Doing, fully, what you believe in.

Both in Tom Cruise's The Firm and Jim Carey's Liar Liar we find very similar plot lines, though carried out in two completely different ways.  The answer to the stereotypically unethical law practice is to dive fully into the practice of law as it was always meant to be practiced.  Though in practice it probably doesn't usually turn out this way, the point of the movies is that doing things the right way will always win out in the end.  But what if you are committed to being an ethical lawyer that does your job very well and thorough and by-the-book?  Will you always, or even mostly, win out in the end?  Will you thrive in your practice?  I'd like to think the answer is, "YES!" but I have no idea because I'm not a lawyer.

What do you do if you're on a team or part of a business or part of a church and things aren't going very well?  To what degree do you start doing things differently, or do you change your values, or do you give up all together?  How do you stick to what's right and true and pure?

Whether it's practicing law, medicine, leadership, or life, the only way to get through your days and weather the many storms is to double down on the essence of why you do what you do.  Know what you believe in, make sure it's worth believing, and 100% run with it.  There will be no greater regret when you come to the end of your working days (or your actual days) then if you held back from what you knew you needed to do.

There are certain truths from all of these professional disciplines that everybody accepts as non-negotiables.  One truth that supersedes them all and effects them all is the truth of the existence and activity of an all-loving, all-powerful, all-wise God.  His existence is not dependent on your belief in Him or not.  His activity is not dependent on whether you want Him to be active or not.  His presence, though, is deeply effected by whether you really want Him to walk with you or not.  He knows when He's wanted and He knows the heart of each man and woman.  As a result, we cannot fully understand His ways and why He does (or doesn't do) what He does.  But, we who trust Him and love Him can count on His many promises.

Psalm 91 holds promise to all who double down on their belief in this great God.  He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."  But it's not because of smooth waters that the writer has this conviction, for he lists the many hardships - "snare of the fowler," "deadly pestilence," "terror of the night," "arrow that flies by day," "pestilence that stalks the darkness," and "destruction that wastes at noonday."  It's BECAUSE God is all that He says He is and has proven faithful for thousands and thousands of years that I will never turn my back on Him.  Nothing, and I mean nothing, in my life even touches these descriptions or the many examples in history of men and women who have suffered greatly and died while suffering yet never denying their savior and their God.

Stick to your convictions.  Yet, make sure these convictions dovetail with the reality of the God of the Bible.  If you do this, you won't stray far and He will always answer you, rescue you, and be your refuge.

Why football is the best sports analogy to life

There's nothing quite like watching a team that's working together, choreographing their movements play after play after play, performing as one.  It's why college basketball is more enjoyable than pro basketball, because the pros have become more and more about a group of individuals doing their own thing.  It's why pro football is better than college football, because the game of football can ONLY be perfected as a team, as interdependent players counting on each other to do their part for longer periods of time.  It's the only one of the major sports worldwide where half the team has absolutely no say in how half the game goes.

A person's legacy, in professional sports, is partly dependent on how many championships that team wins.  Football, then, seems completely unfair, because the best player at any given position can only influence half of the game.  Therefore, for as much as I abhor lists of greatest players ever, so many players are left off the list or are put farther down the list because they were on losing teams or never won it all.

Maybe "winning it all" in the sports world isn't all it's cracked up to be.  Maybe the one thing that drives each person to compete and strap on the cleats season-after-losing-season isn't a championship.  It doesn't sell tickets or create a loyal fan base, but maybe the best part about being a team is simply coming together as a team!

So, why is football the greatest sport ever?  Because the best way for all the pieces to work together is for each piece to be so good and focused at what they do, that they're not concerned about how another player is doing their job.  Plus, they realize that their best can always be better so they have grace for other parts that fail but are trying to get better.  One example is the whole dynamic of winning.  The left guard on the offense has some very specific jobs to do, but only on about 50% of the snaps.  Though a motivation may be winning, his immediate motivation is doing his job and knowing enough about the other 10 players' jobs that he jives perfectly with them.  He can leave the immediate motivation of winning to the head coach and the general manager.  They and they alone see the big picture and make decisions to move the right pieces in the right place in order to beat the next opponent.  And, when you turn it around, the head coach and general manager shouldn't have to spend any time concerned about whether the left guard is pulling on this play or not, but can look for other things on each play and each game to move forward.

Whatever other team you are involved with, use football as a great picture of teamwork.  Who's the "boss"?  Who's the one who sets the temperature and determines direction?  Find out all you can about their motivation, their goals, their M.O.  Now, make sure you know your role.  What's your immediate motivation?  Even it equates to bringing water out to the team at timeouts, do that role the best you can and find out how you can improve it.  Almost all GM's, team trainers, and offensive coordinators started at a position where they were faithful and good at what they did.

Finally, as the church, the simple transition into "Leaving it all on the field" is that we need to be all about our leader, the head of the church, Jesus Christ!  I'm not going to give it all I've got "on the field" just so that I can pull at the right time and block the right guy with the right kind of block. I'm going to do that play after play because I believe in what "the boss" is doing and that their way is the best way.  Jesus knows what He's doing, so get to know Him, His playbook, and His heart.

 

The Lost Art of Asking for Help

 Kyler Murray of the NFL Arizona Cardinals signed a $230.5 million contract that brings him through the 2028 season.  He was about to start the last year of his contract, but his club clearly wants him to know of their commitment to him.  Murray turned 25 yesterday (Happy Birthday, Kyler!) and stated after his team’s playoff loss to eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, “I’m going to continue to grow and get better.”

This young man (yes, he is still quite young) knows that he must get better and that being an NFL quarterback is no longer just a fun activity, is nothing like college ball, and that he has more than just his own future riding on his shoulders.  His QB rating has gone up each of his three seasons, which is something few other QB’s have been able to say about their first three years.  He clearly deserves this new contract, for his first three years rank quite high up among the greatest first three years ever (not really close to Mahomes, Rodgers, or Marino, but clearly better than Manning, Elway, Brady, and Brees).

 Yet, what gets almost all of the press is one addendum in the contract that seeks to dictate how Murray spends four hours per week during the season.  He must spend four hours each week studying for the upcoming game, without other distractions like internet surfing, gaming, or video-watching.  That’s right, FOUR (4) HOURS-A-WEEK, for about 26-30 weeks, depending on how long the team’s season is.  Why so much press?  Well, initially because it’s odd, not normal for a contract of this magnitude to have such a clause in it.  Then, once talk shows, newspapers, and know-it-all sports “insiders” got ahold of it, they were questioning why in the world Murray would agree to such a stipulation and why the Cardinals felt like they needed this type of “babysitting” for their star player.  These conversations morphed into such ridiculous theories which gave Murray a poor work ethic and even accused the Cardinal’s organization as racist.

 At the risk of being simplistic and for the love of keeping things out of the headlines that shouldn’t be there, allow me to propose another thought here:  Kyler Murray wants to get better and is willing to take the advice of his employer regarding one way that he can get better.

What if it is as simple as that?  Well, first, that’s not really headline grabbing, so we choose not to go down that road.  Secondly, though, very few of us want to admit that we have lots to learn, and even fewer of us will go to the length of putting things in place to keep us learning.  Proverbs 30:2 (a book of some of the wisest sayings ever penned) is a self-declaration that each man, woman, and child should learn to utter for the rest of their days:  “I am more stupid than any other person, and I lack a human’s ability to understand.”

 From this one verse, there are two things we can learn from God and human history:

1.     We are not the sharpest tool in the shed.  You will grow more and learn more when you are of the mindset that most people are smarter than you.

2.     We are limited in our capacity to understand.  You are not God, there is only one God, and the one God has full understanding that He’s willing to guide us with.

Though I’m sure it’s out there, I hadn’t located any writers or sports talkers that supported Kyler Murray’s willingness to be held accountable for something that he needs to get better at.  How about a shout out to his employer (the Arizona Cardinals) for having a wholistic approach to protecting their investment by making sure that this young man develops this important part of his job (and future jobs, as well, whenever he’s done playing football).  Oh, and let’s add a third thing that God teaches us and that, if we’re honest, we know to be true:  We need each other in so many ways.

So, find an employer that cares about you as a person then be loyal to that employer to the point that you willingly admit your weaknesses and develop your strengths for their benefit.  This type of humble approach to life does EVERYBODY good, including yourself.

UPDATE:  The Cardinals chose to take the clause out in order for it not to be a distraction. It's funny how somebody else's brief obsession with what they THINK they know (the press) can dictate how an individual or organization runs their own stuff after giving it alot of thought.