How Successful People Lead

How Successful People Lead by John C. Maxwell (Nashville, TN: Center Street, 2013)

Leadership can be difficult for some. Over the years, I have experienced ups and downs when it comes to my own leadership abilities. A lot of it has do to with where I am personally, I think, and how I am either growing or not growing. When I do have seasons of better leadership success, I too often don’t stop to examine why this might be the case. But fortunately, someone has.

John Maxwell has written a small book detailing the leadership skills of successful people. He looks at the “5 Levels of Leadership,” a topic that he has taught more than any other, and shows how the successful leader has an intimate knowledge of this hierarchy of leadership ability. And I can recognize my own leadership growth in the structure he lays out in this brief book.

It’s a short and easy book to read, giving the basic overview of the 5 Levels, and whetting your appetite for more. From here, the supply of information Maxwell has written on leadership is nearly inexhaustible, and you can learn a lot just by reading his books. And if that isn’t enough, you can pick up even more knowledge from partnering with the John Maxwell Company for a deeper leadership training experience.

But How Successful People Lead is an excellent place to begin. I highly recommend you pick up a copy and read it. You can get it from Amazon for next to nothing, so go grab a copy now.

Posted on

The P’s of Dadhood – Presence

Godly Men: Being Deliberate With Our Wives and Kids

There are several essential qualities that dads must develop to become the best dads they can be. These qualities include practice and patience, persistence and perspective, passion, and… presence.

The P's of Dadhood - Presence

Presence.

That’s a great word, but what does it mean exactly? It sounds rather vague.

But it is one of the most essential qualities that a dad needs to develop.

Too many dads simply pass through the lives of their kids, never really engaging with them in any significant way. They aren’t really present. Oh, they may be there, home every night after work with the TV on or the newspaper in hand. But they aren’t engaged in the lives of their kids.

Why is this?

I believe it’s because they don’t know how to be engaged with their kids. Doing so is tough, and it requires effort. And most men struggle with this because their own fathers struggled with it.

My dad was a pretty good dad, but he struggled to be engaged in the lives of his kids. For example, he tried a few times to teach me how to drive a stick shift. He had an old ’64 Chevy pickup, with a three on the tree transmission. I don’t know how many times he wanted to teach me how to drive this, but after about three minutes of killing the engine by letting the clutch out too fast, he would give up in frustration and tell me I’d never learn how to drive a standard.

Posted on

Coffee Break – 03.26.2018

Your Monday Dose Of Inspiration

On this day in history: In 1885, Eastman Kodak produced the first commercial motion picture film in Rochester, NY. In 1937, spinach growers in Crystal City, TX, erected a statue of Popeye. And in 1953, Dr. Jonas Salk announced the development of a vaccine against the crippling disease of polio.

Coffee Break

Today Is National Spinach Day!
So go have a salad for lunch!

Home Roasting Coffee With The Whirley-Pop Popcorn Popper – I have roasted my own coffee for several years using an air popcorn popper. Here’s how to use the stop top variety. And you can pick on up from Amazon.

Want More Confidence? Quit Measuring These 4 Things – Some things just don’t really have the importance that we associate with them. Check out these four things that we tend to measure, and then stop measuring them.

Why You Really Need To Stop Using Public Wi-Fi – Too many people have suffered from identity theft, but there are so many things we can do to protect ourselves from it. Here’s one suggestion.

History’s Deadliest Colors – Did you know that colors could be deadly? This video was pretty informative and fascinating.

Posted on

Memorize Scripture: Psalm 119:37-40

Hiding God’s Word In Our Hearts

Last week, we looked at the first half of this stanza, and saw how the psalmist was shifting his focus from those who reject God and his Word to his own commitment to learn that Word. In the second half, he continues that idea. You can see if for yourself in Psalm 119:37-40:

Psalm 119:37-40

In the first half of this strophe, the psalmist identified three ways in which he sought to learn the ways of God according to the Word of God: with his mind, with his feet, and with his heart. As he continues this passage, we will see the fourth way he seeks to learn, and finish with the encouragement needed to persevere.

With His Eyes – Verse 37

This is an interesting perspective on how we view the things around us. Obviously, our eyes are needed in order to study the Word of God, although there are other options for those who do not have their eyesight. Our eyes are an important part of studying the Word. But I wonder if perhaps the psalmist isn’t just speaking of literal eyesight, but has added a layer of figurative thought to this, and means a mental perspective, or even worldview, as much as he does literally looking at the pages of Scripture.

I think this may be the case, because he speaks of what we should turn our eyes from, and not what we should turn our eyes to. This idea has merit because of the preceding verse, because those things that keep us from studying the Word of God are many and varied. Riches can be a distraction, of course, but there are so many other things that can pull our attention away as well. And in light of this passage, all of them are worthless pursuits, or vanities.

The danger lurks in the fact that such worthless things can be very alluring, and only by a solid commitment to the Word of God can we stay strong and avoid them. The Word of God is the only thing that lasts, and it is the only thing that can preserve our lives. Everything else will pass away.

Posted on

Being Fully Committed To God

How To Have The Heart Of A Champion

One of the most critical elements of the Heart of a Champion is to be aware of the promised God has given us and staying fully committed to him through everything. Paul shows just how solid both of those are in 2 Corinthians 6 and 7.

Being Fully Committed To God

In 2 Corinthians 6:16-18, Paul shows the Corinthian church that God desired to make his people his temple, instead of the Old Testament structure that was in use for so long.

What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
     and I will be their God,
     and they shall be my people.
Therefore go out from their midst,
     and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
     then I will welcome you,
and I will be a father to you,
     and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”

God had promised to make his dwelling among us, and to live in us, and to restore us to a right relationship with him. Paul understood this, and he knew that it applied to his own life, as well as the lives of every other believer who put their faith in Jesus Christ. That includes you and me.