Tag: Success

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I Found a Seashell!

We hadn’t been at the beach long when it happened. Though Carter had been to the beach before, this was the first time my three-year old grandson truly grasped the sand and the sea. We had all lined our chairs up for the day, beach toys cluttered the sand, and snacks were already being consumed when Carter headed to the ocean. He suddenly stops, stoops down, picks up a small shell, and screams with delight, “I found a seashell!” Running back with a smile the size of Texas, he proceeds to go down the line of chairs showing off his find to each of us. Each person responds as though he had found a piece of gold.

The shell that Carter had found was anything but special. It was small in his own little hand. It is one of thousands, no millions of little brown shells that lie along the beach. No one picks up little brown seashells, but Carter did and when he did, it changed everything. What was common to us was special to Carter, and suddenly, what was extraordinary to Carter became spectacular to us. Smiles were everywhere!

What if we all lived out life the way our family reacted when Carter found his treasure. What if we made other people’s small successes feel big? What if we celebrated the fact that someone figured out how to run the remote control on the smart tv, boil water or make toast? One of my favorite cartoons is Calvin and Hobbes. In one particular strip Calvin shows Hobbes how when he stuck bread down in the toaster it popped up later as toast. In the last frame the two are absolutely awestruck with wonder and excitement over how bread became toast.

Unfortunately, social media and life as a whole has taken away to excitement of small wonders and accomplishments. Instead of being excited for someone else’s successes, we tend to compare, become jealous and even belittle their small victories. Tragic. One would wonder what would happen if we began to encourage and celebrate each other intentionally.

What if we listened to the co-worker that often seems crabby, spoke an encouraging or kind word? Possibly it could change their perspective. How about investing in what inspires or energizes our spouse? Maybe we would find the spark that has been missing. What if we encouraged our kids when they fall short of a goal or aspiration rather than show disappointment? Little subtle changes in our attitude and actions can go a long way in impacting others.

What if we would have responded to Carter’s find differently? “What if we had said, don’t you realize there are thousands of those little shells? That shell is so small and ugly, you should see the one I found.” It would have crushed him. Without realizing it, often we crush others, not intentionally, but by simply not being in the moment.

The holiday season is nearly upon us and with it comes friends and family who step into our life for a short time. This season be intentional to listen. Decide to celebrate small successes. One can only imagine the change you might bring to someone’s world and your holiday season.

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The Power of a Difference Maker

Difference makers. We all have them in our lives. People who understand their purpose is greater than their careers, personal successes, and the things they accumulate. They are people who have vision and step up at the right moment. The success of most people is built on the shoulders of the unseen.

We get a glimpse of such people in the early story of the book of Acts. It’s a critical moment found in Acts 5. The church is growing, and as always, with growth comes difficulties. The issue of their moment was widows being neglected. It was problematic because the disciples are feeling the call to go, but recognizing that the ministry to the widows was vitally important. Through prayer and Spirit guidance the issue is resolved. Seven businessmen, full of the Spirit, one who is Stephen, step up and the crisis is subdued. The needs are met and God’s word advances.

Everyone needs others who recognize their purpose is greater than themselves. Where would many careers be without those key players who step up in our critical moments. Mary and I will forever remember such an individual. Someone who stepped up and secured the future of our ministry and the future of Life Connections.

Our “Stephen,” showed up when our church was in its infancy, fighting for survival, and we were struggling financially. Starting the church required that I step away from a 15-year career at Indiana Bible College and came with an open-ended severance. Unwisely, I did not ask for, and was not given, an end date for my compensation. For five months I applied for jobs, but had absolutely no success. I was either underqualified, overqualified or didn’t fit the roll they were seeking to fill.

It was an October morning in 2005 when I got the call that our severance was ending. In an instant I was spiraling, questioning my decisions, and filled with anxiety. Besides the church, the weight of a home and auto mortgage, a wife, and the responsibility for our eight- and six-year-old kids were leaving me overwhelmed. I was certain we were on the edge of losing everything. Then, just days after the first call, another came. God sent a Stephen into our crisis. It was an unexpected call from an incredibly successful businessman and longtime friend of our family, George Coogan. He offered me a job, but with conditions. He wanted my roll to be part time so I could continue developing what was happening in Fishers.

George, and his wife Loretta, have always been kingdom minded. They married early, started a family with very little, but lived with a God confidence. In his early years George served as a part of my church’s youth team. He was someone that I as a teenager had high respect for. They and their kids had become close friends, so close that arrangement had been made that if something ever happened to my parents, they would become our Godparents.

A lot of time and space had taken place between those early days and the phone call I received that day. George owned a regional janitorial supply company, was absorbing companies regularly, and was a highly respected businessman in Indianapolis. Yet, in all his successes and accomplishments, his heart had not changed. His successes never replaced his passion and priority for God’s kingdom.

I would spend the next five years working with George. He invested in me, allowed me to develop his web presence, and establish the branding for all his companies. Looking back, I’m sure he could have found someone more talented and knowledgeable. Though I didn’t appreciate it fully at the time, I now understand that he was more concerned about the development of a Spirit driven church in Fishers, than his business. 

George, and his investment in us in our critical moment, was a major catalyst to Life Connections becoming a vibrant church. Truthfully, God could have made another way, but Mary and I feel that if it had not been for George’s vision, Life Connections may have never come to fruition.

Though they would never share it, Mary and I know we are not the only beneficiaries of George and Loretta’s kindness. There are churches that are soaring, ministers that are preaching, and businesses that are successful because of the way they live their lives. Say the name George Coogan around Indianapolis and you hear stories from a range of people, from those who were down on their luck to those in corner offices of skyrises. George quietly has made a difference in one person’s life at a time.

In closing, I wonder if there may be someone who has been blessed with successes but still feeling a tug that there is more. You’ve succeeded in business, in life, but sense you have a greater purpose. You do! It’s called the ministry of helps and its critical. It’s the ministry like that of six unnamed men in Acts 5, Stephen, and George Coogan. Go make a difference in someone’s life like George did in ours.

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The Trouble with Sand

Sand. I have a love hate relationship with it. I say this because the beautiful sandy shores of Orange Beach was my home last week. As I set on the beach enjoying the gentle breeze, watching waves, enjoying family, and reading books, I also had to deal with sand. I must admit that I enjoyed playing games, drawing sketches, and taking walks with Mary in the sand, but there was another side of sand I didn’t enjoy. It was everywhere I didn’t want it to be, in my lunch, stuck to my skin, and eventually into nearly everything we owned. I got home and found sand in my luggage, our car, and clothes. What I’ve determined is sandy venues are nice places to visit, but not a place I necessarily want to live. In Orange Beach, like so many other beaches, it appears that homes are built on the beaches but look closely and you will see that nothing is built on sand. The homes are built on wood foundations that go deep below to soil. Luxurious condominiums that rise into the sky are set on foundations that go as deep as they are high. There is a parable where Jesus talks of how we should build. In the parable Jesus speaks of two builders who built homes. One built on sand and the other solid ground. Jesus says that after the homes were built, storms came, and the home that was built on sand collapsed, while the one built on strong ground, stood. Notice, the problem wasn’t the material, the problem was the foundation. This parable causes me to ask, what are we building our lives and culture on? Things, people, and ideas that shift, change, and move like sand, or on principles and values that have stood the test of storms, time, and difficulty? There is a current of religious culture that feels very sandy. It says have the right look, connect to the right people, have trendy social media, and you will draw a crowd and that makes a successful church community. Don’t rock the boat or make people feel uncomfortable. While it looks good, it’s sandy. No conviction. No call to altars or repentance, and definitely, no allowance for the Spirit to have any freedom in a service. Shudder to think that they might allow signs, wonders, or miracles to work, it might alarm the sinner. Keep the environment controlled and comfortable. It’s sand. What will stand the test of storms and time? Pretty simple. Anything built on the power and Word of God and anywhere there is passionate prayer, and the Spirit is allowed to have liberty.

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Bread from Above

This past week in Tampa, Mary and I were enjoying a balcony breakfast of fruit and oatmeal. As we were eating, I threw three or four small blueberries off the balcony onto the parking lot below. I had hoped that a few of the birds might swoop down and snatch them up, but after a few minutes, nothing had happened, and we had kind of forgot about them. Suddenly, without warning birds came from everywhere. We’re not talking three or four birds, but 20 or 25 birds. My immediate thought was wow! Those three or four berries caused this? I was quite proud. It was a few seconds later that I realized it wasn’t my three or four berries, it was bread from above. Someone above us was throwing handfuls of bread off their balcony, and the birds weren’t drawn to my berries, but to the bread from above. What a moment of truth! Often, we feel like our work accomplishes so much; that our efforts, talents and skills make all the difference when actually, it’s His bread from above. God says cast the nets on the other side of the boat, we simply obey, and Jesus nearly sinks our boats with blessings. It’s not our fishing ability, but His blessing. Paul says it well when he says, “some plant, others water, but it is God that gives the increase.” What Paul was telling us is what we experienced that morning at breakfast. The possibility and the power is in God. That it is God that makes the difference. That God loves to take our empty vessels and small lunches and fill them and multiply them. The psalmist understood this when he said, “if it had not been for the Lord who was on our side.” God, let us regularly be reminded that it is because you are with us and for us that we are blessed and favored.