What I Learned From The Summer 0f 2024

Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways-- Haggai 1:5&7 (NIV)

God spoke twice through the prophet Haggai to tell his people, and us to give careful thought to our ways.  Instead of just living on default, traveling on cruise control or unintentionally prolonging the status quo, God encourages us to think through our ways.

That’s what I’ll try to do here.  Here are some things I have thought about and learned about myself and life from the summer of 2024.

1.  Schedule time off

I took off work for the month of July for the second year in a row.  The plan came from the EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) cohorts I’ve been leading.

If you ask the typical entrepreneur or church planter or pastor how many hours do you work?  The number one answer is, “All of them.”

Taking a yearly one-month sabbatical is a strategy to lessen identity from ministry; to ensure you are delegating and to repair the damage that ministry can do to planters, pastors, marriages and family. 

I’m not sure I will do it again, but I do need the intentionality of taking time off.

Halfway through the break, I participated in a coaching session on taking time off.  One of my takeaways is I need to schedule two days off every week, just to get one day off.  My wife asked me who the biggest culprit is for encroaching on my day off.  The answer is this guy named JD.  I need to schedule time off.  We all need it.

In August my wife and I participated in a marriage retreat one of our church plants set up on a cruise.  We’re not cruise people, but we were amazed at the impact.  I was the opener, Lori the main speaker, and at the end of our three sessions, everyone was crying.  Lives and marriages were transformed.

I sat there observing and thinking about how on our “Leading Conversations” podcast, the vast majority of folks in ministry point to a camp, retreat or conference where they either came to Christ or felt called to ministry—or both.

Jesus said, “Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” –Mark 6:31 (NIV)

We need to schedule time off.

2.  Asking works

At Excel our giving has been increasing, and our opportunities have been skyrocketing.  Chief Operation Office, Luke Allen suggested we get out top givers together to discuss this.  We met for a day in Elk Grove, California.

One of the top donors called me on his drive home to say he had already talked to a few folks, and they were going to pick up most the financial deficit for this year.  I was amazed.

Another top contributor let me know a couple days later that God was moving him to work on development for Excel.

Asking works!

So, I am asking.  If you are not giving to Excel, please step forward and give something.  I want you and your church to be able to say you were in on starting 42 churches so far this year.  I want you to be in on our goal of getting to signing one hundred planters per year.

And if you are giving, I’m asking you to step up to becoming a top contributor.  Consider becoming a leader at Excell through your generosity.

3.  Do not be deceived

I took off work for the month of July.  So, people ask, “What did you do?”

We did a ton of family stuff—kids; grandkids; all the kids and all the grandkids; extended family time as well.

And I had lots of time to get myself up-to-date and mostly confused and perplexed with current events.  I do not recommend this!

The month started with the aftermath of the big debate, and I read and watched and listened to lots of accounts about what happened.  There appeared to be a lot of conjecture, some predictions, and even some deception in the reporting.

Then came the National Basketball Association July free agency signing period.  Wow, there was a ton of speculation.  The Sacramento Kings were rumored to lose some players and sign some others.  Most reports were way off.  One of the top reports on these shams is a actually named, “Shams!”

Then Donald Trump was shot.  Or was he?  There has been so much reporting, and it has been all over the map.  Was it incompetence, and inside job, one-lone kid?  The Secret Service blamed the local police.  The Pennsylvania folks say it was not their fault.  Confusion and deception.

Then came the Republican convention and the claims of who Trump would pick as a running mate.  Most of those projections were wrong.

Then came the report that President Jimmy Carter had died.  It was trending number one on X.  But he did not pass away. 

Then questions about President Biden’s health and status arose.  Would he keep running, step down, resign?  Most guesses were not exact.  Then who would replace Joe as a candidate?  Kamala Harris, right?  Wrong, right, wrong, I mean right.

Then came the opening ceremony for the Olympics.  It was a parody of the last supper.  Or maybe a parody of some Greek deal.  But if you are a Christian you were supposed to be offended, or maybe you were not supposed to be offended?  Believers were told to speak out, or speaking out was the worst thing you could do.  I’m still not sure.

 Then came Major League Baseball’s trade deadline.  And everything I read, and saw and heard about my team, the Angels, was that they should trade the entire team for a ham sandwich.  If they could get a footlong, and chips, they should jump at it.  Seriously, one journalist suggested they trade their top player for a low-level prospect named Angel Bastardo, which is Spanish for, “not good at baseball.”  Almost everything predicted did not happen.  Angel fans were disappointed and felt misled.  The Athletic Daily concluded, “That’s all there was?”

Then came the Venezuelan elections where the dictator Nicolas Maduro won a disputed vote because it was rigged, right?  But the people who said it was fixed are the same folks who got everything else wrong all month.

I was happy when August arrived, and I could ignore much of the deception.

2 Thessalonians chapter 2 includes these words:

We ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed... Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way… --2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 (NIV)

We are obligated to not be deceived.  As we head into what surely will be a deception-filled Autumn season, we are not to be unsettled or deceived.

 Okay, how do we prevent that?

So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. --2 Thessalonians 2:15 (NIV)

Thirty-four times in the New International Version we have been told to stand firm.   Why?  Because our immediate inclination is to fall victim to every pundit out there. 

In stead of falling for it, let’s stand form and hold fast to the truth about God and life in the Bible.

4.  Give a cup of cold water.

It was a tough summer for our family.  My oldest brother’s oldest daughter died of skin cancer.  The entire extended family is devastated.  My other brother’s wife is dealing with stage four lung cancer, hoping for a miracle.  My son and his wife suffered another heart-breaking and gut-punching miscarriage.  Another son added, “Well, speaking of bad news, I have something to share…”  That is his story to tell, not mine.

My wife, Lori and I find ourselves grieving, or at least grief adjacent.  We are both strategic activators, we want to do something for these hurting loved ones, but what can we do?

Last week some song lyrics popped into my head: “Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug…”  I’m not sure I had ever heard that song, I looked it up, it’s called, “The Bug.”

I figured that right now I am not the windshield and I’m not even the bug.  I can’t stop the hurting; I can’t fix it.

All I can do is serve my family like a spray of windshield wiper fluid.   I can’t wipe away the heart break.  I can’t make things sparkling new again.

Maybe I can mist a little fluid on the situation to help them see there is some hope up ahead. 

And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.” –Matthew 10:42 (NLT)

I’m not looking for a reward, I’m looking to make a terrible season just a bit more tolerable.

So, I can be the washer fluid, ready to spurt when called upon.  It’s not much, and that’s okay.

The Apostle Paul warned,

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.  --Ephesians 5:15-16 (NIV)

Life is short, and it is evil. Let’s give careful thought to our ways.