Striving for Excellence     
  

Someone once said, “The elevator to the top is out of order, so to there you must take the steps.” Whatever is your field of endeavor, chances are you striving to make it to the top. However, often in our struggle to get the most out of life we find ourselves in the position where it is difficult to gauge where we are in the struggle. In some endeavors it’s a lot easier to determine where we are in comparison to reaching the pinnacle of achievement than in others.

 In the world of athletics for example, winning the championship game represents the ultimate in that sport. It's easy to see, and to measure your success in athletics. In business, having achieved a certain level of profits, or market share represents being the best. Statistics and growth charts help you determine how you are progressing. However, it’s hard to determine when you've reached the pinnacle of day to day living.

If there was a championship of life, what would be the criteria of winning? What does it mean to be at the top of life? In any endeavor, being at the top represents several things. However, the primary thing that being at the top represents is excellence. Excellence can be defined as setting a goal, then taking the necessary steps in the proper order to achieve the desired result that was planned before you took the first step. In other words, excellence is achieving what you want to achieve. Excellence is becoming and being what you designed to become and to be. Excellence is the fulfilment of the purpose for which God created you.  

If you want to have fulfilled life, strive for excellence. Our quality of life is in direct proportion to a person’s commitment to excellence. Somerset Maugham said, “It’s a funny thing about life, if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you often get it.”

Excellence is a matter of refusing to settle for less than what God wants for you.

Most people want excellence, but few people really achieve the level of excellence that they desire or are capable of. We often hear motivational speeches about desire and destiny and how to get what you want out of life. But excellence is more than destiny and desire.  Excellence takes hard work and strong determination. To achieve excellence you first must have a vision of excellence. What will it look like when you get where you want to be is a good question to ask, but a better question of vision is what does the journey look like? What are the landmarks that will indicate that you are on the right track?  Excellence requires that you set goals, and make plans that will allow you to reach your goals and fulfill your vision.

Vision is what can be. A goal is what you want to be. Your commitment is often what determines what will be. Grand vision, great goals and great plans will be nothing but daydreams and fantasies without being committed to the necessary actions to fulfill your purpose.

Someone once wisely said, “Watch your actions; they become your habits. Watch your habits; they become your character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”

What steps are you taking to reach the level of excellence that God has purposed you for? What is it that you want to accomplish? When do you want to be accomplished? How will you do it? What does the journey look like?

If you want excellence, here are a few suggestions:

Ø  Depend upon divine assistance.

You are never in anything alone. In fact, the only way can achieve God’s purpose for your life is with the help of God.  The Apostle Paul says; “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”

Ø  Develop a mindset of excellence.

 Believe that you can accomplish whatever you put your mind to. To paraphrase Solomon in proverbs 23:7, whatever a man thinks, that’s what he becomes

Ø  Determine to excel.

Don't ever give up! Despite whatever obstacles that come your way realize that you can make it!  If God is for you, He is more than the whole world against you!

Striving for excellence is mandatory for survival. The reality for every one of us in everything we do is either excellence or obsolescence. 

HANGING OUT AT THE GATE

The stories of the Old Testament have always been very inspiring to me, especially when I have been able to peel away the obvious, and see what God is really revealing in the narrative. One of the more obscure of those stories that is very inspiring to me is found in Second Kings chapter 7:3-7. This is a story about four lepers sitting at the city gate. They asked each other, “Why sit here until we die?” There was famine in the city; so if they went back into the city they would die. If they stayed where they were they would die. If they went forward into the camp of the Syrians, there was a strong possibility that they would die. However, there was a slight chance that by going forward however slight that they just might find what they needed to survive.

In this ancient story there is modern application. In this passage of scripture the leprous men represent people in a situation that is less than desirable, in fact some would even say it was even hopeless. The city gates where they sit are representative of the present moment in time. The city itself represents the past. And the camp of the Syrians represents the uncertainty of the future and taking risks.

As we travel through life we often find ourselves in situations that are less than desirable. Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that seem hopeless. There are many different gates that we may find ourselves hanging out at.

It may be that your career has gotten of track and you are in position of stagnation. You've hit the proverbial glass ceiling, and there is no place for you to go within your particular company, or for that matter within your present line of work. It may be that you've made every lateral move there is to make, but for some reason you just can't advance.

Maybe it’s a supervisor or a superior that seems to thrive on making your life a living hell. Maybe it’s a co-worker whose petty jealousy and underhanded tricks have gotten on your last nerve. Maybe it’s that you are just tired of consigning your labor, your knowledge and experience in a deal that is less than equitable. You know that if you stay where you are, you’ll be there and unhappy the rest of your career. If you quit your job, you will lose everything you've worked so hard and so long for. If you stay there the stress will probably kill you before your time.

Maybe your stagnation is not related to your career at all, but you are stagnated in a personal relationship. You’ve grown weary of a relationship that’s not going anywhere. You have been on the receiving end of lies and deception and disappointments. Or maybe you have been on the giving end of your own relationship ruses.

Whatever the issue is, you are stuck in an untenable position. You deal with a plethora of emotions, but the one emotion that reigns supreme in your life is frustration. You know what your next step should be, but you are afraid to take it. In reality, although you are frustrated, you are comfortable.

You can identify with the lepers; you are in a hopeless situation. If you stay where you are you'll die from the misery of frustration, stagnation and unfilled dreams and potential. It’s impossible to go back to relive the past, and if you try to live in the past you'll die because there is nothing there to nurture or nourish you. Your only real choice is to take risk, and go forward. You really have nothing to lose!

When you step out of the stagnation of your present situation, and leave the accomplishments and failures of the past, and move forward, you do take a risk. There are no guarantees in life. However, just like the four lepers, going forward is a calculated risk. When you go forward, there is the possibility that you will be destroyed. But if you stay where are destruction is inevitable. When you take the risk, you may very well find that God has moved obstacles and made a way for you to achieve success and live.

Take a risk! Step out in faith! Go Forward! You can't go back, and you can't stay where you are. Your only choice is to take a chance!

            

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I welcomed the New Year in last night at the Prayer Bowl at the Fairview Church. Dr. Reed and Fairview have hosted this event for the past 33 years. It remains one of the key events for believers in the Oklahoma City area. While the name suggests a prayer meeting similar to watch meetings of the past, this is an event of complete worship. Several churches and their pastors and choirs from around the area come together for a night of prayer, praise and preaching and fellowship. It is offered as an alternative to the many more secular events that people attend to celebrate the New Year. I think there is no better way to celebrate the new than in praise and worship.

I have attended the Prayer Bowl most years, and have always been excited and impressed with the preaching. I love good preaching, and the prayer bowl has always offered a smorgasbord of great preachers preaching greatly. I remember some of the pastors of the past and the great preaching moments that they were a part of. Over the years, I have been privileged to know personally some of these greats of the pulpit. There are those who have been part of the event for years like Reverend Kelly Booker, Reverend Lee Cooper, Reverend Levi Lenley, Dr. Major Jemison, Reverend Teron Gaddis, who are all great preachers and pastors who are still making an impact for the kingdom in there respective venues where the Lord has placed them.

I am honored and overwhelmed to have been invited to preach in this event for the second straight year. To be in the same pulpit, on the same flyer and to be mentioned in the same conversation as these giants makes me humble and glad. Last night was a good night for me. God blessed my preaching effort, provided great support for me in the way of the Mount Olive Church, especially the Senior Choir. I always hate to call out individuals participating in combined efforts, but Sister Mary Bonner can “sho ‘nuff sang!” And she did it last night.

However, last night made me nostalgic of Prayer Bowls past. I remember my friend Reverend Ron Carter, who may have been one of the most gifted preachers I have known. Prayer Bowl was a time that he would show up, and allowed the Lord to use him to show out! Ron was the complete preaching package. I thought about him last night. I remember my pastor the late Dr. A. Glenn Woodberry. Pastor Woodberry would close the service out each year, and preach us out of one year and into the next. One year, he literally preached the lights out! The lights went out, but the preacher stayed on. He didn’t miss a beat.

I said all of that because the more things change; the more they remain the same. Last night, I heard some new friends preach like preaching is going out of style! For the second year, Pastor Michael McDaniel blessed the city, and this year Dr. J. Weldon Gilbert came up from Lawton, OK and closed out the year in Prayer Bowl tradition.

We were blessed going out of 2013, and we were blessed coming into 2014!