Lessons from the wise Guy...

I am privileged and blessed to have an accountability partner who is willing to speak the blunt truth to me with the love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Knowing that I needed such a partner as I arrived in Wichita, I slowly realized that accountability is not bounded by time zones and locations. And, there are few people I trust to hold and take me to account more than my buddy Guy.

Guy and I have known each other nearly 13 years after meeting and working together at HP in the OpenView software business. He mentored me as a new manager and we both saw some exciting and tough times during the dot.com boom and hey-days of the late 90s and early 2000s. We have run (literally) 100s of miles together talking, laughing, releasing stress, and found ourselves running faster and faster as our focus and zeal in the conversation drove us. He's one of the few men in this world I can truly call a friend.

We agreed to have regular conversations over the phone and, as we began, it's became my job to call him and kick off the mutual accountability conversation. However, I would not get the times right in my head to call. So, he and I repeatedly setup times to talk and I failed to show.

Most, I believe, would have simply faded from this schedule of missed conversations. I mean, what's to stop him? He's nearly 600 miles away. But Guy is not that way. We rescheduled the last conversation (again) and he kicked it off by challenging me on how I'm using others' time - not his time, but OTHERS' time. Do you get that? Great leadership comes with helping others focus on a common goal - and a godly man is always to look at the concerns of others before himself.

So, with renewed focus and energy, I'm really going to try to be at every meeting on time. No one should have to wait on me because of my lack of regard for his/her time.

Way to go, Guy (again). I thank God for you, my brother...=D

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Storehouse of Goodness

Image
How great is Your goodness which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in You. Psalm 31:19 When I think about the LORD and His goodness to me and those around me, I am so thankful. And yet, I'm not sure I've thought often about how He stores up goodness for me.  Have you? If we fear Him alone (and that's a BIG IF), then we can be assured of this promise: that He will store up goodness for us! The doctor gives bad news. God has goodness stored up for us. A spouse asks for a divorce. God has goodness stored up for us. Children make decisions that grieve us. God has goodness stored up for us. Fellow students or colleagues at our place of employment treat us with contempt or worse. God has goodness stored up for us. Dreams and goals we thought were important are no longer possible. God has goodness stored up for us. No matter what we encounter along the Way - whether calm or storm, peace o
Read more

Lessons of Trust

As promised, here are a few of the lessons learned after the challenges wrought in the experience on Thursday night's Living Last Supper: When we do something intentionally to God's glory, He receives the glory and protects us. Continue to put trust in God alone. As we trust God, if an outside organization desires access to the church, one must perform due diligence to verify who they are and what they intend to do. If there is no time to perform due diligence, then the offer remains unaccepted. The farther away an interviewer/videographer lives, the more due diligence is required. Interviewers or videographers rarely (if ever) pay you to do their work. If sufficient due diligence is performed, review ALL waivers before signing or making them available for signatures. If after due diligence, a group is allowed on site, increase security to ensure the group behaves as promised. And, the oldest lesson of all: people may not do what you expect them to do, but they will do what you
Read more

Who is your king?

  Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”    Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”    Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” John 18:36-38a In a culture that stresses having the “right” identity, you and I have many.    For example, I am a son of my parents, husband to my wife, father to my children, grandfather to their children, a neighbor, a friend, a pastor.    You get the idea.    All of these relationships mark us – identify us.    While we might like to consider all of these identities equally, there is a hierarchy whereby one identity overshadows or has priority over another.    As we raised our children, my k
Read more