LEADERSHIP

3 Small Things are Exceedingly wise.

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In the book of Proverbs there are many one liners of wisdom for life, wrapped up in the words, they speak to relationship, family, to business practices and environments, their wisdom will help you become a better leader, manager, husband, wife, child, person.    They just deal with people and life to the full.   I have often encouraged young men and women to form a habit around the reading of at least one proverb a day, letting the proverbs groom life and enable a better person to emerge.   They are not only helpful to the individual but they will produce a better society if we could embrace them.

I must admit there are some strange ones as well, such as what do you do with “if you dig a pit you will surely fall into it” or “if a man stand on a log he will surly fall off” clearly they did not have health and safety.   In Proverbs 30:24 forward we have presented to us “small things” unimportant things yet they are presented as small insignificant things which are very significant for us, they are “exceedingly wise”.   Small is worth listening to and taking note of some times, I would suggest to you, always.

How many times have we missed the Father as it was not exceedingly big enough for us, significant for us, of notoriety, or even X Factor enough to take note of, yet there was wisdom for the day there.

MY prayer is that we all see significance according to the lesson, the insight of wisdom delivered, not its position, impact, or even any value system we may employ.   How many times has God been there dressed in such a non attractive manner, I wonder how many missed Jesus as he was not as they expected.   Proverbs also encourages us that “wisdom cries in the street”, Ok lets train our eyes and ears to see and hear  the “small things” for exceeding wisdom.

Why start with small things well here are three small wisdom’s for life I have noted in my life and others that we would do well to take on board and employ the wisdom.

1.         Experience Life thought the lens of faith – it’s all down to how you view life, your view will enable or trip you up it’s so important how you look on life.   People around you and situations will shout “no you cannot”, “you should not” and will make reasons why not, however you and I must face the storm and look through another view.   What has God promised you, what has he said, what will you do in the light of that.

This is not about a fanciful, wistful saying, but what has become part of your fabric, that which God has said.  One thing is certain, if God has said it, it will be beyond your ability, means and emotion at present, BUT God, we do or don’t believe.    What keeps you together in the situations of life that you can align your whole being with?

There is no better way than to see and take life and all it has while looking through afresh lens.   I am not suggesting we become presumptuous or individualistic and alone, but I am encouraging us to Know what God has said and look at life through those very words.    To see with your hearing perhaps, as the lens is established by what you have heard, it is when sight is determined by hearing!

So what lens do you govern yourself by, what experience will you have tomorrow.

I wear glasses to enable 20 20 vision, without them well let us say there would be many bruises as I would walk into things, I experience life through the putting on of two circular glass plates, without them I would have a distorted view of life.  The view would be so out of focus that I think I would end up in a darkened room, it is tiring trying to have to squint and stretch to get focus but with glasses, o boy can I see far and short.    Experience life though the lens of Faith, its clear, challenging, humbling but adventure beyond.

Through this lens of faith,  we have testimony down through time, of people’s views being transformed, this lens enabling forward advance.   One such transformation came to William Wilberforce after a sudden conversion experience, William began to see his work (and world) in a whole new light.

“The gospel freely admitted makes a man happy. It gives him peace with God, and makes him happy in God. It gives to industry a noble, contented look which selfish drudgery never wore; and from the moment that a man begins to do his work for his Saviour’s sake, he feels that the most ordinary employments are full of sweetness and dignity, and that the most difficult are not impossible. And if any of you, my friends, is weary with his work, if dissatisfaction with yourself or sorrow of any kind disheartens you, if at any time you feel the dull paralysis of conscious sin, or the depressing influence of vexing thoughts, look to Jesus, and be happy. Be happy, and your joyful work will prosper well.”

2.      Bloom where you are planted – so many of us are robbed of fulfilling all God has for us, as we have adopted a saying that keeps us from where we are, “grass is greener on the other side” so we make every where seem better that where we are.   It produces an unhealthy dissatisfaction and dislike of the gift God has given us.

I have a desire to enable people to live to the full where they are, the missing factor is, we have lost the understanding that God has planted us where we are!   Not as a discipline or judgment against you but with the purpose of transformation.   If we cannot grasp this, Gods’ planting for us, we will never bloom.    We say that identity is important, which it is, but I would say to you believing and realising that where I am is the planting of the Lord is equally vital.   In Genesis God not only planted a garden but he planted Adam into the garden, a place prepared and planted mankind.   I would say we have to know Gods’ hand placing us so we can bloom.

Your decision to be planted will make you and the people around you flourish, that is as you become planted and convinced of your setting, which is often our battle being convinced, for being convinced having a conviction is a necessary strength for life.    As you are convinced of being planted or where you are now being the will of God watch your planting attract people and opportunity to you.    So many wish their lives away wishing they where somewhere else or in anther person place.     It is  fashionable to belong to networks for advance and they are effective to a degree, but the knowledge of being planted and living accordingly will cause you to bloom!

3.         Have the stamina to pursue your God-given passions until the end. – the challenge of finishing well, of getting through all the distractions, the disappointments and letting the passion that God has worked into you to have its end.   Living life with no regrets, there may be sadness but nothing that steals stamina.   The developing of stamina of staying in when it is all up hill and getting harder and harder.   As I tell you, you will have moments when you feel that you are crushed Paul said he was perplexed, crushed on every side but he kept going and so do we too.

Stamina is so necessary in every day to be able to keep your emotion, your attitude your physical ability up, to achieve what God has revealed to your lens and through your planting to bloom.

There is no time here to consider the ways of building stamina of ensuring that the company you keep, the way you talk, the way you see, all effect stamina.  To consider how to build your stamina for the journey is another worthwhile topic for another blog, the how to build, the necessity of stamina, the cultivating of the means to strength for the road ahead.

Disciples of the kingdom or Jesus?

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The clash of our opening paragraph in the last blog comes right through to sounds and smells, the clash of metal to metal, the flash of sun light on bare metal, the noise of horse pushing against men and horse, the sound of metal against metal, the battle raged for the Kingdom.   The battle rages for the Kingdom of God and the lives of mankind.

Our battle might not be as old as the fight of ages past but it is as significant or even more so to humankind and creation.  As the Kingdom of God shakes our world breaking in and moving from a simple “taste of the age to come” to an overwhelming of this age with the age to come, filling our world with creative order, with heavens realm, and the Divine life.   This is God declaration “they will be my people (son) and I will be their God” in the book of Revelation.   Christ fills all in all and the full course of God’s restorative action is being played through our time, our lives, you and me.

I closed my last thought with a question being posed, have we made disciples of Jesus rather than continuing the direction Jesus commenced in making disciples or sons of the Kingdom?     If this is so, it has a major impact on our message along with our practice, it also explains perhaps why we produce religious church rather than a condition of people who are born of a coming Kingdom, transforming creation to God’s original intent, that is the ecclesia of God.

First let me say that the coming of Jesus was so radical he simply did not come with a small change but a radical, foundational change to life and creation.    Let me bring you an example of this Kingdom that Jesus heralds and set a direction to make disciples of the Kingdom.

As Jesus fulfilled Old Testaments prophecy ridding into the city on a colt he came to Jerusalem while the people gathered, heralding and crying aloud (Mark 11:10) “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!     Hosanna in the highest!”

This Jesus of the Kingdom of God would not take upon himself  old Jewish tradition as he was the Jesus of the Kingdom of God.   The people tried to turn the kingdom of God into a Jewish kingdom, they declared the kingdom of our “father David”, Jesus bring the Kingdom of God.

Every Jew prayed an amazingly offensive prayer, in putting down people “God I thank you that I was not born a woman, a leper, or a Gentile” , the Jesus of the Kingdom of God brings in a new order in Luke 4:25-27 Jesus says “But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land,        26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.          27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

He said this Kingdom order is different from your taught prayer, I cannot join with you in that statement and belief, as I am of a Kingdom of God and I must make sons of the Kingdom, disciples  of this Kingdom.     In the Kingdom of God the care for lepers, woman and Gentiles is given.      This is what Jesus was outlining in saying the above  “…I am cancelling the former prayer…”.     The reaction was to attempt to take him, Jesus for Israel only, for Israel only wanted SOME included over and against the ALL of who Jesus came for, he came for the Kingdom.     At that time Israel was for their nation only, yet      Christ came to bring an inclusive and ever expansive Kingdom of God.    The future stands with those who stand for the ALL and not the SOME.    He brought a different order, a different Kingdom.

Today we have called people to be disciples of Jesus but Jesus called disciples to become disciples of the kingdom Matthew 13:52 (Moffat) “every scribe has become the disciple of the realm (Kingdom)”

Disciple of a Kingdom, Jesus called disciples, to make disciples of the Kingdom this has been weakened and it has weakened the impact of the message of Christ to the world, the “good seed” saw the kingdom Matthew 13:38, 39, now is Jesus a carpenter, or the architect? there is a New World order a new Kingdom breaking through?

Note this the good seed,  the sons of the kingdom, the Word is the seed in Matthew 13:19 by V38 sons of the Kingdom are now the seed. It has to be outlined that In the days of Jesus “sons of” had a different meaning from our use today.       It was used to refer to the son of the dominant quality in the person.   Such as Barnabas –  son of encouragement or even Judas – son of perdition that is a wasted son.

Therefore now seeing we are to be sons of the Kingdom we can now conclude it is about what is our dominant quality.    Seek first only says this is our visible, directing, controlling dominant quality sons of the Kingdom.

I shall posse a question for you, with the loss of the focus and emphasis on the ‘sons of the Kingdom’ and making ‘disciples of the Kingdom’ is a distraction and ,os son the advance and understanding of the ‘Kingdom of God’ and therefore becoming servants minded influencers

The kingdom of God is not a system imposed but a way exposed.

Kingdom of God is to change the outlook on life to change the world’s character, simply changing the atmosphere is a distraction and not enough, it will not bring transformation but we need to change the character of society

That is we become centers of revelation the Kingdom of God and be SONS OF THE KINGDOM, being Disciples of the Kingdom just as Jesus meant it to be.

A Bridge its life, leadership & all that.

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Bridge building is an art!      I realised over the years how much of life is about building bridges, which we all have to do constantly.    If it’s the first meeting or one from a deeper relationship it’s still needs the ongoing art of bridge building.

I was trained as builder, a building surveyor, RICS was the professional qualifications we aimed for to achieve our skill.   I was trained  to have a grasp of many elements within the building industry, it was not about mastering one particular discipline, but being the coordinating point for many trades and professions within the industry.   I learned topography, out in cold and sunny days working a theodolite, walking across the landscape.   I studied quantities, working out the quantities and costs of erecting a structure.    I designed buildings architecturally, drew plans , drafted contracts, compiled specification, run multi-million pound construction contracts.   Even designed watery dams, and BRIDGES, working the stresses and strains, the forces that bridges have to carry.   Calculating the engineering of building concrete or steel even wooden bridges.    Building bridges,  the stresses and strains, the art involved in building these life long structures.

The stresses and strains of the art of bridge building I have realised  is a picture of ongoing life, that my life is involved in this complex engineer of bridge building with lives and relationships continuously.     We daily build these bridge or weaken them.   I recall being advised that I better make sure that the bridge of my relationship with others is strong enough to carry the load I wish to transport across it before I take the load up with people.     It’s of no use to end up saying “…well its the way I am, blunt…”, which might be true, when the bridge of relationship cannot any longer carry any kind of load.   Its better to take several trips across the bridge of this relationship with a lesser loads until you get it all across than rushing at it while smiling and looking back having got across only to realise when you get across that the bridge is so fragile now nothing can be carried across it!

The art of bridge building we have to learn to negotiate life and people as well as in our own lives.

I am not setting myself up as an expert, far from it, just a simple commentator on life and its challenges, I am learning, I hope to negotiate and being a bridge builder, perhaps a Biblical peace maker?

So we agree in the importance of connecting with those we work, live, partner with in life, ministry, vocation, profession, work with and meet in everyday life, particularly in this culture where new relationships can be intimidating, and 15-minute lunches are common. The following are some thoughts on how to best build a connecting bridge of partnership between yourself and another person

  1. Love people until they ask “why?” what about getting to the place that the actions of you loving people speaks so loudly that people “ultimately demand an explanation for why you do what you do.   
  2. Ask more questions than others do. Discover that asking questions is much more strategic than giving answers
  3. Spend lots of time listening. “Once you’ve asked a great question, listen. And listen more. And listen more,” O boy do we need help, O boy do I need help.
  4. Find points of connection and shared interests, Be intentional!  Make a point to discover the person’s interests, hobbies, and what truly motivates them. Then build on shared interests.
  5. Follow-up. How Important this is, as you never heard from some one will not mean thy have cut or are disinterested they are like you busy.   Come on be bigger and lest grow up.   Try this take the first step and reach out, then once you have done that, do it again.   I sadly heard a comment recently “…I tried contacting them, they did not come back so I forget about it, let it go…” Let us build  a bridge and try, try again, again!

The art of bridge building, we could build the longest, the highest, the most scenic, most significant bridge in regard to relationship that people have ever seen, let’s do it let’ s have a go, don’t give up build it.   I think a film several years ago called ‘Field of Dreams’ coined a phrase once “…if you build it they will come…” Build a Bridge.

Leadership while sitting Continued – lessons from a cyclists seat.

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Heralded as the greatest cycling Olympics ever, the London 2012 velodrome has become a golden event at least 7 golds and a few other silver and bronze medals for the UK, from speed trials, team sprint, omnium producing Gold medals.   Cycling lessons will be written and debated for many years in team strategies and life’s forums I am sure.   Watching the interviews of the team trainer works and how his strategies shave produced such a golden team.   His comments of breaking down each event and dealing with the little things, then all the little changes amalgamate to make big advances.  In their own right these little changes are insignificant yet together in the overall achievement great advance.  Changes such as even down to how a cyclist would wash their hands.

Even before the golden advance in the velodrome we began in the last blog to enjoy some of the benefits in lessons from a bicycle seat, looking at Lance Armstrong’s‘ advice  in building team.    We will now continue without any more introduction looking at some noteworthy thinking and how it affects the life of a Christ follower.

Lance Armstrong outlines practical insights to gain advance for our consideration.

  • No matter what the cards are that life deals you, you have to make the most of it.   

For all of Lance’s athletic prowess, one thing that he could not control was the fact that he developed testicular cancer. This cancer later spread to his brain and he developed a brain tumour. For a while, it looked as though Lance was losing the battle against cancer. Yet he kept fighting. At the same time, he kept winning. Many people would have given up in those circumstances. Yet, not only did he not give up, he triumphed against adversity, winning races while suffering from cancer.

The bible teaches us that our lives are not about amassing but much more about producing the character of the Son in our lives becoming like the Christ and being sons of God this is our goal, that He might fill all in all.   In other words life is about producing what the scriptures call ‘Overcomers’ that we are to overcome rather than duck and avoid life.   So many people duck responsibility avoid accountability and even rebuke the challenges, bind them in prayer and cast them out when they have been presented with overcoming opportunities.

We hear many say that they are a transitional generation for example they are  a  bridge to the generations or racial gaps, what ever gaps really, yet so often when we are presented with the gifts of transition we tend to think that they are evil and from satan, but they are actually gifts to bring transition and cause us to overcome.

  • Every race starts with a single rotation of the wheel.

To achieve great things, you have to first achieve the little things.  A long-distance race victory doesn’t just happen instantly, it has to begin somewhere and from those many rotations of the wheel, victory followed.    Every little press down of the foot to create another rotation of the wheel counts, or you could say every small event makes the big picture work.    Someone once said ‘the sea is made of water droplets’, for you and I we only see the sea and push aside the little drops that make it up as we only want or value the big, great, yet the small pushed aside are where life is at really.

  • Preparation.

For a race that would last days, he would spend all year round training hard and competing in other events. He was known to push himself to extremes in training, more-so than most endurance athletes.

We are encouraged through the scripture to be shrewd and wise taking a view of the culmination of Gods purpose and not to live in the shallows of now only.   Is this not the encouragement of “without a vision people are unrestrained (perish)” it is about having a view which demands a long-range.   To be expectant of the return of Christ yet plan for the long-term future, it’s the tension of living the ‘now and not yet’ making provision for the long haul and the immediate.

  •  Do not doubt yourself when others doubt you.

For a large portion of his career, Lance had to put up with doping allegations made against him, many of them made by former team-mates. Some of these allegations could perhaps be attributed to jealously.     Being accused of something, particularly by former friends, can be quite upsetting. Much speculation remains on whether or not Lance took performance enhancing drugs, and it’s likely to follow him the rest of his life.

Believe that God has chosen you, empowered you equipped you don’t let others hold you back or their insecurity or control pull down what God has promised.   See through Gods view on your life.   ‘Enduring for the joy set before’ was the Jesus style of life that  is distracting challenge our wills, some times challenges makes us wonder yet there was a joy in Christ of knowing what God wanted of Him the Christ.   Don’t take on other people’s feelings, live in the inner life of God.

  • Family is important.

Winning is important. But it’s not everything. Despite his hectic training schedule, Lance Armstrong still found time to father five children.

A Family is what  God is after, the church is the family of God we must see this as important beyond anything else, to be a family and model a family at every level.    To prevent the church becoming organisational and remain as a family that the influence, leadership and stability of the community of God, the church comes from mothers, brothers, fathers and sisters.  For this is the governments of the church, there will be the functional apostles, prophets etc., reproducing the very same in a people,  yet these functions are fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers but certainly not positional but relationship in a family.   It’s a challenge in our day as we cross to business models, which there is nothing wrong with business in its sphere yet the church crosses and finds little true relationships, as we take on cooperate models and realise we are about filling the earth with a person not business strategies we are FAMILY, the FAMILY OF GOD together, the Christ like corporate body, the image and likeness of the Father.

  • The determination to succeed.

His drive to become the best was phenomenal. It is all the more incredible to have succeeded so often in an endurance sport. Unlike many other sports, endurance sports are not won with one play, or a short period of maximum effort. They require maximum effort over a long period of time.    To win one Tour de France title is incredible, to win it seven times is something else.

Jesus set his ‘face like flint’ he determined his direction, he asked can ‘this cup be taken away’ then concluded ‘not my will but yours be done’ he determined to finish.   Paul said ‘I have run the race…I have finished the race‘ determination to get to the end, the old idiom that goes ‘the measure of a person is in how they finish, finishing well’

  • Do not get complacent.

Once you have achieved your goals, there’s always the temptation to sit back, relax and enjoy your success. After the first few Tour de France wins, you would forgive Lance for slacking-off training a little. After all, he had accomplished great feats. Yet Lance wasn’t happy with just one or two wins, he wanted more. Even as he was rapidly approaching middle-age and suffering from a terrible disease, he kept going.

You could say of Lance ‘He put the same amount of determination into his last victory as he did his first one’.    Don’t let your world become small and just survive, it seems some times that life throws all at us to produce this,  but we must not be complacent.     Knowing if God who started something ‘will complete it’ as Paul put it can we join in with that same essence and life to complete what we start and not get complacent?

  • If you have succeeded at anything, there’s always more to do.

No matter what life throws at you, with the right frame of mind you can overcome. Even when life is cruel. And when all others doubt you, you can go that extra mile and become the best in the world.

We are OVERCOMERS in Christ, who can separate us from the love of God, all these are there so we know and experience that we can be those who get through and accomplish the goal of God for all creation.

Leadership Lessons while sitting down, leading from a bike!

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Olympic fever has hit the Uk having had the most successful day ever in the competitive day at London 2012 yesterday, Thursday 3rd August so the news casters report.    I wonder how many people will take up some kind of sport from all that’s going on shooting, rowing judo and of course cycling.   Cycling has captured people’s imagination with Sir Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins and co.

A number of years ago a friend introduced me to another great cyclist who put pen to paper regarding his own experience of the sport, bringing lessons to leadership, team involvement and many other aspects, his name being Lance Armstrong.   Let me see if I can simply put some lasting thoughts together from his penning.   Armstrong paints a picture of team, of corporate riding which is most powerful.   Rather than painting a picture of captains and leaders he paints a way of constant movement, empowerment, honouring the gifts/talents, strengths along with personal ability for the corporate.   In essence I would sum it up with “the terrain determines the leadership”.       That is the best hill climber, downhill rider, flat, or what the terrain determines,  takes the lead.   That the one who has the best ability to meet the coming terrain comes through the team and takes the lead seamlessly and intuitively without competition or jostling or wanting the accolade to be seen the terrain determines who takes the advance and the whole benefits.

We live in a world where those with a title take the lead, or where hierarchy determines the lead, with a top down mentality ruling and making  decisions, rather than the best suited person, or allowing the empowerment or the gifted, the grace gift, to shine through.  It shows a picture where advance is determined by grace, skill, along with who is the best to meet the terrain and circumstances in front.

I fully understand I may be in danger of making more of Armstrong’s’ thoughts than he meant,  yet it has opened up my imagination, it has become a wonderful picture of how the body at every level, and in every area of general life should function within leadership and within any corporate expression.   To have a corporate people who with intuitive procession move constantly, enabling the other to move through all as they  recognise the one with the skill to meet the rigours to advance, rather that all waiting to be asked, told or appointed and titled to do something.   When space is made for the terrain it enables and graces the person with the right skill to come though and takes us ALL on to  achieving the most we can corporately.    We require a new day,  a new way, and a new people to come through, to move corporately, preferring and honouring one another, not stepping back and waiting but moving forward to take on the riggers that are set for us.    It demands us to be mature and not allow any defence, or insecurity to overwhelm us but rather be excited to see the whole breaking through and making advance without loss of face or anything else, allowing  my identity to come through the whole.

Over the years, believe it or not I admit I enjoyed the “Star Trek” series and realised how each series addressed the issues of their era, such as in the first series, the issues of the 1960‘s  with each following spin-off reflecting  their decade.   They displayed and spoke into such topics  as war, peace, value of personal loyalty, imperialism, class, human rights, racism ( it exposed the first cross racial kiss on TV), along with other  important issues.   All its manifestations of leadership styles were cleverly woven in and were there for all to see as the series advanced and the spin off’s came, e.g. Captain James T. Kirk and his interaction with his team, Spock “Bones” as the top dog, he had the only seat in the centre of the ship, then came Captain Jean-Luc Picard who displayed more of a team but he still “made it so”, set the direction and sat in the middle of a row of seats, although he created much more of a team than the first.   The next step is seen through Commander Sisko (DSN), Captain Kate Janeway  (Voyager), now a woman took on the captain’s chair which was now no longer in the centre, but every discipline had their seat and every expert had a place at the centre of the ship, taking responsibility for their disciple, answering what ever the need in front of them demanded.    It was empowering, the multiple people to be corporate befit.

So where does that leave us?    Let me suggest in looking at the Jesus way, I would have to conclude the “you feed” of the feeding of the 5000, although the scripture says that Jesus “knowing what he would do” was seeking to bring through a cooperate environment.   The sending of the 70 out by two’s is yet another way of bringing everyone through.   The “it is better that I leave you that the Spirit may come” is this not again the establishment of the many rather than just the “ONE”, that the  corporate body meets its terrain and allows those fitted by their grace gift to take the advance.   The lead would change in every challenge and joy.

Paul’s encouragement of “as every joint supplies” here the emphasis of supply is important, along with the ‘every”  the corporate body is after maturity,it is not about who controls, or who is the line manager, even or who is the greatest leader?   The greatest is the servant of all, the greatest is the one given to the whole, laying down his/her life for the whole?   The great love of laying down your life for your bother!

Just thoughts may be or some real truth of direction in the advance of leadership.   A family, for is this not what we are, a family needs a sacrificial people laying down for the right people to do the next thing.     We do not want to see the family simply becoming an organisation,  we have enough examples of what happens when that takes place, rather let us see a dynamic advance, new team and corporate influence happening,  determined by the task, the terrain of advance.   In the day of the body, the ‘ekklesia’ of God come.

Next time we will look at more insights from the cycling seat