Coaching Churches

We all love the great Bible story of David killing the giant Goliath.  There are many incredible truths in the several chapters that are dedicated to this event.

The most significant one for me is that if we take care of the seemingly little responsibilities in our lives God has a way of taking care of the major ones.  The reason David had no fear of this monster of a man is because with God’s help he had already killed a lion and a bear.

All major public victories that everyone sees are preceded by the smaller private ones when no one is watching.  The other side of the same truth is sadly all major public failures occur because of a series of small compromises that seemed so unimportant at the time.

If you don’t think this is true just ask Eliot Spitzer or John Edwards and they will be glad to share with you how quickly this can happen.  How could these highly intelligent, powerful and dynamic leaders let this happen to themselves and most of all to their families?  Someone has well said an unguarded strength is a double weakness.

Sweat the small stuff and the big stuff will take care of itself.

I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have been sorry in my life.  As I look back on all the mistakes I have made and the consequences I have suffered a clear pattern has developed.

Most of the time when I have been sorry it has been for the wrong reason.  I was sorry that I had been caught saying or doing the wrong thing and I knew that there was a price to be paid.

My sorrow was that I was not going to get to do what I wanted and it was nothing more than a form of self pity disguised as real quilt.  I was sorry because of the personal embarrassment factor and how people would think negatively of me as a person.

I also say I am sorry many times just to end an unpleasant conversation so that I do not have to deal with my own personal responsibility.  It can be a quick fix but never a permanent solution.

Sometimes I went a step further and really felt sorry for the damage I had done to other people.  Because of my actions they had to suffer and no one should ever feel good about that.

I will never forget the first time I really understood II Corinthians 7: 9, “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance.  For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing.”

God is not very impressed with our prayers that merely tell him what He already knows about our mistakes.  What He is looking for is a genuine spiritual grief at what we have done because we have believed a lie by not trusting Him.

Sorrow is never real until we change what we believed in our minds to what God has already said in His word.  There really is a change of mind that always produces a change of direction.  Sorry, anything less is a disgrace to grace.

When we all think about the concept of time we tend to focus on the immediate and what needs to be done right now.  Timing on the other hand takes the long look and always wants to ask the question why am I really doing this?

That pause to look beyond what I need or want to happen now can keep us from making some major mistakes in our lives that haunt us for years.

1.       Time focus hurts relationships:  All of us have been hurt or offended by what someone else has said or done at home and at work.  If we react in the moment many times we will say the wrong thing only to wish later we could take it back.  It is never enough just to be right we must say the right thing the right way and especially at the right time.  If your son just failed a major test it is probably not the right time for you to start that you are not going to be able to get into college speech again.

2.      Time focus diminishes faith:  When Joseph was in prison for something he did not do I am sure he wanted out now and many hours were spent questioning God’s judgment.  Joseph was concerned about immediately changing his circumstances while God was concerned about building a nation to lead in His plan of worldwide redemption for the whole human race. 

3.      Time focus rewards urgency:  Just because something hits our inbox or demands that we deal with an immediate crisis at work does not mean that it is really important.  Driven people are extremely busy doing everything they can as fast as they can without ever asking the question should this be done at all?  Time focus is all about efficiency of schedule while timing is primarily concerned about effectiveness of resuts. 

As people of faith we must be patient and remember that even sometimes to our dismay God is never early but always to our benefit He is never late.  He will be true to His word and in every situation of life even when we want to give up His grace will be sufficient for the need and it will always come in His perfect timing.

All of us know the price we pay when we find ourselves working with the wrong people in the wrong place.  In all the research Jim Collins has done he has come to the conviction that what we do in our work in not as important as who we do it with. 

This does not mean that what we do is not extremely important because it needs to be a good fit with our skills and our passion.  I found the following list put together by Jack Welch in Winning to be a great framework to help answer the question about the right fit:

1.       People—You like the people a lot and you can relate to them, and you genuinely enjoy their company.  In fact, they even think and act like you do.

2.      Opportunity—The job gives you the opportunity to grow as a person and a professional, and you get the feeling you will learn things there that you did not know you needed to learn.

3.      Options—The job gives you a credential you can take with you, and is in a business and industry with a future.

4.      Ownership—You are taking the job for yourself, or you know whom you are taking it for, and feel at peace with the bargain.

5.      Work Content—The “stuff” of the job turns your crank—you love the work, it feels fun and meaningful to you, and even touches something primal in your soul.

Every job has its own set of fundamentals planning, projects, meetings, goals and execution.  However, there is a big difference between just making a profit and really making a difference.  The Why and the Who are more important than the What and the How.  Please do not forget its ultimately more about the journey than it is about the destination.