One of the best books I’ve read in recent years is 9 Things You Simply Must Do to Succeed in Love and Life[ELaC1] .  The book was written by Dr. Henry Cloud (you can buy the complete book or a condensed version).  The basic premise of the book is identifying the difference between people who win at love and life and those who fail.  Dr. Cloud said that when he carefully observed successful people, they gave him a certain “déjà vu” feeling.  It wasn’t that he had met them before, but he had met people like them.  The result was nine different “practices” that set them apart. 

One of the practices identified in the book was that Déjà vu people (his name for successful people) “play the movie.”  Now, I know that sounds a little crazy, but keep reading. His point was that Déjà vu people…successful people rarely take any action without considering its future implications.  Another way to say that is that they never see any individual action as a singular thing in and of itself; they “play the movie.” And by playing the movie, they see how actions and choices today can impact tomorrow.  This is how Dr. Cloud describes it in the book: “Any one thing you do is only a scene in a larger movie.  To understand that action, you have to play it out all the way to the end of the movie.”   

One of the difficulties of being a leader is that you not only have to give your best to each and every moment or day, you also have the responsibilities of thinking about and planning for tomorrow.  That means you’ve got to spend time “playing the movie.”  This isn’t one of my favorite things about being a leader, but I certainly understand the importance. 

Life will always be filled with difficult choices.  Oftentimes we choose the immediate comfort that comes from doing nothing.  The problem with that, though, is that while it will bring immediate comfort, the comfort will be short-lived.  The third servant in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) who received only one “talent” from his master chose the immediate comfort of doing nothing (remember he buried his talent in the ground).  However, when the master returned (the future will always come), he paid for his choice (vs. 24-30).

Most people don’t live the individual scenes of their lives today with the end in mind.  Most people aren’t interested in “the big picture” or “the final scene.”  But while the Bible gives us clear instruction about not worrying about tomorrow because each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:34), it also shows us the value of living in a way that allows you the privilege of one day hearing the Master say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”  When you’re faced with a difficult decision…when you hear about difficult decisions that have been made by others…play the movie.  There’s more going on in the story of your life and my life than what happens in each day (scene).  At least there should be…

Jesus cares,

Pastor Chris

If you asked my wife, she would tell you that I have a great memory.  She might go on to say something like, “Don’t tell him something you don’t want to ever hear about again because he won’t ever forget.”  Now she has good reason to say that.  I have a knack for remembering things.  I can remember things about the Bible I memorized when I was a kid at church camp.  I can remember the entire starting lineup for The Big Red Machine (Cincinnati Reds in the 70’s).  I can remember trivia, names, golf courses (every hole and what I shot), etc.  I am noticing that my memory is slipping a little with age, but I have a good memory.

That said I find myself wishing I had a better memory today.  I say that because last night (November 4^th) one of my lifelong friends in Oklahoma suffered his second heart attack in four days and died. Duane was 53-years-old. We became friends when I was in the eighth grade, and we shared a lot of great times growing up together.  He had one of those “larger than life” personalities.  He was friendly, he was funny, and he had one of the best tenor voices I’ve ever heard.  I could listen to him sing for hours. Sometimes we sang for hours.  We were very close as classmates and remained close even though life brought all the natural changes that getting older can bring.  One thing that helped is that we were both pastors so we shared not only the bond of friendship but the bond of living out a calling.  And even though I’ve spent the last few days remembering him and our time together, I really wish I could remember more.

I’m mindful today that the Bible has a lot to say about “remembering.”  Most of it is a reminder to us to remember the presence of God, the promises of God and the way God has provided for us in the past.  No doubt God knows that remembering is not something we do well which brings me back to wishing I had a better memory today. 

There are certain things I don’t ever want to forget.  Here are a few in no particular order.  I don’t ever want to forget the sorrow I feel when I am confronted with the reality of my sin because that feeling helps me to avoid sin in the future.  I don’t ever want to forget that God has forgiven my sin and that once it has been forgiven; He has chosen to remember it no more.  I don’t ever want to forget how I feel each time I hear Tricia sing.  I don’t ever want to forget how Sandy looked on the day Andrew got married.  I don’t ever want to forget how I feel when my son asks me for advice about ministry.  I don’t ever want to forget all the ordinary people in the church I grew up in who loved and encouraged me.  I don’t ever want to forget wanting to be exactly like my Uncle Mike when I was growing up.  I don’t ever want to forget the unique bond I have with my brothers and sisters because no one else will ever know what it’s like to grow up together.  I don’t ever want to forget that my mom and dad did not grow up in perfect homes.  I don’t ever want to forget how much I love the local church.  I don’t ever want to forget to be thankful for everything I have and thankful I don’t get what I deserve.

That’s just a very partial list.  I don’t have enough room for everything I’m thinking.  But if I were going to add just one more, it would be that I don’t ever want to forget the blessing of having some special and unconditional friendships when I was very young.  And I don’t want to forget to look for my good friend Duane when it’s my time to walk on streets of gold.  I don’t think he’ll be hard to find. I’ll just listen for his voice and follow the applause.

Jesus cares,

Pastor Chris