Brian Keel, Vice President of Finance, YMCA of Greater Toledo, sends a weekly email devotional to YMCA members and staff... each one is relevant to our work at the YMCA. Excellent for use in staff meetings, board meeting mission moments, or to forward to your network. You can sign up to receive his weekly message by emailing Brian at bkeel@ymcatoledo.org, or check back here each week to read the latest.
Good to Great
In 2001 Jim Collins released the landmark business book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Other’s Don’t. It brought a number of new phrases into the business lexicon; things like the flywheel, the hedgehog and the bus. The basic premise of the book was that good is the enemy of great, that too many companies settle for just being good.
Is good the enemy of great in our faith walk as well? Do we settle for going to church and praying before meals and with our children at bedtime as being good enough? Do we replace a relationship with Christ with doing good works in the community?
And what about Good Friday? If we accept the events up to and including that day, with the acknowledgment that Jesus lived, and traveled with His disciples and taught about the kingdom of God and died on a cross that’s good. But if we move on and accept the fact that Jesus did not stay in that tomb, that three days later He rose from death to life….well, we then move from good to great….
Take the opportunity to use the occasion of Holy Week to make sure that Jesus is not only on your bus, but in the driver’s seat as well!
Clearing out the Swamp
The Northwest corner of Ohio where we now live is filled with historical significance. One item that has intrigued me is the area’s history as part of “The Great Black Swamp”, an area roughly the size of Connecticut and described as “an oozing mass of water, mud, snakes, wolves, wildcats, biting flies, and clouds of gnats and mosquitoes.” It took almost 40 years to create the ditches and other drainage systems necessary to dry out the area and create the farmland we are now accustomed to seeing. Perhaps even the very spot where my house sits was once under water.
Just like it was difficult to live, work or even travel through the Great Black Swamp , it’s difficult to live and work with our feet stuck in the ooze and muck of everyday life. Things like jealousy, envy, pride and selfishness can weigh us down and circle around us like so many gnats and mosquitoes.
Proverbs 12:3 says “you can't find firm footing in a swamp, but life rooted in God stands firm.” (The Message) Keeping our focus on God, and living in a way pleasing to Him is the cure for a swampy life. Because His promises are true and His mercies are new every morning, our foundation can be strong and our footing sure.
In Control
Last evening we attended the annual banquet for a local ministry where I serve as a board member. It was a memorable evening to be sure. And it was an object lesson in letting God be in control. The well known speaker who was going to be there had to cancel because of a very real family emergency the morning of the banquet. A sure fire disaster if the people tried to be in control.
Instead, God provided an opportunity to go in a new direction. There was a speaker in Detroit who had the night open and the time to drive to the event. She gave a powerful message, a different message than was planned and one that only she could have given. We all walked away with a more profound understanding of the issues than we had before.
Proverbs 16:9 says “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” I think that’s a great idea…. In His infinite wisdom, God knows the road ahead. He knows the twists and turns. He knows the dangers lurking around the corners and the great and wonderful sites that are just off the beaten path. And perhaps most importantly He knows the people we could meet and influence if we really knew the best route to our destination.
Plan your trip, but make time for the detours.
God Provides
You may well be familiar with the maxim, “Where God guides, God provides.” Its origin appears to spring from the philosophy of Frank Buchman and the Oxford Group, a Christian movement that started well and ended less so, but whose spiritual principals are still a part of Alcoholics Anonymous. The roots do not lessen the truth contained in those five words and I’ve had the occasion this week to see it brought to life in our YMCA.
Time after time we have been amazed by God’s provision for work that has been undertaken simply because it was the right thing to do. An idea posed by one person, concurrence by a second, prayer, discussion and the resolve to move forward. That followed soon after by the funding and the people necessary to carry it out.
People give to support the YMCA for many reasons. It may be guilt. It may be for the tax deduction. Increasingly it’s because they are able to see the good we do with their own eyes. Whether we are serving kids, ministering to families, caring for the widow and the orphan, running positive after school activities, teaching free water safety, or offering Bible based personal finance classes, our aim should be to go were God is guiding.
The tools we need are waiting for us along the way.
Living in the Present
A doctor recently told me to “go home and don’t do anything all weekend.” Not surprisingly I was pretty good at following this set of doctor’s orders! In the course of doing nothing I watched a great deal of match-play golf, a format where you win or lose each hole and your total stroke count is not even tallied. The event was in Arizona with each of the holes standing out as little green slices of heaven against the stark desert surrounding. And Tiger Woods was leading the event as usual.
The commentator attributed Woods’ success to his ability to live in the present; to put the last bad shot out of his mind and to not worry about the next hole until it’s time to play it. What a great paradigm for our life in general. Too often we are tied in knots by wondering what if I had decided to…. Or what if I hadn’t done….And too often we get caught up in worrying about what the next week, month or year will bring.
But Jesus taught that we should not fall into either one of these traps. His grace allows us to be forgiven for the past “….go, and sin no more.” (John 8:11) was His message to the woman caught in adultery. And the future should cause us no concern either. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34)
Be a person of the present and make the most of this day!