day 995: Power Of Repetition

"Give us today the food we need, ..."

If you have watched any of the post season Major League Baseball Season then you have undoubtedly seen a few advertisements that have run over and over and over. The one that stands out to me is the State Farm Insurance with Kerry Wood and the agent that tells him about the State Farm "Discount Double Check" and Kerry Wood decides to double check into the storied outfield ivy of Wrigley Field and lo and behold, there is Andre Dawson (long retired Cubs Outfielder). It's a good ad, but more than that, it's the repetition of the commercial that is the point.  They obviously feel like it is strong enough to hold through a few times each game and through multiple games.  These are tough choices, but when they work, they work.  There is a power in repetition.  Take what works and stick with it!  Do the good things over and over and they will become a part of your brand and reputation.  There is a flip side, but that is a different post.

Jesus taught us how to pray when He gave us the "Lord's Prayer".  Hidden in this prayer is God's direction for us to pray to Him with daily repetition. "Give us today" is saying that we must come to Him daily.  There is power in the repetition in entering into His presence with open hearts each and every day!  In truth, we can't get enough of God's Word and repeating the actions and life of Jesus.  The power that God can put in us today if we find a way to be repetitive in Him, will keep not only you in the right place, but also help for your example to sink in with others.

Reference:  Matthew 6:9-13

day 841: Day To Day

"...and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern."

We write, read and talk a lot about taking the long view and having strategy in place to lead us. All of that is true, necessary and valuable, but in reality we also have to make it through day to day. It's great to have that anchoring statement, that lighthouse, that compass point to know we are heading in the right direction. Yet, we also have to know how to take one step at a time and get through the day in front of us. Businesses, and business people who can also put in place quarterly, monthly, weekly, and yes, sometimes daily plans (all of which align to the vision, mission, strategic plan) are the companies that fare the best. The balance and the value in both the long view and short perspective is so important to have. Without both, a company can end up with great vision but no action. Day to day, in the right direction, and moving forward everyday can bring great success.

I have pondered and prayed over Matthew 6:33 and the words "day to day" stand out for me. By Jesus choosing those words versus leaving them out, it also reinforces to us the importance of our day to day dependence on Him. Yes, He provides for us always, but as He says, it may be "day to day". Not worrying about tomorrow is one of the hardest challenges we face in our work and our lives. What Jesus is saying to us is to put the day after tomorrow of worries out of our minds for he will take care of us and we just need to know and believe that He will be there for us, "day to day".

Reference: Matthew 6:33 (New Living Testament)

day 830: 800 Million

"And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come."

In a few weeks Facebook will become a publicly traded company. When they do so they will being used by over 800 million people. There is no other social network that has gotten this many users. Are there any other companies who have this many customers? It's amazing that they have been able to amass this many users in less than 10 years of business. At 800 million people they are close to reaching 1/7th of the world's population. As they go on their road show with investors, you can imagine that their growth story has them reaching a much higher percentage of the population than where they are now. How big can Facebook be? I think as big as people are looking to be connected with each other to share experiences. A friend, and well-known technology thinker and I were having coffee last week and we were discussing the legitimacy of the communication of the online world versus the spoken word, we landed on, while different and maybe more superficial, it is a now important form of communication and relating that is not likely to go away any time soon.

At my church in San Francisco, http://cornerstone-sf.org , we recently updated our website to better position our church in our community and tell our unique story. This is an important activity for a church. I know so, because this past weekend while we were in Tahoe I wanted to go to church and the way I found the church that I ended up attending was by searching on the internet and browsing through the different websites until I found the one that "felt" most like the one that I wanted to attend. As I walked into the church (a high school auditorium) on Sunday, I already had a sense and feel for what the church would be like. While not perfect, it did live up to what they marketed online. In Matthew Jesus talks about when we will see His Kingdom come, letting us know that this will happen when everyone on the earth has been given His message. Before the internet, before Facebook, that seemed so far off and dependent upon missionaries carrying the Word to the farthest flung parts of the world. But what if Facebook hits two, three, four, or almost seven billion people. Could it be one of our messages that post or we forward to a friend that ends up being the one? Let's let that thought sink in and consider how important our words can be.

Reference: Matthew 24:14 (New Living Testament)

day 795: Immanuel (updated)

"...and they will call him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.'"

As we march into the closing days of 2011, many of us are taking some time, before 2012 shows up, to look back over our shoulders and assess the year. It has not been an easy last three years for anyone in the work world. Much has changed and we've had to change with it. If there was a time that has tested so many people in the workplace, it was long before most of were working or alive. Those that remember the Great Depression are the only ones who have seen this much sweeping change and uncertainty within such a short time frame. When there is this much turmoil, we are all affected and that impact shows up in us. I reflect on the people I know who along with their job struggles have had troubles also show up at home in their families, marriages and personal lives. Work is hard enough without the extra emotional charge of not knowing what tomorrow will bring. Many of us are winding it up this week and will try and take some vacation between the holidays and with that comes the extra stress of being away and trying to keep up. This is also something to be managed for if we aren't cognizant of this extra amount of pressure it can really start the holiday break off on the wrong foot. It's kind of like the movie "Home Alone" when the family is so caught up in the rush and the stress of the moment that they forget who they have left behind. It makes a classic movie, but it doesn't make good life story.

In these challenging times, we can be just like that family who left Kevin at home sleeping, except in all of the rush, stress, pressures and worry, we tend to leave instead, God behind and then when we feel too far away with no way of turning back, we scream out, "Where are you God?", when it was us, not Him, who left Him home in the first place. This is the week when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, who took on another important name for all us to remember; "...and they will call him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.'" In these last few days before the Christmas break, don't forget that Immanuel is there with you. In His coming, he guarantees that He is with us at all times, never to be truly left behind, only diminished by us when we put ourselves ahead of Him. Can we close this week with us bringing God, Immanuel, back to work with us and make the commitment for next year to have Him with us every day!

Reference: Matthew 1:23 (New Living Testament)

day 692: "How Could This Have Happened?"

"An enemy has done!, the farmer exclaimed."

Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire media magnate is well known for his statement to his management team, "Bury your mistakes". It's actually not a bad strategy, if you have the money to do it, and you also take the time and energy to understand what caused the mistake in the first place so that you don't end up repeating and then burying the mistake again. But sometimes, like what is happening in the UK right now with the NewsCorp newspaper organization, the mistakes, when surfaced, can be so obvious, that all you can do is ask yourself, "How could this have happened?". There are times when the finger-pointing, deflecting and blaming doesn't do any good, and if we are honest with ourselves, we know that what happened is that we took our eye off the ball and we let something slip by us and it became a way of doing business and it really is bad when it catches up to us. NewsCorp is not the first, and won't be the last. What looks like a single mistake, like an oil well explosion, turns out to be a safety and reporting systemic problem. We all have these hidden mistakes waiting to happen, and we have to be diligent to constantly be evaluating and assessing where these weak points might be.

In the parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, the King had a legitimate excuse to what was going to be a big problem. He had an enemy who decided that the best way to thwart a successful harvest of the wheat was to fill the King's fields with seeds of weeds. When realized, they surely had to ask, "How could this have happened?" But, when the King found the reason, he didn't panic, he didn't try and cover it up, he didn't look for the scapegoat, he made the best of it and he made sure that everyone knew that for a while it was going to be ugly and unpredictable, but that at harvest time it would all work out. We need to be more like the King in our lives. The weeds are just part of our lives and there isn't anyone to blame or get angry against. Instead, it is us that we have to manage and stay positive with our lives being the example of the wheat that an can grow and thrive, even among the weeds. If we spend too much of our time and energy (both which are precious), asking "How could have this happened?", then we are not listening to the consistent and always present answer that is coming from Him.

Reference: Matthew 13:28 (New Living Testament)