day 1300: Economic Inequality

This Purposed worKING is a little different in structure and format than others.

In the coming days we each are going to be faced with a message on economic inequality. All signs are that this will be the prevailing theme in our nation's capital for 2014 and much will be placed under its umbrella.  We will each be challenged to personally respond and whether publicly or privately, have a point of view. Many will have already made up their mind and will only react negatively to anyone or anything that challenges their point of view.  Others will be thinking deeply about this for the first time and for all, we will be filtering the news and message through our own current lens and filter of belief and experience.  And, this challenge will show up in our workplaces as the policies of employers get considered as part of the economic actions that can happen. Some of us may even be in the position of making the decisions on policies that affect those in our workplaces.

As believers, there is only one road we can travel, and that is the road of our higher authority.  The world we live in is complicated and filled with irony and paradox. Yet, if we stay grounded in His Word and Spirit we can stay above the fray. God promises us a time and a world that is beautiful and peaceful. I hope this set of scriptures from Isaiah will speak to you as it has to me as I consider the promise that is always there for us when we trust and lean on our Father.

"Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days.

The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses. 

Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers
    and singing and joy!

The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon,
    as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon.

There the Lord will display his glory, the splendor of our God. 
  
With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands,
    and encourage those who have weak knees. 

Say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, and do not fear,
for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.”

And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind
    and unplug the ears of the deaf.

The lame will leap like a deer,
    and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!

Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the wasteland. 

The parched ground will become a pool,and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land.

Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived.

  

 And a great road will go through that once deserted land.
    It will be named the Highway of Holiness.

Evil-minded people will never travel on it.
    It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways;
    fools will never walk there.

Lions will not lurk along its course,
    nor any other ferocious beasts.

There will be no other dangers. Only the redeemed will walk on it. 

 Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return.
    They will enter Jerusalem singing,
    crowned with everlasting joy.

Sorrow and mourning will disappear,
    and they will be filled with joy and gladness."

Reference: Isaiah 35: 1-10 (New Living Translation)

day 1286: Audacious and Outlandish Hope

"The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm."

A famous U.S. General said, "Hope is not a method."  He is right and even in my own company, I used to ban the word "hope" from being used in concurrence with business plans and objectives. But, let's not underestimate the power of hope for causing people to dream, imagine and innovate.  If vision is "A description of those things not yet seen", then hope is the magnet that can get vision to come out of us.  If we hope for better, then we will be drawn to come up with our own ways to make it better. The word hope got overused politically and maybe we shy away from it now because we don't want to get labeled, but let's not give up on hope.  Audacious and outlandish hope may well be the breakthrough that you have been looking for (and hoping).

As Isaiah prophesied the coming of Jesus, he also described a world that was filled with audacious and outlandish hope.  You need read no further than Isaiah Chapter 11 to see how crazy he was!  Or was he?  Indeed he was not.  He gave us a vision of what our eternal future will be, the power of God and what the Kingdom of Jesus can and will be for all of us who believe and accept.  When we get caught up in being cynical, suspicious and doubting we are casting aside God's hope for us.  Is there not a better time than now to let our hopes be unbound and available for others to see?  Let's put aside the rest and let our hope that comes from Him spring forth this week. 

Reference: Isaiah 11:8 (New Living Translation)  

day 854: OMGPOP

"What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen."

Last week we read of a little company called, "OMGPop" that had developed and launched an iphone app called, "Draw Something". Within weeks of launch the app had been downloaded over 30 million times and everywhere you turned someone was talking about the game. Within the same weeks the game big company Zynga swooped in and drew up their offer for OMGPop and days/hours later the deal had closed at a purportedly $180 million dollar sum. If that doesn't feel like 1999 all over again, nothing does. Later we learned that at the time, OMGPop was on their last dollars and if that Draw Something had not become a hit that the company was headed for the dead pool. Out of nowhere and into the jet stream in a flash. It doesn't happen often but when it does it gives MBA classes and young entrepreneurs a new story to tell and a new motivation. The problem with the story line is that OMGPop is one of a thousand, but that's okay. What we need to see is the possibility, the dreams and the conquests to be made. These are what keep the entrepreneurial flames burning.

For those of us who are in this world, but strive hard to not be of it, moments like OMGPop's can be hard to reconcile. We may think that because we are living our lives in accordance to God's desire for us that we should be given and have our OMGPop reward in our own work. That is not what God says to us. What we are told and know that is if we walk in the will of the Lord that by our faith, that those things that we hope for we can with "confident assurance" knowing will happen. But what we don't know, nor can we learn somehow, is what is truly in God's will for us. That is where we are to put our faith and our hope; in the lap of God so that His will will come to fruition for us. What we hope for in the future can only be fulfilled with our faith now and ongoing, but let's put those hopes and faith where they can be of most use; for what God can do for us in His Kingdom.

Reference: Hebrews 11:1 (New Living Testament)

day 118: Faith Trumps Hope

As we go through the work day we hope for many things. We hope that the sale comes through, we hope that the meeting will go well, we hope for the project to get done on time, we hope for that promotion, we hope that the company will stay strong enough to weather through the economic conditions. We do a lot of hoping. But how often do we take our hopes (and our concerns) about work to God and through prayer invite Him into solutions and problems? If we did, and when we do, then we can turn our hopes into more, we can turn our hopes into faith. And, as we know, faith can make things happen. It is not in the procedures and lexicon of most businesses to pray over the work to be done. If it was, imagine for a moment what things might be different. If the day started with a simple prayer to cover the people and activities at hand, if nothing else the tone and the attitude throughout the day would be so much more uplifting. It would be hard to walk out of prayer and then go battle in the Board room. But unless you are in the ministry or blessed to work in a place where your faith is welcomed and encouraged, these prayers will have to be said by yourself or with a small group of believers within the company. Still, we know that the earnest prayers of a righteous person will be heard and we can then turn our hope into faith. Hebrews 11:1 says: "What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see." So today, when others use the word "hope", allow that to be a reminder and cue that we should stop ourselves and offer what we are working on up to God to help us i what we are doing. And then we can smile inside and know that what others hope for, we can instead expect to happen through our faith. That assurance should make each of us want to take God to work with us each and every day, suiting us up for whatever the challenges of the day or week may bring.

Reference: Hebrews 11:1 (New Living Testament)

day 74: Shifting Sand

I sit on a number of corporate Boards and am asked to work with management teams and to speak on how to navigate and manage through uncertain times, shaky ground and shifting sand. In these sessions or talks I tend to spend a fair amount of time trying to address what has to be conscious disconnection of self-worth and one’s job. It is too easy to have the two be tangled together. We get used to describing ourselves and what we do by our job, title and company. And when, for any reason, that rug is pulled out from under us; we have a hard time finding our self-worth and ego footing. Many people just can’t accept the unpredicted and fearful change. They go into denial, anger and sometimes hiding. There is a reason that people will go indefinite time before they tell their family that they have lost their jobs. In today’s world it is reality that we are all standing on shifting sand at work. What was stable and always there before is now gone and jobs that are lost become hard, if not what feels impossible, to replace. And so we find that we can’t put our hope of our future with the company we love, the boss we respect and want to work for forever, or the paycheck that we are counting on for the fueling of our financial future. It is in times like these that we must remember that we cannot put our hope anywhere but with our Heavenly Father. David cried out in Proverbs as he tried to figure out where to put his hope. He says, "And so, Lord, where do I put my hope?”. He then answers himself with, “My only hope is in you." I was taught by my father to never put my faith in people, as people will always let you down. He was right. We should also not allow our hope in people or companies or jobs. We should continue to challenge ourselves to set our hope on solid rock so that when the sand shifts and we lose our balance or fall that we can pick ourselves back up with the hope that comes from our Lord. Today would be a good day to ask yourself where your hope lies. Are you putting hope in the right or the wrong place? The right place will deliver that sure and solid footing. All you have to do is put your hope in the Lord.

Reference: Psalms 39:7 (New Living Testament)