Mike Henderson

Disunity is Devastating

Every year in sports world we see the devastating effects of disunity.  This year as the NFL began its season the Philadelphia Eagles were called the Dream Team.

Yes, without a doubt they had acquired some playmakers.  However, it was their superstars who brought the disunity to the team.

In particular, Desean Jackson, who has been explosive on the field making incredible plays, has also displayed a poor attitude on and off the field.

This is not to say that he is responsible entirely for the downfall of the team.

However, it is clear that a lesser talented team that is unified can beat a more talented team that is characterized by self-centeredness and disunity.

And the year the Philadelphia Eagles thought they would make a credible run for the Super Bowl will now be remembered as the year that they were devastated by disunity.

Open Letter to the Next Penn State Football Coach

Without a doubt the hardest job to take on in the near future is the head coaching job for the Penn State football team.  With that said here are my thougths for the next coach.

You are walking into a mess.  The current is against you.  There are few favorable winds at your back.  But you took the job knowing all that, and because you believe your previous experiences, your character, and your success coaching football have prepared you for this undertaking. 

I would add at this point that unless you have ever been broken at some point in your life, my advice is to pass up this job.  You are walking into a broken situation, you will be surrounded by broken people, and you must be able to walk in their shoes.

One of the great stories from the book of Genesis centers around the life of Joseph.  Let me encourage you to read that story multiple times and learn from how he led during a great famine. 

Here are six lessons to begin with:

1. Not all leaders can lead during a famine.  Egypt went through seven years of famine and Joseph led the way.  Part of your job is going to be to lead Penn State through the current crisis.

2. Do not complain.  Everyone knows the circumstances.  Everyone knows there is a famine in the land.  Be proactive and lead.

3. Don't play the blame game.  Yes, people previous to you made some poor decisions. We get all that.  Remember, you took the job knowing all that, and you felt like you measured up to the challenge.  Deal with it, and do not bring up the earlier administration.

4. Set the example.  Avoid spending too much time looking in the rear view mirror or you will wind up in the ditch.

5. Identify some benchmarks or milestones to track your progress along this long journey.  As you travel, you will gain hope as you reach these along the way.

6. Cast a compelling vision for a bright future. Stay positive, encourage those around you, and serve your coaching staff and players well. 

Yes, the sun has gone down on the University of Penn State.  But it will rise again.  And you can be the coach who is at the helm when that happens.

One more thing.

Remember that the country is pulling for you.  Yes, Penn State has that much influence.  And many will be cheering for your success.

Diet Soda Works Against You

This week an article came out revealing that diet soda actually causes a person to gain weight.  First of all, anyone drinking soda at all is not drinking it for its health benefits.  However, I am biased and think Root Beer has some yet to be discovered healthy side effects.

Now I am not sure why people drink the diet type.  My guess is so they can avoid adding on the extra pounds.  After all, it is called 'diet.' 

But now what?  Will the breaking news cause the diet soda industry to go by the wayside?  I doubt it.  As humans we typically don't make changes simply based on information.

We don't change when we see the light; we change when we feel the heat.  I have known people to quit smoking overnight after a heart attack.  My question about the soda news is simply this:  How many people will take an honest look and measure their waist circumference? 

However, I also realize that people who get the wrong results will blame it on the extra french fries instead.  That way they can continue to drink the diet soda all the while thinking that it is actually helping them even though in reality it is not. 

One thing humans are incredibly good at: we can justify just about anything.  And I am sure we will continue to justify the purchase of diet soda.

Death of Bin Laden and Putting a Man on the Moon

The last few days have been quite wild with the death of Bin Laden.  So I thought I would pose a question to Carol.  Here it is. 

"When you think of America putting a man on the moon who do you think of?"  Her answer, and no doubt the answer of many: President John Kennedy.  Why?

Because it was his vision to put a man on the moon.  Although Richard Nixon was the president when America was finally successful, Kennedy got the credit, and rightly so.  He was the one to pledge that America would put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960's.

I know times have changed and we have politicized everything.  That simply means that we cannot give credit to someone from the other political party. 

But it's hard to forget the words of President George Bush when he said with a bullhorn in NYC, "...the rest of the world can hear you, and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."  He also talked about using every resource possible to track down those responsible.  He also said he would treat those who harbor those responsible in the same way.  Somehow I doubt that Pakistan's obvious harboring of Bin Laden will be dealt with at all.

While searching CNN I was looking for some sort of mention of President George Bush's name.  It just seems that you cannot disassociate him from the killing of Bin Laden. It's fine to give credit to both Presidents.  One started the process with increased funding and focus.  The other President made the final call regarding the incredible covert operation by our Navy Seals who will remain unnamed, but they deserve perhaps 99% of the credit.

Yes, it came true.  Bin Laden did hear face to face that his time was up.  But will people associate his death with the vision of George Bush?  Only time will tell, but at the moment, politics aside, the long journey began while Bush was in the White House.

At the end of the day, when you think of the death of Bin Laden you should think of President George Bush, President Obama, and our military and intelligence which are second to none.

We Can Rationalize Anything

Let me admit right off the top that I may not understand all there is to know about the political processes in Washington D.C.

All the talk this week has centered around the lack of a budget.  Now think about it.  The Democrats controlled the White House, the Senate, and the House.  They could have passed anything they wanted yet didn't.  I certainly can't explain that.  And to date I have not heard a satisfactory explanation from the Democrats. 

But, now they are placing the blame on the GOP!  Go figure.  What is more astounding is that some seem to be buying the line.  Granted it is politics, and crazy statements like the GOP is out to kill women and starve millions of senior citizens are being made.   

The point is people say the strangest things to rationalize their own behavior or perhaps in this case the lack of behavior.

But this is nothing new.

Abraham went into Egypt to get away from a famine.  God didn't buy it.

Moses got angry and lost his temper because of the people.  God didn't buy that either.

My kids have come home late.  I didn't buy it.

I have tried to rationalize losing my temper.  My family didn't buy it.

So is anyone buying all the rhetoric in Washington today?  I'm not.

Are you attemtping to rationalize a sin?  It won't fly.  You may try and convince yourself, but deep down I doubt if you are buying it.  God won't, and yet we continue to try and rationalize just about anything.

Patrick of Ireland

History has a way of giving away to legend and folklore.  Such is the case when it comes to St. Patrick's Day.  You would think that if we were going to set aside a day and honor someone we would at least get some of the historical facts straight.

Probably the two biggest things people associate with the day is pinching someone because they did not wear green or drinking.  Not sure where those two things came from.  And we can also add in parties and parades.

Consider what Patrick himself said.  "I am greatly a debtor to God, who has bestowed his grace so largely upon me, that multitudes were born again to God through me.  The Irish, who had never had the knowledge of God and who worshipped only idols and unclean things, have lately become the people of the Lord, and are called sons of God."

Most of what we know about Patrick come from his two books, Confession and Letter to Coroticus.  He speaks of being taken captive at age 16 and becoming a slave of an Irish master.  Following his conversion he became a man of prayer. 

After his release six years later, he chose to return to Ireland and be a missionary and church planter.  He ministered in Ireland in the middle of the 1400's.  While we lack a lot of details he does give us an overview of his work.

Patrick had an incredible pasion "for the salvation of others."  Thousands were baptized under his ministry. 

So this March 17, St. Patrick's Day, let's remember a man who was lost who was born again.  A man who became a missionary to Ireland, planted hundreds of churches, led thousands to Christ, and left a great legacy, even though history has lost sight of the real, historical Patrick.

Time Change Sunday

Who ever came up with the idea to change the time on Sunday morning?  Why not Saturday morning?  My guess is most people who decided have little interest in spiritual matters.

One of the things that crosses my mind is if I were Satan I would certainly choose Sunday morning, because that gives people a reason to skip church.  While we had a solid day at New Hope time change does affect the day.

Let's just traverse the entire country and think about the effects of time change.  If attendance were to drop off by just 10% that adds up to lots of lives, marriages, and teenagers who miss out on the Sunday morning service.  That means a marriage that would have been healed perhaps misses the very message or word of encouragement it needed.

And we could continue to list a series of fallout.  I am sure Satan was happy today over everyone who missed out.  Afterall, Satan is your enemy, not your friend. 

Personally I think we should make time change Sunday a permanent "Can't Miss" Sunday.  Who's with me?  I have heard it said that it is hard to swim against the current and you have to work with the calendar.  But, as in football, nothing is happier to an offense than to rip off a big pass play when the defense is blitzing (sending extra players to rush the quarterback).  And I think it would just be a blast to outdo Satan on time change Sunday. 

At New Hope we celebrated the Lord's Supper.  And Lauren Phillips broke out her guitar for the first time.  Not that was cool.  I love to watch people try new things.  But while we had a good day, I will admit the mood was a little different.  To lose one hour of sleep does have an effect, there is no way around that.

Before I wrap it up, let me add this.  I love time change in the fall on Sunday.  Does that make me a hypocrite?  Then everyone gets an extra hour of sleep and it's turns out to be a great day to invite a friend to church.  After all, after getting an extra hour of sleep it's hard to turn down an invitation.

Next week we start talking about Easter.  Can't wait! 

 

Small is Big

This week the theme seems to be small is big.  Things keep stirring in my head.  I guess it all began in the Garden of Eden.  It was there that Adam and Eve thought it was no big deal to eat from the tree God had put off limits. It turned out to be a BIG deal as the whole human race was plunged into sin.

Speaking of off limits, when I said "I do" to Carol, immediately all other women became off limits.  Now if I ever think that is a small deal, I will be susceptible to some incredibly BIG repurcussions. 

In the world of college football, the iconic coach of Ohio State, Jim Tressel didn't think it was too big of a deal to lie to the NCAA.  Without going into all the details, I can tell you that I would be surprised if he keeps his job.

In the entertainment world, Charlie Sheen thought he could bad mouth his boss.  After all, it's such a small thing to denigrate your boss to others.  To dishonor your boss is a small thing, right?  We'll apparently in real life it is a BIG deal to dishonor and say negative things about your boss.  And then he is shocked that he was fired.  Go figure. 

There will be another presidential election in just twenty short months.  You can be assured that something will become BIG that was considered small at one point.  Someone will have said or done something that may very well keep him or her out of the White House.  It happens every election.

Here is the bottom line.  There is something small in your life, that if you underestimate it's significance, you will be the loser.

 

Is $5 Gasoline a Big Deal?

Currently there is a little bit of debate over what actually constitutes too high gasoline prices.

As I said in my last post we tend to make small things big, and big things small.  Jesus even said in Matthew 7 that it is human nature to focus on some small issue in another person's life and ignore an even bigger issue in our own life.

The national debt is growing so rapidly that we must curtail spending in a definitve way.  However, one poilitical party only wants to cut spending about $6 billion and the other $60 billion.  Both seem small to me, but the $6 billion is laughable.  That would be like someone totaling his car and then criticizing the guy who ran over a mailbox.  $6 billion is ludicrous.  How could anyone seriously think that would even qualify as a big cut in spending?

Now I understand that a lot of this falls in the realm of politics.  But what about the personal level?

Let's list a few common actions that are often minimized.

1.  A guy tells a joke with his wife being the main character.  He thinks he is being funny, she feels like a cinder block has just fallen on her foot and she is in pain.

2.  I had a friend who was supposed to clean out an attic to avoid another month's rent.  He never did it and considered it a small thing.  Small, perhaps, if you call $1,000 of more rent no big deal.  I could go on a cruise with that amount of money.  Seems like a big deal to me. 

3.  I had another friend who left the key on after he got off a piece of heavy equipment.  Just a small thing until a malfunction caused the cables to overheat and catch fire.  The equipment went up in flames and was totally ruined.  Turned out to be a rather big deal to leave the key on.

4.  I had another friend who had life insurance papers on his desk, but he delayed signing them.  And while they laid on his desk, he was killed in a tragic accident.  Turned out to be a big deal to his wife and two little boys.

Here's the bottom line.  Make a list of ten things in your life that you consider small.  Things like being gone four nights a week to play sports.  Whatever.  Put your list together and only write down what you consider to be small things.  Then draw a timeline, sort of like a graph.  And then see if you can identify if the behavoir can have negative long term effects. Be sure to set your biases aside. 

Perhaps you will discover that that seemingly small thing is actually a big thing if it continues over time.  And yes, $5 gasoline is a big deal.  And if we get there it will get bigger the longer it stays around.  So will the stuff in your own life.

Rationalizing Big into Small

This past week I was reminded that small may not be a big deal.  However, I am amazed at those who call big small.  What started my thinking was a simple trimming of a facial hair.  The end of my scissors have a very sharp end.  So when I actually cut the hair, I also cut into my skin.  Not bad, but enough to draw a speck of blood.  No big deal.  I went onto bed and never thought about it again.

In a similar fashion if I go into debt, yet the debt is small I will likely be able to continue on without much of a problem.  However, if I go deeply into debt, it will causes quite a few issues. 

But I could rationalize my debt.  I have watched married people rationalize and minimize massive debt and even an affair.  Even our own nation acts like our huge national debt is not a big deal.

Our huge dependence on foreign oil is another case where some would have us believe it's not an issue at all.  My goal is not to get into all the stats and facts, but to simply illustrate that it is a very common practice to treat the big as small.

We could probably draw up quite a list.  I have seen people rationalize bad attitudes, pride, lack of honor, and mistreatment of a spouse. 

And what we fail to understand is that every debt, whether financial or relational will ultimately take its toll.  For example, if I miss one house payment, it will not cause too much of a repurcussion.  However, if I miss six payments the bank will be looking to foreclose on my house no matter how much I try and rationalize.  It really is a big deal to miss house payments.

If one spouse or even a friend is rude, expresses negativity, or displays a poor attitude the emotional bank account is being drawn down.  And we all know you can only make so many withdrawals before a relationship ends.

In the days to come you will be able to see this play out perhaps among people you know.  You will certainly see it played out at the gas pump.  Our appetite for gas is much greater than what we produce in the US.  Our debt will take away from our future.  Just how much remains to be seen.

And so the tendency to rationalize the BIG by claiming it is actually small will likely not go away.  At the end of the day, everyone is simply hoping IT will only draw a speck of blood.