Monday Ten

With the major winter storm set to slam us this week, here is a timely, ten things you can do while the skies dump a foot or two of snow on your neighborhood.

1. Gather the kids and let them watch the two inches of snow per hour come down. They'll be bored after thirty seconds and want to watch TV.

2. With that much snow, it's better to work ahead and spend the day shovelling snow. Since the kiddos will be out of school, make it a P.E. day, and put them to work.

3. It has been a while since we received a foot of snow. Take time to make something interesting. Just keep it clean. A few years ago, some students at a university where I live got a little vulger with their snow sculpture.

4. A foot of snow brings new meaning to snow angels. Each angel will be a two-person effort. One to fall in, and the other to hoist them out.

5. With that much snow, two good snow forts should be easy to pull off, not to mention the massive snowball fight.

6. When having a snowball fight, you want to keep it clean. Any dirty play can lead to a host of retalitory efforts by your opponents. Slush balls and yellow snowballs among the worst.

7. When shovelling that snow, the object is to get it all cleared off before your neighbors. There's nothing that says neighborhood dominance like being the first with a cleaned and dried driveway after a snow storm.

8. To that end, right now I'm wishing I had installed a driveway heating system.

9. Once you get your driveway cleared of the snow, use all that excess to construct a life-sized snow car. Your neighbors will envy your new wheels...until the sun comes out.

10. If you're having trouble with a neighbor, take a cue from "Grumpy Old Men" and spray his roof with hot water. It'll turn to snow. I would include some movie clips of that and the ice war, but this is a family friendly blog.

Blogs to Check Out

• If you ever schedule guest speakers at your church or business, check out this post and this one from pastor Herbert Cooper.
• Here's a good, funny post from Perry Noble about how much God loves us.
• Steven Furtick, author of Sun Stand Still, which is a great book, writes about a need for controversy.

Audacious Faith

My small group is currently going through Steven Furtick's book, "Sun Stand Still." One of the themes in this book surrounds developing and audacious faith.

Essentially, an audacious faith is all about trusting that God will take your ordinary and make it extraordinary. It isn't a cocky or arrogant belief, it's an expectancy that God will come through on His promises.

Many times, we want our faith to be based on perfect circumstances with as little risk as possible. But, God's extraordinary works through ordinary people often involve a lot of risk. For the ordinary person to follow God's commands requires faith while not knowing whether God will come through.

It's taking a chance. A major risk. And, if it's in line with God's heart, we can expect him to turn our ordinary into something really special.

Monday Ten

1. If you follow my blog much at all, you know by now that I love my church.

2. We are in the middle of a series called Whoopie-Cushion Life. While the series title carries a lot of levity, the messages do not. We've been dealing with addictions and overcoming them.

3. As an usher, it has been weird telling parents who bring their kids into service that the message is PG-13.

4. I talked to a staff member yesterday who said that the mailer that went out promoting the series has garnered a lot of angry calls from people who felt it was inappropriate for a church to do a series called Whoopie-Cushion Life.

5. But, over the first two weeks of the series, over 200 people have given their lives to Jesus. I guess off the wall stuff to get people interested in church DOES work.

6. Next week, my usher co-leader is on vacation, so I'll be heading the team in the last service at church. Don't come and cause any trouble, because I'll bounce you out.

7. Changing subjects: I'm not thrilled about this year's Superbowl. I was hoping for a Bears-Jets game in two weeks.

8. That being said, I'll be pulling for the Packers to best the Steelers. I really don't like the Steelers. I like them less than I do the Cowboys.

9. I am investing in a new home theater system. That has meant educating myself on all the nuances of electronic audio equipment. And I thought keeping up with computer technology was bad!

10. Every day when I sign off my radio show, I use the words from this blog, "People Matter To God," because I want my listeners to really think about that as the day goes on.

Strive for Excellence - Part Two

Last week, I led my team of air personalities through a simple plan that I hope will lead the product we broadcast into excellence. It was a simple plan, but one that is sure to bring immediate results.

In short, I asked my team to use a simple table to plan out their radio air shifts. I wanted them to know what they were going to say in advance of turning on their microphone. For them, I created the equivalent of a road map.

When you want to strive for excellence, whether it is at home, on the job, or even while taking a trip, you need a road map. In finances, this is called a budget. In business, we call it a strategy meeting. I think you get the idea.

Here's a few tips:

• The plan you create doesn't have to be complex. In fact, many times simple is better, because simple is easier to understand.
• Your plan must have measurable goals. Without them, you'll never know if you're on the right track.
• Your goals must be both challenging and achievable. It's good to think of them as stair steps (intermittent goals) leading to the final goal.
• You must keep regular tabs on the plan. If you let it sit without occasional check-ups, your plan will derail.
• Allow your team to have some input in shaping the plan. This encourages buy-in, and buy-in increases the chances of success.
• Don't let your team hijack the plan. It is the leader's job to ensure the end goals are achieved. The follower won't always understand the leader's determination to meet those goals.
• Celebrate your team as they meet the different goals in your plan. Encouragement goes a long way toward increasing buy-in and raising morale.

Do you have any other ideas on how to strive for excellence? I'd love to hear them.

Strive for Excellence - Part One

Last week, I led a meeting with my staff to do a little training, and unveil a simple strategy to help us improve what we do.

I could have easily opened the meeting by saying we were striving for perfection. And, while that is something I hope my co-workers achieve, I also realize it is very unrealistic.

You've heard the phrase, "You can fool some of the people all of the time...." Well, a similar philosophy applies to perfection. You can be perfect some of the time. But, you can't be perfect all of the time.

Too many people stress themselves into burnout trying to be perfect at what they do in life, be it parenting, career, recreation, etc. Instead, the better option is to strive for excellence.

Excellence is much easier to achieve. It tells people that I'm constantly trying to improve, but I know there will be times I drop the ball.

The leader who encourages his staff toward excellence will always be asking, "What can we do to make it better." But, the leader who wants perfection from his people will always be finding something wrong.

Remember -- excellence is a good thing ... perfection is unattainable. What are some ways you are striving for excellence?