A few years ago on one of the Perry men’s annual Canadian fishing trips we deviated from tradition.

There’s a lake called Marianne we fish because we typically catch dozens of feisty Northern Pike. To get there requires crossing two lakes and taking two hikes through the Canadian wilderness while carrying our supplies.

This particular year we decided instead to drive over the old rutted logging trails to Marianne. I had done it once before so I was confident I would recognize which trails to take.

Three hours into a 30 minute drive we still had not found Marianne. I had a topographical map and instructions from our friend Craig Williams (ironically part of his instructions included discouraging us from driving).

I didn’t listen very well because I was confident we’d find Marianne with no problems.

Yet a number of times we’d arrive at a spot where I just knew Marianne had to be. I’d pull out my map and convinced myself that it had to be right there. When it wasn’t I’d tell the boys that it “might have dried up” or “been hidden by some trees” or some other foolish explanation.

This behavior is what experts call “bending the map.” It means to ignore reality and convince yourself that you are in the right place and that your map is wrong or the surroundings have changed (also called being lost).

“Bending the map” is trying to make reality fit what you want it to be instead of accepting it for what it is. It comes from stubbornness, pride, delusion or in my case simple optimism.

I’m often tempted to “bend the map”, to look at “the numbers” or a situation and believe it’s better than what it really is. It’s then that I have to remind myself of that three-hour tour of Canada so I can begin seeing things for what they are and then take the necessary action in face of true reality.

Are you bending any maps in your life? Don’t waste any more fishing time believing a false reality. Life is too short and there are too many fish to catch.

For the second time in four months I have had someone share these words with me – “Do what only you can do.”

When I hear the same thing multiple times from multiple people in a relatively short period of time I know I need to listen.

The most recent time I heard these words were from Bob Nienhuis, a good friend and chair of the SpringHill board. We were meeting to go through the annual feedback the board provides me on my job performance.

These words struck hard because I had just heard them a few months earlier.

The first time was when I was teaching our adult Sunday school class at our church. A member of our class, Christine Giesler, responded to my sharing of the struggle I was having finding the time to accomplish work I was convinced (and still am) that God wanted me to do.

Christine told me the same thing Bob had said, “Do what only you can do.” Then she added an additional bit of wisdom in an effort to help me move to this place.

She said, “I’m sure you’re doing a lot of good and important things. But many of these things are things that someone else could do. By holding them and not sharing them with others you are robbing them of the opportunity to share in these important responsibilities and it keeps you from doing what only you can do.”

I’m thankful for this great advice from Christine and the reminder of that same advice from Bob of the ongoing work I’m doing – the work of making sure that, day by day, week by week, I’m doing what only I can do for SpringHill, my family and ultimately for His Kingdom.

In spending time in the wilderness I’ve learned two ethical approaches to the impact one should have on the environment when spending time in it.

The first I learned as a Boy Scout. “Leave a place better than you found it.” This meant not only leaving no mark but also removing any marks left by others.

I’ve been thinking of these ethical approaches this week as Todd Leinberger and myself spent a couple of days at Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center located between San Jose and Santa Cruz, California in the heart of Redwood country. It’s obvious that Mount Hermon and the people of California have an ethic of preserving the beauty of this area.

As part of our visit we spend some time with Lisa Olson, current Mount Hermon executive who spent 22 years on staff at SpringHill. Over dinner I asked Lisa to look back over her tenure at SpringHill and share her proudest contribution.

She didn’t hesitate in answering. Her proudest contribution was that she and her husband Mark led SpringHill to a place where it could multiply itself, a process that took 15 years, resulting in the creation of our Indiana camp.

As I listened to Lisa I realized these two wilderness ethics represent the same ethical options we have when we are part of an organization, community or family.

Lisa and Mark Olson clearly lived out the “leave it better than we found it” ethic. For which I’m thankful.

For me I’m still a Boy Scout at heart. That’s why I too am committed to a “leaving a place better than I found it” ethic whether it’s my work at SpringHill, my volunteer roles in the community or more importantly in my relationships with my family and friends.

“Failure to plan is planning to fail”

“Plan your work and then work your plan”

I am a planner so these well-worn clichés are etched into my psyche.

This is why every Sunday I lay out a plan for the upcoming week integrating both the professional and personal parts of my life.

It’s a ritual I will not miss.

Here’s how I do it:

1. I review the previous week and see what was left undone and decide what to do with them (add them to the upcoming week, not do them at all, etc.).
2. I compile all the ideas, tasks and thoughts I’ve collected over the previous week and add them to my master Outlook Task List.
3. Next I look two to three weeks out in my calendar and add to my list any work I need to do to be ready for upcoming meetings and events. I will also resolve any scheduling issues.
4. I may block out time in my calendar to focus on an important task that requires quiet to do well.
5. Then I will print a pocket-size card of the tasks I’ve chosen to focus for the week. It stays with me (held in a Levenger “shirt pocket briefcase“) all the time. If my list doesn’t fit on a 3″ by 5” card then it’s too long.
6. Finally, each morning I will evaluate the previous day and then highlight the tasks that I want to achieve that day.

Simple enough yet when I don’t create a plan I feel as if I’m going through my week running with scissors.

When I do I enter each day with confidence that I know what I need to do to have a successful week.

“Why do we fall down?” Thomas Wayne asks his son Bruce. “So we can learn to pick ourselves up” Bruce answered. (From the movie Batman Begins)

I’ve come to believe that resiliency is the most underrated and least talked about quality of a leader.

Which doesn’t make much sense since from my own personal experience and the experience of so many leaders I’ve talked to resiliency is the one quality that we all have in common.

I was just at breakfast with a successful leader and part of his story was the resilience he and his wife had through 30 years of leadership. Now both of them are CEO’s of significant organizations that impact 1000’s of people each year. Without resiliency they wouldn’t be in these positions.

This is my story as a leader. Whenever I’ve been able to fight through difficult and challenging situations it’s always led to a place of greater influence and effectiveness. Where I haven’t it’s led, frankly, nowhere.

So what is resiliency? Webster’s (I know old school) says it’s “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or changes.”

Why is resiliency so important?

It’s because the reality is that bad things happen and misfortune is always just around the corner. Believe it or not but we are not in control of all things. We live in a fallen and bent world. This means we will experience bad things in our life and leadership.

The question is can we recover and learn and grow from them?

In his book Breakout Churches Thom S. Rainer used Jim Collins’ research method from Good to Great to determine the factors that lead churches to become a “breakout church”.

Guess what the research found? The average tenure of the senior pastor of a “breakout church” was 21 years compared to 4 years for comparative churches. Rainer says “The breakout church leaders endured pain and did not leave. They were tenacious (and I’d add resilient). Their short-term pain brought long-term gain.”

So I am making a recommendation that resiliency be added to the official list of necessary qualities of every successful leader.

And my prayer is that it will one day it’ll be counted as one of the qualities I displayed in my leadership and life.

I’ve realized over the last few years that I’m not a good spectator. As a matter of fact I’m a pretty poor one.

It’s not that I yell obscenities at the referees, second guess the coaches or have unrealistic expectations for the players.

No, it’s simply that I find it hard to just sit and watch a game. Even the “biggest game of the year” – the Super Bowl, a game I was looking forward to seeing, was hard for me to just sit and watch. I ended up sending text messages throughout the game to my friend and great Packer fan Jack McQueeney just to keep me interested.

And it doesn’t matter if it’s my favorite team or my kid’s team playing I just can’t sit and watch.

Now this poor spectatorship is acceptable in most cases except when it comes to watching my own kids play. So a number of years ago I committed to no longer being just a spectator of my kid’s sports but instead being a participant in some form or fashion.

So I help coach my kids every chance I get. I’ve coached middle school, JV and varsity basketball, varsity baseball and scores of recreational teams. Coaching keeps me in the game.

I’ve also kept “the book” or stats for teams I’m not involved with as a coach. This winter our son Mitch is playing on our school’s JV basketball team. So I’ve become one of the statisticians for both our JV and varsity teams. It gives me involvement during the games by doing something beneficial for the team and the coaches.

For sure I’m motivated to be involved by my love for kids, especially my own. But I’m also involved because I want (and need?) to belong to a team more than I need the association that comes from just being a fan.

But there is another factor that drives me to being more than just a spectator. It’s simply that I want to make the biggest difference I can, not just in my kid’s sports, but in every aspect of my life.

So no matter where God has placed me being a spectator just doesn’t cut it. I’ve been blessed with so much and so am accountable to do more than just sit in the stands and be a spectator.