day 1240: Stripping Down!

...let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up..."


I'm in the process of buying a software business.  It's a great service and as we look at what we need to do first it is not what most would think.  The first thing we need to do is to strip it down.  What does that mean?  Well, it like building an airplane.  The designers of an airplane build it out with all kinds of great features and amenities, but at some point all of those get weighed against the size of the engine and the thrust available to allow the plane to get off the air, and stay in the air. Because the engines are what they are, there is only thing to do, start stripping away the features until everything comes in balance.  The same has to happen to this service I am looking to purchase. The same has to happen to all of our businesses. It's not easy as we can get very attached to features and before long they can become sacred cows.  Last week Bill Gates apologized for every letting Control-Alt-Delete get built and put in their routine.  He knows now that they should have stripped the feature down to one button. What are we hanging on to that needs to be stripped down?

We each have traits and ways of being that when pushed to name them we would say they are identifiers of who we are.  The question we must always be asking ourselves is whether or not those "features" are ones that are strengthening us in our relationship with Jesus, or holding us back.  Like the plane that can't take flight, or the software that is too feature-rich and sluggish, we have to have the courage to strip down these areas of our lives so we can bound forward for Him.

Reference: Hebrews 12:1 (New Living Translation)

day 1106: Adding Features

"Then Jesus told him, 'You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who haven't seen me and believe anyway."

Our business is running well and it is time to add on new services, or line extensions to our products, or as we say in software companies, "It's time to add on features". The decision to add or expand is a hard one, or at least it should be. The thought to add should be as disciplined and diligent as when we first started with our core offerings. For some reason we don't always take this decision as seriously and we can find that before we know it we have started something that isn't profitable of even worse, takes away from our core focus. Before we add, think hard about what the outcome will and can be.

We have just celebrated our most holy of days. Without Easter there would be no eternal life. Many Christians around the world have also just completed 40 days of Lent, having given up and denied themselves of something in remembrance of what God gave up for us. But, what do we do for the 40 days after Easter?  Nothing formal, but yet Jesus actually modeled for us that we should be committed about being additive in the 40 days post Easter.  He did this by coming back and making Himself present physically to his disciples for those 40 days before ascending back to Heaven.  As we move out of Easter, let's ask ourselves what it is that we are adding to the Kingdom and to our own spiritual growth?  Can we find something that expands the Kingdom and brings more glory to God? Can we be present to those around us and allow them to see the likeness of Christ in us?  Think about it!

Reference: John 20:29 (New Living Testament)