[Religion] Struggle and Strife

We all have personal struggles, strife and demons. Admittedly, I have fought with all of these lately. I have carried a demon (more specifically a weakness) with me for a long time and I struggle with it on a daily basis. I have had trouble with it ever since I confessed Jesus as my Savior about ten years ago.

This is heart breaking because when I hear someone ask “what is the one thing that is holding you back from God?”, I know the answer and I am not the only one who knows it. It would be one thing if we could keep our weaknesses, the things we struggle with, a secret. To lock them away and never to hear from them again but Satan is no fool. He knows what you will compromise on, what you will try and justify, what will lead you down the path of destruction. Sometimes alleviating some temptation from your weakness requires great sacrifice. In my case, my weakness required a career change.

I found out that if you try to bottle up your demons, they only fester and grow stronger. I thought the stronger my faith became, the weaker my demons would become but the exact inverse happens. When your faith becomes stronger so do your demons. The higher you rise, the more tempting a fall becomes but I can tell you from experience when you work really hard to get to a good place spiritually and you take the leap due to temptation, sure it feels great at the time but when you hit bottom and you look up to see where you were you feel you have disappointed yourself, those around you, your loved ones, and most importantly God.

On a related note, While God uses those around us to build us up, it is no coincidence that Satan uses the people around us to tear us down. For instance, God opened some pretty big doors (Rev 3:7-8) for me in the first half of 2009 and closed some others. In the process God called two of my most trusted spiritual advisers elsewhere in a relatively short period of time and I could not follow as much as I wanted to. This means that my environment has changed drastically from being one of spiritual safety to one of extreme absence. While these two individuals were not the full extent of my spiritual community and support structure but it gave me a lot of pause. I had come accustomed to having religious counsel at my finger tips. It was comfortable for me but not so much anymore. Now my circles are rather void of religious conversation and the presence of believers. Maybe there is something there; maybe it is why I was sent.

So let’s recap and connect the dots. We all struggle in this world, hence our need for God. We can not carry our demons alone, hence our need for God. As our faith grows, so do our demons, hence our need for (more) God so we continue to seek him. I also think how God created us was brilliant in that he knew we would need each other (other people that is) as a support structure. We teach each other, we help each other, we grow each other.

This post probably did not make much sense and I apologize for that. My brain is like a storm cloud at times and there is not always rhyme to the reason.

[Leadership] Management vs Leadership

I have a mentor that I worked for at a VERY large company and I was very fortunate to work from him. At that point in his career, some would say he was a mid-level manager. I disagree whole heartedly. He was a leader. He cared deeply about the growth of the people that directly reported to him and saw it as his responsibility to help them achieve their full potential. My first day on the job he said “Mike, I don’t own you. I own the job you fill but I will never claim to own you or your career. If you ever see a better place for yourself, inside or outside the company, go for it and if I can help you I will, you have my word. You are in charge of your own future, not me.” His advice was twofold, first he cared about me and my career not just the job I did and second he wanted to break down any false barriers I had for myself and my career. I later found out that he is an awesome Christian which explained a lot in his “management” style.

In my experience, management and leadership are two entirely different things. One is very tactical and other very strategic but in the end its really about mind set. Let me explain.

I often read and hear people say that management is strategic. I disagree. Management is very tactical and handles the day to day tasks or the things that are eminent. Management has to do with getting things done that needed to be done yesterday. Good managers are good fire fighters and can be excellent customer champions but may not have time to think about the years to come.

Managers:

• Are short term/goal oriented
• Care more about the future of the organization
• Have reports
• Are often transactional (i.e. no interaction beyond what is required to get the job done)
• Are often very logical
• Often consume mass amounts of resources (i.e. time, talent, treasure)
• Are predominantly reactive
• Inspire turnover due to pushing people to hard
• Make decisions without consultation.
  
• Spread the blame to their team
  

Leadership, as I have come to experience it, is very strategically and not very tactical. Leadership has to do with growing people, programs and organizations for the future and not for the today. Leadership is how we inspire the people that work for us and around us (and above us). Anyone can be a leader and we often are at some point even if we do not realize it. There are plenty of tag lines that go with this such as “you don’t need a title to be a leader”. For example, leadership can be as simple as volunteering at a women’s shelter. While leadership may not fix the problems of today, it makes impacts and lays the foundation for the future. Leadership is often not about fixing the problem but about planting the seed.

Leaders:

• Are long term/goal oriented
• Care more about the future of the people around them
• Always grow people, programs and organizations
• Have followers
• Are relational (i.e. they focus on building a relationship with those around them)
• Are sensitive to feelings and emotions
• Usually consume mass amounts of resources (i.e. time, talent, treasure)
• Are predominantly proactive
• Inspire loyalty
• Own decisions once they are made
• Take the blame for their team

[Leadership/Religion] Jobs vs Careers

Passion, purpose, and meaning are what separate jobs and careers. For instance, if you want to be a painter by profession but you got an accounting degree because it was safe and you are now an account, I would call that a job but if you are a painter and you are out there painting your heart out and loving then I call that a career. I understand sometimes we do things to put food on the table that we don’t necessary like but I would hope that is the exception and not the rule with you and that it is only temporary.

If God puts it on your heart to become a world class surgeon, to be a stay at home parent, to write a book, etc, do it and be awesome at it because you will make an impact on someone else’s life by following what God lays out for you. No matter how large or small, never be afraid or hesitant in pursuing your passion and what will make you happy regardless of what others may think. Remember, all things are possible with God so be courageous in pursuing him.

[Leadership] Success

Our society has been increasing focused on the materialistic and on monetary gain to the extent that we have forgotten what it means to be happy. Instead of chasing our passion, our purpose or our true meaning we chose to chase the dollar.

The old cliché “money can’t buy you happiness” has never been truer. Statistics show that more and more Americans are sinking into depression due to financial troubles and more marriages are ending (and ending because of financial disagreement).

I have I always said that I would rather have just enough to get by and have my family and friends than have all the money in the world and be miserable. If following your heart and your dreams means missing out on dying a billionaire then sign me up.

Some may call this an idealistic point of view or that it is the delusion of optimism and does not follow reality but I disagree. If you are following your heart (and by principle, what God has planned for your life) then the financial will take care of itself.

Another old cliché is “do the job you love and you will never work a day in your life”. I think this also suggests that you can only be successful in something you do because you want to do, not just because you have to do it. Sure you can make a ton of money being a C-level employee at a company but if that is not where your heart is, can you really call that success? I guess it depends your priorities and how you define success. To me, being successful is doing God’s will and enjoying the blessing of family and friends he has given me.