Monday Memo

by Steve May

Another baseball story. In fact, it’s another near-perfect game story.

On May 26, 1959, Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Harvey Haddix accomplished something no one else in baseball has accomplished. He pitched 12 perfect innings in a game against the Milwaukee Braves. It was enough to set a record, but it wasn’t enough to get a win.

The score was tied at zero in the bottom of the 13th when the Braves’ leadoff hitter reached first on an error. Two batters later, Joe Adcock knocked in the winning run. The Braves took the game, 1-0. And Haddix took the loss.

The Pirates had men on base all afternoon — more than a dozen altogether — but they couldn’t manage to get any across homeplate. And so, with no help from the offense, Haddix’s brilliant record-setting performance wound up in the L side of the ledger.

Today many leaders are convinced if they themselves can maintain a certain level of brilliance, it will be enough to guarantee the success they’re looking for. While brilliance won’t exactly work against you, it will never take the place of teamwork. You’re not enough by yourself. Whatever it is you’re trying to do, you can’t do it alone. You need a team — a team of team players.

Solomon wrote, Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up… Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:10, 12)

I encourage you to remind those on your team today that you’re committed to doing your part, that you’ve got their back, and you’re thankful that they’ve got yours.

Jesus said, “With God, all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

This principle should be the driving force behind our ministry efforts. It’s not enough to play it safe, reaching only for goals within our grasp. Like Schuller has been challenging church leaders for decades, we should attempt things so great for the glory of God that unless he intervenes, we will certainly fail.

Think about the goals projects you’re currently engaged in. Are there any impossible items on the list? Is there anything beyond your reach? If not, maybe it’s time to aim a little higher.

Jesus said, “With God, all things are possible.” We need to remember what this promise does and doesn’t imply.

It doesn’t mean that all things are easy. Accomplishing the impossible typically takes extended effort.

It doesn’t mean that all things are immediate. Reaching worthwhile goals require a long-term investment of time.

It doesn’t mean that all things will be painless. Personal sacrifice is part of the process.

It may not be easy, immediate, or painless, but for those willing to step out in faith, for those bold enough to trust God to do the impossible, for those willing to pay the price of perseverance, the reward will always be greater than the investment. As Paul said…

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Check your list one more time. Is there any impossible thing in the works?

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Frederick Nietzsche said, “Every talent must unfold itself in fighting.”

What’s he saying? He’s saying that growth in any area comes with a price — and that price is struggle. We experience nothing worthwhile without first passing through some kind of adversity — the adversity of opposition, the adversity of lost sleep, the adversity of financial pressure, the adversity of loneliness, the adversity of delayed gratification. To be good at anything, a price must first be paid.

To be in good health, the price is paid through exercise and diet. To be a good a musician the price is paid through study and rehearsal. To be successful in business, the price is paid through long hours and sacrifice. To paraphrase Nietzsche’s words: growth comes only as a result of struggle.

Paul knew that he was in the midst of a fight. He knew that in order to become the man of God he wanted to be, he must daily enter the battlefield to contend with an enemy: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12 NKJV)

It will do us good to remember that we are engaged in battle, day-in, day-out. It’s not a struggle that can be seen with the human eye, but it can certainly be felt with the human spirit. This struggle cannot be avoided; it must be confronted. On the other side, however, victory awaits us, because we do not fight unarmed. We carry with us the full armor of God: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit and the helmet of salvation.

Peter tells us not to be surprised at the fiery trials we face; they’re part of the process of growing in Christ. Every talent must unfold itself in fighting; growth comes through struggle.

Where are you struggling today? In a relationship? In your work? In your effort to be holy? The obstacle will not disappear on its own. It belongs there. You are called to confront it, through the power of Christ within you, until you can claim victory.

It’s been said that the average child laughs 300 times a day and the average adult laughs 15 times a day. I don’t know how authoritative this statistic is, since I see it quoted often but never with a source. However, it really doesn’t take a Harvard study to prove that children laugh more times a day than adults. Hanging out with both for a while confirms this.

Solomon was right on target when he said, “A merry heart does good, like medicine.” (Proverbs 17:22) Laughter has been shown to have many health benefits, from reducing food cravings to increasing one’s threshold for pain. It relieves stress and anxiety and improves your sleep. A good laugh really is good medicine.

There’s also a social component to laughter; it brings people together. C.S. Lewis once said, “There’s no sound I like better than adult male laughter.” That’s because there’s nothing better than friends and family coming together to celebrate life and enjoy one another’s company.

When you’re alone and when you’re with friends and family, I encourage you to invest some time in laughter each and every day. You’ll find that what Milton Berle said is true: “Laughter is an instant vacation.”

Henry Drummond tells the story of two artists who were commissioned to paint a picture depicting perfect peace. The first artist painted a landscape with a mountain lake: calm, quiet, serene. The second artist painted a violent waterfall crashing down on jagged rocks, but next to it was a slender birch tree, with a single fragile branch stretched out over the water. In the fork of the branch was a bird’s nest. Lying in the nest, untroubled, even glistening from the spray of waterfall, was a small bird fast asleep.

This is peace. It’s not the absence of crashing waves, it’s the security of the nest in the midst of the turbulence.

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. (Isaiah 26:3 NKJV)

Remember when half the country was snowed in a couple of weeks ago? I was one of them. I finally decided to get out one day when the streets weren’t too bad. They had been salted and plowed and people were moving freely about them; I knew the road wouldn’t be a problem.

The problem was my driveway. It’s long enough that it wraps around the back of my house, and I wasn’t sure my little car could navigate this small stretch of ice and snow. It turns out that it couldn’t. I got stuck just a few feet from the street. I tried turning the wheels back and forth while switching from Drive to Reverse to Drive while I jammed the accelerator, but it didn’t work. I tried getting irritated and yelling about it a little bit, but that didn’t work, either.

Finally a guy in a four wheel drive came along with an offer I couldn’t refuse: for $20 he would pull me out of the snow. I took the deal, and within a few minutes I was on the blacktop.

I drove straight to Home Depot and bought a snow shovel. Then I spent a good portion of the afternoon clearing a path for my car to get in and get out. I didn’t want to spend the month of February unable to get out of my driveway.

Resentments are like the ice and snow that keep us stranded, even as the rest of the world passes us by. We stay stuck, spinning our wheels, the path of progress just beyond our reach.

Here are a couple of things to remember. One, when you get bogged down with resentment, you might need a little help getting out of it. Two, if you don’t want to get stuck again and again, you need to do the hard work of clearing away the stuff that keeps you from moving forward.

Jesus said …

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. (Mark 11:25)

Resentment is steeped in unforgiveness. It’s a refusal to let go. And more than your resentment will ever hurt anyone else, it will hurt you. It will keep you stuck, spinning your wheels, angry and irritable, while the world passes you by.

Is there a resentment you need to let go of today?

A grandmother was watching her grandchild playing on the beach when a huge wave comes and takes him out to sea. She pleads, “Please God, save my only grandson. I beg of you, bring him back.” And a big wave comes and washes the boy back onto the beach, good as new. She looks up to heaven and says: “He had a hat!”

That’s gratitude for you, isn’t it? Have you noticed that some people just can’t be satisfied? Some people — and I’m talking about you and me, not someone else — have a hard time expressing gratitude. Or even feeling it.

In 2001 Stephen Post, a medical school professor of bioethics, created a research group called the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, dedicated to testing and measuring the effects of love, gratitude, and other positive caring emotions in human life.

Dr. Post’s research has discovered that spending 15 minutes a day focused on things you’re grateful for can have the following effects on our physical health:

1. It increases your body’s natural antibodies.
2. It increases mental capacity and reduces vulnerability to depression.
3. It creates a physiological state of “resonance”, improving your blood pressure and heart rate.

That’s gratitude for you, really. It not only lifts up the recipient, it also gives life to the one expressing it. This is why we’re told time and time again in scripture to give thanks: A thankful heart puts us in right alignment with God and one another.

Paul wrote, “And always be thankful. Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.” (Colossians 3:15-17)

Today, I encourage you to look for something … and someone … to be thankful for. Take a moment to feel it, and another moment to express it.

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There’s a story told about Sir Edmund Hillary, who was the first person (along with Tenzing Norgay) to reach the top of Mount Everest.

It happened on his third try. On Hillary’s previous attempt he not only failed to reach the summit, but his team also lost one of its members.

After their failed attempt, Hillary spoke to an audience about the experience. Behind him on the platform was a huge photograph of Everest. Hillary turned toward the photograph and said, “Mount Everest, you have defeated us. But I will return. And I will defeat you. Because you cannot get any bigger … and I can.”

When it comes to facing mountains, do you know how we ‘get bigger’? It starts with faith. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

Edmund Hillary became “bigger than Everest” through better planning, more detailed research, greater teamwork, and tenacious perseverance. And it started with faith — the faith that this mountain could be conquered.

No doubt you’re facing a mountain or two today: a mountain of debt, a mountain of fear, a mountain of uncertainty. Mountains don’t move without determined effort, thoughtful planning, or courageous perseverance.  And these things all begin with faith. It is faith that gives you what it takes to attempt something bigger than you. Not faith in yourself, but faith in the God for whom nothing is impossible, faith in the God who has called each of us to greatness. — SM

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Windows 7 is now available. I haven’t quite figured out their numbering system, because my machine still uses Windows 98. Does this mean they’ve taken 91 steps backward? Regardless, Microsoft is aggressively marketing Windows 7 these days.

One campaign seen in NFL games involves summarizing each game in seven words. (Because it’s Windows 7) Near the end of each game, the announcers make a seven-word summary, something along the lines of: Seattle led early. Cardinals ruled second half.

Or: Ravens’ defense shuts out struggling Browns offense.

Or: Bill Belicheck must have lost his mind.

It’s amazing how accurately you can summarize a game in seven words.

Do you want to sum up the life of a Christian disciple in seven words? Here it is.

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)

John the Baptist captured the essence of what it means to be a follower of Christ: He is to become greater; I am to become less. John’s purpose was to pave the way for the coming of the Messiah. There is a sense in which your job and your purpose is to do the same thing. Especially at Christmastime.

This is such a wonderful time of the year, but it’s hectic. It’s easy for some to get lost in the pace to the extent that they miss the beauty and simplicity of the Christmas message. Our job is like John the Baptist’s. We have the opportunity to prepare the way for the Lord, to make a straight path for him so that others can experience his presence.

Maybe the Christmas season could be summarized with the words: “It’s not about me. It’s about Jesus.” In the coming weeks, I encourage you to look for opportunities in which you can step aside and let the message of Jesus take the spotlight in your life. —SM

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This memo was adapted from a sermon in Steve May’s new series, Mending Christmas.
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Albert Einstein said, “Once a day, allow yourself the freedom to dream.”

I don’t know what Einstein dreamed about; I guess his life’s work and the contributions he made to physics gives a clue.

If you were devote time each day to the task of dreaming, what would you dream about? A better family life? A closer walk with God? A larger congregation? A more secure financial situation? What are your dreams?

When we dream, we allow ourselves to see beyond the ugliness of now. When we dream, we allow ourselves to explore the possibilities of what could happen, how things could become.

We know the words of Jesus. “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

Mustard-seed faith — which is actually mountain moving faith — starts with a dream, an idea of what could be. You don’t have to stay stuck in a rut forever. The first step to changing your situation is to allow yourself to dream.

Try it. Once a day (at least once a day), take some time to get alone with God, think about your life, your ministry, your family, your health, your happiness, and allow yourself to imagine how things could be.