Tag Archives: Proverbs

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When the room is spinning

I’ve been struggling with a bout of vertigo the past two weeks. My head spins if I make a sudden movement to the left or right. It’s even worse if I get up and down quickly.

I lose my balance easily too. It’s frustrating.

We aren’t sure what’s causing it. My doctor is hopeful that a round of strong antibiotics will help.

The only peace I have is to keep my eyes fixed straight ahead. If I stay focused on what’s directly ahead of me- I can keep my balance.

I guess that’s great advice for life, too.

Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Proverbs 4:25

I tend to get into trouble when I take my eyes off Jesus. It’s easy to do. Worries at work consume me at times. Or family issues distract me from my study of the Bible or prayer time.

Worse yet, sin can separate me from my walk with Christ. I’m too easily distracted by temptation or pride and forget the source of true strength and wisdom.

Do not turn to the right nor to the left; Turn your foot from evil. Proverbs 4:27

This week I am praying for better focus. I want to be free from the distractions of life that burden me and keep me from truly walking with Jesus.

And please pray for some relief from this vertigo. It’s dampened my spirit.

Let me know how I may pray for you.

God bless.

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When your best-laid plans put you in the Emergency Room

Yesterday began like most days around our home. 

Our two oldest children got up and out the door for a full day of school. Our youngest was headed on a day-long field trip. 

Hollianne planned to chaperone the field trip. I was to attend an all day meeting with Leadership Knoxville. 

My how things can change. Quickly. 

Within two hours of all of us leaving home, I received a text messsge from Hollianne. One of our children ended up going to the doctor’s office- and eventually to the Emergency Room. 

Hollianne’s field trip plans were derailed by his trip to the hospital. And I rushed from my meeting over to join them. We had gone from “normal” into a state of urgency. 

It all worked out. Our son received the treatment he needed and is feeling better. He will be fine in a few days. 

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.  James 4:13-17

The events of our day reminded us of how unpredictable life can be. Our best-laid plans can quickly evaporate into turmoil and uncertainly. 

As the passage from James suggests- our lives are truly a mist. The activities of our day seem important, but ultimately we aren’t in control. 

Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:3

We should always keep in mind that God is in control of our lives. We should commit each day, each task, each plan to Him. We need to ask Him for guidance in all our plans. 

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Let me know how to pray for you this week. 

God bless you. 

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The Summitt

summitt and girls

We lost a great champion this morning.

Pat Summitt died today at the young age of 64.  While she lived a full life- one that included eight NCAA women’s basketball championships, thirty-two combined SEC championships, Olympic excellence and 1,098 victories on the basketball court- Pat Summitt’s life was cut way too short.

Above everything else, Coach Summitt was a teacher.

Several years ago she introduced a list for leaders called the “Pat Summitt Definite Dozen.”  These twelve items were guidelines for leaders…a primer for her players and students…and a blueprint for leadership success for audiences of all ages.

While Coach Summitt’s words weren’t presented in a Biblical context, you can certainly make strong correlations between her thoughts on leadership and what Jesus tells us about working and living with others.

Pat Summitt’s Definite Dozen:

  1.  Respect Yourself and Others
  2. Take Full Responsibility
  3. Develop and Demonstrate Loyalty
  4. Learn to be a Great Communicator
  5. Discipline Yourself so No One Else Has to
  6. Make Hard Work Your Passion
  7. Don’t Just Work Hard, Work Smart
  8. Put the Team Before Yourself
  9. Make Winning an Attitude
  10. Be a Competitor
  11. Change is a Must
  12. Handle Success Like You Handle Failure

Biblical parallels:

  1.  Respect– Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2: 3-4
  2. Responsibility–  For each will have to bear his own load.  Galatians 6:5
  3. Loyalty– A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.  Proverbs 17:17
  4. Communication– Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.  Colossians 4:6
  5. Discipline– For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11
  6. Hard Work– Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men...  Colossians 3:23
  7. Working Smart– For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding…  Proverbs 2:6
  8. Put the Team before Yourself- Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.  James 4:10
  9. Attitude–  And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17
  10. Competitor–  Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
  11. Change– Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.  Joshua 1:9
  12. Handling success and failure– I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:12-13

Coach Summitt’s Definite Dozen are a template for leadership effectiveness.  These guidelines and lessons were passed down for decades to hundreds of players, coaches and fans of basketball.

These same themes are relevant for those of us trying to become better Christians, too.  All of the principles outlined in the Definite Dozen are present in the teachings of Jesus and the word of God.

Let’s keep the family, former players, coaches and friends of Pat Summitt in prayer this week.  And let’s all reflect on the Definite Dozen in our own lives…and see how we might improve our own effectiveness.

God bless you.  And let me know how I may pray for you this week.

 

 

 

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