On time is what every airline strives for.  I’m told the Swiss run a news story if a train is a few minutes late!  What difference does it makes to be “on time” and how can you hit that elusive mark?  I can help you with that.

Every Wednesday morning at 7:30 for six years I met our Governor and his staff for a Bible study.  One morning, I WOKE UP at 6:50!  In eight minutes I was up, showered, dressed and out the door!  I walked in breathing hard with five minutes to spare…and learned a valuable few lessons. 

Here they are:

Here in Baton Rouge, the unthinkable happened this past Sunday morning:  three police officers dead and three wounded.  From Dallas to Nice to Baton Rouge, we are all on an emotional roller coaster of tragedy.

How do we cope?  Where do we find the courage to keep loving, keep forgiving, keep giving?  Jesus repeatedly told those in distress to "take courage."  It was a COMMAND:  "TAKE courage."  Don’t leave it laying on the ground, pick it up.

Here are a few ways you "take courage" when you are in a time of deep distress: 

We are in a stressful time.  Political changes are unnerving.  Our enemies are gaining strength.  The economy is fragile.  Diseases are coming out of nowhere.  Travel has become dangerous.  It’s always good to come back to my “true north”:  “how big is my God?”  I was recently in Colorado.  I was dwarfed by the massive 14,000 foot mountains.  Mt. Everest in the Himalayas is 2 1/2 times their height!

If you are feeling small, take a look at five BIG THINGS about God in Isaiah 40:

I hate cruise control.  I hate it but I love it.  But I hate it.  It is so limiting.   It requires me to go only at a certain pace.  I love it because I can relax and just ride.  I hate it because I want to get there ahead of the guy in front of me! In our world today, everyone is in a hurry.  Patients are dying in hospitals because of the haste to move on to the next patient.  Everyone is on the move.  We are squeezing every second out of one activity to pour into the next one.

Think about these things when you are galloping toward your next ferry that is about to pull out:

Stress is killing people.  Guilt is not far behind.  In between those two extremes is a simple word:  “No.”  Getting that word out is the hard thing.  We hint, we beat around the bush, we psychologize.  We stay mad because we couldn’t say that word.  We avoid certain people and events because we can’t say that word.  Business leaders, parents, pastors, and politicians all have a difficult time saying that word. Your world will change when someone shows you how to say “No.”  I’ve battled it for years.  After all, they’re my friend.  What if I ruin a relationship?  Didn’t Christ teach me to serve?  What if their reputation tells me that what they borrow will never be returned?  How can I add another thing to an already overloaded schedule?  Stress or guilt?

Here are a few helpers to help you get that word out:

How do you know if you are going in the wrong direction or making a wrong decision?  Is God able to get your attention?  Have you ever “gone over the cliff” and you never had a clue you were close to the edge?  Balaam was a prophet in the Old Testament.  He was headed in the wrong direction (Num. 22).  God used his donkey to try to tell him.  Balaam was too hardheaded to listen and he finally lost his life. I have seen four ways God uses people to warn me that I am moving in a wrong direction.  If you don’t read on, you may be close to the cliff and not even know it!  

The donkey in the story did four things that people also do who are trying to warn you of a wrong direction:

40 years ago this week, I got married.  Two weeks later, I was in Africa with my bride.  I spent the better part of two years with her in the “bush” of Ghana and Nigeria often with no electricity and no running water.  Why have I invested 35 million dollars of the Lord’s money overseas in the last 33 years (and almost that much in local missions in the U.S.)?

As I reflect on this last forty years, here are a few thoughts that come to my mind:

My Daddy had a famous phrase:  “Keep it simple, hang loose, travel light.”  I remember a time I was helping my daughter move home from London.  She had at least eight suitcases.  We were trying to get on the subway for the airport and I found myself at the bottom of an escalator sprawled on the floor with all eight piled on top of me!  WE HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF. 

It convicted me to unload in several areas:

So many spiritual leaders are competing these days.  Visibility, getting noticed, and ranking is huge.  Being the biggest, fastest growing and having the largest audience seems to be all that matters.  Where did all this come from and where will it end? 

Here is how I keep that focus continually:

Fights, fights, everywhere.  In the streets, on airplanes, at political rallies.  I have never seen Americans so on edge and willing to fight at the drop of a hat. 

How do we keep our cool?

Everybody sets goals, especially in a new year.  Some are attainable and some are hopeless.  By now, many have abandoned their goals for the year and some never set any!  As a pastor for over 40 years, I learned how to set goals that were motivated by faith. 

Back in September, I could not do a single push-up (maybe one “girl” push-up!).  I felt I could work up to 50 push-ups if I just added one a day.  With the help of a push-up app, I did 172 yesterday (in five sets).  Don’t ask me next year because I may be back down to five!

Just like building up in your push-ups, here are some secrets of setting “faith goals”:

We can put people on the moon but we can’t get cell phones to work everywhere.  Communication runs our world now.  From social media to digital cable, Internet, and (of course) smartphones, we all have to learn to communicate better.

Here are some communication skills I have had to sharpen:

Great leaders have great attitudes.  They always keep their sights above the line.  They know if they let that attitude dip below the line, they will eventually crash.

Here are four personal attitudes I regularly check:

Having been in ministry for 46 years, I have seen that perspiration is often as important as inspiration!  People often think of their successful friends as “lucky” or “more talented.” However, they rarely make the connection between their own work-ethic and their success.  A lazy, passive, self-pitying work ethic leaves you negative, blaming, unsuccessful…and usually broke! Nehemiah and his men had a “mind to work” (Neh. 4: 6).  Those hard-working men built a huge wall in 52 days!  They barely slept, they stayed in their clothing, they built while holding a sword, and they amazed the devil’s crowd.

What were the secrets of Nehemiah’s great work ethic?

Everybody makes New Year’s resolutions:  lose weight, gain muscle, write books, read books, get a degree, get a raise, and so on infinitum. All of that is great, but I want to give you a completely different starting point for 2016:  get your finances in order.   Do you realize how much of your life will change when you start emerging out from under that pile of bills, credit card balances, and STRESS?

As I start a new year, here are the three primary focuses I renew:

How do you view impossibilities?  Do they intimidate you and stop you dead in your tracks before you ever even attempt to defeat them?  I have found that there are usually 2 different ways to approach an obstacle in your life. The story of Israel’s twelve spies always helps me when I am facing an impossibility.  They focused on the giants but Joshua and Caleb focused on the grapes!  God called this kind of faith a "different spirit”:  “But my servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land he entered and his descendants will take possession of it” (Num. 14: 24)

Here are a few of the “differences” in a different spirit:

Ezekiel and John both saw the four awesome living creatures that stand around the throne of God.  Both of them (Eze. 1: 10, Rev. 4: 7) describe their four faces:  an eagle, an ox, a lion, and a man.  Could these four powerful creatures give us an insight into the nature of God’s kingdom and leadership model?

Paul describes a leadership model with all four included in (1 Cor. 16: 13-14):

Negative pessimism is a hard monkey to get off your back.  It colors everything dull and bland.  It stifles creativity, ruins relationships, and makes everything hopeless.  You lose sight of all that you “have and are” for what you “want and are not.”

The other morning I took a one mile walk in the beautiful crisp, fall air with Melanie.  When I got back home I noticed the nice truck I drive, the beautiful home I live in, and the wonderful amenities I am surrounded by (like dishwashers).  Over the course of the day,  it was as if I was continually overwhelmed by HOW MANY blessings I have in my life. 

I would like to list a few, for your sake and for mine:

A great deal of your success as a leader is in the ability to spot and recruit talented leaders.  King David seemed to be a master at attracting and enlisting top talent (see 1 Chronicles 11-12).  Your ultimate legacy will be the leaders you attracted, trained, and released as great warriors.

What are the top qualities of David’s great recruiting?