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Archive for June, 2010

Lunch Hour

Posted in Encouragement, Leadership, Missions, Relationships, Servant Leadership, Serve on June 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

We are busy aren’t we? Our lives are full. Our work demands more time than we have or want to give. Yet, something in us calls us to find a way to serve. To help someone in need. But it’s just one more thing…

Lunch is sometimes used for business meetings, or maybe to work out. Or, perhaps your lunch is simply a time for, well, lunch.

Have you ever considered using your lunch time as serving time? I discovered recently that my church in Fayetteville, AR, Central United Methodist Church, serves the hungry every Tuesday and Thursday. I went once during lunch, just to check it out. Now, I can’t quit going. It’s simple. The night before I empty a few things from my closet and throw them in the car. Then, I just show up and encourage.

I am amazed at the relationships God had led me into. Today, I took my 16-year-old son Dylan with me. He met Shariee (see picture), who has at least 60 poems she has composed. Each committed to memory, never written down, and delivered with incredible passion and heart.

Do you have a lunch hour to spare? As marketplace leaders, as believers, we are called to serve the sick and the poor. Give it a try. You will be amazed at the impact it will on your life and your leadership at work!

“There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.”   Corinthians 12:5-6

P.S. If you know of any marketplace leaders who may have a heart, skills, or resources to help Shariee copyright and publish her poems, please let me know!

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Seeing the Cross

Posted in Bible, Jesus, Prayer on June 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Guest Blogger Blair Johanson, Partner, Johanson Group

Recently, I was traveling east on Interstate 40 between mile markers 27 and 28 on the way to Little Rock, AR for a late-morning business meeting.  If you know this stretch of the interstate highway, you are probably familiar with seeing a large cross in a small clearing on top of a hill rising up from the road.  At night, this cross is lit with lights and it is visible for miles. 

This particular dawn morning the gray sky backdrop made the cross invisible from mile marker 27.  I knew that the cross had to be there, but I couldn’t see it.  Had the owner been pressured to take down this symbol of hope and salvation?  As my Pathfinder sped closer to the rising hillside, the cross began to appear and I was relieved to see that Jesus’ cross was still standing tall for the wearied and burdened I-40 travelers.  

As I passed mile marker 28 with the image of Jesus’ cross on my mind, Matthew West’s song “Going through the Motions” was playing on XM radio.  I was reminded that my walk with Christ and my salvation journey would be blessed greatly through the study of his word each day.  Jesus tells us to study the words of truth in the Bible and learn to carry his cross daily.  As I grow in Christ through daily scripture study and prayer, Jesus’ cross becomes clearer each day. 

Jesus replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”   Luke 11:28

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Inspiration!

Posted in Excellence on June 21, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Early this morning, I jogged out of my neighborhood. The sun was just creeping over the horizon. And then…I heard it. It was sweet music. It was a song I had not heard in two or three years.

Instantly I was inspired as I heard…the sound of hammers pounding nails. Then I heard the rugged chorus of a circular saw cutting wood! I quickly looked to my right, down what used to be a barren paved road leading into yet another empty planned neighborhood.

But no! There were two houses being framed. And a third with the foundation poured. There were carpenter’s cars parked in the street. It was like an old friend’s soothing voice.

Carpenter’s banging nails, cutting wood, making a living! Inspiration!

Let’s use that sweet sound as inspiration to do our work with all our heart!

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”   Colossians 3:23

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Driving a Taxi

Posted in Faith and Work on June 17, 2010 | 3 Comments »

You have to hear this story… Bridging the gap has a million applications. That’s one of the reasons we love doing the work we do at WorkMatters. Helping you see there are so many different ways to engage.

The best part of our weekly Joseph Project meetings for business people between jobs, is when someone gets a job. They stand and tell the story. It’s so cool. Yesterday, a former IT tech, stood and said that he had accepted a job to drive a taxi. Yes, a taxi. We hear those stories every week.

His first day on the job, he was dispatched to drive two women to the airport. When these young women walked out of their home, it was clear they had been badly beaten. They were young and scared. Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, he asked if could take them for medical care. “No! Just get us to the airport!”

While he was doing his job, our friend began to ask about their faith. He began to share with them the hope of Jesus. They listened.

When they arrived at the airport, as our friend was unloading their bags from the trunk, he sensed the situation and timing was appropriate to ask a bold question. “Do you want to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?”

Living our faith at work is typically a much more subtle challenge. But sometimes, if our radar is on and we have enough courage, our work can lead us into some incredible opportunities to change a life forever.

Their answer? “Oh yes…please!” He prayed for them in the street and these two young beaten and bruised women walked away into a new life of hope and eternity.

What is your story? Is your antennae up? Are you “seeing” opportunities at work to help others that are hurting deeply? They are there. Right in front of you.

 Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations…   Matthew 28:19

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Heroes

Posted in Leadership on June 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Who is your hero? Maybe you have more than one? Some of us have heroes we know and love personally. Some of us have heroes we have never even met. But we all need heroes.

In 1995, I was interviewing with the CEO of a software company I would subsequently work for. He asked me a question I never  forgot. He said, “If you could sit on the bank of your beloved Buffalo River and talk with any three people, who would they be?” Honestly, I am not sure if I already knew the answer to that question or not. But, I know that I have never forgotten it since. “Jesus (bold in an interview), Sam Walton and Coach John Wooden”, I said.

I lost the last surviving hero to heaven recently as Coach Wooden went to see Jesus and his beloved wife Nell (“the only girl I ever went with”) at the perfect age of 99 years old. John Wooden was incredibly wise and oozed character. If you have a few minutes, check out his Pyramid of Success (http://www.erhoops.org/pdfs/John%20Woodens%20pyramid%20of%20success.pdf) or Google John Wooden quotes. You will be amazed by both.

So, who is your hero? What are you learning from him or her?

…and maybe I should ask, who are you a hero to?

“He who walks with the wise grows wise…”   Proverbs 13:20

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Serving Here or There?

Posted in Servant Leadership, Serve on June 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

“The tent city we are focusing on is called the Sean Penn Camp, named after the Hollywood actor Sean Penn, who has come down to Haiti to help with the relief effort. He has organized his own tent camp, and it is considered the tent city with the best conditions. Though technically he is very under qualified for the job, Mr. Penn has done a better job than any other administrator at any other tent city, many whom are UN paid officials who do this for a living. He’s not a believer, but he has put his career as a successful movie star on hold so that he can help the people of Haiti.”  …Brendan Ho, currently serving in Haiti.

How is God calling you to serve? Do you need to put your “career on hold” so that you can serve?

Maybe… Brendan will be there for the summer. Jenny Schisler, from our WorkMatters team, leaves for a one week trip to Haiti tomorrow.

Butch Scruggs, who leads our Joseph Project ministry, has begun to visit the jail each Wednesday night with some other men from The Joseph Project. I have been blessed to serve the homeless on Tuesday’s at Community Meals at Central Methodist.

Do you need to put your “career on hold” so that you can serve? Maybe…but it seems to me that sometimes we get so caught up in trying to do something big, that we do nothing at all.

How can you serve someone in need today?

The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’  Matthew 25:40 

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