Think About It

I got to experience my first in-person NHL game over the weekend.   Thanks to my daughter and son-in-law, I got to watch the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins.   Even though it was a preseason game, it was pretty cool – literally!     As I sat and watched these professional athletes it was easy to spot the mistakes they made.   I saw missed shots, people go sprawling along the ice and even a few rules violations.   Even as a neophyte, I could see the mistakes they were making; then it dawned on me that they were doing this at full speed on skates on ice.   Honestly, I couldn’t do what they were doing in tennis shoes on dry ground, so I quickly gained an even greater respect for these guys.   Have you noticed how easy it is to criticize people when they make mistakes?   Whether it is a misstep, using the wrong word or just making a bad decision, it is pretty easy to spot another person’s errors.   Yet, when we do that do we reflec...

As a longtime Denver Broncos fan, I have a love/hate relationship with the Kansas City Chiefs.   From a day to day perspective, I love to hate them; but as a football fan I have an appreciation for their organization and their fan base.   Kansas City has been a football town for a lot of years and they have a passionate connection to their team.   I find it interesting how much attention Taylor Swift has brought to the Chiefs, but I have to admit that most Chiefs’ fans were onboard long before Travis Kelsey and they will be after he has gone.   They didn’t just jump on the bandwagon and aren’t likely to abandon them if/when the star couple fades into history.   As I thought about the Chief’s organization, I got to thinking about the Lord’s church.   Now, no, I am not saying that God has a favorite NFL team, but what I am saying is that the Christian church isn’t subject to popularity.   Its success is not based on whether it is cool to be a Christian...

Well, for most of Major League Baseball, the 2024 campaign is done.  Yes, there are a few teams still participating it the playoffs, but for the vast majority, it’s over.  This begins the “off season” which is designed to reflect and retool.  Many clubs will evaluate their managers, players and philosophies and decide whether they worked or not.  Some will stay the same, others will make adjustments and a few will make significant changes.  The front offices can’t impact the 2024 season, but they can set themselves up for a better 2025.    The reason I bring this up is that this is a pretty good application for all of us.   What do we do at the end of each day?   Do we come home and just collapse on the couch or do we take a little bit of our evening and evaluate how well the day did (or didn’t) go.   No, not every day will be a success; but every day can be a learning experience.   We might not get every decision correct, but when ...

I was recently scrolling through some quotes by past Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren who said, “To get what you want, STOP doing what isn’t working.”.  As I read that, I thought I detected a firm grasp of the obvious; however, the more I got to thinking about it the less obvious it seemed – or at the very least how much we have ignored it.  Warren’s observation seemed to remind me of an adage, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”.  Now, you might be wondering why I am waxing philosophically.  Well, the answer is that there seems to be a lot of complaining about how dissatisfied we are with things; but also seeing how little change we are trying to make.  We complain about disunity in our communities, but we keep turning up the flame on biased comments.  We fuss about how violence is up and morals are down but we keep putting up with bad behavior.  We lament the state of our young people, but keep ign...

I don’t know if the show is as popular these days as it was in years gone by but a lot of us know the story of Pinocchio.  If you aren’t familiar with the tale of the puppet who became a boy, I am sure you can tune into Disney+ account and watch the show.  In all honesty, I have never been a big fan of the show and can’t tell you too many of the details about it, but one character I do know is Jiminy Cricket.  One of the roles that this insect plays in the story is to remind the boy to let his conscience be his guide.  In essence, when the new kid faced a challenge, he could rely on his knowledge of good and evil to guide him.  (And since it was a Disney movie from a while ago, the implication was for Pinocchio to choose good.)   Wouldn’t it be good to have a cricket as our moral leader and guide – someone who could help us know the good we should do and encourage us to do it?  Interestingly, we have something (or Someone) much better than insect....

One of the more common words used in Christianity is “conversion”.   Often times it references the process by which someone enters Christianity or goes through the process of becoming a member of a church.   While this is an appropriate use of the word, I think that this concept can have its greatest impact when we understand that conversion should mean more than a minor adjustment – it is represents the reshaping of a life.   In essence, if you want to learn more about Christian conversion, take a look at the time of the Apostle Paul.   Early on in his life, Saul was committed to Judaism.   He was a Jew’s Jew.   He was deeply embedded in the Hebrew religion.   Not only did he support his like-minded believers, he also opposed – and even oppressed – those who left Judaism to follow Jesus.   Then, one day, on his way to persecute defectors in Damascus he met Jesus and within a matter of days he converted to Christianity.   The one who had arre...

Do you ever get discouraged because you don’t get the results you expected (or hoped) to get?   As a minister, trainer and teacher I face this discouragement on a regular basis.   The problem is that no matter what I do, there is only so much I can do.   Sure, maybe I could work harder or develop better skills; but at the end of the day, I can only control with I can control – and I have to be okay with that.   Interestingly, I believe that there gets to be a point of diminishing results when it comes to effort.   There needs to be a point in time when we believe like we have done all we can do and unless we come to grips with that reality, we will keep pushing ourselves to the point of discouragement – and that can lead to the temptation of giving up.   The other day Jeane sent me a saying, “We control the effort, not the outcome.”.   As I tried to get to the source of this thought, I realized a lot of people are credited with it (including Bryant M...