Monday; November 20

Have you ever wondered why they play the game? With all the analytics available to sports teams today, they can feed facts and figures into a computer and come up with the projected outcome. So, why do we spend all the time and money to gather a crowd, broadcast the competition and cheer on our team to victory (or defeat)? The answer is because games don’t always go as scripted. While statistics might give us probabilities, the reality of things isn’t decided until the completion of the actual event. Circumstances change … some teams play over their head and others underachieve … injury, illness, social conditions come and go. Sure, we can play out something given a set of criteria, but competition isn’t based on computer model.

As I thought about sports, I was led to a similar conclusion about life. Have you ever limited your activities because you thought the odds were against you? Did you ever belittle someone else’s chances because you could see before they even started that there was no way they could succeed? It is easy to premeasure potential success (or failure) and say, “why try” – but the answer is that life isn’t based on a formula, it is full of variables. Why try? Because you just never know.

If you ever need an inspiration for going ahead and trying something that was a long shot, just look at the 1st Century Christian church. This group of dissidents from an unpopular religion that came about in an outlying area headed by a Ruler who had been rejected by His own people was bound to fail – but they didn’t. In fact, the Christian movement is one of the greatest success stories in the history of humanity.

The next time someone tells us we’ll never make it, let’s not respond with “why try”, let’s launch out with an optimistic, “why not”!

Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday; November 29

The biblical story of the Good Samaritan has changed our world. Notice I didn’t say that it had change religion or even Christianity, it has influenced the world. There are very few people who don’t know the moral of Jesus’ parable about the Good Samaritan. In fact, the phrase has become a common description of everyday people doing good to their neighbors. While Jesus’ parable from Luke 10 shares several spiritual lessons, one of the most practical is that good can be done by anyone. You don’t have to be a church official to do good, it is not only possible for each one of us to help, it is required of all of us. If a Samaritan can be good, so can we! After presenting the parable, Jesus asked the man who had originally asked the question about being a good neighbor which character in the story was a good neighbor, “… he said, ‘The one who showed mercy toward him.’” at which point, the discussion from theoretical to personal, “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do the same.’” (Luke
Read more

Thursday; January 12

The other day I was watching a television show that used a rather common term applied to overcoming challenges. When organizations experience unexpected setbacks – especially when they lose key people – they rely upon the concept of “Next Man Up”. In essence, when our starters (or stars) go down, effective organizations rely upon their next levels to step into the vacancy. While this is an effective response, have we given much thought as to how we prepare to be the “next people up”? First, we must know our job. Even when we aren’t the primary players, we need to be preparing ourselves to be ready when we get the opportunity to shine. Second, we must do our best when we get the chance. Knowledge is important but what turns potential into talent is effort. Yet, maybe the most underappreciated aspect of this concept is a willingness avoid excuse-making and whining about the unfairness of our situation. When we complain about the circumstances that caused the need for replacements
Read more

Monday; September 25

When I was a youngster, I remember hearing about this thing called the Generation Gap. I was a little bit too young to be active in the social movements of the 1960s, but I do remember listening to the challenges the generations were experiencing way back then. Interestingly, now that I have been on both sides of the aging process, I have to admit that the Gap of the 1960s was nothing new. With the development of each generation comes conflict. The young people don’t feel like the older people understand them and the older folks tend to believe their input is being underappreciated. Too often trust is the casualty when two generations collide. The sad thing is that it doesn’t have to be this way. When we can capture the innovation and energy of the younger folks and harness the wisdom of those who have been around for a while we can develop a winning combination. No, we won’t always see things eye-to-eye nor will we necessarily speak the same emotional language, but when we app
Read more