Collateral Shifting

As I was winding up my last class last evening in a debrief of the semester experience, in my closing remarks after some rich discussion for over an hour, I chose to speak to the mandate of the 80/20 Rule Pareto postulated rightly many years ago.  This semester, the four classes, for an array of reasons, were each more challenging to get the teams organized and up and running than any previous semester.  It still puzzles me, frankly, for my concern is that the array of issues encountered are potentially reflective of the greater population and if so, then my concern for the future decision makers and leaders has increased.

 

In speaking about the lessons learned from the semester experience and how the 20%-ers that impede the progress and productivity of the teams, a dot connected at a very personal level that I chose to share to make my point.  The overarching point is that in business, the work must get done.  Getting it done is made smoother when all the oars are in the water and the rhythm is established but if one set of oars is out of the water or out of the time sequence, the whole team is slowed in its performance.  To sharpen this reality I shared the following very personal story as an analogy.

 

In April of 1990 while living in Luxembourg at aged 42 years old, I played a heavy duty basketball game of fathers against the American International School's varsity basketball team. I had longed for that annual event the whole season with mind working each Saturday morning watching games formulating how to beat this bunch of eighteen year olds.  Finally on a cold 7 April morning, that time for battle came and it came with a vengeance.  I was transposed to my college playing days but not my college playing physical conditioning.  We beat that team and I had a superb scoring and rebounding game, running backwards up and down the floor, blocking shots, intimidating those "children."  Yes, life was good for there is sweet savor in victory.

 

The game is over, the applause is sweet but I knew something was not right for I could not seem to cool off and was sweating profusely.  For some reason I felt this need to exit the gym while an awards ceremony was underway by excusing myself to go to the rest room.  My brain was processing that if I could physically lay on the cold tile of the rest room, my body would cool and cease the sweating.  Well, you can guess that my body did not cool but only worsened.  A student was in the restroom and saw me and all I could think of was to keep him calm, not to bolt and starting telling anybody for I knew this would go away.  He did remain very calm and collected.  That coolness on his part helped me to calm down.  As an aside, that young man is named Laurent Weber and we are on FB so as I did earlier this week, want to thank him via this blog for his cool calmness when others would have went goofy.

 

The very short story is that I was, in fact, experiencing what is called a myocardial infarction, a heart attack due to a clogged artery on the back side of my heart in the right coronary artery. After so many years of playing basketball, the military, work pressure, etc, I soon learned that the small crook in that artery was there at birth but the game expenditure of energy probably broke loose a small piece of plaque that clogged the artery thus the text book definition of an infarction.  Yes I was transported to a local Luxembourg city hospital and so you can know, all was and is well with me to this day. No surgery, no heavy meds; just the memories but each is crystal clear in my brain of that cold day, the thrill of victory, the fear of not knowing, the weight of concern for my family in a foreign land, the doctors none of which spoke my language but were all exceptional; yes very memorable.

 

That is my story but to the point of my blog today and the 80/20 conundrum. One thing you learn when a major organ is affected in your body, you get very interested in that organ and exhaust much in learning about it.  The heart has a most unusual process God built into the organ and that system is called "collateral shifting."  You see, the heart is surrounded or wrapped in a cardialc sac that is supplied oxygenated blood via large and small veins that course the cardiac muscle.  When anything happens to slow or stop the flow of the rich oxygenated blood flow, an infarction, the heart immediately begins a process of cutting a new pathway around the area of the infarction to ensure the blood flood is maintained. It is simply amazing when you stop and think of the amazing creation of the human organism and the safeguards God created.

 

See, a team, a family, an organization must establish a singular heartbeat as it crafts its very unique culture.  Once the culture is established, the fatigue factor of the culture in minimized as the productivity becomes the norm.  However, if a 20% er, the infarction, remains, the  organization, the heart, must work harder and harder to maintain blood flow to the muscle, the team.  When that happens, in teams, the members dedicated to the journey begin automatically to collaterally shift processes and system to ensure the team, the heart, returns to its normal run rate of productivity. I hope that analogy is as clear to you as it is to me.

 

As this semester is now wrapped up with submission of my fourth and final class grades earlier today, much as been learned by the students, the teams and especially the leaders. I have heard and read volumes of feedback in the debrief sessions this week and personal profile essays written to me by each student about themselves to support the reality of the above analogy. My challenge to each of my students past and present is to seek ways to ignite what we have learned and experienced together into an active mode in their personal and professional lives. Like a foreign language once learned, if you keep using it you will never lose it but stop using and the loss of that language comes very quickly.

 

This has been a blessed journey this semester. It has not all been good but it has all be a part of a great journey and what an honor to get to lead that journey for these dozens of great minds. What a blessing!

Like Sands Through the Hour Glass

Good morning on this still dark, rainy Saturday morning.  I awoke this morning with much on my mind and in my heart.  I guess the best analogy for me in seeking to understand what my brain is so jammed with is the hour glass in watching the gravity pulled sand drop ever downward signifying for me the reality of  time in its onward march.  This week has been a week of many highs and a few lows which is true for most of us. 

As my semester is now completed but for the final exams next week, I feel both release and sadness knowing I will not see many of these 160 students ever again. We have come a journey together and on that journey I have seen yet gain growth, maturity, learning and cohesion become an impregnable force in the learning process. I have seen teams learn to work together even when some of the members may or may not like each other but have seen yet again that team-based performance will always yield better, richer performance results.  I have also been reminded all over again that the 80/20 rule is real, tangible and always at play for in any population, you will have 80% that will not create issues, get the work done and excel while that remaining 20% will create the issues and more importantly, will cause the leader to have to devote 80% of his or her time that should be devoted to improving the 80% performance instead spending 80% of the leader's time dealing with the issues created by the 20%.  That is why determining, surfacing and eliminating the 20% of an organization is the greatest opportunity for an effective leader. I believe this in my heart as to my students as they have worked through  a semester journey.

I must admit that the decision to take a semester off from teaching in the Spring has a bitter sweetness for me. I am really mentally very tired and know I need to time away to recharge and decompress; I know that. But the reality of not touching dozens of lives via my Jim, Inc teaching process that I know produces phenomenal results for the lives and minds of my students leaves me feeling like a hole is in my belly.  I also, and most importantly, realize this is God's work I do and thus if my teaching should close permanently, He will find new doors of ministry for me to focus on. So it is all in God's Hands, of course.  It is actually exciting to wait and see what God will open for me to do and it could be a broadened role in jail ministry or perhaps music or perhaps a trapeze artist or, wait, I am losing my mind! Smile.

Here is what I know: I love my life even when the disappointments come; and they do. I know when the evil hand of sin touches my family or my extended family in my students, I know my  heart aches to pray that person through the dire straits and just this week this has been tested powerfully in my student family. To be an instrument that is fueled by my God is simply humbling and exhilarating when the effects of the evil are brought to submission before a Loving God.

This will be a busy weekend of preparation for the Christmas musical and drama production next weekend at my church. I highly recommend you trying to attend one of these for you will be blessed. Basketball games with my grand kids, a full day of events at church, etc, etc; God is so good.

I cannot close without mentioning an affirmation of God's presence and place in our lives.  This week has been a set of unusual issues for Alicia and I both that have triggered a degree of stress and emotion.  I detest those times.  On Thursday the mail brought a very nice card from our church, the Canton Baptist Temple, and that card was telling us that the staff, which signed the card, had prayed for us on Tuesday during their staff meeting.  The staff could in no way have known what we were having to work through but that expression of love meant so very much to us both.  Lesson Learned: each of us can find ways to lift and encourage others with almost no effort.  Everyone of us need that touch of encouragement. I am challenging each of you to commit in this coming week to deciding  five people for you to reach out to to be an encouragement. Guess who will be most encouraged? That would be you!

Please know that as the sands of the hourglass continue to measure off the march of time, the joy of knowing that my life is being used for God's purpose on my life is the most amazing experience of this life journey. I still fail. I still falter. I still get frustrated and disappointed.  But being in God's Will is, well, powerful and pays such rich dividend for my family, my friends and my life.  This week, please, be a blessing for there are so many people hurting in so many ways many of which you have no idea about. This week has shown me that if five different cases.

The Greatest Gift

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/cops-jovan-belcher-kansas-city-chiefs-player-from-long-island-kills-girlfriend-self-1.4281729

Please read the web link before reading further!  It continues to amaze me at the seeming escalation of young people choosing to steal the greatest gift God can give Man, the give of life by even considering taking their own life. This is a horrific story that will be yet another footnote by this time Sunday for it is far too common and frankly, I realize, more acceptable in the culture of today.  Suicide is a sin and punishable by the Giver of Life, I believe.

This semester, as I have written about recently, has been another semester with several episodes of planned or considered suicide in previous students. Just this week I was made aware of another person I know, an adult, that has contemplated such action and I find myself simply astonished at even the thought of the thought of such a crime against humanity for that is exactly what it is.

This journey of life is not always roses for with each thorn we are granted the opportunity and the challenge to learn and thus apply to the next steps of life. That is how I define Wisdom. Knowledge provides the means and the will and Knowledge applied and misapplied or misused provide the challenge to not repeat the application; that is Wisdom I believe.  Somehow this aligns with a general apathy I see in my students semester after semester.  A general sense of not caring, not fully investing into the work, seeking the easy way out are all indications of a much greater concern I have for the generation now in high schools and colleges facing a globalizing job market.  Instead of digging in and fighting for the victory, the tendency is to quit, duck one's head and acquiesce.  This is called "gutless" or "chicken" in the vernacular of my youth.

Competition, I believe, is the greatest motivator for Man. I believe competition drives and fuels the best from Man.  I have just returned from watching my nine year old grandson play another excellent basketball game. It was excellent not because he did not score all the points but because I watch his learning to watch the defenses, set up the plays, drive the lane taking hits to open up shots for his team mates; that is what competition provides which is opportunities to make yourself better but also to elevate those around you.

My concern for the generation in school in the early part of this very fragile twenty-first century is the tendency to cut and run instead of stand and fight.  Yes, if you stand and fight, you get bloodied, hurt or maybe even killed but you stood for something and fought the battle for the right to get to win. That is a powerful statement when applied to life.  I relish in seeing the stand and fight spirit in my two children and that is a blessing to see your DNA come to life.

I grew up in a time and a place and in a family where you had to fight to win. It used to anger me even at a young age when I realized I was not a sgifted in basketball as others so it was for me to find a way to overcome obstacles.  That came through hours upon hours of practice, seeking games with men older and better than me, taking the hard knocks, the verbal chiding but with each, it made me better and more prepared.  That is what competition will do for you for it creates kinetic energy to succeed.  life is built upon people being more advantaged that you thus providing the incentive to fight to get equal and fight harder to surpass. That is a powerful force meaning to play or perform at a higher level than you yourself thinks you can do. I believe every person can be and perform at a level greater than they themselves believe they can .. that is a CHOICE!

Suicide and Success cannot abide in the same house I do not believe. My heart aches when I see things like the web link or begin to increase my heart rate when I read words from students with the sense of who cares, life is not worth it any more, I hate my life, continuum that is devastating and defeating.  We never know what tomorrow may bring. My daughter and her family has had to face two funerals this week of a close friend and a relative. It has tired her and worn her but I know she will rise above the disappointment, hurt and anxiety to make life better for her family and for herself.  I use that as example of the power of Choice. 

I will close with what I have closed with before; life is a gift and life is a choice; make the right choice. I do not care how bad things may seem, there is a new day coming thus in the tough times, and we all have those times, look for the new horizon; that horizon God only can bring to a life shaded and shadowed with fear and doubt. WE ALL FACE FEAR AND DOUBT.

So when the pain comes, and it will, when the fears abound, and they will, when the disappointments come, and they will, remember others need you, depend on you and want the best for you!  Enjoy this gift of life but the greater gift is in knowing that when his life is complete, your soul has a secured home for eternity.  I have my deed and ready for the trip! That is my challenge to each of you. I would love to have that conversation with you.

Be blessed!

So Close Yet So Far Away

Good morning on this cold Thanksgiving Day morning and I trust all is well in your world.  When you really think about those last few words, "all is well in your world,"  it takes on a much deeper mental tallying of what is truly important in one's life, doesn't it?  At my church last evening we had our traditional Thanksgiving Eve service and it was a wonderful, warm experience.  One of the testimonial videos that was played was of an elderly lady in my church that is in hospice and knows her days on this earth are fewer from brain cancer.  Listening to her and watching her on the video touched me deeply about the phenomenal wonder of this thing called life and how precious it surely is but even more was I reminded how just how quickly these days tick off in one's life.

 

One of the things I love about teaching is getting to be around young people as they scratch and posture for a better starting point for a life yet unfolded to them. They know not what lies ahead. Already so many have made bad choices with their lives, their bodies, their decisions but they are there, in school for whatever the motivation, seeking to "better" themselves.  The association with these young people lifts me, challenges me, makes me want to be the best I can be for them for they deserve to have exposures and role models they can choose to seek to be. 

 

I think I have realized in the last three or four years that the blessing of teaching is less about the teaching and more about the opportunity to let these folks see someone the respects, challenges, pushes, seeks to be a very positive, Christian role model that they, in some way and in their own timing, might decide to seek to want to understand that role model better.  I realize that process is the most effective means I have to be able to be something more, much more, to my students than just lecturing.  That, for me, is powerful and so rewarding. It takes more energy, more effort, more acceptance but each increment of "more" is so rewarding in so many ways.

 

Just yesterday another tragic example of the world in which these young folks reside in our new century was revealed to me when a student told me of addictions, failed relationships, no family role models he could be proud of and this sense of desperation about what to do. Far too many times have I been exposed to students carrying so much baggage.  As I write this I have former students in Federal prison for wrong choices. That, the many, tears at my heart so painfully.  But then I realize that all of that is part of this thing called life and we all have to learn to live it in our own unique, individual way.  We all have baggage. We all have issues. We all can choose to blame or we all can choose to rise above our lot in life and seek a brighter ray of sun on our future.  I see far too many examples of young students at age eighteen or twenty that have already just given up and have accepted that the bad is just their life and there is nothing they can do.  That mentality is so wrong and so destructive and demeaning.

 

Life is a gift; a GIFT! When I see or hear evidence that the gift is abused or taken for granted and washed into blaming others or the situation, instead of facing the horizon of opportunity and driving hard for that opportunity, choose to turn to drugs, alcohol and expecting the government to carry them for they see it so rampantly, I am pained at the heart.  When my students hurt, and many are hurting, I hurt.  The problem I have is that in most cases I am relegated to the sidelines to pray for them and their choices and decisions or, worst case, recovery.  Too many times I have been involved in suicide issues during my teaching tenure.  That still completely causes me to retort in shock for that is something, an act of such robbery of God's gift to Man, that I cannot rationalize nor understand.  I would venture in my classes, the great majority of my students know directly people in their lives that have or have contemplated suicide. That staggers my mind!

 

Our world is afloat with Satan's handiwork.  Our world is a cauldron of hate and hurt. Our world has always been that way I believe for that is precisely why God chose to destroy his Creation with the flood due to the level of godlessness and corruption and immorality.  When I see or read daily of the mass killing of unborn children via abortion, the issue of same-sex marriages which is counter to what God gave us as a principle of what marriage is,  the escalation of horrific crimes, our national "heroes" fallen, our political leaders inept; is it any wonder that our younger generation views their world ahead of helpless and hopeless?

 

I will close my Thanksgiving Blog with this reality from my heart! Our world and our life are gifts from a God that loves and wants the best for us. People are our greatest resource and friendships and relationships are crucial to right mental and emotional development.  Aberrant lifestyles skew that process negatively. Children need parents, a father and a mother. Children need role models. Children are more and more the victims of a corrupt and fallen generation fueled by drug use, ill fated relationships and anger and frustration.  Please, please, please know that on this Thanksgiving Day my greatest prayer and hope is that the members of our global village will seek a loving and living God and His principles about life and marriage and family.  

 

I wish each of you reading this my very best but the greatest gift of this Thanksgiving time, I believe, is to seek a way to encourage someone in your world that is struggling for the light of day and life.  Thank you for your many comments I receive and thank you for being such an integral component of my life. I am blessed and I know it! You are such a part of that blessed.

 

ENCOURAGE SOMEONE THIS DAY!

A Churned Up World

Good morning on this very early Saturday morning. It is now almost 0400 but my mind went live about 0245 so instead of trying to just lay and pretend to sleep, I chose to get up for some quiet time with the Lord, ponder our world around us and take a few minutes to do my now weekly blog.  I knew when I laid down it would be a short night for there seems to be an inordinate number of tectonic plates shifting and changing our world's landscape and thus the global village in which we all reside.  Putting it all in context, I guess, is having watched two movies this week about Baby Boomers aging starring great Baby Boomer actors in Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones and realizing in watching the thing of aging is very real.  Mind you, this blog will not be pining about getting older but in realizing that there is a huge difference in "getting old" and in understanding the potency of "wisdom."

 

As the rockets rain down in Gaza and Israel, as Israel gears up a ground force of supposedly 75,000 troops and their machines of war, the world is concerned but with so much other stuff just in the last seven days, it almost sets this conflict as a sideshow.  The cacophony of and eclectic sounds from throughout our troubled world is, I believe, creating much more of a sense of disconnect by the villagers of our global population.  Change of leadership is China is not heralded with pomp but with fear and concern about this now looming giant of a powerhouse will now do as what seems the rest of the world is in some state of collapse from internal forces. America appears to be the premier play that is being acted out on the world's stage with the Petraeus issue still at the centerfold.

 

Markets, the indicators of the world's confidence, are now being in major shift from high-to-low, oil prices, naturally, are escalating and will reflect more and more at the pump as the holiday period comes quickly.  The POTUS election is over but the campaigning is still fever pitch as the "Cliff" looms, as new leaders now begin the baccalaureate process of fitting in in Washington, the old talking heads are basically saying what they have been saying and doing and will continue thus the poisonous air in Washington will no doubt continue to burn your eyes and nose.

 

I learned two things that week that, for me, are only more indicators of the decaying of our national culture.  Eighty percent of the world's pain killer presciption drugs are made and sold and consumed in the United States.  Think about that.  Another indicator is the pornography industry is supplies to the world in an inordinate portion in the making, producing and selling of this terrible product accounting for nearly eighty percent of the almost $100 billion annual global industry sales.  I just find those two statistics to stand out as indicators of a culture moving backwards in lockstep here in America.

 

The Niagara of global issues grows, seemingly, in power with each passing day. But let me go back to the first paragraph about getting up early to spend time with the Lord for in that time I realized all over again that in and of ourselves, this cascade of awful and disappointment in men and nations and culture is quite normal and predictable.  The Bible speaks quite eloquently and quite often of events in both the Old and the New Testaments of leader deceit, national collapse and calamity so why should we be surprised by the spigot at full open of poison, deceit and disappointments on such a grand scale?

 

So many songs come to my mind through my heart that speak to how this all affects me. Songs like, "I Know Who Holds Tomorrow,"  "Just a Little Talk with Jesus," I Love You Lord," "Celebrate Me Home," "Amazing Grace," "Satisfied, "No One Ever Cared So Much for Me," etc, etc.  As my mind replays those phenomenal lyrics I find myself lifted from the mire of the day. I find myself encouraged for my children and grandchildren and my students which comprise my extended family. 

 

I will close by summing up my heart as 0500 quickly comes as the launch of a very busy day and weekend.  Yes, I will turn sixty-five in March. Feel free to FedEx, UPS, walk them over, all the No Bakes one can find for my eating and fattening enjoyment but I do not see that milestone in the aging process as a bad thing. I see it as time to reflect on the job of the wisdom God is granting me with and for the ever widening band of friends and relationships in my life.  I love my life and realize with each passing day how blessed I am.. I think Facebook adds to that realization in reading so much about hurt and pain and concerns.  So let me count my blessings this early morning if I may in closing:

• I get to enjoy a marriage of forty-two years soon that is beyond measure for me
• I get to sing God's Praises to many and glean such joy from that talent and opportunity
• I get to attend a church that preaches, lives and breaths the powerful Gospel I believe totally
• I get to watch our children love each other and mature spiritually and successfully
• I get to be part of our five grand children's lives and get to watch them grow in love
• I get to touch so many lives via my teaching that extends far beyond the traditional classroom
• I get to feel no pain and no worries; a true blessing
• I get to enjoy a good mind and good health which so many cannot claim this morning
• I get to be part of so much good
• I get to teach
• I get to not worry nor fret about finances when I know so many are desperate about that
• I get to enjoy the things I enjoy and able to detach from things I do not enjoy
• I get to worship in freedom
• I get to be me; that me that so many have crafted into that me in so many, diverse ways
• I get to reflect of those that touched my life early named Avery, Epley, Morton, Berry, Cowan, Holt, Stone, Williams, Johnson, and the list is endless.

The blessing of "getting to" resounds in my heart this morning.  So as the media has fertile fields to churn up discontent and fear for that is what they exist to do, I know there is a much Greater Power that has it is all "Under Control." and in knowing that I can proclaim for me this moment, "We Are So Blessed" in a world seemingly gone mad but hey, it is the same world that has been here since God created it in six days and then He rested; it really is just that simple. I love simple understandings for they are transparent and irrefutable.  So as we ponder the changing social institutional frameworks around marriage, relationships, politics, fallen heroes, a violent world; all we that claim the name above all names, the name of Jesus, need to be concerned about is ... I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today. I know that He is living, No matter what men may say. I see Hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer, and just the time I need Him, HE'S ALWAYS NEAR.

 

Can I get a witness!

Across the Horizon

Good morning on this Saturday morning. This has been yet another most interesting week not the least of which resides with the painful, exhausting election.  I have chosen to do my blog today on the future and not the past. I have decided that this is all in God's Plan and His Divine Purpose so there is a logical, rational reason and conclusion to being where we are in this Land and in this Life.  While the candidates fought hard and untold, inexcusable amounts of money were blown on this election, we have what we have.  As I have told countless people in my recent years when asked my thoughts or advice on a topic or issue, my response is usually to look across the horizon toward that next hill top for the answer!

 

As our nation and we as a People now move forward in this global village that is cutting new paths like molten lava flowing down a volcanic hill side, we are a People gripped with consternation, concern and disarray.  There is a fundamental misalignment unfolding in our nation as we saw played out in the elections with several states ratifying same-sex marriage, marijuana legalized in others and other events that turn upside down the very principles given us in the Scriptures.  We saw just yesterday perhaps the greatest military leader in the history of our nation resign as CIA Director over an admitted wrong against his wife but against those same Scriptural principles.  But the commentators within moments of the announcement were coloring the admitted wrong as "acceptable" in Washington for many have and will do the same but did not see the need to resign as a result.  See the lava flow?

 

Today as Americans, we see a landscape that is quite unsettling.  We have lost faith in our political and economic system and worst of all, our leaders.  The gridlock was portraited perfectly on national TV in a 60 Minutes TV interview with Mitch McConnell and Harry Reed, the Republican and Democratic leadership in the U.S. Senate. There they sat dressed almost exactly the same, both about the same age and both absolutely resolute that there will be no change in the philosophies of either thus their Parties as this next POTUS sets in for four more years of increased borrowing, increased spending on safety nets, disincentives for business, increased rulebooks, enhanced union membership drives, etc. etc.  The landscape before us is rocky and scary for there is so much fog across the landscape that it creates a poison and derisive environment that resembles a moonscape instead of a landscape. But my point: we have what we have so it is for us to look Across that Horizon toward that next hilltop and not keep pining about the view through the rear view mirror of our nation or our own personal lives.

 

So you can know on this Veterans' Day weekend, having worn that warrior cloth, have the privilege of having veterans in my classes, see the devastating impact of combat crafted into this young people that will likely manifest throughout their lifetimes, I BELIEVE IN THIS NATION AND ITS GREAT PEOPLE! I can say that for I believe in a God that loves HIS PEOPLE if we, HIS PEOPLE, will cling to His teachings and principles. So while I do not like the election results, I do love my country and believe all of this has Purpose in God's Divine Plan for our nation.  As the Children of Israel would attest in the pages of the Old Testament, that journey is no always fun and filled with frolic thus I believe that describes the days ahead for our nation.

 

The great Gospel song captures all of this for me and my family:

 

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in His wonderful face

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the Light of His Glory and and Grace

 

See, I believe what resides out there across that Horizon is a life of bounty and good. I believe the pendulum of Man's vileness has swung too far to one side but that pendulum will reverse its painful and wrongful course only through the gravitational pull of a God that does love His Creation and its inhabitants. This hate, division, polarization and angst will either pull us together or it will tear the very heart of mankind out of the chest of hope for a brighter tomorrow.  We are a much better nation than what we see for I get to see the fruits of our nation in my classrooms and I know these young minds to be excellent and energized. I see it in my grandchildren as they grow and mature in homes with Christian parents and in Christ-centered churches.  The root structure is there and it is sound and solid so that gives me great hope for the tomorrows but we have some tough times today to fight through. 

 

Are you ready for the fight or are you wanting to keep your hooks of hate in the disdain of the election results, the mountain of debt and the destructive force of the lava flows of deceit?  That is a very personal yet very vital question as we, as a People, look out Across our Horizon!

Finishing Well

That has always been a captivating comment, to Finish well!  This morning I have awakened to that concept and felt it what I should write about this on this Saturday morning. Moments ago I wrote an email to all my students this semester encouraging each of them as the finish line of our semester journey is nearing that they do not allow themselves to shirk or back away from the process we have used this whole semester as the final blocks of work remain to be completed for I impressed upon them to seek to "finish well."

 

Finishing well is, like most things I have learned, a choice. This was brought back to me yesterday as I met with my financial advisor and drilling into assessing the Williams' economy as the sixty-fifth birthday comes quickly and the next step of life begins. You know, that time you think will never come when you have to decide on stuff like Plans in Medicare, supplementals, being sure the planned income is a bit greater than the planned outgo; that stuff you must do for the next phase of life. It can be depressing or it can be lifting and I chose for it to be lifting. Just all part of the journey in seeking to "Finish Well." It was a good meeting and I feel really good about the blessings God has placed on my life, my family and our place secured there in Heaven; king's gold that value reflects!

 

When I think of this semester, the four classes, I realize this has been a somewhat unique experience in many ways, not all good, versus the dozens of previous semesters.  Dealing with the twenty percenters has taken far too long and there are some still among us.  But for some reason, I seem to glean the greatest joy of my teaching approach in dealing with these issues for I realize in dealing with them, the twenty percenter will either improve or run and the eighty-percenters will strive even more diligently so it is a win - win for these young people that will face similar challenges in their years ahead. That will be my greatest legacy I hope and believe is illustrating in real time that you cannot simply ignore the twenty percenters; you must ferret them out and deal with them; each and ever one and each and every one is unique thus that is the enjoyable part for me in determining the right course of action. I do enjoy that process!

 

I have thought and prayed much about this phase of my life as a teacher. God has blessed this work so richly and in so many ways that it is truly breathtaking even in the frustrations and mental exhaustion at times.  Having taught 134 university courses at four universities on eight campuses and approaching 7,000 students since retiring from Goodyear just over nine years ago, I have come to realize that I am rather tired mentally. My students deserve the 150% Professor Williams they deserve so when I realize myself this is wearing on me, then it is for their benefit, my family and for me to take some time away to decompress and recharge.  So I will be taking off from teaching in the Spring semester and there are a couple of other areas of activity I am pulling back from as well. I want to concentrate on some other areas of my life, such as my music and jail ministry, and knowing even now God will open up other opportunities of service in some capacity. I look forward to see what those doors will be.

 

Finishing well is a blessing that comes from making right decisions, investing yourself properly and giving your best through the good times and the not so good times.  Remaining in close contact with multiple hundreds of current and former students is part of the joy of my life and part of the essence of Finishing Well. I may or may not return to teaching for God will provide that clarity and opportunity so it is not for me to worry about that. I realize as well I have never actually "retired" since leaving Goodyear and doubt I ever will, frankly, for since I was fourteen I have never not be involved and invested in something vocationally; DNA from my mother no doubt.

 

I am so very blessed with health, wealth and joy of serving and I have found that in serving, leading takes blossom. I am blessed and I know it!  Have a great week and headed to a Christmas cantata practice; it is going to be great. So, Finish Well!