Are You a Planner or an Improviser?

Are you a planner or an improviser?  I like to be organized (I am CDO - that’s OCD in alphabetical order, as it should be).  But I can improvise if I get caught unorganized.  Years ago, my school principal (who was also my pastor and my friend) insisted that I complete my lesson plans on time.  I chaffed at the directive.  I reasoned, “I am a seasoned teacher.  I shouldn’t have to write everything down.”  But after two confrontations, I submitted.  And you know what?  With written lesson plans, I became an even better teacher (I was one of three outstanding teachers in Tennessee in 1989).  And at the end of the school year, I had to go into my principal’s office and thank my principal for making me do my job.  Confrontation isn’t easy, but it is often necessary to accomplish the job.  Hey, someone has to be the boss and someone has to be the follower.  Paul said in Philippians 3:7&8, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung (manure), that I may win Christ.”  Wow!  Those are powerful verses!  We must submit to Jesus and be a follower of His leading.  And we must submit to one another in the workplace as we submit to the Lord.  After all, whether we are organized or whether we are creative, we must work with other people.  And we must get along with people, for people are more important than our planning … or lack of planning.

Dead Dead

My mother hated snakes.  She was told by folk that black snakes killed mice and were helpful creatures for the ecosystem, but mom would hear none of it.  Any snake on the property would soon be a dead snake.  When my mother killed a snake, she killed it dead dead.  A hoe or shovel with a long handle was the weapon of choice.  Of course, a dead snake will still writhe a little.  But if it did, my mother would kill it again until it stopped moving.  She would continue to chop it up until there was nothing left to move.  Hey, I understand my mother’s hatred for snakes.  I have personal sins that I hate and try to kill.  But they just keep coming back.  I kill them, but in a few days, they are right back alive in the darkest recesses of my life.  I hate them.  But the good things that I want to do, they keep dying out.  I make a commitment to read my Bible each day, but in a week, I forget.  I make a commitment not to gossip or slander, but in a week, my wicked tongue is back alive and well once again.  Hey, Paul had it absolutely right in Romans 7:7-25.  Read that whole passage today.  Paul finally said in Rom 7:24&25, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”  Paul was just like me, and you are just like me and Paul!  We must surrender to Jesus Christ every day.  Only Jesus can keep my spiritual life alive and keep my selfish life dead.  Dead, dead!

Magic Cup and Donnie

In 1984 we had small Tupperware cups that our children liked to use.  Each child had a favorite color, but often they had to take a second choice while their favorite was in the sink.  We had a yellow cup that was left too close to a hot eye on the stove.  The side of it softened, melted slightly, and sagged.  None of the kids wanted to use the deformed cup.  So I started calling it “the magic cup” and everything changed.  Everyone wanted to use “the magic cup”.  How often do we get something in our heads that is not true?  We look on the outside and fail to see the inside.  The cup just changed on the outside, but still was useful for its intended purpose.  How often do we judge someone by how they look on the outside and not the content of their heart?  We had a man at church who had a traumatic brain injury.  He slurred his speech and walked with a limp.  Church kids were scared of Donnie.  But Pastor Stuart had an idea.  He gave Donnie a bag of penny candy and began calling him “the Candy Man”.  And it stuck!  After church services, children would flock to see Donnie, AKA the Candy Man.  We can use words to build up, if we use them carefully.  Solomon said in Proverbs 18:4, “The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.”  Use your words carefully today.  Build someone up.  You’ll be glad that you did.