day 1328: Better Problems

"We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us - they help us learn to endure."

When I am in an airport airline lounge I love to listen the conversations happening around me. At the root, they are all the same. They are business people all trying to fix some type of problem. It can be a problem with their travel, a problem with a deal, a problem with an employee, or a problem with a customer. It can be any type of problem and they are working as hard as they can to fix it and make it go away. This is one of the fundamentals of work. We fix problems. But, problems can be weighty and disheartening and they can create stress that leads to other problems. All of the emotions that come from problems and our need to resolve them can be managed. The problems will still be there but our emotions and reactions to problems are ours to control and create. The answer is all in our outlook and how we look at the problems when they come to our doorstep. We get a choice each and every time. We can either let them take over us or we can take over them.

In Romans 5:3 Paul says; "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us - they help us learn to endure." He goes on in verse 4 with; "And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectations of salvation." I love those two verses because in them we learn that in those problems, way down deep, are the beginnings of the reminder to us of what our God has sacrificed for us to that we can receive His salvation. So, today, each and every problem can be looked at as happy problems because if we remember these problems that seem so hard to overcome are just the first steps of what is the ultimate expectation! Hard to do, yes. But, that is the strength that God wants us build each and every day, starting today!

Reference: Romans 3:3-4 (New Living Translation)

day 1210: Milk or Wine

"My problems go from bad to worse. Oh, save me from them all!"

Opportunities are like wine.  They can be taken advantage of now, or they can sit and under the right conditions, and get even better.  Problems are not wine.  They are milk.  They don't get better with time, they get more spoiled, stinky and can turn into something that ruins lots of other things around them. Those that say that a problem deferred is a problem solved forget that their procrastination will only come back to bite them later. Looking at those things in front of us and asking ourselves, will this get better or worse with time and being willing to honestly accept the answer can be a true competitive advantage.

As believers we also have God's wisdom, guidance and will to assist us in sorting out the wine and the milk. God delivers on opportunities in His own time and if we are in tune with His will then we can accept and be ready for when the opportunity is ready to be grasped. Our problems are His problems to help us accept and fix.  Giving these over to God for Him to solve can provide us peace and assurance that nothing else can. We will face both opportunities and problems today.  Both, if we follow God's lead can be the sweeter of wine and milk.

Reference:  Psalm 25:17 (New Living Translation)

day 782: Who You Gonna Call?

For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory. and the ones who who win this battle against the world are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Anyone who has ever run or led a customer call center knows how it important it is to teach the customer service representatives how to handle a conflict that escalates. Any of us who have ever spoken to a customer service rep also knows how important this can be to the impression and the experience of that company. Being a good customer service person is both skill and art. Being able to listen to hear the level of frustration of the caller and then diffuse that in a way that feels productive and helpful is the art. The skill comes in how to handle the difficult problems that escalate and seem to be going out of control. Knowing when to call on the supervisor, before the customer calls on them is also key. But, every call center needs to have a protocol for how and when to delegate up the problem. I once was exposed to a company whose employee complaint levels were going through the roof and their morale into the basement. When diagnosed it was all about the decision by the corporate HQ to not allow the call centers to push a problem into the HQ staff, no matter how bad the situation became. The senior execs thought they were doing good by allowing for problems to be resolved locally. The call centers felt abandoned and that HQ didn't care. We all need someplace and someone to call when we have reached the end of our rope. Our customers, consumers, vendors, partners, shareholders and employees all need it. And, yes, for some of those the CEO and/or the Board needs to show up. It's worth thinking about where and how far can those who have complaints about your company or organization go? Who are they gonna call?

In 1 John we are told, as believers, where the buck stops. What is so amazing about our God is that it's a one stop hotline to the resolutions of our problems, worries, fears, and concerns. All we have to do is believe and then have the faith to allow God to do His work. Sounds so simple doesn't it? It is the perfect and most elegant of all support systems. Thinking through the current problems on our plate, big or small, which ones are we still hanging onto thinking that we can solve them ourselves or have put them in the hands of another person thinking they can solve them for us? If they are there, then why haven't we sent them up God too? There is no complaint or or problem too big or too small that He doesn't want to resolve for us. He never cuts us off from His "HQ". And when we ask, "Who you gonna call?", He is right there with us ready for that call. So, today, who are you gonna call?

Reference: 1 John 5: 4-5 (New Living Testament)

day 707: Staring Problems In The Face

"For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever"

We are faced with many problems that can seem like they come out of nowhere and we have to decide how to, in the moment, react to them. This week, our business environment is being rocked and rolled as the investment markets are taking a tumble, again. All across the world and country decisions are being made while staring the problems of Wall Street in the face. How we react says much about our leadership and ability to cope and manage through difficult circumstances. Overreaction causes panic and anxiety. Failure to react can raise questions of complacence, apathy or being plainly out of touch. Leaders have hard jobs during these types of times. In these days, it is the test of how strong we are at the core and how convicted we are with our strategies and missions. During the moment of crisis is not the time to shift strategy or try and devise a new plan. These are best done in the good times. Our present troubles will pass so let's stay calm and collected during this moment of trial.

AS followers of Jesus, who has given us the promise that He will take care of us and never let us face anything we can't handle, of all people we should be the ones who can sit in relief that we know that any present trouble that we face, we will come through and on the backside we will be better for it and stronger in our relationship with Him. That is, if we decide to trust and rely on the Him. It may feel and look like we staring into an abyss of problems today, but as sure as we are reading this right now, these will pass and we can turn these days into glory for God. The question will be asked today on how we are dealing, feeling, or reacting to the problems around us? At this moment, when a common problem is there to be talked about, let's use the opportunity to share what calms us and keeps us peaceful.

Reference: 2 Corinthians 4:17 (New Living Testament)

day 411: Happy Problems

When I am in an airport airline lounge I love to listen the conversations happening around me. At the root, they are all the same. They are business people all trying to fix some type of problem. It can be a problem with their travel, a problem with a deal, a problem with an employee, or a problem with a customer. It can be any type of problem and they are working as hard as they can to fix it and make it go away. This is one of the fundamentals of work. We fix problems. But, problems can be weighty and disheartening and they can create stress that leads to other problems. All of the emotions that come from problems and our need to resolve them can be managed. The problems will still be there but our emotions and reactions to problems are ours to control and create. The answer is all in our outlook and how we look at the problems when they come to our doorstep. We get a choice each and every time. We can either let them take over us or we can take over them. In Romans 5:3 Paul says; "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us - they help us learn to endure." He goes on in verse 4 with; "And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectations of salvation." I love those two verses because in them we learn that in those problems, way down deep, are the beginnings of the reminder to us of what our God has sacrificed for us to that we can receive His salvation. So, today, each and every problem can be looked at as happy problems because if we remember these problems that seem so hard to overcome are just the first steps of what is the ultimate expectation! Hard to do, yes. But, that is the strength that God wants us build each and every day, starting today!

Reference: Romans 3:3-4 (New Living Testament)

day 178: Delegating Up

We do it all the time, even when we don't know we are doing it. We delegate up with our bosses. "Oh no, I don't do that. I would never do that", you say. Oh, but yes you do. Here is how it happens. You and your boss are having a conversation, maybe it is your weekly one-on-one meeting to go over the tasks and updates for the week. Somewhere in the conversation you mention a problem or an obstacle that you might have run into to get something done. It could be a policy or procedure that has slowed you down or has stymied you from moving forward. It may be an approval that you need to get from another department. It might be that you have run out of funding for this part of the project and you need to figure out how to shift some money over from somewhere else. Or, it might be a problem you are having with someone else on the team, that you haven't had the conversation with yet, or maybe you have had a conversation but nothing got resolved. It could be any of these topics or many more that you are discussing with your boss and she/he says, "You don't worry about that, I'll take care of it." Or, he/she just picks up their pen and makes a note to themselves to follow-up on the item. Either one of those happens and you just delegated up. You let the boss take the ball and run for you. I make this sound like it is a bad thing. It isn't at all and if it was, it wouldn't happen nearly as much as it does. In fact, it is just a part of how work works. However, we do this without much thought but we find ourselves not wanting to delegate up our problems to God even though it is clearly said that we should. We read; "Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you." But, still we hold onto our own problems tightly and won't give them up to God to help us out and through our rough times and challenges. Our bosses may reluctantly take the problem but we don't have a problem in handing it off to her/him. And yet God, who doesn't flinch, but instead welcomes the problems and wants to take them from us, we resist and think of last in the chain of support. Today, we all may want to rethink who we are delegating and reorder our delegation chain and start first with delegating up to the highest order first and then working down from there. By the time it gets back down to you, it may already be taken care of for you.

Reference: 1 Peter 5:7 (New Living Testament)