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I lived through Hurricane Katrina and the devastating impact of the storm on the Gulf Coast region of our country in the summer of 2005. For months and years now, the region has been rebuilding from all that was done in one 24-hour period that began late on Saturday evening and lasted into Sunday. Straight-line winds of more than 160 mph hit the city of New Orleans and the western border of Mississippi destroying anything in its path. More than 1,000 persons were killed in the storm. Some bodies were never recovered. They were blown from their houses or drowned in the tidal surge and then taken back out to sea, while others failed to listen to warnings and were senselessly killed by the direct hit from the storm.
The beauty of what happened in the weeks after the storm is a story of how people came together to help one another rebuild. I was eyewitness to groups of educators from Washington state who came to New Orleans to do what they could. We helped a suburban Chicago church do a complete home makeover for a needy family in the lower 9th Ward. Over and over, we saw numbers of people who dropped their existing world and came to the aid and assistance of unknown but
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If you are a leader worth their salt, you want to grow, expand, strengthen, deepen, widen…you get it. You want to have, be and do better, and that in itself is not bad. However, there are two potential downfalls with this desire:
1. It becomes your idol, and nothing can satisfy that lust for more.
2. Your continual pursuit for more, better, or new keeps you from an appreciation of where you currently are.
I realize there are situations with extremely bad conditions, and seemingly no positive spin possible. However, the reality for most leaders is that there is something to celebrate.
So maybe pause right now and consider some of the things that you take for granted that could be celebrated today. But not just for today…
There is most likely something available to you right now that could lead to tomorrow’s new, better, bigger thing.
God asked Moses at the burning bush, what’s in your hand? Moses said “a staff”.
Jesus asked the disciples at the feeding of 5000, what do you have? They said “five loaves and two fish”.
A staff isn’t enough to convince Pharaoh to let God’s people go free. 2.5 fish sandwiches will not feed 5000+…except that you’re not on the
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We all have opinions. What’s crazy is how many times we have strong opinions after very little thought or processing. After spending a few minutes thinking about something, or maybe having one conversation, we are ready to pick a side, stand our ground, or attack. In a matter of seconds sometimes we are ready to begin criticizing someone or something, sure that we are right, and convinced that others who don’t see it our way need to be confronted. Opinions aren’t bad or wrong, but what we do with them can be.
I thought I would give you a working list that my wife Andrea and I have about sharing our opinions and criticisms with other people. Sometimes those opinions can be in matters of grave consequence, such as someone making decisions that could ruin their life, other times it’s meaningless opinions about where the couch should go in the living room. In either scenario, as our opinions begin to lead to criticism we try and use this filter to decide whether we should share them or not.
In full disclosure, we don’t filter ourselves when we watch American Idol. We’re pretty ruthless
1. How bad do I want to say it?
We have a saying in our house, “If you really want to say
The movement of God is always forward. We have been made to soar and to embrace our future as God sees it. Forwardleadership is designed to engage leaders who have tomorrow in their hearts. Thank you for visiting.
