In the last couple of days I got to telling stories about different hunting trips we have been on with our kids over the years, the number of times and hours they tromped around in the woods with me even when they were really young. Tonight we got to talking sports and our kids and I began to recall the number of games we went to all the way until they were finished with college. Add to that homework, work days, other family trips, school activities, and just living together, there was a huge number of hours invested in the lives of these 8 kids until they got married, and a huge amount of money. But even with the cost in time and money the years of our life when they were home and part of our life was easily the most enjoyable years of my life. I am sure that God wired us up in such a way that our kids are a major fulfillment of our personal sense of mission, and thus fill us with a great sense of personal satisfaction of having done something that matters. One of the things that I am looking forward to in heaven is being able to remember all the events, and stories, and details,of all those years and trips and games that I have forgotten now. We sit around and reminisce now about the years gone by, and none of us, kids included can remember even a fraction of all that did happen, I am thinking that the reminiscing that we do in heaven is going to be really specIal with total recall and a divine perspective.

That is the world’s opinion, in fact that is probably way to nice of a word, those in the world would for sure use a much ruder word than foolish. But God in His Word says that He has chosen the foolishness of preaching as His method of communicating His truth. I get to preach at JBC this weekend. It has been about 2 months since I have preached, and even though I have preached for 40 years I still get really nervous when I preach after that long of a layoff. I have studied a bunch, written, thought, rehearsed, prayed, and now wring my hands.

My main goal is that I would teach accurately what the Bible teaches, and not add to or take away anything because of personal opinion or bias, and especially because of popular opinion or tradition. We live in a day and age when it seems everyone has very strong opinions on almost everything , and their personal opinion has become their God. Someone asked me recently what it means to “Fear God”. I said it means that you acknowledge that God is God, almighty, all powerful, all knowing, omnipresent, infinite, all wise, it is He who has made us, not we ourselves, He makes the rules, and He is in charge, not me.

The nervousness that I feel isn’t because people are listening, it is because God is listening, and I want so very much for Him to like what He hears.

Leadership is influence. To be a leader doesn’t mean you are the boss, it means that you influence people. You influence the decisions they make, you influence the way they talk and the things they buy, you influence how they treat other people. Some people have zero influence on those around them, that is being a non-leader. Others have huge influence on people, not just those they know well but also complete strangers. Some of our influence is simply a personality thing, but most of our influence is because of specific things we say and do because we have learned the skill and the art of leading people. I teach leadership every year at JBC. This year I am going to be teaching 5 different classes each week on how to be a leader. It is probably the most enjoyable and rewarding thing I do, and I can’t hardly wait for the first week in October when the classes begin. Over the last 40 years I have made the pursuit of Leadership excellence my main goal and passion. I have read literally hundreds of books on the topic, I have gone to many seminars taught by gifted leaders, and listened to hours of lectures and sermons on-line.

I am not a gifted or natural leader who can influence by the strength of his personality or charisma, but often those who are tend to rely on that giftedness and never really become a student of the skill or art of leading people. One of the most important principles to understand is that “authority” that is not power, position, or title but is a very special magnetism that attracts people to you and prompts them to listen and follow comes from God as a reward for certain kinds behavior. When Jesus spoke and taught the crowds it says that they marveled because he taught with authority.

The main requirement for God to give me His authority is to be faithful. Jesus said, “you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things”. To be faithful is to keep your commitments and promises no matter how small or insignificant those commitments might be. Do what you said you would do, be where you said you would be, be a person others trust and can count on. Faithfulness is a character trait, it is a way of thinking, it is a learned discipline, and it is very pleasing to God and one that He rewards greatly.

When our kids were growing up at home we on most Mondays would keep the kids out of school, and we would have a family work day. We would do firewood, clean the house, fix the house, paint the house, go to the dump, but I think the favorite project was to butcher, cut up, grind and package a beef, sometimes an elk or deer. We did a beef today, We shot the critter, skinned and gutted her this morning, hauled her home and then started the process of getting all these nice packages of beef in the freezer. We put a piece of plywood on the dining room table and bring in one quarter at a time with a bunch of adults, kids, grandkids all around the the table hacking, cutting, grinding, and wrapping, but the best part is the eating!

If someone offered me a million dollars to do something, even if it were very hard I would be motivated to give it a try because a million dollars is a lot of money and I can think of many, many things I could do with that amount of money. Motivation in us is a result of focusing on the reward, whether we receive the reward or someone we care about receives it, whether the reward is physical or not. The reward must be real and valued, and the more real and valued it is the more motivated we are. I love being motivated, because I have more energy, I feel better physically, I feel better about myself, I definitely get more done, and I seem more effective in motivating others. The key to being highly motivated is identifying the various rewards there are in life and figuring out which one is most important to you, what you really want. Though I started with the money illustration it really is a poor motivator for long term for most, but most haven’t figured that out because it does have that initial, short term “pop of excitement”. There are many rewards in life but the most powerful and long lasting are enhanced relationships with others, people we care about. I enjoy doing things for my family and when there is acknowledgment and appreciation my motivation soars. Though it takes more mental work and focus, learning to sense the Lords pleasure in me is the most powerful motivator in my life. In Matthew 25 Jesus says these words in the form of a parable, “well done, good and faithful servant”. When I sense the Lord’s pleasure in me for an attitude, activity, or accomplishment I want, really want to do it again.

Someone told me it is supposed to get to 99 degrees today, whooooeeeee that is hot!! So I looked on my handy Dandy weather app on my phone and sure enough it is supposed to get to 99 at 4 pm, but wait, it is supposed to get to 99 tomorrow and Monday as well, wow!! Weather is an interesting thing. In Texas they had record amounts of rain and awful flooding, In other places cold and snow. Whatever it is we have zero control over it. We can semi-successfully predict what is coming and prepare the best we know how. It is clear in the Bible that God controls the weather, and that He uses the weather to encourage us to trust Him. Psalms 46:1-3. “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.” Some weather we like, and other we don’t like. Most of the time it is just a comfort issue but occasionally it is a life and death issue. Growth in character happens when principles of growth are repeated over and over until they are engrafted into our souls. The character trait of totally trusting God no matter what happens can be reinforced every day as we respond to the weather by declaring our trust in God and our commitment not to whine or fuss or complain if it is hot or if it rains.

September 1st is a date that I have used for years as a point of consolidation of my remaining goals for the year. I go over my goals, mark off the ones done and prioritize the ones left, decide which ones won’t get done and decide whether to drop them or roll them into the next year. As I started that today I realized that I have fewer goals marked off as done from my original list way back at January 1st than I have ever had before!! How can that be!!?? Did I make my goals to hard, was I especially lazy this year, am I getting old and tired, am I getting old and unmotivated, was I sick, did my wife take to much of my time, was it global warming?? I have been thinking about it all day, and for the life of me I can’t come up with a reason, it is a mystery. I think probably it was all of the above except maybe global warming.

I remember talking to a family member once about their goals, and they told me they hadn’t set any because they didn’t get many done the year before and it caused to much guilt, and feelings of inadequacy, of being a loser. As I thought about it, I realized, I don’t feel guilty, inadequate, like a loser, I feel good, it has been a great year! So why do I feel like a winner when there are so many unfinished goals on my list? Because I have used goals so much in my life for so long I recognize that goals are a tool to help motivate, prioritize, and to create focus, and they are not meant to be a task master, just a goal. As I reviewed this past 8 months I recognized that I have had a lot of fun, I have actually accomplished quite a bit of ministry, I have had some wonderful times with family and friends, I feel like I have grown in character and in my relationship with my Lord, and I caught a lot of fish! How can that not be a good year!!

Every year since I was 16 I have made my total number of goals my age, therefor I have increased by one each year the number of goals that I write and pursue, so this year I had 68 goals and next year was supposed to be 69, but I decided today to change that system. This year we had our 48th wedding anniversary so I am going to make 48 goals. I think that will be about right, and if I come up way short again I will use my grandson Jame’s age!! Life is good!!