How are you investing in yourself?

I just read the book Training Camp by Jon Gordon. Very concise read. Loved it. Challenges me to dig deeper and go harder.

I am also reading ‘How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In’ by Jim Collins. And there are just a a couple of the books that I am into at the present (the Bible being at the top of the list, of course!).

This is in addition to the blogs/magazines I read, lectures, and podcasts that I listen to on my Ipod, or different speakers/leaders I watch online.

I am aware that this may sound a little geeky, but I try to make a point of investing in myself on a regular basis. These investments help me grow, expand my thinking, and expose me to information that I would have never encountered.

These investments help shape my life by making me a better Husband, Father, Pastor, Leader, Servant, etc.

By being intentional in how I invest in myself I have a hand in who/what I am becoming.

It has been my experience that when I become careless in my self-investment, I become more careless in my life.

Question: In the next seven days, what steps can you take to intentionally invest in YOU?

“A generous person will prosper;
whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”
-Proverbs 11:25

Last post I asked: Who is investing in you?

Today I would like to ask: Who are you investing in?

We have a responsibility to invest in others. By giving ourselves to enrich the lives of those around us through intentional investment, we become better people.

There are those that sometimes complain, who is helping ME?

But ME people (folks that only think primarily about themselves) rarely invest in anyone else because they are waiting for an investment by someone else (or when they do they are looking to benefit themselves!).

More often than not, the ME people are still waiting.

Because they won’t invest, they get little investment.

But those that give to others, are given to by others.

The WE people (people that think of others more highly than themselves) are constant investors, drawing out the very best in others.

Through their best investment, they become the best versions of themselves.

Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.
-John Crosby

Who is investing in you? Who is helping to shape and direct your life? Who is coaching you to sharpen up your game?

Every one of us need others to challenge us into becoming our best.

We can’t do it alone.

Sometimes those that invest in us are direct mentors, people that call us/meet with us on a regular basis.

Others invest in us from afar, not realizing how significant their impact is on their lives. Some have died, with only their words to inspire us to greatness.

But no matter what the forum is, we all need to be invested in by somebody.

And if the perfect mentor doens’t find you, don’t worry.

Just find the mentor yourself.

Above is a picture with myself and Francis Chan, Pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley California. Tiffany and I ran into he and his daughter after seeing X Men Origins.

He was in town to speak at a conference, and was going to the theater during a break in the action.

Francis, though he didn’t know it until we met; is one of my mentors. He’s investmented in me through: his books, online talks, and podcasts. I have been positively impacted by his leadership example.

It was very cool to be able to thank him for the great job he is doing, and the investment he has made on my life.

So I would like to ask again: Who is investing in you? Who is helping to shape and direct your life? Who is coaching you to sharpen up your game?

Every one of us need others to challenge us into becoming our best.

Because we can’t do it alone.

Fourteen years ago today, I married a pretty girl named Tiffany Douglas.

Over those 5115 days we have moved here and there, had three amazing daughters, and lived an incredible adventure. Though the 122,736 hours have not been without the challenges of life, we are more in love than ever before.

I have been blessed beyond belief.

Here’s to the adventure.

Tiffany, I love you.

Happy Anniversary.

Last message in ‘The Rock’ series. Click here to check it out.

“Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help.”
-Dan. 6:11

“Faith, and hope, and patience and all the strong, beautiful, vital forces of piety are withered and dead in a prayerless life.”
-E.M. Bounds

When crisis hits, where do you go? What do you do? Who do YOU ask for help?

I love this story in the bible because it catches Daniel at an extreme crisis point in his life. In the middle of the crisis, he goes to God first. Though he is being unjustly accused he doesn’t complain, negotiate, or point fingers. He just goes to God to ask for help.

Wow.

Most of us believe in prayer but seldom pray. It is not a focused part of our life. We are too busy, too stressed, too precoccupied, or too something else.

But if one of the most revered and respected people in the bible made seeking God a priority in his life, maybe I should do the same.

Shouldn’t you?

Things are not always what they seem. About five years ago, back when I was living in Grand Rapids, Michigan I needed a haircut so I went to the Barbershop. Usually when the dome (translation: head) gets a little unkempt, I cut it myself.

But every now and again, Mr. Julian Newman treats himself to an appointment with the barber.

There is nothing like going to the old school Barbershop and getting a top flight cut and shave with a straight razor. The buzz of the clippers, warm shaving cream, and the little squeak of the edge of the blade.

Wow.

You walk out of there feeling like a million bucks, like you could leap a tall building in a single bound.

Well this shop was just like that. Called ‘Head & Sole’ (you could get your hair cut and your shoes repaired in the same place!).

The owner of the establishment had been cutting hair for a long time and had a great reputation. His name was Jarvis. Jarvis was the man. Even though there were other fine barbers that plied their trade at ‘Head and Sole’, Jarvis was the only one I went to.

He would squeeze me into his schedule when I was in a pinch, and would go out of his way to treat me right. And beyond all of that, his cuts were AMAZING. I would get in the car, look in the rear-view mirror after he was done and just shake my head at Jarvis’ latest ‘folliclinary’ masterpiece (and yes I made the word ‘folliclinary‘ up. It is an adjective that means: of, pertaining to hair, or used in barbershop/hair salon or by Barber or Stylist).

I would go home and Tiffany would tell me just how good I looked.

Because Jarvis was the man, I was the man.

Some time later, I was in desperate need of a Jarvis cut from Head & Sole. I was speaking someplace, doing a wedding, or doing something important (I don’t remember what) and I wanted my ‘follicliage’ sharp (another invented word (noun) that means: the hair on a head, collectively; haircut/hairdo).

But Jarvis was out of town. He wouldn’t be back for a week.

But I really wanted my hair cut at the Barbershop. So I asked the guy who answered the phone (we will call him T.C.) if he could cut hair like Jarvis. Same edge, same sharpness, same straight razor, etc.

T.C said yes, no problem. He could see me anytime the rest of the day.

I was desperate so I said okay.

I ran out the house.

I jumped in the car.

I rushed down to ‘Head & Sole’.

When I got there, T.C. was talking to some of his friends in the parking lot about motorcycles (T.C. had a motorcycle himself). I waved at him while thinking, “why isn’t this dude inside working? Or at the very least waiting for me!”. When he saw me he waved back, told me to go in and sit down, and that he would be right there.

So I did.

I went inside, and it was completely empty.

So I sat down in T.C.’s barber chair and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

It was a little strange, and I was getting more annoyed by the minute.

No, make that seconds.

I went out and said, “Hey man! Are you going to cut my hair?”

“Don’t worry, I am going to hook you up! I will be right there!” T.C. called back.

Still annoyed, I went back inside and down. I started watching the television mounted to the wall. It was then I noticed something even stranger than the empty shop. Right there on the barbershop TV there was a soap opera playing! I shook my head, thinking ’someone must have been watching something and then this came on.” So I grabbed the remote and turned away from ‘the Young and the Restless’ and flipped to SportCenter on ESPN.

After watching a while, T.C. finally came rushing in.

But then something even stranger happened when he started to speak.

He didn’t apologize for being outside and not doing his job. There was no ‘Sorry’ on his lips for making me wait so long.

The first words out his mouth were, “Did you change the channel?”

“Yes” I smirked, “somehow someone had the channel switched to ‘Young and the Restless’. Who ever heard of watching ‘Young and the Restless’ at the barbershop? So I changed it to SportCenter.”

Part of me was expecting a “oh, thanks dude” from T.C.

But what I heard was something I couldn’t believe.

“Hey man. I, uh was watching that.”

“Yeah. I watch it every day. That is my show.”

I shook my head and protested. But he wouldn’t budge. ‘Young and the Restless’ was what it was going to be. And that was that. Who cared that I was a paying customer. So I sat back and got my hair cut from T.C. while watching ‘Young and the Restless.’

I couldn’t believe it.

It was horrible.

And the cut was too.

T.C. had misrepresented himself.

Misrepresented the barbershop where he worked.

And it all happened because he was more concerned with himself than anything else.

As followers of Christ, we can be the same way.

Misrepresenting ourselves.

Misrepresenting God.

All because we more concerned with serving us than serving others.

There are four lessons that we can learn from my adventure at the Barbershop:

1. Servants are measured by how they serve, not what they say.

Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.
Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
-Hebrews 11:33-34

We don’t think too much about Superman’s father. But he had one. His name was Jor-El and he lived on planet Krypton while married to Lara. They had a child named Kal-El later known on planet Earth and called by another name.

But do you know why earthlings named him Superman?

Because his powers, strength, and abilities were extraordinary.

No one had ever seen anything like it.

Do you know what his peers, family, and friends called him on Krypton?

They called him by his birth name, Kal-El. Not super, not amazing, or magnificent.

Just his name.

On Krypton everyone could do what Kal-El could do. It was natural. It was normal. It was regular.

Greatness and vision was a regular part of their DNA.

It was only when contrasted with the diminshed ability of Earth’s inhabitants did what was ordinary seem super.

Perhaps the same thing has happened to us.

We read stories of the heroes in the bible; accounts of Daniel, David, Esther, Mary, Peter, Paul and others.

We scrutinize the journeys of heroes of more recent acclaim; Dr. King, Mother Teresa, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Florence Nightingale, etc.

We marvel at their faith, vision, and bravery.

We call it unbelievable, impossible, unthinkable.

But maybe the reason we make such a big deal about their lives is because we have made what should be normal, Super.

Maybe it really isn’t Super at all.

Maybe Super is simply who we were born to be.

Latest message from ‘The Rock’ called ‘the Stand’ (click here).

I share the story of a small band of warriors that risked their lives to protect their inheritance.

Sometimes it is important to just believe and not ask questions.

There was a time in the 1st grade that I learned just how important this principle was.

I was walking home from school with a friend named Abe.

Like any two 1st graders we talked about all kinds of stuff. Insects, super heroes, robots, and outer space.

Then, all of the sudden Abe made a shocking statement. “You know what?”

“What?” I responded.

“I wipe my (bottom) with my hands!” (I have replaced the word that Abe used that started with a B and rhymed with ‘cut’ with ‘bottom’ because we want to keep this blog as clean as possible.)

I was stunned by these words.

“No way you wipe your (bottom) with your hands!”

“Yes I do.”

“Yep. Smell my hands and you’ll know.”

At that point, though I am ashamed of what I did next.

I stopped walking and bent over to smell Abe’s hands.

Gross, I know.

But I did.

And guess what?

Abe was telling the very smelly truth.

I should have believed.

That moment changed my life.

Because I have never smelled the hands of anyone else since.

Sometimes when God speaks to us we don’t believe.

We doubt, complain, and rationalize away what He is saying.

Sometimes we just need to stop and eliminate the questions.

And just believe.

When we don’t, the results can be stinky.

(I know some might say the inspirational value of the following account is a little low, and the icky factor too high. But if you get the message, your life will smell a lot better than if you don’t. My daughters LOVE this story and reminded me of it last night. So I thought I would share it with you. )

en⋅cour⋅age  [en-kur-ij, -kuhr-]:to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence.

dis⋅cour⋅age  [di-skur-ij, -skuhr-]:to deprive of courage, hope, or confidence; dishearten; dispirit.

The two word phrase ‘Add Me‘ has huge signifance in the wireless world that we live in.

‘Add Me’ as a friend on My Space or FaceBook, ‘Add Me’ as a follower on Twitter, or ‘Add Me’ as one of your Fave Five, ‘Add Me’ to your mobile phone contact list.

Add Me, Add Me, Add Me.

But beyond who I am asking to ‘Add Me’, is there anyone in my life who is adding to me?

Who is encouraging me, cheering me on, building me up? Who is adding more strength to my life?

This week a friend sent me a message of encouragement right when I needed it. By adding me to their ‘encouragement list’, they added to me.

Thank God for good friends.

In this life, there will always be a huge majority of people that aim to subtract courage through discouragement.

Conversely, there will always be a small but powerful contingent that looks to add courage through encouragement.

Strive to be a member of the group that ADDS courage rather than SUBTRACTS it.

Oh and by the way, add me to your ‘encouragement list‘, and I will add you to mine.

Then we can add to one another.

Question: Have you ‘Added’ courage to anyone this week?