Meet Joe Black

Brushed up my eulogy yesterday… yep, that’s right. The way I figure it, preparation is almost never a bad thing. I’ve spend gobs of time during my lifetime preparing for my career, my wedding, my retirement etc. But none of those is (or was at the time anyway) a certainty. You know the saying thought, that there are two things in life that are certain; death and taxes. With a good tax-consultant, you can avoid the latter category some (with a bad one even evade it, though at considerable personal risk). But no one has yet figured out how to cheat Joe Black.

And so I opened the doc and revised it. Changed the songs I want sang… Changed who I want to read the vote of thanks… Changed the title of my eulogy… Ok, I know; all this sounds a trifle bit controlling! I didn’t write the sermon or the eulogy though (even though I was tempted J) And I didn’t define when people should applaud, gently wipe a tear or say ‘aaaahhh’ in appreciation. I figure I might as well live my life in such a way that those who speak will say the kind of things I hope they will.

I guess all this sounds rather morbid. And decidedly un-African. But life is not a rehearsal. We need to live every day like it’s our last: Because it might very well be. And like someone whom I can’t remember just now once said, ‘when it’s time to die, make sure the only thing you’ve got left to do is die’.

I love the way the bible puts it… ‘You learn more at a funeral than at a feast – After all, that’s where we’ll all end up. We might discover something from it’ (Ecclesiastes 7:2)

What you think you own is simply yours on loan. You were made by God and for God and life won’t make sense until you discover and live out why.

Books ~ The Pastor M Awards

Ever had your life changed by a book? I’ve read many phenomenal books in my life and been inspired, entertained as well as molded by great people I never met. A handful of books have gone a step beyond inspiring for me and pushed me to grow to the next level. If I had to stick to 12, these would be my top dozen.

I remember reading the thrilling ‘The Lord of The Rings’ trilogy as a high-school student and being amazed at Tolkien’s genius but also challenged by his prophetic take on human susceptibility to corruption by power.

I consider ‘EMyth’ by Michael Gerber a must read for anyone starting a business or new enterprise. ‘Good To Great’ by Jim Collins is a remarkable leadership book that has a very biblical view of leadership. ‘The Shaping of Things To Come’ by Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost shows what the church of the next generation needs to look like to be effective in reaching its culture. Andy Stanley’s ‘The Seven Practices of Effective Ministries’ is about church leadership but has lessons that could be profitable for anyone leading an organization.

Right now my current read is ‘The Leadership Pipeline’ by management consultants Charan, Drotter and Noel. This one could also be subtitled ‘Management For Dummies’ and I’m enjoying every second of it. I’m already leading very differently as I practice what I’m reading.

Two other very useful ones have been ‘Cash Flow Quadrant’ by Robert Kiyosaki and ‘The Richest Man In Babylon’, a classic by George S. Clason. Both are about money. I have also greatly enjoyed ‘Rediscovering Church’ by Bill & Lynne Hybels, ‘Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire’ by Jim Cymbala, ‘Building People, Building Dreams’ by Tom Deuschle and ‘Confessions Of A Reformission Rev’ by Mark Driscoll. All these are biographies of entrepreneurial church start-ups and the people behind them.

[Okay, I’ll unofficially stick in one more… Andy Stanley’s ‘Communicating For A Change’. A great book for all who aspire to be preachers or public speakers. Hey, two books by the same author!]

These books have shaped my life and I am grateful that I read them.

[Movie edition of the Pastor M awards coming up soon J]

Stuff Happens

Came across an amusing little story...

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It got so cold as it flew that it froze, and fell to the ground in a large field. While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some manure on it. As it lay there in the pile of manure, it began to realize how warm it was. The manure was actually thawing it out! It lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the little bird singing, and came to investigate. It discovered the bird under the pile of manure, and promptly dug it out—and ate it!

The morals of the story are:
1. Not everyone who drops manure on you is your enemy…
2. Not everyone who digs you out of a pile of manure is your friend…
3. When you’re in the manure, keep your mouth shut!

According to Proverbs 27:6, ‘wounds from a friend are better than many kisses from an enemy!’ I’m learning to proactively solicit feedback and critique from mentors and people I trust as they help me see myself more clearly. Also to recognize the difference between friends and fans, the former who know me and the latter who only know about me.

Not sure I fully agree as much with the last one. Too many of us guys would rather die than call for help when we're in trouble. However, there are surely times when talking doesn't help anyone. Such are the times when listening & praying accomplish more than talking...

Definitely easier said than done!

Musings On Purpose

Ask a five-year old, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ and you’ll likely get a quick and sure reply. Ask a twenty-five year old the same question, and you are likely to encounter a tale of woe, confusion and frustration. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle.

So, what do you want to be when you grow up? In the ancient world, few in any grappled with this question. If your father was a farmer, you knew you were going to be a farmer. If he was a soldier, then that’s what you would be. Little of our modern-day angst as we struggle to find out what we were created to do... Back then, by age 15, you not only knew what you would be when you grew up, but you were already grown up and being it. No wonder Alexander the Great had conquered most of the known world by the time he was 31!

Rather than help children discover their strengths early and then connect these strengths to their family destiny, modern education keeps ‘kids’ in school for years (some way beyond their 30th birthday) only to eject them clueless at the end of the process into the world, without an inkling of what they are meant to be or do. Things are no better on the family front, where the parenting of the next generation has been outsourced by busy professional parents to maids, schools and TV. The result? Highly-educated, self-engrossed people who can’t solve basic real-life national problems, like food and water stability for the urban & rural poor…

The tragedy is that we have come to see this as ‘normal’! It’s all well for us to keep talking about creating 800,000 jobs and vision 3030. But unless we’re brave enough to rethink our education and parenting paradigms, I suspect we’re merely dealing with the symptoms.

So… what do you want to be when you grow up?

Building Character Muscle

Well, the dust finally settles and life finally slows down enough for me to blog again. A great launch service two Sundays ago at the Mavuno Dome; I’m glad we’re finally over that hurdle. Now if only life could settle down for a nice long time without any challenges or stretching experiences. Yeah, right.

James 1:3-4 says ‘when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything’ The sad (for me at least) fact is that the old gym axiom continues to hold true… ‘no pain, no gain’. The reward for good work is more work. Conquering one peak only prepares you to scale the next one. All the weights in the character gym seem to be made out of two materials; tests and tribulations!

Well, my consolation in all this is that I’m learning to enjoy the valleys. The in-between times. To stop enough to celebrate the victories, to count my blessings, to high-five my team-mates, to enjoy my wife, to sit with my kids, and to learn from my mistakes…

So… let it grow!

If At First You Don’t Succeed…

Read a great autobiography, ‘Pour Your Heart Into It’ by Howard Schultz, currently doing a second stint as CEO of Starbucks Coffee. Maybe it’s just where I am in life, but I’m finding I enjoy and learn a lot more reading about leaders’ life experiences than reading abstract principles by them on how to be a good one (a la John Maxwell).

Schultz discovered Starbucks when he was a well-paid marketer for a large house-wares company and knew almost immediately that he wanted to give everything up for this startup. It took him a year of persistence in the face of rejection before he was offered the job of a marketer. A little later on, he became convinced that Starbucks (which was then a retailer selling coffee beans) should open sit-down cafés. The company founders however disagreed, so he left to form his own company. In the course of one year, he pitched the idea to 242 potential investors and 217 turned down his request for seed capital! Eventually, he made it, and 3 years after leaving Starbucks, he returned and bought the company. Since then, Starbucks has grown from a local business with 6 outlets to a global giant with 16,000 outlets in 44 countries and $10 billion in annual sales!

Schultz has some great gems about perseverance...

‘Life is a series of near misses. But a lot of what we call ‘luck’ is seizing the day and accepting responsibility for your future... It’s seeing what other people don’t see, and pursuing that vision, no matter who tells you not to. No great achievement happens by luck... Vision is what they call it when others can’t see what you can see’

Good stuff! The only difference in approach for me would be the starting place. That’s beginning by asking God what assignment he wants you to focus on. There are many good things I could spend my life pursuing but you just know that good is often the enemy of great! Once you know you’re where He wants you, then dig in and pursue your God-given dreams with all your heart whatever comes your way.

And if at first you don’t succeed…

Earthquake In China

I'm staggered by the magnitude of the disaster in China. The 7.9 magnitude earthquake near Chengdu is believe to have resulted in over 12,000 deaths so far and rendered thousands homeless. Just read about an estimated 900 students who were buried in their school building; no one's sure whether they're still alive.

My mind is numbed by the figures... Several years back, 200 deaths caused by a bomb here at home resulted in so much national shock & grief... 12,000 is completely unimaginable to me. I remind myself though, that these are not just numbers and statistics, but each represents a story of deep pain and suffering. My heart and prayers go out to my Chinese brothers and sisters.