Growth & Development

Despise not the day of small things!

2 Comments / Growth & Development, Overcoming /

For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. Zechariah 4:10 (ESV)

Great things all share one thing in common. They once were all small. Great countries, cities, companies, families, inventions and accomplishments, yes even the people behind them, all began as small things. In their smallness they were once vulnerable and dependent upon favorable conditions to sustain them. They exist today because someone envisioned a preferred future for them beyond their smallness. Someone in fact actually took such delight in their smallness that they were willing not only to patiently endure their smallness, but to invest their very lives in nurturing that smallness to grow toward greatness. That is precisely what God has done for us.

Although smallness takes many forms, there is always a redemptive quality about it when viewed as a beginning. It can be a small bank account, a small talent, a small job, a small home, a small circle of friends or even a small heart of love and compassion.

Smallness at its irreducible minimum is merely a seed thought or idea. And as with any good seed that envisions its beholder with the possibility of things to come, it engenders hope.

God loves smallness. So should we. Smallness is not something to be despised or merely to be endured. It is something in which we are meant to genuinely rejoice.

It might be said that smallness is next to Godliness. Mother Theresa underscored this truth when she said “We can do no great things, only small things with great love. . . Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” The truth is God’s plan for great things always begins with small things – an act of love, a seed-thought promise, a baby in the bulrushes or a man with a vision holding a plumb line.

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12 things I have lived long enough to know

Growth & Development, News & Reflections /

The repetitive nature of the daily news is an indication of how old a person is getting and hopefully an impetus to garner some wisdom from it all. Recently I realized I’ve been ingesting a regurgitation of the same sound bites for over 50 years. How could it be that I’ve spent my entire life monitoring global hotspots in Africa and the Middle East, sword rattling over oil supplies and nuclear weapons, uncertain market forecasts, political campaign mudslinging, dastardly mind-boggling crimes and the latest woes of local sports teams?

I couldn’t help but think of the writer of Ecclesiastes, who looking back over his long life threw his hands up in frustration and said “Meaningless, meaningless . . . Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” (1:2) Then he asks the question of the ages: “What does a man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?” (1:3) This question essentially frames the answers he paints on the canvas of the rest of the book

I’ve taken some of those brush strokes of wisdom to embellish a sampling of what I’ve learned from my many years of making meaning of the repetitious nature of life.

I am calling them twelve things I’ve lived long enough to know . . .

1. Increasing the number of channels will never solve the problem of why there isn’t anything worth watching on TV. All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. (1:8)

2. Living through a Southeast Asian war, a cold war and several Gulf wars has convinced me there will always be oppressors and attempts to dethrone them. History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. (1:9 NLT) Jesus: You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. (Matthew 24:6)

3. Doing what you love to do is the most rewarding employment there is. So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is why we are here. (3:22 NLT)

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213 Ways to Read the Bible

Check this out!, Growth & Development /

One of the greatest resources I know of for help in selecting and keeping to a Bible reading plan is the YouVersion website.

At last count it had 213 Bible reading plans arranged by five categories: Topical, Youth, Devotional, Partial Bible and Whole Bible. There are Bible studies here for everyone, no matter what your age, status in life, relationship with God, Bible knowledge, time availability or reading ability.

This website removes every excuse for not reading the Bible. There are plans of varying lengths ranging from as short as 3-5 days and 1-3 weeks to everything from 40-280 days all the way through one to two years.

YouVersion provides 27 different Bible translations to choose from with 10 of the most common versions available in an audio format for easy listening while you read or are on the move. There are mobile apps for all smart phones that give you access to your daily readings and help you track your progress. And amazingly 75 different language translations are also just a click away.

The Topical Reading Plans have studies focused on over hundred and twenty five different topics – something for every taste and interest. It is a great place to begin for building a Bible reading hunger and habit into one’s life.

It includes many 7 day studies on topics like Bible Introduction, Parenting, Decisions, Job Loss, Reconciliation, Prayer, and Relationships. There are overview studies of key topics in the Bible such as Major Beliefs, Major Themes, Major People (all 65 days in length). It also has various Old Testament focus studies on such topics as the Life of Abraham (10 days) The Books of Moses (10 weeks), Books of History (90 days), Books of Wisdom (10 weeks) and the Major Prophets (60 days). And there are seasonal Bible reading plans for 40 Days of Lent, Words of Jesus During Passion Week (12 days) and Rediscovering the Christmas Season (1 month).

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Why you are a work of art!

1 Comment / Growth & Development, Overcoming, Relationship with God /

This past week my wife and I visited the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. It is a museum that hosts among things exhibitions of contemporary art. One of the exhibits was a work of art by Robert Gober created in the late 1980s entitled “Untitled Door And Door Frame” and the elements used were “wood, enamel paint.” This particular “work” consisted of two major elements. First there was a wood framed doorway, the only entrance into a white ten by fourteen windowless, featureless room. The door frame was painted with a healthy coat of creamy beige enamel. Inside the room leaning against the opposite wall farthest from the doorway was the second element of the “work” – an old six-panel interior door without a door knob or latch which was also painted a creamy beige.
Like so much of modern art, it takes a right-brained creative to fully appreciate the categorization of certain things as “art.” And this display by Gober, constructed and arranged using such common objects was no exception. Typically when most people think of art they imagine works like the Mona Lisa by Da Vinci or The Pieta by Michelangelo.
To a left-brained home fixit guy like myself, Untitled Door And Door Frame looked more like an unfinished project and anything but a work of art. In my linear, structured way of thinking the paint was dry so why not get the necessary hardware, grab the door and install the hinges and latch set, measure the doorframe to match, install its hinges and mount the door?
Perhaps that is some of the emotional response Gober was looking for when he came up with his idea. I know that good art is meant to be evocative but typically we associate the response of its beholder be one of aesthetic enjoyment rather than frenetic deployment.
It raises a very important question “When is art, art?”

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When dreams are not meant to be!

2 Comments / Growth & Development, Overcoming, Relationship with God /

“Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don’t do it!” Jeremiah 45:5 (NLT)

I find myself cringing when I hear people say “You can be anything you set your heart to be.” It is not true. It sets people up for misguided lives fraught with unfulfilled expectations and disillusionment. I understand the reasoning behind such a statement, particularly when it is directed at children and youth. It is important to instill a dare to dream mentality and a can-do attitude in every human heart. But dreams, like everything in life have parameters and exacting conditions that are necessary for their fulfillment. And it is not just a matter of faith and hard work.

A more accurate statement to inspire young and old alike is to say “You can be anything God has created you to be.” That maxim acknowledges the requisite talents and motivations endued at birth. And it also takes into account the times and seasons in which a person is living and the necessity of divinely ordained opportunity.

Michael Jordan is a great illustration. In 1993Jordan retired as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, after leading the Chicago Bulls to three NBA championships. He quit basketball to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming a professional baseball player.

He spent two years bringing his well-documented dedication and intensity to baseball, but ended up being a journeyman player at best with a .252 batting average and never made it to the big leagues. He returned to the Bulls for the 1995-96 season and proceeded to lead the Bulls to another three-peat series of NBA championships.

What was the cause of the disparity in the outcome of Michael Jordan’s pursuit of two dream careers? Obviously the measure of inherent talent was one. Another was the contrast in experience and time for skill development. But an intangible may have been his chemistry with his teammates and his coach. Dream fulfillment is complicated business.

In the waning years leading up to the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC, Jeremiah the prophet was busy warning both the king and religious leaders of God’s impending judgments. He had a faithful scribe named Baruch to whom he dictated his prophecies and through whom a number of them were personally delivered.

Baruch, who’s name means “blessing” was hoping against hope that the recipients of these prophetic messages would repent and that his ministry would be successful. As a spokesperson for Jeremiah he had dreams and career aspirations of a position of influence in a reformed society. (Not unlike Jesus’ disciples.) It was not to be.

In what appears to be a parenthetical

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