Servolution….Day 4

This morning about 9 am a group of volunteers from our MWC campus went down to the local DHS office, where there are about 110 employees.  DHS employess have a very high stress job, they are looked at negatively by so many.  There job is hard most of the time.  Its very easy to get burned out, and the turn over rate is very high.  We know that one of the reasons for burn out, is the feeling that we are not appreciated.  We thought, “how can we serve them.”  We decided we just wanted them to know how much we appreciate them.  So we took food and drinks and filled their break room with all kinds of things for them.  Then we made each of them a goodie bag for themselves, it had home made desserts in each with a thank you card that told them how much we appreciated what they did for the community.

They were so grateful for what we did, one lady responded by going back to her office and writing us a thank you note, here is what it said…

“Dear Thoughtful Ones,

Before I dive into these delicious treats that you have provided us, I wanted to thank all of you for being so thoughtful.  I have worked this job for over 18 years and this is the first I’ve seen a church come in and show us such love and appreciation.  Thanks for all you do in the service of the Lord.  Your kindness has not gone unrecognized.”

So many great people serve our cities, our states, and our nation in roles of service with very little appreciation.  We need to let them know how much we appreciate what they do for all of us.

I spoke to a leader in our DHS the other day, and she said she felt like what she was doing was a calling.  She said most of the people who work in this field, at least the people who last in this field fill that way.  Lets help them stay encouraged and keep up the good work they do.

David

Be encouraged

Just an encouragement to everyone. No matter what’s going on around us, fear does not help. Fear is a destructive force and only makes things worse.

One of my favorite scriptures has to do with overcoming fear. Romans 8:15 says we have not been given the spirit of Bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption whereby we cry abba father.

Several good things in this scripture. The first is it refers to fear as a bondage. The best description for fear is bondage. Fear binds your life, it paralyzes you or it pushes you into bondage because of bad decisions. Most decision based on fear are the worse decisions. It says the reason we should not fear is because of what we have been given. The grace of God. God has adopted us into his family. We all as children, when faced with a bully, would say, my dad is bigger than your dad, in this case its true. We have been adopted, God is the greatest and most and truly if God is my father, my dad, my abba, then why should I be afraid? He owns everything, He’s bigger than it all, His love and compassion far surpass any problems we may go through.

So be encouraged, if God cares for the sparrows, and flowers of the field and has set up the process for them to be provided for, how much more does He care for us.

Don’t be afraid, your daddy’s got your back.

Leadership Lessons learned training for a marathon 1

There are many leadership lessons to be learned when your training to run in a marathon.  I will start with this one.  You can always do more than you think you can.  There is no doubt that we all have limitations, the problem is we think our limits are much smaller than they are.  We look at obstacles and make excuses instead of seeing opportunities and finding reasons to stretch.

Doing more than you think you can requires you to think.  Doing more than you think you can requires you to push all the way to the farthest places you’ve gone before and go farther.  When we get to places that are on the verge of beyond where we’ve been before our mind, our will, our emotions rebel against us.  That is precisely when we have to decide to lead, to realize and actualize the fact that we can do more than we thought we could.  Just keep going, stretch beyond, and don’t quit.  The advantage is it sets the bar higher and it makes the normal press seem much easier.

Right now, i am at the 15 mile wall, I have gotten to that point and both times gotten ill and had to stop, I am researching to figure our the problem and will continue to run and build up to i get past it.  I will run the 26.2 and will be able to say, I did more than I thought I could!

Press on!

David

15 miles and counting…

2 days ago i did something that I use to believe I could not do.  I ran 15 miles.  WOW, what a challenge.  It was very difficult.  If you have read my blog before you know that I have run up to 12 miles, and thought that was quite an accomplishment.  When we ran this 15, i was doing great until we got to about 12, the furthest i had gone to that point.  My body just wanted to quit, but my friend and coach Andrew just pushed me and kept running in front of me to get my body to just come along.  It hurt, and was hard, but I’m so glad I did it.

This is why leaders are so important to our lives, because when we are struggling we can look out front, and there is someone who has been where you have before and knows you can make it.  Just keep running they say, come on you can do it they might say, but the thing that helped me, was the fact that andrew did not stop or slow for me, he just kept running, so when i wanted to stop, i couldn’t because he was out in front leading me on.  When I wanted to give up, I would look ahead and he would just keep going, so I felt compelled to keep moving.

I encourage all of us to look to our leaders, and be encouraged and keep going, even when it hurts, even when its hard, and even when you don’t think you can.  look out in front, and see the example that you can do it, because someone else has.  Then look behind you, there is probably someone on your heals.

David

Getting older and excited about it….

I have a great life!  I hear people my age so often say, “I wish I could be young again.”  I’m not very old, i’m actually only 39, but that is almost 40 and to many that seems old.  My wife Janae and I have decided we don’t want to be that young again.  Not that we didn’t love every minute of it, but truthfully I love being married 20 years.  I think its great to have the passion of new ideas and also some experience to go with it.  I love Knowing the excitement of risk, and what it truly means to take one.  I like having fun with my friends and have serious conversations but at the same time, knowing not to take myself to seriously.  I wouldn’t go back, but I am doing my best to keep the best elements of being young in my life.

I do that by dreaming, keeping the dreams passionately stirred up inside me and my family.  I told my wife two years ago, because I’ve had several friends go through some devastating mid life crisis.  I said I will not allow myself to be kicked off course.  So two years ago I set some goals.  Spiritually, mentally, and physically, and relationally.  I have kept myself aiming for those goals, and have seen my life improve in every area, and not allowed myself to become disallusioned by insecurity.  I’ve had my moments and mental battles, and Im sure will still have but this has truly helped me.

I told myself I would run a marathon before 40  which is quite a challenge because at the time i was way over weight.  5′9  250 way to heavy.  In this time i have lost over 50 lbs and and last monday i ran 9 miles without stopping at a decent pace.  My marathon on November 16th, so I will be meeting a personal goal and a spiritual goal at once.  I am using my race to raise money for our global reach efforts to stop human trafficking.

I love my life, I don’t want out, I don’t want to go back, I don’t regret.  I am doing my best to become what God created me to be, and loving every minute of it.

what are you doing to work this time in your life…i’d love to hear about it.

David

Life is great….

I love my life!  It seems to me there are people in life who just want to be miserable.  The glass is half empty, they see the negative in everything.  I just refuse to live my life that way.  Sure I have trials, and issues that come up in life, but I trust God, and He sees me through every situation.  I don’t know how its going to turn out at times, and sometimes I feel like I am stretched to my limits, but God is always there to lean on.  As a result, I have a beautiful wife, who loves me and is the most excellent mother I have ever seen.  I have two wonderful daughters who love me and their mother lavishly and are the best of friends.  My wife and I both have careers that we are passionate about and that contribute to positively effecting others.  I love my life!  Hard times come and go, good times come and go, people come and go, but great friends and great family are forever.  I know, in our society everything I just said sounds cheesy, but I don’t care, because I love my life!  What about you?