The praise of men can be a dangerous trap. When others are singing your praises, it’s easy to soak up the praise and start believing your own press. But as followers of Jesus, we are called to give God the glory, because our talents and resources came from Him. In Acts 12, King Herod was addressing a crowd when they ...
You might be surprised to learn that the U.S. ranks only 17th out of 38 countries on the number of hours worked per employee. According to US News and World Report, the average U.S. worker works 34.4 hours per week. Mexico is significantly higher at 42.8 hours per week, while Germany surprisingly has the least number of hours worked. Our ...
Years ago, Kathy and I attended a weekend retreat designed to help identify and heal any past emotional wounds. One exercise had us pretend that we were on a ship where everyone had been infected with a deadly virus, but there were just three vaccinations. We were to determine the best candidates to receive the three vaccinations. After selecting three ...
In business, I’ve met men and women who get so wrapped up in their job that their family needs are overlooked. This is easily justified because they feel they’re working to “provide for their family.” In the ministry world, leaders serve the needs of others so much that they sometimes overlook the needs of their own family. Whether it’s in ...
According to a Life Innovations Study, employees lose more than 168 hours of work in the year following a divorce, costing workplaces billions in lost productivity. When our kids were young, Kathy and I established one-on-one time in the evenings with each other. We did not allow the kids to interrupt our time together unless it was an emergency. We ...
The first time I met Gregg, he said, “Rick, if you choose to work with me you need to know my priorities in life. God’s first, my family’s second, and this job is third.” As a person who had been “running from God” for decades, I couldn’t grasp how Gregg’s priorities would impact the way he ran the bank where ...
While meeting Roger for lunch, Roger asked me to tell my wife, Kathy, “not to take offense if she hadn’t heard back from his wife.” Roger explained that his wife had taken over the day-to-day responsibility for their family business and was chairing a ministry board that was building a new facility! In pursuit of excellence, Roger’s wife began saying ...
Bob’s floral business was impacted by Hurricane Irma. His power was knocked out for several days closing the business temporarily. Bob has several employees who live paycheck to paycheck. Bob emailed me to ask how he should handle the financial burdens of his employees. Bob could choose to be generous by either paying them for their missed work, or by ...
Recently, a study on workaholism, referenced in the Wall Street Journal, concluded that the impact workaholism has on health is negligible for those who love their work. However, for those who described themselves as unengaged or feeling trapped in their work, their risks for serious health disorders increases. Since Gallup research reveals that 70% of workers today are disengaged in ...
Two friends of mine specialize in building lakes and ponds. They claim, “Anybody can drill down a few feet then call it a lake, but will the lake hold water?” The solution is drilling deep enough to find solid rock and building the lake around it. The customer, however, will not be able to tell if the lake was built ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
