A Note to the Graduating Class of 2012

At the end of April, the Wall Street Journal pubished an essay to the Class of 2012 titled 10 Things Your Commencement Speaker Won’t Tell You.

I thought the essay, based on “10½ Things No Commencement Speaker Has Ever Said,” by Charles Wheelan, had some good advice for graduates, especially #7 Your parents don’t want what is best for you.  But, a piece of critical advice is missing.  So, I think I would add the following:

11.  You are not alone.  When your friends disappoint you (#1), you have a bad day…or month…or year (#2), you aren’t finding the success you thought you would (#5), or you aren’t as great as you intended to be (#10), there is still someone who loves you and will never leave you.  That person is Jesus Christ.  If you haven’t had the opportunity to meet him, now is the time.  You can discover how he changed live in the gospels of Matthew, Mark. Luke, and John.  You can see how he was the one many had been waiting for by reading the Old Testament.  And you see the impact he has had since his death in the remainder of the New Testament and in the history of the church over the last 2000 years.  Life will not be easy, and every friend or family member you know is going to fail you at some point.  But, the God we know in Jesus Christ will not disappoint you or fail you.  And here is the truth: your success is tied to how fully you center your life on him.

What advice would you add to this year’s graduates?

Deciding What to Be Before Deciding What to Accomplish

Andy Stanley recently wrote that…figuring out who I wanted to be took a lot of effort.

He decided to look for common themes that might be used to describe him at his funeral.  After weeks of prayer and self-evaluation, Andy narrowed it down to eight words that embodied who he wanted to be.  Andy was amazed at what happened when he completed this work:

I realized that within the boundaries of these eight words, I was free to achieve anything, build anything, or accomplish anything.  But anything that contradicted these eight words had to be abandoned – because it wasn’t who I wanted to be.

I haven’t been able to find exactly what those eight words are, but that doesn’t matter – those words are meaningful only to Andy.  Yet, when I read this, it got me thinking again about life goals and making decisions that honor those goals.

While I am still working on identifying and narrowing these goals to a manageable few, I recently came across a list of decisions to manage daily from John Maxwell in a blog post titled How Does Today Impact Tomorrow’s Success?   These 12 areas have given me a framework for determining my life goals.  But, I’m still struggling to make sure that my life goals are mine…not the work of someone else.

Have you ever thought about setting goals for your life before your life determines your goals for you?  What wisdom can you add to my thinking?

Cluttered Life?

Last fall, I read Dave Ramsey’s new book, EntreLeadership (Howard Books, New York, 2011).  One of the interesting points he made involves your desk.  According to Dave:

The condition of your desktop reflects the condition of your mind.  Stacks of stuff on your desk reveal a cluttered, inefficient mind.

What do you think?  What does your desktop say about you?

As hard as I try, my desktop is not always as organized as I would like it.  I find that even when I am intentionally focusing on only one project, “ministry” sometimes gets in the way.  Someone needs something right away to do their ministry.  Someone needs to visit with a minister.  Someone … (the list could go on and on).  The point is I know that I could do better but it can’t come at the sacrifice of what I am called to do.

Agree or disagree, keeping the clutter under control is an important job.  Nowhere is this more critical than in our spiritual journey.  If we are not careful, all the other stuff creeps in and distracts us from growth and maturity in our relationship with God.  Time in the scripture gets crowded out by meetings or activities or other well-intentioned actions.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul notes that faith comes, not from one’s own attempts at righteousness, but from the word of Christ:

As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”  But not all have obeyed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”  So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.  (Romans 10:15a-17, NRSV)

I’ve declared that 2012 is the year that I get rid of clutter.  I’m beginning the fifth month of the year and I haven’t made much progress, but there is still time.  And the same is true for deepening our engagement with God’s word.  So let’s get started and see what we can do to clear the clutter and focus on what really matters.

Swimming Upstream?

Have you seen the commercial for Endless Pools?  This company sells and installs small pools at your house for fitness and relaxation.  These pools are about 10-12 feet in length and have water jets at one end which moves the water from one end to the other.  When used correctly, you are always swimming against the current.

The commercial shows a swimmer making regular swimming strokes and kicks, just as if he were swimming for distance, only he isn’t moving at all.  This made me think…

Do you ever feel like you are swimming upstream?

What about your spiritual life?  Do you feel like you are making a lot of movements but not really furthering your relationship with God?

Several years ago, the Willow Creek Association made a tool available to congregations called the REVEAL survey.  One of the most important findings of REVEAL was that there are particular “catalysts” which can help you grow on your spiritual journey.  Regardless of whether you were new to an understanding of Jesus Christ or if Christ was the center of your life, the top catalyst in spiritual growth is personal engagement in the Scriptures.

Cally Parkison, the Brand Manager for REVEAL wrote:

The Bible’s power to advance spiritual growth is unrivaled by anything else we’ve discovered.

I suspect the Apostle Paul would agree.  After all, in his second letter to Timothy he wrote:

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.  (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NRSV)

So, whether your spiritual life feels “stuck in a rut” or alive and vibrant, the good news is that a little time in the scriptures can make a real difference in your spiritual health and fitness.   Got your Bible?

Death Before Multiplication

Will Mancini is the author of Church Unique.  I’ve been following his blog for a while, but I keep coming back to a recent post by Will: Death Before Multiplication.

Take a moment to read Will’s comments and then answer the question: Where do you see this at work in your life?

Thinking About the Future

Several weeks ago, I was doing some sermon research when I stumbled onto a news article about IBM’s Five in the Next Five Years.  Apparently, every year some of the key thinkers at IBM make a presentation about how they think the world will change in the next five years.  Most of the time, the changes involve technology, an area where IBM is well versed.

If you have a few minutes, check out the 2011 Five in the Next Five Years videos on YouTube (links below).  But, if you don’t have time to watch them right now, I have noted a key point from each:

 #1 Energy – we will create our own energy from anything that moves.

#2 Security – our biological makeup will serve as our password(s).

#3 Mind Reading – our digital devices will be increasingly linked to our brains.

#4 Mobile – the expansion of mobile technology will continue to reduce the digital divide around the world.

#5 Analytics – even things like our junk mail will be seamlessly customized to our preferences.

I found these videos to be intriguing because they made me start thinking about how we will be doing ministry in the future.  Oh sure, there will be some components of ministry that will not change.  For example, nothing can replace a face-to-face hospital visit.  But what might be different just five years from now?

What do you think?

When Work and Family Collide

One of my favorite authors and speakers on church leadership is Andy Stanley.  Several years ago, Andy wrote a book called Choosing to Cheat which was about the tension between work and home – which one was not getting the attention they want or deserve.

This book has been repackaged in a new book titled When Work and Family Collide.  Here is a brief excerpt (courtesy of catalystspace).

Where are you cheating?  Where are your priorities?  Are you living the life God intended for you?