I am always curious what people are looking for when they come to my blog. Occasionally I look at the keywords stats in Google Analytics to decide what interests or needs people have and this helps form my thoughts about what blogs are needed or desired. I did that tonight.
Recently while I was in Lithuania I spoke with some people who want the country to return to Communism, because, as they put it, they feel they are “missing hope” in a capitalistic society. Under Communism, even though most had very little and the same people told story after story of doing without and wanting for more, they at least knew what to expect. That was their definition of hope. I understand that capitalism allows a large amount of uncertainty and risk. There are few guarantees, but that is what makes it capitalistic, the ability for individuals to make a difference for themselves through hard work, risk and speculation.
The call to leadership often requires making difficult decisions no one else is willing to make. Over the years I have observed people that call themselves leaders, but who easily give up when difficult times come to the organization. Leaders should strive to structure the organization to weather storms, but in any organization there will be times when hard decisions have to be made and a leader must be willing to make them for the good of the organization.
I remember when my son was younger, three or less, and we would be in public and a stranger would come up to take notice of the cute little blonde in my arms. The more the person would try to get my son’s attention, the more my son would hide his face in my chest. We called it shyness, but it was really a son seeking protection in his father.
The vision or end goal or an organization or business should be consistent, but the way the vision is reached should for the mostly be flexible. As demands of consumers or clients change, as the economy changes, or if improvements need to be made to the existing methods of reaching the defined vision, an organization or business needs to be flexible enough to tweak the way it attempts to reach its set goals.
Recently I posted about the need to use the summer to plan for the fall. Read that post HERE. I have been heeding my own advice and dreaming and planning for the fall. This is going to be an exciting time. We are experiencing record growth, God is showing up mightily in people’s lives, and we think this fall is going to be crazy.
Did you know there are economists who claim the government needs to pump even more money into the economy? Which number stimulus package would this be? Who will pay for this one…China maybe? Seriously, aren’t countries about tired of loaning us money so we can place it back in the economy? Just wondering….
I decided my 18 year-old son’s latest post was important enough to steal it from him. I only wish I had written this first. Great thoughts. Nate has led in our student worship area for the last couple years and done an amazing job. Our church is going to miss him this fall as he begins his college days at Moody Bible College in Chicago. You can follow Nate’s thoughts at his blog Moons from Burma.
I have pages of random observations from my time in Lithuania. I thought I would share them with you randomly. These are my opinions and these notes come right form my personal notes as I made observations while in the country and from conversations with Lithuanians. In the coming weeks I will unpack some of them more.
I cannot imagine history in terms of the thousands, but it is standard in this part of the world. One thing that spoke highly to me is the pride that was displayed in the people that night. For one thousand years the country has suffered periods of wars, domination and corruption, but one thousand years later they still have pride in their nation. I love the perseverance in that fact.