Case in point, I recently overheard a new college graduate at work say (in regard to a particular business metric) “what’s the problem if we’re beating the industry average?” The response from his boss was “yeah I agree let’s focus elsewhere.”

Here’s the problem with that mindset. In this case, the industry being mentioned is struggling. So in essence what was being said was “what’s the problem if we’re struggling, but doing better than others that are struggling?” Or in other words, “our lifeboat is sinking, but not as fast as the ship”.

Occasionally at work, we have other retailers come in as part of a ’share group’. We meet to share ideas on how we pursue operational efficiencies. Most of the time the retailers in our ’share group’ are companies that are comparable in size and performance to the company that I work for. Usually those meetings end, the ’share group’ disperses and I hear statements like this: “wow, we’re doing really good compared to so and so.” Congratulations, you’re the best in your peer group. Too bad your peers are just like you – being beaten by their competitors.

I don’t believe that most of us want to be average or slightly better than average, but by comparing ourselves to others (even those that are ‘best in class’) we will end up limiting our potential. Our maximum potential is only found in the uniqueness of who we are. I heard this statement the other day and I think it sums this up best: “As long as you are trying to be like someone else, the best you’ll ever be is #2″

Save Money by Questioning Your Purchases

Today I just wanted to highlight an excellent comment that I recently received. In response to “Quit Shopping, Save Money,” a reader named ‘sekishin‘ said:

“When considering a purchase, picture a stranger offering you [the cash value of the purchase] or the item in question. Which is of greater value you? Which would you choose?”

This is a great piece of advice, and one that could save us all a lot of money. If someone walked up and offered to give you $1000 cash or that new HDTV you’ve been drooling over, which would you choose? If you’d rather have the cash, then you better think twice before trading your hard-earned cash for that shiny new TV.

The point here is that simply stopping to question your buying decisions can go a long way toward cutting down on frivolous expenditures. If the purchase is still worth it to you, and if you have room in your budget, then go ahead and buy it. If not, then you should turn around and walk away before you change your mind.

Tripp and Tyler did a great job as emcees at Catalyst West. They’re really funny. You can check them out here.

“You Found Me” is about a man who finds God on a street corner (the corner of 1st & Amistad). After a brief introduction, God says to the man “Ask anything.” The man’s question makes up the rest of the song and is a cry from his heart to God as he asks “Where were you? Why’d you have to wait? Just a little late, You found me”. At the end, the man resolves that all He needed was “a call that never came to 1st & Amistad”, recognizing that God was on that street corner all along, the man just needed to be told.

So many thoughts. Here’s a few:

- God isn’t lost – people are. The man in this song recognizes this truth, because he knows that even though his initial cry to God is “where were you?” he resolves that if God (or someone) had just told him he was on the street corner (where He was all along), he would have come to Him.

- How sad that no one ever showed this man the way to God. The man instantly recognized God on the street corner. Others must have found Him there too, but never bothered to let this hurting man know.

- How many people are crying for God to show up in their lives and never see Him showing up through ours? We (those who name ourselves as followers of Christ) have been caught up fighting political battles, creating denominations and raising money and we’ve forgotten the original mission to “go” into the world and be God with skin to the hurt and broken.

- The man in this song talks of losing the woman he loves. How many people don’t find God until they reach rock bottom or some great personal tragedy hits them? God wants so desperately to carry us through those situations, not for us to just meet Him as a result of them.

I’ve been asking God regularly to ruin me and break my heart for what breaks His. He keeps bringing me back to two simple things: the lost and hurting apart from Him and those that are equally lost in Him (not lost in the eternal sense, but lost in the present sense – those who are wasting their lives). I have a lot of work to do to improve in this area (being God with skin).

I watched Ted’s interview on Oprah last night. And I guess he’s doing a whole media tour promoting his HBO special. I read the excerpts from his interview with Larry King last night. I had a lot of thoughts coming out of seeing these interviews that I shared with Lish. But the most pervasive thought I have right now is how confusing Ted’s current message is. I think it’s because he’s still confused. At times I didn’t even understand what he was saying about his past or present. It just kind of reminded me of a guy who is trying to define and broaden the gray area between what is right and wrong.

So the thought that kept coming back to me was “how is this confusing message going to help anyone?” By his own admission, he isn’t through this process of healing yet. Larry King asked him if he had all the answers yet. His answer was “Not at all. And I think I’m still deeply wounded and scarred and somewhat confused. I’m going to need at least another year to get my bearings.”

So if the message isn’t clear enough yet to provide real help or hope, then why be out sharing your thoughts? I couldn’t help but worry that this isn’t about helping anyone else and that Ted might be doing this to help himself (whether it be financially, emotionally, psychologically). And in the process of bringing this back into public view, he might be hurting (or re-hurting) more people just to help himself. If so, that seems pretty narcissistic (which might be a root cause for some of his struggles).

I’m just not sure it’s time for Ted to be back in the public eye. By his own admission, another year might be the time he needs to really get his life straightened out and stabilized. Why not take the time? Honestly, there may never be a time where Haggard “deserves” or is even ready to be back in the spotlight, but with the culture we live in, I’m sure he can get the spotlight whenever he wants. Which means he still has influence and that’s the responsibility that I hope he takes very seriously. I’m sure he’s come a long way in a short time. I pray God’s best for him and for wisdom for he and his family.

p.s. – A lot of people (Christians included) are talking about how Ted hasn’t admitted explicitly to what kind of indiscretions he has committed. I’d like to suggest that those folks just use their imagination. It’s irrelevant. What bearing does that have on your ability to forgive him? If you want details on what sexual immorality looks like or need to imagine it, just keep watching HBO through the night after Ted’s show is over.

I look at what President Obama has accomplished and politics aside, he has already inspired more people than most of us will collectively impact in our whole lives. On inauguration day I heard elementary school students telling reporters that President Obama reminds them that they can do anything. The man has a charisma and personality that helped him get into office. He connected with people. I think that charisma and personality are the very things that helped him to overcome the race barrier and become the first black president.

Could it be, that the race barrier would only be broken by someone with President Obama’s charisma? And if so, will future black candidates have fewer barriers to overcome in their political endeavors. Absolutely. So is it just possible that God will use President Obama’s achievements thus far to ignite a dream in a child, empower them to pursue it with fewer obstacles that may have not been overcome pre-Obama? Obviously the answer is I don’t know, but when I look at where our nation is, I see opportunity. I see new opportunity that didn’t exist pre-January 20 . We don’t know how President Obama’s achievements or decision will shape the course of history, but for followers of Jesus we know that God has a major role in what happens next. And that he’ll take this moment in our nations history and use it to affect His purposes. Remember, God didn’t fall of the throne with Tom Brokaw declared Barack Obama the next president.

By the way. Since this started off as a note to the church, maybe it’s most appropriate to remind the church what our responsibility is in the next 4 years (and the 4 after that, etc.). Romans 13:1-7 tells us that we are to pay taxes, respect, and honor to those in authority and that the governing systems that are in place, God has established. So chew on that for a little bit.

P.S. – yes the picture for this series does kind of weird me out. It feels very Big Brother from ‘1984’.

For early followers of Christ, His death wasn’t a day that they necessarily looked forward to. As you read the gospel, you get the impression that many of them didn’t understand why He had to die (Peter rebuked Him when He predicted his death) because all they saw was Jesus relative to their lives and what they had experienced while they were with Him. They couldn’t necessarily see the bigger purpose because they could only understand Christ relative to the time they had spent with Him, not in respect to the resurrection. And if you imagine the miracles and countless good that they saw take place, you can understand why they struggled to imagine the world being a better place as a result of Him dying. Really, if the disciples were doing a video blog while they were following Jesus around each day during his 3 years of ministry, I’m pretty sure that the episode of Him dying on the cross wouldn’t have been posted to YouTube that night. They could not see hope in Him dying. Here was the start of a great movement, led by Jesus, then all of a sudden it’s over. We can’t imagine feeling like the disciples because we have the clearer picture of His resurrection (the rest of the story as Paul Harvey would say), but in the moment that He died, it appeared hopeless to them. I think one of the most powerful reminders of the cross is that in hopeless situations, God is working, and He will take any situation and relate it to his broader purposes not our short-term, personal agendas. That’s what I mean by relativity.

We are so limited in how we view our lives.

Stop back Friday for the last in the series.