come to all of us, where do we find the strength to “carry on”? Hopefully we run to the only One who offers to walk through difficult times with us. If not, we’re washed into a sea of worry and fear.

There are no simple answers, but moving forward through life’s many changes, changes us. And guess what, God is all about change!

It’s been said that while no one conversation will make or break a relationship, every conversation has the potential to alter that relationship’s trajectory.

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This morning, I read the following on Ray Stedman’s Daily Devotional:

In our travels, my family and I were privileged to be in various parts of the ancient world, where we visited many temples dedicated to idols. Though these temples had fallen into ruins, in every place a certain god such as Apollo, Venus, Bacchus, or Zeus had been enthroned and worshiped there. It suddenly struck me, after returning home, that though these temples have been abandoned, the worship of the god has not ceased. We have changed the names, but the gods, the idols, are exactly the same. There is the worship of Narcissus, the god who fell in love with himself. Is this not perhaps the supreme god of humanity: the worship of self, the exaltation of humans? The idea that we constantly hear set forth is that humans are so tremendous, so smart, so brilliant, so clever; they can do so many things. Yet we deny the continual evidence of our senses that the world is crumbling to pieces around us. We have the worship of Bacchus, the god of pleasure, wine, women, and song; the worship of Venus, the goddess of love, enthroned in Hollywood and all that Hollywood stands for; Apollo, the god of physical beauty; Minerva, the goddess of science. Everywhere we have enthroned science.

So, I thought of a little experiment to validate Ray’s theory. I simply visited the front page of DrudgeReport.com to see if the headlines matched what he is saying. Here are the results from just one page of browsing:

• James Camerons says BP are “morons who don’t know what they are doing” (Narcissus/Venus)
• Oil ball continues towards Florida (Minerva)
• Oil lek may continue until Christmas (Minerva)
• Porn actor goes on Rampage (Bacchus)
• Another Party at the White House: Paul McCartney sings (Bacchus/Venus)
• McCartney bashes Bush (Narcissus)
• Man Kills Kitten after it disconnects his video game (Bacchus)
• Spike Lee tells Obama how to handle the Oil Crisis (Narcissus/Venus)
• SURPRISE: Pacific islands defy sea level predictions; Islands stable or growing (Narcissus)

Lends credibility to Ray’s thoughts… Now, if this is one page on the internet, imagine the amount of god’s that are worshipped in all that media we encounter each day!

We’re in the thick of the summer heat. It came on fast, almost suddenly after an exceptionally beautiful spring. I’m always surprised by this heat. I don’t know why, I should be used to it by now.

Other things surprise me too, things that I should already know. Things like God’s voice, his work in lives, his revelation through creation, his presence in me! They help me pay attention to what he’s doing.

Listening to God is not easy. It takes time, quiet time, secluded time, precious time. Sometimes it’s on a walk or waking in the middle of the night! But the point is, do any of us really listen in a way that changes us? Do we push back that voice, putting it aside because it seems impossible to BE what we are supposed to be without losing who God has uniquely made us? Complicated.

I clearly remember waking in the middle of the night thinking of someone that I haven’t heard from in years and wondered why they came to mind. Is that the only time that my busy mind can be quiet enough for God to bring someone to mind so that I will pray for them? Do we just really need to pay better attention and listen even when it’s inconvenient?

God help me be a better listener.

So easy to forget:

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (1 John 4:11).

This is the answer to every lame excuse on our part that says, Oh, I just can’t love that person. You don’t know what she’s like. If you had to live with her as I have to, you wouldn’t be able to love her, either. No, Dear friends, since God so loved us… If you have experienced this kind of love, if you have been to the cross and felt the overwhelming cleansing of God’s love for you, despite the antagonism and hatefulness you have shown Him and despite your loving your own way and wanting to do what you like; if you have felt the cleansing grace of God wiping that all out without any recriminations or calling up of the past, forgetting and forgiving it all, then, as John says, you not only can love someone else but you ought to—you owe it. That is where the word ought comes from. You owe it to love one another.

This is the last of a three-part reflection on life and leadership from flat on my back after recovering from surgery:

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This is the second installment of a three-part reflection on life and leadership from flat on my back after recovering from surgery:

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There is a good book out by Tom Paterson entitled, “Living the Life You Were Meant to Live”. An experienced strategy consultant, Paterson lays out a route to self-discovery:

“In order to see where you are going, you need to gain a perspective on where you have been and what you have been gifted by God to be. There are times when we each need to go to the ‘mountaintop’ to be able to see the terrain below.” Read more »