Time

Time is such a wonderful and dreadful thing. We have only so many days, hours or minutes. However they can be used in so many ways. For good or evil, each day has only 24 hours. I find myself in many ways wasting my time and yet there are moments when every second seems so precious. I look into the eyes of my baby niece and see eternity in the hours of play that she enjoys. Her boundless energy tires me out and yet time has no hold on her.

Being Transformed

As a kid I loved transformers. They started as cars and changed into robots. Today I know the transformation process happens in me and it is a little more painful than playing with childhood toys. I realized that in order for transformation to occur I had to let go of what I was and strive towards what I am becoming.
To make this happen I found two simple steps. Listen to God and follow what He says. That's it. As I listen to God He shows me areas of my character that need work. Then all I have to do is act on those reminders and change will happen. However, it is many times painful to acknowledge the weakness and to take action.

Little Leaks

Yesterday my wife came home from an overnight trip to find a puddle in our garage. Needless to say we were a bit disturbed. It turns out we have a tiny leak in one of our pipes in our concrete floor within the wall from the house to the garage. It would be easy to fix if it were accessible. However, it is behind our water heater and only can be accessed by a little crawl space. The floor needs to be jackhammered after the wall is dismantled. All this is for a little leak.

It reminds me of how important my personal integrity is. There may be little leaks in our life. However, a hole in our character, can create nightmarish consequences. It may be as innocuous as not reporting something our taxes or a little white lie. Then it becomes habitual and is embedded in our character. It can take a spiritual jackhammer to get it out.

It is probably going to cost thousands for our little leak in our house. But that is nothing in comparison to how much a character leak may cost. That is why I am in an accountability partnership with a friend. We use a tool called covenant eyes that keeps a list of every website and emails it to our partner. We then get together weekly to discuss any issues. it is a powerful force in my life to keep my integrity intact and to overcome my little leaks.

Be Still

I love doing active stuff. I love the outdoors and hiking, climbing, fishing, hunting, etc. Just last weekend I was out at Joshua Tree as a teacher's assistant For BIOLA University's climbing class.

In all my activity, I find that I need to regularly re-center myself and figure out who I am. I know it may sound like navel gazing but it is so easy to listen to the voices of media or others around me who think they know what is best for me. I continually have to filter out these verse and listen to the inner voice of the Holy Spirit whispering to me who I am and what my purpose is.



A verse that helps me recenter is Psalm 46:10a, "Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth." I am not God but I can be still and see his work in the rocks and the trees. Also, God shows up in the nations in powerful ways. Nothing happens that is beyond Him.

Through this process I decided to develop a website to help others refocus on their hearts in the journey. it is called http://www.leadwild.com/. I am still working on it but there is a good start there. I find that this process also helps me to refocus on my purpose.

So I "be still" as I realize my place in this world is serving God and not being God.

Keeping up

It has been a while since I posted anything so here are a few of the latest things.

I went paintballing with Faith Community Church in Encinitas in February. About 20 youth and five adults all shot each other. Great fun!

I went hunting in February with my wife and Dad. We shot a dozen quail and scared a hundred more!

I went Rock Climbing in January at Joshua Tree National Monument for Training with a Biola University Masters leadership challenge class. It went down to 13 degrees at night which is very cold for California deserts! I will be a teacher's assistant for two Rock Climbing trips in March.

Knowing what to leave behind

I love hiking. There is a freedom and a challenge in knowing that everything you need is on your back. It is a science knowing what to take and what to leave behind. When I went on a leadership challenge class through Biola University I had a ton of stuff I was carrying for myself and other hikers. As I was helping others with their stuff, I think what really got to me was someone had brought a Bible in a metal case. The thing was a brick! A little paperback Bible would have done the trick.

On another hiking trip someone brought their school textbooks. They were massive! We were already burdened with tents, sleeping bags, cooking gear, food, stoves, clothes and 16 pounds of water per person. There are some things that are better left behind.

In life the same things hold true. We have only so many choices we can make and only so much time. Sometimes we must choose to move forward and leave behind dreams and possibilities.

Today my wife was cutting back the roses. She was a little concerned with my taunts about taking the hedge trimmer to the hulking beasts. She painstakingly cut back the branches and trimmed all the growth. All the flowers and new foliage was gone.

I thought to myself how it would feel to be cut back. All the great stuff cut away and left with stubby stalks. No way.

And yet I know the growth that will happen for the rose bush. In a month it will be full of great flowers again and even better growth. One thing that is nice about living in San Diego is everything grows year round. The bigger problem is too much growth.

Jesus talks about pruning in John 15. He says that any branch that is connected to the vine will be pruned so that it will produce even more fruit.

I like fruit. It looks good and tastes good. I like growing my own tangerine, apples and figs. The figs are just at the end of the season here and they so juicy and sweet. As soon as the crop is done I will prune the whole tree back so that it will grow great fruit again next year.

In my life I am going through a preparation time. God is pruning me back in areas and showing me what to leave behind. It is hard though to know what is really important. I want to hold on to my stuff and my dreams.

An yet one word comes to mind. Simplify. It is the idea of leaving behind all that does not matter.

So I submit myself to the pruning shears, trusting that after all is said and done I will bear fruit.

The elements of leadership

I am puzzling over that question of what does it take to be a good leader.

How is it that some leaders can have power over millions and yet internally are morally bankrupt?

For example look at two presidents: Clinton and Carter. Clinton had great leadership ability and political savvy. He had the skills and the charisma to become reelected. However he was internally wanton as shown by his sex scandal in the White House. Carter is portrayed with a character of integrity. Yet in many ways was inept as a leader as seen by his foreign policy with Iran.

What does it take to be a good leader?

Billy Graham is an excellent example of a good leader. He has moral integrity that spans his lifetime. He has competence to lead that has created openings to speak to presidents. He has connection to influence the lives of billions.

Character

Competence

Connection

A person can lead when they have skills in one or two of these areas. However to lead well, all elements must come into play.

Solomon is known as a great leader in ancient times. He is known for having incredible wealth. In his nation silver was as available as rock! He also had incredible wisdom. Many of the world leaders came to him for advice. Some of his writings are widely read today! He had competence and connection but in the long run had no character. He used his power for selfish gain and built houses and amassed wealth for himself while he abused his people like slaves.

It showed up strongly in his son Rehoboam. Even though the book of proverbs was written for Solomon's children, Rehoboam had little wisdom. He cared more for his own self interests than those he led. Because of this he had the greatest uprising and had more than half of his people defect and form their own nation.

Without character a leader falls from within. Without competence a leader has no ability to lead. Without connection a leader has no followers.

I seek to live well with Character, Competence and Connection so that I can lead well.