If you’ve ever been a member of a private golf course, or flown first class or corporate jets on a regular basis and then had to play golf on a public course or fly coach you’ll know what I experienced this past week.

I found out just how spoiled I’ve been.

Since December I have taken advantage of the SpringHill indoor pool and have been swimming a couple of days a week.

My wife and I and a couple other SpringHill staff intentionally arrive well ahead of the public lap swim so we can have the pool to ourselves.

So I’ve never known what it’s like to share the pool with lots of people. I had an inkling after talking to a friend recently who swims regularly at a YMCA. He described what it’s like to swim laps with lots of people with differing swimming abilities and speeds. Yet I didn’t give my good fortune much thought – until this past week.

You see I slept in and got to the pool later than normal and the community lap swimmers arrive early. So I experienced the chaos of public lap swim. Frankly, at first, I was a bit ticked. How could these people expect me to swim with them splashing all around me?

Then it dawned on me how fortunate I really am to have access to a pool for my own private work outs.

So I asked myself “what else is there in my life that I’ve been blessed with yet don’t even know it?” “And what good things are a part of my life now that at one time I appreciated as a gift but now see as expected or even a right?”

The public lap swim has certainly given me some things to think and pray about during my next private swim.

Are you blessed in any way but haven’t noticed or have forgotten it? It’s never too late to say thanks to the Source of all good things.

One of the highlights of my work is the opportunity to be a part of an informal group of peer leaders. The first “official” time we met together was six and half years ago in Chicago. It was in that meeting that we adopted the now infamous name Chicago 7 (why it’s infamous is another story which I won’t bother blogging about).

Currently the group includes Mario Zandstra from Pine Cove Ministries in Texas, Stan White from Forest Home in Southern California, Doug Goodwin from Kanakuk Kamps in Missouri, Jack McQueeney with the Navigators’ Glen Eyrie/Eagle Lake in Colorado and John McAuley from Muskoka Woods in Ontario, Canada.

This past week we met in Washington, DC. Our time together included a full agenda of items to discuss, people to meet and things to see.

One of our discussion topics was a review of our purpose and objectives as a group. It provided a reminder of why these men have become so important to me personally and professionally and why I encourage others to be a part of such a peer group.

Our purpose is to encourage each other in our leadership of our respected organizations. We accomplish this by doing the following:

We:

        Provide a safe place to talk about our lives both professionally and personally.

Openly share ideas, new programs, and organizational insights with each other.

Benchmark other organizations and meet with other leaders.

Provide accountability on issues we each face.

Pray together for each other’s work, family and personal life.

As a result of our intentional relationships each of these men has become a dear friend and partner in ministry. But even more important to us is the fact that over the years God has used our relationships to strengthen and expand His Kingdom here on earth – the most worthy purpose.

I’ve been less than enthusiastic about working through my second “what would my life look like if…?” question. But it’s a question I’ve been confronted with on many levels over the last year so I’m compelled to deal with it.

Remember the second question is “what would my life look like if I committed to attending every funeral and wedding and visit the hospital for colleagues, friends and family? What would my life look like if I was really there for them in those times?”

This question raises the same issue I worked through with my exercise and eating right question. I’m a busy person so if I really want to I can always find a reason not to a attend funeral, wedding or visit the hospital.

But there is a difference between the two questions (know I’m being transparent here). I can see personal benefit in the exercise and eating right question but in this second question, on the surface, I see no real personal gain.

This is why I’ve been so convicted because it deals with my self centeredness. If I’m to be the person Christ has called me to be then I need to look beyond myself, to do and live for things that matter to others not just matter to me.

And who is that person? One who loves others more than the stuff on a to-do list and so endeavors to be a part of these important moments of their lives. And if I believe this is the kind of person Christ has called me to be then I need to trust that He will help take care of my to-do list.

So I’m committing myself to attending as many of these important events as I possibly can with the prayer that somehow it will be a blessing to others.

First question I’ve decided to deal with on vacation is “What would my life look like if I got back to a regular exercise routine and eating better no matter my schedule?”

I chose it first because it’s the easiest of the two questions I’m mulling over this week.

It’s easy because as I thought of the benefits to doing regular exercise and eating right I really have no good reason, just excuses, for not getting back to my exercise and eating routine.

Any reason I’ve come up with (and I’ve used them all over the last 6 months) have to do with the many seemingly “important” things scheduled during any given week.

So without repeating all the obvious reasons we all know for why we should exercise and eat right I will share with you just two that have convicted me to get back on track.

First, any short-term gain in time or convenience I have by not taking care of myself quickly robs me of needed energy in the short-term as well as hurts my health in the long run. The payoff for exercising and eating right is both immediate and long-term. When I picture my life both now and in the future I like the way it looks when I’ve taken care of myself.

Finally I just can’t get over that fact that God has given me a healthy body. I have or had no major illnesses or injuries. This is a gift from God and I feel a strong sense of responsibility to care for my body much more than I have. It’s a matter of stewardship and I’ve been a poor steward over the last 6 months.

So starting now I will make time in my schedule for exercise and make sure I make accommodations that allow me to eat right. It’s a change that will make my life look more as it should be.

When I’m on vacation I like to ask myself a series of “what would my life look like if…” questions. These are questions that, in theory, should help me live better and be more fruitful for the Kingdom.

For example I might ask “what would my life look like if I read a book a week for the next year?” or “what would my life look like if I quit eating junk food?”

Then I go about my vacation thinking and praying about each question by looking at the “upside” and the “downside” that each potential reality would create in my life. Sometimes I will write out a list but most often I just try to create a mental picture of what my life might look like with any of the potential changes.

I will also pray about each question while running with Denise, going for a walk or sitting by the pool. I ask God for His direction and guidance.

Then sometime during the week I will make a decision. I may pass on the change because the cost seems too high or I just don’t think it’s realistic with other things I’m doing at the moment.

If I decide to move forward, I will write down my commitment and then work out a plan. If I say yes then I want it to become a reality in my life.

This vacation’s two questions?

“What would my life look like if I got back to a regular exercise routine and eating better no matter my schedule?”

“What would my life look like if I committed to attending every funeral and wedding and visit the hospital for colleagues, friends and family? What would my life look like if I was really there for them in those times?”

Over my next two posts I will share my reflections and my answers to these questions.

One of my favorite historical people is Winston Churchill. I’ve read a number of books about his life and leadership.

One of the most amazing qualities I’ve found about him was his uncanny ability to see into the future and articulate it.

Most of us know of his predictions concerning the rise of Nazism in Germany in the early 1930’s and the impact it would have on Europe. Yet the one visionary statement that I’ve found even more remarkable was his prediction of the fall of communism.

In 1953, at the height of the cold war, he told his assistant John Colville that if Colville lived a normal life span that he would assuredly see Eastern Europe free of Communism. His normal life span would put him alive well into the 1980’s exactly when Communism fell in Eastern Europe.

That ability to see and articulate the future would qualify for as a visionary by anyone’s standards.

One other interesting quality of Churchill I’ve admired was his love of history. He wrote a number of historical books including the monumental The History of the English – Speaking Peoples.

Is it possible that because Churchill was a student of history that he was also a visionary?

In Kouzes & Posner’s The Leadership Challenge they write “When we gaze first into our past, we elongate our future. We also enrich our future and give it detail as we recall the richness of our past experiences. So, to be able to envision the possibilities of a distant future, to enhance your ability to be forward-looking, look first into your past.”

Kouzes & Posner also cite a study by Omar A El Sawy from the University of Southern California which looked at the ability of two groups of CEO’s to envision the future.

One group clearly could articulate a distant future and one could not.

What was the difference between the two groups? The group that looked deepest into the future was the group that looked first and farther back into their pasts.

Think about that for a moment, the ability for a CEO or anyone to see into the future begins with looking into history including one’s own past.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is exactly why Churchill became a visionary.

And as a leader, if I’m to have vision, I need to challenge myself to be a student of my personal history, the history of the organization I’m leading as well as history in general without becoming its slave. It’s within the context of history that I can begin to have vision for my life, my family and the ministry I’m entrusted with.

I’m reading Les Miserable and once again I’m reminded why I need to have a few classics mixed into my reading list each year. Not that they are always easy to read, or as entertaining, fast paced and action packed as a novel by Clancy, Morrell or Baldacci. But there is something about a classic book that makes them, well, a classic and that’s why they’re worth reading.

When I read Baldacci or Flynn, and it’s one of their better books, I can’t put it down and will plow through it to the last page. I can’t wait to find out what the ending will be even if I’ve already figured it out two-thirds of the way through the book. It’s a guilty pleasure for sure and on a cold winter evening or on a warm sunny beach it can be a great escape.

But I’ve never looked for my pen or highlighter to mark a passage that carried any significant meaning when reading one of these books. My heart may race, my imagination maybe in overdrive but my mind is rarely challenged nor my heart inspired. I can’t remember when I needed to pause and reflect on the author’s insight on the world or the people who live it in. Nor do I remember being inspired to become a better person or to do something heroic on behalf of others. This is no criticism of these books just an honest observation.

In contrast I’ve barely dented the 1200 pages of Les Miserable and I’ve already highlighted a number of passages. Hugo has drawn me in and caused me to reflect not only on the world that he has created but more importantly on the world in which I live. My heart’s already been warmed, my mind enriched and I’ve been inspired. I want to become more like Bishop Myriel.

So let’s encourage each other. Share your favorite classic and why it’s your favorite. And then when you’ve done that take one of the other classic recommendations and add it to your winter reading list.

Dr. Jim Grier, Distinguished Professor of Philosophical Theology

Every so often it’s good to be humbled. It’s a necessary posture for learning and growing. And if you value learning and growing, as I do, then being humbled can be a good thing. And humbled is what I’ve been this week.

You see I’m taking Theology 576, Christian Ethics, at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary as part of my master’s degree program. The professor is Dr. Jim Grier, someone I’ve heard about for many years. He is a man who is brilliant, passionate, articulate and full of integrity. I’m thankful to be able to spend mornings for two weeks listening to and discussing ethics from a Christian perspective with him and our class.

But I’m surprised at my new-found humbleness because I honestly thought “how hard could ethics be?” My mom and dad raised me well, my faith guides my life and I always want to do the right things. So why would it be hard to make and live out good ethical decisions?

During the first morning it became apparent that I didn’t have the ethics thing figured out nearly as well as I thought. Over this first week of class I’ve discovered that, if I want to live and evaluate the issues of our world from a Christian ethical perspective, I have a ways to go.

But the good news is I am sitting under someone who has much to teach me. My humbled position has turned into a passion to understand as much as I can about Christians ethics so that I can live and lead in a way that honors Him.

The great adventure is to read the Bible through in 2011. I’m doing two things I hope will encourage others to join in this adventure.

The first is to journal and post my entries from each day’s reading to my new blog called Read the Bible in a Year at http://1yearbiblereading.com/ .

Second, through my Read the Bible in a Year blog, I want to encourage as many people as possible to read the Bible in 2011.

Here’s how it will work:

1. Click on the http://1yearbiblereading.com/ and subscribe to Read the Bible in a Year.
2. You will receive your first post on December 31st. If you subscribe after December 31st you will receive your first post that day for the following day’s reading.
3. Each evening I will post brief summaries and reflections for the following day’s reading. As a subscriber you will receive an email of the post to aid that day’s reading. You may find them helpful as an introduction to the reading.
4. Anyone can subscribe and join anytime during the year. Start reading from the beginning or pick it up where the schedule is currently at.
5. If you like hard copies of the year’s schedule click on http://www.esv.org/resources/reading-plans-devotions/ and choose the “Through the Bible” schedule and then hit “print.” This is the schedule I will be following and use in my posts.
6. Read the Bible in a Year blog has a comment section where dialogue can occur between those who are following this reading plan can happen.

It’s that simple. Now I have no idea how many people will join me in this adventure but my prayer is that there will be many people committing to reading the Bible all the way through whether they follow this schedule or subscribe to this blog or not.

Now one last thing. If you’re committed to reading the Bible thru in 2011 and want to encourage others to join… please share this page to your Facebook, e-mail it to friends or Tweet it (see below and click on your choice). Let’s get the word out and see how many people will join our little community of readers in 2011.