In Leadership: The Problem With This Generations Leaders

What does it take to be a good leader?  This is a question that many of us have asked ourselves, a question that takes more than one answer.  I know one answer would be people that are genuinely willing to follow us.  Because it is impossible to lead if there is nobody to follow you.  Another answer would be to be a good follower, because it is impossible to lead if you’re not willing to follow.  These are just two of the many answers to this one question and all of them require a lot out of the person asking.  

Being a leader is not an easy task, but it is a task that has great benefits for the person leading and the people following.  I say this with the mindset of; if you are an actual leader then you’re doing it correctly.  I do not refer to bad leaders as leaders because they might only be a leader because of their rank or position not because it’s a personality trait that they’ve adopted.  A real leader is somebody that has set out to better themselves and the people that they’re leading, not somebody that just so happens to be in a position of authority.  It’s like a man that is a sperm donor calling himself a father.  If you’re not present to raise the children then you’re not a father, just as if you’re not willing to go through the process of becoming a leader that people are willing to follow then you’re not a leader.

We live in a time where words have lost their original affect.  People don’t hold certain words with the level of respect that they used to hold.  Words like honor, love, faithful, loyal, and leader.  We no longer have respect for positions of authority, nor do we have the desire to earn our positions and respect.  Instead we are so impatient that instead of taking the time to develop ourselves as leaders and instead of taking the time mentor other people to help them become good leaders we try to rush to the top to prove we’re the best.  We move ahead by ourselves and stand atop of the mountain and scream this is what I did by myself.  We don’t acknowledge anybody and we don’t help anybody.  We are the captains of our own ships and we are unwilling to welcome anybody aboard.  This is the era of selfishness.  This is the time of “me”.  Who wants to help others when I can help myself?  

We are no longer believers of the principle of serving something greater than ourselves.  We instead are serving nothing greater than ourselves, and the whole world is suffering because of it.  There are people that will do so much for their organization and community just to get ahead.  So many people that will find one person to mentor just to have somebody that’ll look up to them and kiss their….  

To be a leader we cannot be motivated by selfish desires.  The bible says to “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”  If we seek to do what’s right for our organization and the people we’re leading then success will come, raises will come, promotions, recognitions, adulation, everything that a selfish person desires, a selfless person will get just because he’s looking out for the interests of those around him and above him.  People will take care of you as long as you are willing to take care of the organization and the people within it.  Taking care of the people in the organization is not however blowing smoke up the bosses butt; it’s doing what you know to do to get the job done, and being an example and mentor to the newer less experienced people in your organization, even if those people aren’t in your direct chain of command or are unable to do anything to return the favor.

In Leadership: Driven

Driven: Propelled or Motivated by something.

Apostle Ronald D. Howell Sr. is one of the most driven men I have ever known.  He is the senior shepherd for the church that i attend, Life Changers International New Horizon.  Here is a man that s  not only spiritually fit, he preaches well over 250 sermons a year, he's also physically fit; he can get up and run 3 miles in the morning, then come to the gym in the afternoon and lead us through a grueling weight lifting routine where a majority of the weight we're lifting is over 200lbs, and while we are resting he'll be doing another exercise.  Nothing about this man is normal.  He does all this and is over 50 years of age.  Apostle Howell has taught us that if we are comfortable than we're not operating out of faith, and his whole life is representative of this.  None of the 60+ leaders that he is over can say that they have surpassed him, no matter how hard we work, how far we go, he's always in the front leading the way. 

This is what a leader should be, someone whose followers cannot pass.  Once you are passed by the people that you're leading then you are no longer a leader.  In this I don't mean that you have to be the smartest or the most technical, but you have to be someone that is constantly leading from the front.  Someone whose followers know that when they look back they won't see you bringing in the rear.

Apostle Howell is somebody that is driven by a purpose and refuses to quit.  His whole life is  an example of Philippians 3:12-14 when the Apostle Paul said "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.  Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

As a driven leader this must be your attitude, even if you're not a christian you should still have a focus that you're driven towards.  The people that we lead must see that we are constantly moving toward a goal, they must see that our life is constantly pressing to the next level of accomplishment.  We can never appear to be complacent as leaders.

In Leadership: Consider the Cost

Luke 14: 28-30 "²⁸For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?  ²⁹Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, ³⁰Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish."
 
As leaders we must consider the cost of what it is we're doing.  We have people's lives in our hands.  It may not seem that drastic on a day to day basis but we are responsible for the livelihood of everybody that is subordinate to us.  We are responsible sometimes for their pay, education, training, discipline, advancement, and even whether or not they keep a job.  We cannot take this responsibility lightly. 
 
While I was task lead on one of the jobs I've had, I was responsible for making sure people's time-cards were signed.  If I didn't sign their time-cards then they wouldn't get paid on time.  Instead they would have to jump through hoops in order to get the pay they knew was coming to them.  Before becoming task lead I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I used it as a  learning experience.  One of the main lessons that I learned was that I needed more experience.  This was something new for me.  I was a leader in the military, but while in the military I wasn't a single point of failure.  There were always people that I could seek advice from on any problem that came up.  However it wasn't like this for me once I was out of the military.  People would come to me for answers that I would have to get from corporate, the problem with this was they were in a different country and didn't always get back to me in a timely manner.  However not getting an answer from corporate wasn't going to be an acceptable answer for the people that I work with.  As I said this was a learning experience.
 
We never fully know what we're getting ourselves into, but we must learn to be more aware of the costs involved.  As leaders you can't just jump into something blind because people will follow you into whatever disaster comes up due to your lack of planning.  In Matthew 15:14 it says "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."  No matter what our career is, if we as leaders are poor at planning then we are leading our people into disaster.  History is filled with examples of people dying as a result of poor planning on the part of leadership.
 
We cannot allow our subordinates to become victims of our laziness to plan.  If you want to be an example of what a leader should be or be somebody that people are willing to follow, then always have a plan.  As the saying goes, "He who fails to plan, plans to fail."  Without a plan you will fail, it's just a matter of time.

In Followership: Don’t get brought down by backstabbers

If you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing and you’re loyal to the organization then backstabbers can’t hurt you too much.  There are always going to be people that are opposed to you or what you’re trying to do.  They may not realize that that’s what they’re doing.    Sometimes people will set you up for failure by mentioning something you may have said to the wrong person.  Not all backstabbing is intentional, but it happens all the same.  The thing about working with people in an organization that you’re not in charge of is you will most likely end up being competition instead of a fellow laborer in the mission at hand.  We all, at one point or another, look at our coworkers or peers in whatever organization that we’re in as competition.  This is natural.  So we all, at one point or another, do something that can be perceived as throwing somebody under the bus or backstabbing, even if we were just trying to cover up something that we may have said or done.

We cannot let this type of stuff get us down, for the simple fact that most of the time it’s unintentional, and even when it is intentional, what can you really do about it.  We should be focused on how we carry ourselves around our peers and what we say so that when there is a misunderstanding or something is said about us to our boss that it isn’t true.  For example one time at work somebody told my boss that I was lazy because I didn’t do something that wasn’t in my job description nor was it something that I had training on.  I was upset at first but when it was brought to my attention, I was able to pass along the truth of the matter.  I didn’t go start an argument, and I didn’t let it bother me to the point that it would create any tension in the workplace.  I just let it go.  These things happen; we cannot let them affect our performance or attitude at work.  We need to just let it go, learn from it but let it go.

 I say let it go because these situations will occur more frequently throughout our career than we would like.  We can’t get upset and allow ourselves to be stressed every time it happens.  Instead we should use it as a learning experience.  We learn by knowing who not to talk to about certain things, who to speak with on a strictly professional basis, who to stay away from…etc.  Every time I feel betrayed by somebody I have to take a step back and replay the whole situation.  Usually it’s innocent.  Most people don’t realize what they’ve said could bring negative consequences to somebody else, or we don’t say “please don’t repeat this but” things just have a way of getting away from us.  As I said, we’ve done it to others just as they’ve done it to us.  We shouldn’t feel betrayed.  A part of being a follower is maintaining a certain level of discipline no matter what comes our way.  We are not the organization, but a part of the organization, we are not in charge but subordinate to somebody else.  So for us to cause tension or make a scene because we feel betrayed is disrespecting the organization and the people that are leading us. 

In the Bible God says that what you do to the least of these you do to me, and what you don’t do to the least of these you don’t do to me.  It’s the same in an organization, if somebody lies on you then they’re lying on the organization, but if they are pointing out a flaw then that’s a flaw in the organization.  We cannot carry ourselves as an individual when involved in something bigger than ourselves.  We must see the bigger picture always.  If somebody went behind our back and it was true then that is good for the collective.  I know this is easier said than done, and I probably wouldn’t want to look at it this way if I was the person going through this.  But it is a lesson that we must learn.  We were hired to do a specific role in an organization with a certain vision.  If we can’t live up to the role or if it comes out that we’re not living up to the role then the part that we play is in jeopardy of failing, which completely contradicts the purpose of us being there.  This must be exposed, so that the problem can be fixed.  We can’t take it personally. 

The only thing we can do to combat this is to be blameless.  As I said we must do what we know to do so that if somebody stabs us in the back we are doing what we’re supposed to be doing and it shows.  We as followers need to always have proof that we’re doing our job to the standard that was established prior to us showing up, or even at a higher standard than was established.  We must make ourselves a valuable part of our organization so that if somebody says something bad about us, it’ll be looked at by our leaders as a misunderstanding instead of a fact.  We need to remove any future doubt by our present work. 

In Leadership: Followership

We live in a time where although people are starting to touch on followership more and more, they are still primarily focusing on leadership.  There are more books on how to be a great leader then there are on how to support a great leader, or even worse, a bad leader.  These are principles that need to be taught in more forums across the business spectrum.  In the military we got taught a great deal about being a good leader and nothing really about being a follower.  We did get taught about following orders to a certain degree, but they weren’t teaching seminars on it.  We don’t really realize how to be a follower until we become a leader.  But by then it’s all about our ideas and us trying to figure out ways to move our organization forward.  We get taught what to do if we run into a troubled subordinate, but not what to do if we run into a horrible boss.  This is damaging to so many people’s careers.  There are people who have gotten kicked out of the military and fired from jobs because they were never taught how to follow somebody that they didn’t see eye to eye with.  So instead of being able to cope with the situation with a level head they rebel.  This is the generation that we live in.  We get told to shut up and color, or just do the work, but not how to do it with the stress of dealing with an idiot.  But it’s so important for us to learn how to follow that it should be taught as thoroughly as leadership is.  This is actually something that should be taught in high school, or throughout Jr. High School, before people reach the work force.   If you don’t learn how to be a follower until you show up for your first job then it’s going to be a rough road ahead, which is something many of us find out the hard way.

We do get taught some forms of followership from a very young age though.  We get taught how to follow rules by our parents, we get taught about not showing up late, and how to turn in assignments on time in school.  We learn how to respect authority all though life from our parents to teachers and people in uniform, and yet we still never fully grasp the concept of being a follower.  As we grow up we also get taught to be our own person, to be a leader and not a follower, to set the example, that we can be whatever it is we want to be as long as we set our minds to it.  But we can only be by learning how, and only learn how by following.  We need to stop telling our kids to not be followers, that puts a stigma on submitting to authority figures and our future bosses.  Instead we need to tell them to not follow people that are going nowhere, or people that are getting into trouble.  We need to tell them that we must be mentored in order to accomplish our goals, and that without being mentored, or following we will never be what we want to be because people won’t waste their time on somebody that they can’t train. 

Being a follower isn’t negative when it’s done in the proper setting, in this post I’m not talking about followers of criminal organizations, or followers of people whose life is on a self destructive road to oblivion.   Instead I’m talking about being a follower in an organization that will lead you on the road to success or self improvement or community involvement.  In this case being a follower is positive.  It causes you to be recognized as a team player, a person who can receive instruction and get the job done, somebody who is not afraid of correction because they know the end result is the building up of the organization.   When we are able to follow we are showing that we know we don’t know everything but we are willing to learn.

As a follower we must be ready, willing and able to always have the back of the person or people leading us.  No matter what our feelings are towards these people.  We cannot let personal feelings get in the way of doing the job that’s laid before us.  We do not come on board with an opinion.  If we have a negative opinion about our leaders to the point that we can’t do a good job or refuse to do the job then we need to move out of the way so somebody else can do the job.  We have to know that we are serving something bigger then ourselves and the overall accomplishment of whatever task we were given is what’s important.  Too many times we as followers try to put ourselves above the person or people leading us.  But the problem is we’re not the leader so we are only working against ourselves when we do this.

When we are being led, we need to know that if we come up with an idea that the idea should be in line with the vision of the organization and be prepared to either have in depth details on our idea or do the idea to have something that worked so we can present it.  We also cannot be hurt if our ideas are rejected, because the completion of the mission or the furtherance of the vision is what’s important not our ideas. 

Followers must be able to build a rapport with the leader or leaders.  It is the job of the person following to make sure that the people or person in charge is comfortable with you, not the other way around.  When we are in a subordinate role it is our responsibility to prove our trustworthiness.  If you can’t trust your leadership then you’re in the wrong organization.  If your leadership can’t trust you then it’s your problem to solve.  We must be a person that when the people that we follow think of us they think of somebody that is willing to get the job done at all costs.  Not somebody that will try to get away with murder.

As followers we must be able to work well with others.  It doesn’t matter what somebody has done to us, or who we don’t like, for the sake of the corporate body that we’re apart of we must get along.  When we show up we need to put aside all differences of opinion and work to achieve one common goal.  If you are unwilling to do this then the people you work for might be unwilling to trust you or unwilling to keep you employed.  We must remember our feelings are not what’s important. 

We must learn to follow with a form of dignity and selflessness that will show others that we are here to do what’s required of us, not here to cause a problem for those around us or above us. 

In Christianity: Christ Crucified

CHRIST CRUCIFIED

1 Corinthians 2:1-2
And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of
speech or of wisdom declaring to you the *testimony of God. 2 For I
determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him
crucified.

Nowadays we're preaching the Gospel to non believers with Wisdom, and
trying to give the complexities of God.  Teaching people about the
fruits of the Spirit, and the Parables of Christ.  But the 1st thing we
should preach to them is Christ Crucified.  This is the foundation of
our religion, that Jesus Christ died for our sins.  That he was
sacrificed so that His blood can cover us.  If it wasn't for this
selfless deed then nothing else would matter, we would still be in our
sin, we Gentiles would still be worshipping our gods, instead of GOD.
So in this email I'll be talking about Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.

Some might think that the only place it talks about Jesus Christ's
crucifixion is in the New Testament.  However those of us that really
know God, and are in the word, know that our God is a Thorough God.  And
if there is anything that we should place Close attention to in the
Bible then it's repeated throughout the bible.  Well this is the same
thing that happens when He talks about the crucifixion.  Jesus Christ's
crucifixion is prophesied about throughout the Old Testament by the
Prophets and by David.  God did this so that when the time came for
Jesus to be sacrificed for us that there would be no doubt about what
was happening.  Like I said we serve a Thorough God.  He is not the
author of confusion.  He won't leave you wondering.  If God does
something, he'll let you know what's about to happen so when it does
happen you'll know that it was God, and nobody else but God.  So the
Following verses are going to help us to understand Jesus Christ and Him
crucified more.  The most amazing thing to me besides God, is him
showing me how His prophesies come true.

Isaiah 53:4-12
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our
iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His
stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He
was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers
is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His
generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions
of My people He was stricken.
9 And *they made His grave with the wicked-- But with the rich at His
death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He
shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in
His hand.
11 *He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall
bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall
divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto
death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin
of many, And made intercession for the transgressors

Mathew 27:35
35 Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet:

"They divided My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots."*

Psalms 22:18
18 They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots

Mathew 37:38
Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another
on the left.
Isaiah 53:9
9 And *they made His grave with the wicked--

Mathew 37:43
43 He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for
He said, 'I am the Son of God.'"
Psalms 22:8
8 "He *trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him,
since He delights in Him!"


Mathew 37:46
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying,
"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You
forsaken Me?"* Psalms 22:1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

Mathew 37:57-60
Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named
Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 58 This man
went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded
the body to be given to him. 59 When Joseph had taken the body, he
wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and laid it in his new tomb which
he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the
door of the tomb, and departed.
Isaiah 53:9
9 And *they made His grave with the wicked-- But with the rich at His
death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

John 19:31-34
Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should
not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high
day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that
they might be taken away. 32 Then the soldiers came and broke the legs
of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. 33 But when
they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break
His legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and
immediately blood and water came out.
Psalms 34:20
He guards all his bones;
Not one of them is broken
Psalms 22:14
I am poured out like water

Luke 24:34
34 *Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what
they do."
Isaiah 53:12
And made intercession for the transgressors


I'll stop here, but there is so much more, I just did this to show you
why this is important.  There is soo much in the bible about Jesus, more
then what is shown in the Gospels.  So many prophecies to let us know
that he truly is the Messiah.  This is why Paul said that I came to you
knowing nothing else but Christ crucified, because once you can
understand Christ crucified then it will make you appreciate being a
Christian that much more.  God loves us so much that he told us that
Jesus was going to come, and be a Savior not only for the Jews but also
for the Gentiles, he told us that Jesus was going to suffer for us so
that we might be saved.  Jesus knew what he had to do long before he was
Crucified, and yet he Loved us so much that he went through with it
anyways.  Can you imagine being able to read in the bible about
yourself, and know everything that you're going to suffer for people
that won't appreciate it until you've suffered.  That's love, that's
AGAPE  We need to start being more obedient, to show Jesus that it
wasn't in Vain.  That we truly appreciate what he did for us.  It was no
small thing.

In Christianity: Forgiveness

 
Mathew 18:34-35
34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he
should pay all that was due to him. 35 So My heavenly Father also will
do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother
his trespasses.

We all know that forgiveness is important.  In the above scripture Jesus
talks about what will happen to us if we don't forgive our brother from
our heart of their trespasses.  But an important thing to remember is we
will not be forgiven also if we can't forgive ourselves of our own
trespasses.  Being a Christian we believe that Jesus Christ was
crucified on the cross and died as a sacrificial lamb to take away all
of our sins.  By that selfless act all of our sins were forgiven.  So
why do we not forgive ourselves when we stumble?  Why do we call
ourselves a failure, or an idiot.  Why do we walk around ashamed of
ourselves when we slip.  There are something's that we have going on in
our life that we are trying to be delivered from.  And just when we feel
we've been delivered from it we will slip up and do the very burden that
we feel has been taken off of us. And what do we do when that happens,
we curse ourselves.  We condemn ourselves and sometimes we turn our
backs on God because of it.  We'll turn our backs on our brothers and
sisters in Christ because of the shame that we feel.  How can we forgive
others if we can't forgive ourselves.  How can we love others if we
don't love ourselves, how can we love God if we can't love ourselves? 

We are told to always speak nice about others, and not gossip, we're
taught that if we don't have anything nice to say then don't say
anything at all, but do we practice that when it comes to us?  Jesus
says:  Mathew 12:35 "36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may
speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment. 37 For by
your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be
condemned".  So if by our words we will be justified or condemned, why do
we speak negative things to life?  If you call yourself a failure then
you're a failure and you won't be delivered, but if you say I will be
delivered from this and give it to God then you will be delivered.  We
expect it in our own time, instead of in God's time.  God knows that he
wants you to be delivered from your afflictions.  God doesn't want us to
keep sinning, but God also knows that we are human.  God knows that we
rely on him.  God wants us to know that we rely on him.  When God
delivers you from something he doesn't ever want you going back to it.
So when you keep on going to God eventually he'll make you so turned off
by the very thing that makes you stumble that you won't even think about
doing it again.  Some things are detrimental to us so he'll deliver us
from it right away.  Others we have to struggle with for awhile, but the
whole time we're struggling we're supposed to be going to God.  Paul
talks about this in his letter to the Corinthians in it he says:  2
Corinthians 12:7-10 "7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the
abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a
messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might
depart from me. 9 And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you,
for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I
will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest
upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in
needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am
weak, then I am strong".  Paul said that he will boast in his
infirmities.  He boasted and praised God in everything that we will cry
about and beat ourselves up over.  We need to stop doing this.  We need
to praise God no matter what. 

Christians aren't supposed to have Low self esteem, Christians aren't
supposed to have a bad attitude at all, whether it's because of
something that somebody did against us, or what we did against
ourselves.  We can't sin, and then because of the sin, sin.  That
doesn't make since.  When you sin you're sinning against God, whether
you sin against a brother, or you sin against yourself, Paul also says
that:  1 Corinthians 3:16 "16 Do you not know that you are the temple of
God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"  So if you are the temple
of God and you stumble, ask for forgiveness and move on don't talk down
about yourself, because when will it go from us beating ourselves up, to
us putting God down.  People know that we belong to God by our actions:
Mathew 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your
good works and glorify your Father in heaven".  So we need to start doing
what we're called to do without any negative thoughts, whether directed
towards God or other people or ourselves.  If you stumble praise God,
because you know that eventually that'll be something that'll be taken
from you, at least you know what you stumble over:  Proverbs 4:19  "The
way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them
stumble+.  If you're happy praise God, if your sad Praise God, no matter
what Praise God, because in your Praise is redemption, in your Praise is
Love, in your Praise is God

In Christianity: Focus

What is the focus of our lives?  Why do we focus on the unimportant aspects of life rather than the important?  Why do we focus on the appearance of things rather than what they really are?  For example if I look at a good looking woman, I'm attracted to what she appears to be on the outside, how her body looks, the way she dresses, her smile, but I won't look at who she is and what she stands for.  I won't look at the pain she has inside of if her smile is a mask that she puts on.

In Genesis 2:11 when God told Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he probably did that because He knew that man couldn't handle that kind of knowledge.  He knew that once man's eyes were opened to the "evil" things in life he would lose focus of the good or would blur the lines.  You could tell by what happened after Adam and Even ate the fruit.  Genesis 3:7-12 gives an account to the immediate reaction that they had from eating; all of a sudden they felt embarrassed because they were naked, shame when they heard God to make them hide, when confronted with their own disobedience they passed the blame on to somebody else.  We see in Genesis 4:8 that Cain was the first person to commit murder due to envy of his brother.  All this happened as a direct result of the knowledge of good and evil, this opened the door to our selfish and sinful nature.  We can't help the way we are because we are corrupt from birth.

God  told Cain in Genesis 4:7 that he can rule over sin before Can killed his brother, but Cain just like us nowadays, was too lazy to do that.  Instead he acted on his emotions and killed his brother.  Then when he was punished in verses 11-12 he told God that the punishment was too great, not thinking about his brother that he just killed.  This is how we are, we'll persecute those that do good for their righteous acts but be hurt or angered when we suffer rebuke or discipline for our disobedience.  We blame God, call Him unfair or curse Him because of the situation  that we put ourselves in.  I like how God addresses this in Ezekiel 18:25-26 "yet you say, the way of the lord is not fair.  Hear now 'o' house of Israel, is it not my way which is fair, and your ways which are not.  When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies".  But we are too stubborn or ignorant to realize this.  We blame our downfall on everybody but ourselves, but our good we always accredit to our own righteousness.

I like when Solomon said that "every way of a man is right in his own eyes" Proverbs 21:2.  In our own eyes we are justified for everything we do.  That's why we have to live by Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths".  If we trust in God and acknowledge Him, He'll direct us to His word or somebody with an unbiased view of our life that we can seek wisdom from.  But what we do is look through the dusty grease smeared window of our lives and focus on what we see as something positive or something that with make our lives prosperous and meaningful when in all actuality what we're really looking at is garbage, and if we would've sought outside help  they could've told us what were looking at.

If you look at what happened to Adam and Eve you'll see that they didn't trust in God, they didn't  let Him direct their paths.  Instead they were deceived, and after they were deceived Eve trusted in her own understanding, Genesis 3:6 "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise she took of it's fruit and ate, and gave to her husband with her, and he ate".  This goes back to what was said at the beginning of this post, we focus on the wrong things.  She looked at the appearance of the tree and how it can temporarily  satisfy her selfish desires.  Instead of looking at the reality of the tree and what it would eventually do to her.  She didn't focus on the warning of the affect the fruit  would have on her life.  All she focused on was the appearance of tree and it's fruit.

Do you see what I'm getting at?  Do you see how this applies to life now?  People drink alcohol knowing they can die from alcohol poisoning or liver disease just to get drunk, people smoke knowing the risks, people sleep around with multiple partners unprotected, people do drugs...etc.  We do all these things and more knowing the risks, whether death or sickness, or jail time, or loss of families or jobs.  We go to extremes to  to get a high or a feeling of relief or a false sense of security.  But we never look at what it can do to us, or how unimportant it really is.  Do these things that you focus on have a positive impact on your life, or the lives of others, is there anything in your life that has control of you?  Paul says in 1 Cor 6:12 "All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any" and again in 1 Cor 10:23-24 "All things are lawful for me but not all things are helpful, all things are lawful for me but not all things edify.  Let no one seek his own but each one the others well being."

Are you subjected to your desires or cravings, or addictions?  Do they hurt or help others?  Where Paul says "let no one seek his own but each one the others well being" he's showing us what we as christians should strive for, but we don't do this all the time, some never at all, instead we do like Eve, after we partake of that which will lead to our demise we share it with others.  Also we knowing  that something can hurt oror kill or imprison us will partake of it because it was given to us, because we're too scared or dumb to say anything.  This is an ongoing cycle, and we are all held accountable for our part in disobedience.  As we see in Genesis 3:14-19.  We need to look at the truth in every situation instead of what it appears to be.  We need to focus on all areas of our life, and stay away from that which can destroy us and our family or more importantly the body of Christ, no matter how uncomfortable  the temporary decision feels.  We need to do what's right so that others will see and learn from our examples of righteousness, instead of taking part in our destruction.  We need to let God guide us and direct our paths, instead of leaning on our won understanding.  Please focus on your life and the things you're allowing to control you, examine yourself and seek deliverance.

I'll leave you with a closing thought and a scripture to "Focus" on.  In the beginning God set in the Garden a  tree of life whose fruites would lead to eternal life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil whose fruit led to death.  Now we are given the opportunity to receive knowledge that leads to life through His word.  We just have to be obedient to it.  Deuteronomy 30:19 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you  life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.

In Christianity: What I will to do

The Apostle Paul said it best when he said For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. (Rom. 7:15)  It can get so hard sometimes trying to do what's right when we constantly struggle with wrong.  Now everybody has their own form of wrong doing.  It doesn't even matter what your religion is you do something that you would rather be freed of.  Everybody, no matter who they are, can improve in some areas of their life, there are just some who's areas that need to be improved on is more visible to outside observers. 

The thing is though, no matter what it is that we're struggling with, we're not the only one with that issue. The bible says that "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man" (1 Cor. 10:13).   We have things that we struggle with, except our struggles are common struggles.  The only reason why we feel like we're the only one going through what we go through is because people never really fully admit what it is they're going through.  Nobody likes to expose themselves unless they're comfortable in their mess.  But the good thing about our struggles is the second part of 1 Cor 10:13 that says "but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." 

We may go through things sometimes but it's not more then we can bare.  The proof of that is we're still here.  Sometimes people do continuously put themselves in situations that for some reason or another will feel like life is hopeless and so they take their own life.  But life is filled with ups and downs.  It's what makes us who we are.  We grow through adversity.  Sometimes that adversity is self inflicted.  But as long as we don't give up then we will be able to move forward stronger than we were before going through.  It's like lifting weights.  When you life weights you're adding resistence to your body with the intended purpose of ripping your muscles.  But when your muscles heal from your workout session they'll be stronger than they were before.  The various trials and tribulations that we go through are meant to strengthen us.  But we get so distraught when we're going through something or when we are victims of our own carnal desires.  But say for example you're addicted to drugs, when you are healed or delivered from your addiction then you stand as a testimony to somebody that is going through what you went through.  You can be their support.  But what do we do, we'll be delivered from something and then say that we're not worthy of mentoring somebody because of what we went through or we'll allow our past indiscretions to disqualify us from operating in the church or in a role that would make us somebody with authority.  But those are the types of people that are the best at being a leader in any aspect because they've been through hard times and got through them. 

My whole point in this is don't be discouraged if you're going through something that may be a bit disheartening and don't allow your sins to cause you to condemn yourself.  Do what you can to move past your indescretions and allow your eventual deliverance be a testimony to somebody else that is going through the same thing. 

One last note, it doesn't matter if what you've done has gotten you in jail for life, if you've learned from your mistakes then you can be the voice of reason for somebody on the inside or somebody that might be headed in your direction.  No matter our situation, no matter where our sins have gotten us in life, we can still be a testimony to others.  Some sins do have far greater consequences than others, but that doesn't mean somebody isn't out there that can't learn from your mistakes.

Feelings

I've talked about feelings in previous posts and a little bit in my book.  This is my pet peeve, people that are led by their feelings.  We all do it from time to time, but some people do it a little more than they should.  Feelings have no place on the job or in any environment where people come together to achieve a common goal.  By feelings I'm talking about negative feelings.  I'm not talking about compassion, or love, or anything of that nature, I'm talking about hate, envy, anger, depression...etc.  Feelings that can disrupt forward progress.  We as leaders cannot let feelings dictate the way we operate.  Not only can this lead to an ethical dilemma but it can severly hinder the momentum of the mission at hand. 

Too many times I've seen forward progress halted because of the way somebody was feeling.  I've had to pull subordinates aside and let them know the world doesn't stop because they're angry or sad.  Life goes on regardless of how we feel.  This is why we cannot let how we feel enter into the work place.  When you do it will change the way people feel about you and even worse about your organisation.  It's bad enough when people within your organisation knows that you're unstable but when people outside your organization sees it they might not see you but who you work for.  Then that will inadvertantly change the overall view that people have about your organisation.  This is why it's also imperative that as leaders we don't let those working for us and our peers operate like this.  We must nip this in the bud.  We can't baby people or let people bring their personal issues to work.  If we do we'll allow a precedent that will be hard to break. 

If people know that you're not led by your feelings and they know that you don't except it in the work place it will slow down this way of thinking and acting.  People act the way they're allowed to act.  If somebody knows that all it takes to get attention or get sent home early is to have a breakdown and start crying then they'll do it.  But if people know that this type of behavior will not be tolerated then they will think twice before falling victim to their emotions.  Because at the end of the day it's either allow our emotions to drive us or accomplish what needs to be done.

In Leadership: Be Consistent

  One of the most important things for not only a leader but a decent human being to be is consistent. People need to know that they don't have to walk on eggshells around you just in case you're having a bad day. Consistent doesn't necessarily mean that you're a kind hearted person that always has something nice to say to everybody you see. Consistent can also mean you're a distant person that's always about business and wants things done by the book. Somebody that might fire somebody for coming in 5 minutes late. Consistency is people can trust you to be who you are no matter what.

     I prefer to work with consistent people instead of erratic people.  The main reason is I have to know where I stand with you.  I personally need to know if I can trust you to uphold the standards to the degree that you're going to hold me accountable, or you're going to be scamming every chance you get so I know not to trust you when it comes to work or anything else for that matter.

     I remember I once worked in an office that never held people accountable for anything, or so I thought.  People came and went as they pleased, you could come in 1-2 hours late without an excuse if you wanted to.  You could take 2 and 3 hour lunches and you could leave an hour early just about daily, and nobody would ever say anything to you about it.  During my time in this office we were tasked to have everybody take a test, and we were the office conducting the test.  I don't remember knowing the deadline, but while the testing phase was going on I had taken a week off so I could go visit my daughter.  When I came back I found out that I had missed my deadline and all of my certifications were lost.  I was pretty upset since this was the office that decided to take people's certifications, and nobody outside the office would know one way or the other, and it was an open book test.  But this was the thing they wanted to hold me accountable for and they made an example of me.  All for a test that like I said was open book and only about 20 questions.

     I understand that in the above example it would have been unethical for me to expect my office to show me any favoritism in how to discipline me for missing the deadline.  I should have been treated exactly how anybody else would've been treated had they missed the deadline for taking the test also.  The thing that upset me the most was I don't remember seeing anybody ever get in trouble for anything in this office, there was a real informal atmosphere where people just came and went as it pleased them, and then this happened.  Now if this office was known for it's strict adherence to the standards then that would've been my mindset and I would've acted more carefully with missed deadlines.

     This was my example because it also shows how not to be as a leader.  When leading people we must always have established standards in place and stick to them no matter what.  If we are inconsistent as leaders then when it comes time to discipline people they might not even know why it's happening or resent you for making it happen.  Being a leader is hard enough with having to deal with the different personalities and attitudes that people bring with them to work on a daily basis but, inconsistency in our own personalities will make it more difficult for us to be taken seriously as a leader.

     Another reason being consistent is imperative as a leader is if you are consistently you, then eventually the bad parts of your personality will come out, and when they do people will notice them and eventually say something to you about it and you can work on it.  If you're inconsistent you might not ever show your bad side and you won't be corrected on it.  I used to have a really bad habit of using unprofessional language all the time.  To the point that I didn't even know what was coming out of my mouth.  Until people started telling me about it.  All the time it'd be, Patrick you need to watch your mouth, this is a professional setting we're not supposed to use that kind of language.  Even when I got married my wife used to get on me about it.  After awhile I really started to feel bad because I just couldn't help it.  Then one day people noticed I wasn't cussing anymore.  They were as shocked as I was.  Now I don't use that kind of language.

     I try to be me no matter where I'm at, whether it's church, work or home.  This way if there's something that needs to be worked on I'll be told about it at church, work and home and I'll work on it at church, work and home.  Being consistent isn't just being the same only at work or church, but being consistent in all aspects of your life to everybody you know.  I know this can be hard, but if you want to gain respect as a leader it's a must.

In Leadership: Mentoring is Crucial

     We as leaders must reproduce ourselves.  One of the ways we can do this is through mentor-ship.  We must mentor the newer members of our organization.  It seems some people are threatened when new people come on board.  We treat them like they're trying to take our jobs.  We outcast them until we get to know them.  This can make people feel unwelcomed and create tension in the organization between the new and the old.
     I will usually try to make it a point to build a rapport with new people as soon as possible.  I do what I can to make them feel at ease, because I know what it's like to be the new person.  I know what it's like to receive poor training or being out-casted because I'm not a part of the governing clique.  We should never have to "warm up" to the new people or get them to earn our respect.  We should just welcome them with open arms and start the process of getting them acclimated to the way we do things in the organization.  It's also important during the mentoring process to not complain about where you work, or other coworkers.  Because here this person is in a new environment trying to learn what they have to do to fit in to their new position and here you come telling them about how crappy the company is, who is sleeping with who, what people to stay away from, how they can get way with scamming on the job...etc.  This is not mentoring or helpful.  But this is common.  I have experienced this everywhere I've been, both in the military and outside the military.
     We can't turn people off of the job before they even start working.  You should always be as professional as possible with new people and let them come to their own conclusions about whats going on around them.  As a mentor your primary concern should be in helping them adjust and teaching them the ways that they can succeed in the organization.  Teach them the things that you wish people would have taught you.
     I remember when I became a Deacon at my church, one of the Ministers there was always correcting things I would do wrong, and point out areas that I should be monitoring that I didn't know.  He would show me how to make sure the church was ready for service every service.  There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes for every church service, and by him mentoring me he gave me the insight that I needed know at my level so nothing would be dropped.  This is what a mentor does, they show you the ropes in a way.  There's so much that I know because somebody was willing to mentor me, and there's so much that I had to learn on my own because nobody was willing to take the time to show me what I needed to know.
     We live in a time when so many people lack the understand they should have in order to be a quality worker.  Instead we teach people just enough to know their job and nothing else, this isn't mentoring.  A mentor should get as in depth as they possibly can to teach the importance of why you do what you do.  This way when it's time for this person to mentor somebody else they can teach them the same, instead of this is what I was taught and this is the way we always do it.  Its like we don't want to know more then we have to and don't want to train more then what's needed.  It's amazing that there hasn't be some devastating economical crash because of the all the mismanagement that's been happening in the recent years and the lack of general knowledge and understanding of the people... oh wait.
     By people not willing to mentor anybody anymore we start seeing bad things happening at all levels of leadership, not just at the bottom.  The recent recession is proof of this.  The lack of proper training, and mentoring, and just all around good judgment and ethical behavior caused a crash across a variety of businesses in a variety of markets.  There's a saying, it's the small fox that spoils the vine.  The meaning of this is fox's that are too small to be able to reach up and grab the grapes will nibble on the base of the vine which will cut off the flow of important nutrients to the rest of the vine.  Just be cause we at lower levels think that our job is insignificant, doesn't me it is.  Our job is more important than we might know.  But since we're too small minded to see the big picture, we're not concerned with what our actions do to the rest of the organization.
     Mentoring is crucial because it's through mentoring that we pass on the knowledge of a generation.  If this knowledge isn't passed on then little by little the reason for why we do what we do will be lost, and the mindset of excellence will fade away leaving people doing a job that they have no idea the importance of.  As I said in a previous chapter people want to feel like what their doing is important, but if we as leaders stop mentoring, and teaching people the importance of their job then the quality of work will deteriorate because the people will just not be motivated enough to do a good job.
          Mentoring is also good for job retention.  If you take the time to work with somebody one on one it can cause them to be more loyal to your company.  People just need a reason to either stay or leave.  If they feel they're being mistreated or even ignored then they  have no loyalties working for you.  Mentoring can offset this mindset.  It'll make people feel like you as a manager has them earmarked for something greater then where they're at.  The people you're leading might not understand the importance of them being mentored, but we as leaders need to let them know how important it is by doing it.  The more time and effort we put into mentoring, the more it will get in their minds that mentoring is important.

In Commitment pt. 1

Commitment is not only a great leadership quality but a great quality to have as a decent human
being. Nowadays more and more people are becoming less committed, in all aspects of their lives. We're not committed at work, to our friends, in relationships...etc. We come and go as we please, we quit when it gets hard and we're only as dependable as far as our feelings will allow us to be.

People refuse to just commit. We're afraid that if we commit either we'll be mistreated or we'll get bored or miss something better. We can't continue to live our lives like this.  We must pick something that we're compassionate about and commit to it.  How do we do this?

First we must know what we're committing to.  We must know that what we commit to will better us as a person.  Because lets face it some people commit to things or people that will destroy them and their future.  You don't become committed to anybody or anything that is spiraling out of control.  We do that sometimes in relationships whether in a friendship or with a significant other.  We'll be loyal to somebody that is going nowhere in life.  Instead of being the person that they turn to we get caught up in their mess, and when we try to get away from them they guilt us into coming back.  So many people's lives have been ruined because they pointed they're loyalties in the wrong direction.  If we're in a job that we know is wrong or going to a church that we know is crooked then get out of there, but don't give up on committing because of on bad apple. 

Second we must put our feelings aside.  If we are committed then our feelings can't be involved.  I don't mean feelings like love or compassion, I mean feelings like hate, envy, anger...etc.  We can let our hurt feelings dictate whether or not we will continue to be committed.  If we work somewhere and our boss cusses us out we don't quit.  If we go to church and the Pastor preaches something that we don't "agree" with we don't get up and find another church.  We as a people now are swayed by whatever direction the wind blows.  We need to stop this.  Our feelings have nothing to do with our commitments and vice versa.  We need to leave our feelings and disagreements at home, and if our commitment is our marriage then we need to be careful how we point our feeling at our spouse.  If your feelings get hurt, who cares. 

Third we should let our commitment to the organization be above our commitment to people.  People will let you down period.  This is just a fact of life.  Not necessarily because they're out to get you but because they have lives that they live outside of their relationship with you.  We all come from different upbringings, in different regions of the world.  We all have our own personalities and our own version of what's right and wrong.  Even if we grew up in the same house we'd still be our own person.  What this means is people will rub you the wrong way from time to time.  We have to just use it as a learning experience and move on.  The mission of the organisation that we're apart of is what's important anyways.  We do what we do to move our organisation forward.  Whether it's a church or you're in the military or you work for McDonalds.  We have to all learn to get along with one another for the sake of the organisation.  But so many times things will be dropped because of people's dislike for one another, or people will promote their friends over people that deserve it.  We must try to steer clear of this way of thinking.  Our feelings for people must not be involved in our day to day decision making.  As easy as that is to say and yet so hard to do we must make sure we do it.  We cannot let the mission fail, no matter what the mission is, because of how we feel about certain people.

In Leadership: Mentors

We as leaders not only need to be mentors to those under us but most importantly we need to be mentored.  One of the most important things that a leader can have is a mentor.  Somebody that they can get advice from.  We as leaders are setting both ourselves and our people up for failure if we don't have a mentor.  We cannot ever think that we know everything about leadership.  We must always have somebody that can tell us when we're leading people in the wrong or right direction, somebody that has been through more than us and seen more than us.  We don't know it all and never will, and if we have somebody that we can trust that can mentor us we will never go into battle empty handed.

When we don't have a mentor we are so confident in our own wisdom and abilities to lead people that we're saying no matter what we know we're right.  Every situation that you come across will be different.  Not only the good, but also dealing with the bad.  We need somebody that we can go to that can help us with difficult decisions.  We also need someone that we can turn to to figure out if we're doing things correctly.  Having a mentor can also set you up for success, because we usually have mentors that have accomplished something in our career field.

Mentors are especially good when it comes to having to discipline somebody that we lead.  I have never counseled sombody or written somebody up without first seeking advice.  This is important because if we don't we can be disciplining somebody based on an emotional reaction instead of doing it because it's something that needs to be done.  Sometimes advice that we may get we may not ever use for ourselves but pass on to other people.  I've gotten information from people that have mentored me and kept it in an email or put it up and when other people had occasions that the information would help them out I had it available for them and just forwarded it on to them. 

As I said having a mentor is crucial as a leader because they will always give you something that you can pass on to somebody else, whether advice or documents or research materiels or a template that can cut time from writing something up.  If we have a mentor then we can be a mentor to somebody else.  Having a mentor will not only help you but help others as well.

In Christianity: Live Peacably with all Men

So I'm a christian.  With that being said I know that I cannot push my religion on people or make them feel uncomfortable in my presence.  I also can't get hurt or defensive when people attack my religion or religion in general.  It frustrates me when I see other christians getting in arguments or super aggressive when it comes to religious conversations.  When that's not the way we're supposed to be.  We are supposed to spread the Gospel but not to the point that people are offended by us or people feel uncomfortable when we come around.  We are supposed to be an example by being consistent and a person people can trust to come to us for advice when needed.  I'm am not the type of person to attack somebody's beliefs or get into an argument with an idiot for ignorantly attacking mine.  Instead I listen to what people say and I speak my mind if it won't cause an argument, and that's it.

I think the problem comes in when we don't study our craft.  It's easy to get offended when somebody attacks our beliefs when we're ignorant of the very foundation of what it is that we believe in.  I know the bible says "study to answer", but if we don't study then it's no wonder that we can't answer.  But as a professional and somebody that is supposed to let my light so shine I can't ever cause myself to be led into a heated debate because of somebody's hatred of my beliefs.  If somebody wants to talk about God then I'm all for it.  If somebody has questions about what I believe then no problem, hell if some idiot wants to ask a question to try to make me look stupid and I can answer it then that's what I'll do.  But we can never allow our "idiot" to come out and argue with their "idiot."  It's unprofessional and unchristianlike.  The bible in proverbs says to "answer not a fool according to his folly."  Sometimes if we can't maintain our dignity the best thing to do is to remain silent.  That might speak more for you and what you believe in then any answer you might give out of anger or resentment.

In Christianity: Saved?

For Christians to ask themselves,

If you accept Jesus Christ in your heart as your personal Lord and Savior, and then go back to living
the way you were, are you really Saved?  Or do you have to actually live according to how Jesus Christ wants you to live.  How can we show others the Light we have in us if we live in the dark?  The way we live should be a testimony to others as to what Jesus Christ has done for us.  The way we live should show others, that we've been delivered from the lifestyle that we had prior to surrendering to Christ.  But instead we carry on doing what we've been doing, and tell other's it's alright, I'm saved, I can ask for forgiveness. 

If you can really believe that, then do you really love God?  Did you really Surrender?  We call ourselves
Christians but don't read the bible, Hardly go to church, believe everything the world tells you, but doubt the Validity of the Bible.  A Christian is a Disciple of Christ.  Disciple means Student.  A few definitions of the word student are: any person who studies, investigates, or examines thoughtfully, One who studies something, An attentive observer, someone who by long study has gained mastery in one or more disciplines.  Now if you apply any of these definitions of  student to your walk with Christ does it fit?  Are you a person who studies Christ, or an attentive observer of Christ, do you examine the Bible thoughtfully?  If upon Getting "Saved" you didn't do anything else, can you really call yourself one of Christ's Disciples? 

Did you know that in the Bible it talks about how when Christ called some of his disciples they dropped everything to follow him.  They didn't say okay I'll follow you, but give me a week or let me get right 1st.  They justs followed.  Were they automatically given the power of laying hands on people  to heal them or of prophecy, or were they able to preach the word of God?  No, all that came later in their walk, but to get there they had to surrender to Christ, and show him that they were serious about following him. 

Being a Christian is hard, especially in the beginning.  But it's also something that takes your attention.  You have to literally devote your life to it.  You can't just accept Christ and say now that that's over with let me go back to the strip club, let me go get high with my friends.  What you should do is say let me hang out with my other brothers and sisters in Christ so I can learn what this is about.  Let me talk to my Chaplain, or Pastor, or one of the ministers to see what I need to do to grow, or let me joing my local church and find out what it's like to serve God's people.  You have to learn how to build a relationship with God, and find out what it is that he wants you to do, and ask him to show you the way that you need to get there.  You need to learn the different qualities that you should have to be a Christian, like love, joy,  and peace.  You need to Pray, and Praise.  It's a continuous journey of love, discipline and learning what God wants us to do.  This isn't a
game.  God is not to be played with.  It's like getting married but still carrying on like you're single.  When you get married you can't still go out on dates, you can't flirt with members of the opposite sex, and try to get to know them better.  You have to build your relationship with the person that you get married to, and think about starting a family.  When you become a Christian you have to build your relationship
with God, and start thinking about Building your NEW family.

In Writing: Writing a Book is not Easy

So I just finished and published a book this past week, and I realized it wasn't easy to write.  I went ahead and self published through fastpencil.  One thing I learned is it's difficult to write a lot on one subject.  My first book only has 72 pages and even though I feel I made my point in it, I don't see how people can write thousands of pages.  I guess it's a learning thing.  The more I get used to writing the longer a future book that I write might be.  But I know that it takes time and patience to get it done.  Now my next goal will be to actually get it marketed and sold.

The book was written on leadership.  A topic that has always interested me.  I've noticed that being a leader is a lot easier said then done.  Something I noticed while writing my book.  Writing it made me take a look at myself as a leader and helped me see areas where I've fallen short.  I put examples of other people that were both good and bad leaders in there however in the end I had to focus on how I measured up as a leader and realized that I have some ways to go until I become the leader that I want to be.  I guess that's why in writing my book I couldn't really put any directions in what you should do but just sort of wrote is as a testimony of what I've noticed.

The writing process wasn't as difficult as far as just letting the words pour onto the page.  However it was difficult in wanting to make it something that was long and drawn out and super deep.  This will definately be a growing process.  Although writing a book has never been something that I've wanted to do before, it is definately something that I'm interested in now.  I'm kind of interested to see the response if any to my book.  That might help me with future books.  Next time I won't just jump into it, I'll have to plan and focus on each chapter individually.

I also learned that I must reread the book multiple times before releasing it.  It's crazy how you don't notice any errors until after it's already published and you're reading your own ebook in the iBook app on  your iPhone.  It's fun how that happens.  Next time I might even have a few people look over it for me to see what they noticed.  I can admit to being a little impatient to get it out, however I did look over it quite a few times, but apparently not enough.  If any of you are interested to look at my book feel free to read it and let me know what you think

The link is
http://www.fastpencil.com/publications/3152-Lessons-Learned

I made it super cheap to begin with.  Hopefully that will draw readers in.  Also if you have any suggestions on how to get my book out there more as far as advertising or marketing.  This whole writing thing is new to me.  But I'll learn as I always do.

Patrick Forbes