#SimpleTruths

Well, I am less than 2 weeks away from going back to work!  This Sabbatical has been such an amazing and humbling experience.  I’ve definitely learned that if you slow down enough, you are more likely to hear God speak to you.  I haven’t been able to blog about my learnings as much as I wanted to, so I thought I would quickly share a summary of my learnings in short simple truths, and then quickly try explain some of them.  These truths are what I need to hold onto to thrive.  They are the foundation for me to live the life God has called me to lead.  Some may  be relatable to you and others might not.  But hopefully this will encourage you to find out what are the truths that drive your life!

• Heart Before Art – God loves you more for who you are in Him than what you do or make.  Character-based, not performance-based.  See my blog post about this
• Not what “should be” but what “could be” – We can tend to get angry when we see something that isn’t the way we think it should be.  But if all we say is “It should be like this” we are removing ourselves of any responsibility to help make it better.  Instead, if we would say “It could be like this” then we are inviting others into a conversation as to how WE can make things better.
• Be prepared in season and out of season – We should always be able to produce good fruit in our lives if we are connected to the source of life, no matter what our circumstances are.  (Fig tree and 2 Tim) See my blog post about this
• Connection measures success – I believe that success in any area can be directly related to the connection that is made.  Whether it be with family, or customers, or God, or congregation.  If we focus on connection, good things will follow naturally. See my blog post about this
• Exponential not individual – We can strive to be an amazing talented person that can do and make great things, but we will only be a great individual.  If we invest in building others up and helping them become great, our impact on the world can grow exponentially!
• Intrinsic not extrinsic goals – True happiness will never come from going after money, image or status.  True happiness comes from going after personal growth (spiritually, physically, mentally, etc.), relationships, and helping/serving others. See my blog post about this. I haven’t written part 2 yet.
• Be David not Saul – Saul was God’s chosen, anointed to be king!  But he was too focused on image and status that he corrupted his position.  When he made mistakes, he was more sorry that he got caught than about learning from his mistakes and not doing them again.  He allowed anger, bitterness, and jealousy to take over his life.  David, on the other hand, when he made mistakes he was truly and deeply sorry.  He learned from his mistakes and humbly accepted the consequences.  He grew in character through it all and was called a man after God’s own heart.  God exalted him because of his humility and dedication to what God wants as opposed to what man wants.
• CHEW balance – As leaders we need an overall balance of Courage, Humility, Empathy and Wisdom.  God’s power will be shown when He makes up for your weakness.  See my blog post on this
• Hero vs victim – A victim is acted upon, hopeless.  Doesn’t do anything to make it better.  A hero acts, responds to a cause or belief in a way that sacrifices his/herself for the benefit of others.
• A hero is just an ego away from being a villain – When you think about it, a villain also fights for a cause or a deep rooted belief (like a hero), but also has a lot of ego involved.  They are more concerned with their image or status and would sacrifice anyone around them to get what they want.
• Proactive not reactive – Don’t just react emotionally to things.  Get to a healthy place emotionally and decide how to respond to push things toward resolution.
• Be response-able – Another way to say “proactive not reactive”
• Emotion has no IQ – When you are emotional, your survival instincts kick in and all rational thinking goes out the window.
• Do your best with what’s been given to you – Don’t compare or be jealous of anyone else.  Don’t stress about what you don’t have.  Be thankful for and faithful with what God has given you.
• Character+skill+passion – To me, this is the complete package.  You can have 2 of the 3 and do pretty well, but all 3 make an unstoppable force.
• Skill can only take you so far, eventually character catches up – I believe I have ridden the waves of my skill most of my life.  Where I’ve allowed my character to drift is catching up to me now.  I won’t go any further unless I surrender my character to Christ and allow Him to mold me and make me the man He wants me to be.
• Character (slow cooker) personality (microwave) – A character focused life has to be patient.  Like a farmer having to wait for the harvest, you are slowly growing something.  Focusing on personality traits is like a get-rich-quick scheme.  It might get short-term results but will never last.
• God cares more about my character than my circumstances – Sometimes God will allow things to happen to us and around us that we don’t understand.  In a story, what makes a great character is seeing how they respond to adversity and challenges.  It’s seeing how they respond to the challenge and how it changes them and makes them better.  That’s God’s main focus for our lives.  He’s making great characters with great character.
• Equip the church to go out and change the world, not have them help us do it – This is coming from the world of working at a church.  Too often we ask others to help us do amazing work for God.  I believe that in order for the local church to be the hope of the world, we (church leaders) need to equip the church (congregation/volunteers) to go out into the world and make it a better place.  If we can focus more on life change, than accomplishing programs, we can help change the world for Christ.
• Relationships make you rich – Scripture tells us to store up our treasures in Heaven.  I believe the best way to do that is through relationships.  When I read Jesus’ parable about the shrewd manager, I noticed that when he was slashing people’s debt it said he was doing this so that they might invite him into their eternal dwellings.  I wonder how much better life would be if I was thinking “How many people will let me into their mansion in Heaven?”
• You can buy a person’s hands or back, but they volunteer their hearts and minds – When working with volunteers, it is so important to pour into their hearts and minds.  They are not getting paid.  It’s not just a job.  They will give what you pour into them.
• Look for win-win – If all your doing is trying to win your point or be right all the time, you will never accomplish anything.  If you constantly look for win-win solutions, you can move forward together instead of competing with each other.  Like when merging on the road, you can either compete or yield.
• Not who’s right, but what’s right – Going along with looking for win-win is also looking for Truth.  Scripture can help guide us to do what’s right and not focus so much on who is right.
• Only scripture can justify your feelings, not circumstances – When you find yourself getting angry, bitter or jealous, don’t justify these feelings by what is happening to you.  Don’t justify these feelings by your circumstances.  Look to scripture and see what the Word has to say about those feelings, then course-correct.  Hint: There is never a circumstance that justifies sin.
• Not what are you fighting against, but what are you fighting for – If you’re fighting against something, you’re defensive and possibly not filled with hope that things will get any better.  You’re just fighting to survive.  If you are fighting for something, that means you have purpose and a conviction of truth and hope that you can help make things better.  Of course, it’s important to remember we are not fighting against flesh and blood.  We are not each other’s enemy.
• The greatest among you will be your servant – This is hard for me.  This is not natural.  But this is scripture and it is truth!  If I desire to be great, I must be a great servant. This blog post has to do with being selfish
• Live for God’s approval, not man’s – If I am only concerned with man’s approval I will always be disappointed.  My validation and self-worth can never come from a human being.  It can only come from knowing and trusting that God loves me, approves of me, and validates me.  Also, there’s a difference between wanting man’s approval and needing man’s approval.  Of course it’s nice to be recognized and feel valued, but if you NEED it, you have become co-dependent.
• Work as if working for the Lord – My first and foremost obligation is to the Lord.  It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are around me.  I need to give my all for Him.
• Critical vs cynical – You can be a valuable team member being a critical person.  It actually isn’t a bad thing.  It means you are concerned with helping makes things better.  But when you allow that criticalness to become cynical, that’s where it becomes a huge problem.  Being cynical is saying that you see how things could get better, but they never will be.  Living in defeat or blaming others.  This attitude can be toxic and spread easily.