Help!

I suppose I am like most guys in that I don't like to ask for help (I know quite a few women in this boat too!). I guess I view it as a sign of weakness. However, it is actually a sign of pride.

This past week was more stressful than most. As I was reflecting on the week, I realized how much I had to rely on others for their help.

• We had a situation with my son which required prayer and many stepped up in a big way
• My wife's sister-in-law passed away last week and her funeral was Friday, the same day as one of our Truth at Work group meetings that I facilitate. As a result, a good friend stepped in to lead that for me in my absence.
• Saturday, we had our Gala Gathering and auction in Toledo which is a great event in our community. Truth at Work was one of the benefiting ministries and many organizations and individuals were very generous in donating some incredible items for the auction.

This weekend I was overcome with thankfulness for those who stepped in to help me. Several of these people shared with me how their helping me actually blessed them. I realized that had I had my usual attitude of "I don't need help," I would have actually been robbing others of a blessing...and I would have been adding much more stress to my plate!

I am discovering that strong leaders know they need help and are not reluctant to ask for it. We all have strengths and abilities. When we allow the body of Christ to come together and do its work, it is amazing what can happen.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.

Romans 12:3-5a

Pretty Small

I don’t know about you but I have a tendency to think more highly about myself than I should. I sometimes feel that I am so talented and so important or that everything is up to me and I don’t need any help. This is pride, the chief sin in the Bible. I sometimes think I could be the poster child for pride.

My wife took this picture of me a night or two ago. It's something I need to look at with regularity to remind me that, in the greater scheme of things, I truly am really small and I do need lots of help (for those of you who don't know, I'm freakishly tall at 6 feet, 8 and ½ inches tall).

The same is true of all of us...we all need help and can do nothing without Him. Jesus reminded us of this when He said:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:5

Help!

On Saturday of this past weekend, I went out to cut down a dead limb on an old oak tree in our yard. At first I didn't think it was going to be a big deal so I leaned a ladder up against the tree and went up to survey what needed to happen. As I approached the limb, it became obvious to me that this job was going to be much bigger than I had imagined.

The limb in question was about 14" in diameter and approximately 30' long with lots of other limbs coming out of it. I realized that if I attempted this on my own, the limb could swing down and take out the ladder or fall on me and crush me, neither of which sounded good.

So, I called out my wife Connie for her perspective. She said, "Go get Mike next door and ask for his help." I found this hard to do because I just wanted to tackle this problem on my own. But, I finally relented and called Mike. Mike, filled with much more wisdom than me, took one look at the situation and said, "There is no way you should do that on your own! I'll ask my son to come take a look."

Mike's son came over with a huge boom truck and positioned a guy right above the branch and within a half an hour the limb was on the ground and cut into manageable pieces. I began stacking some of the wood and as I carried some of the little logs I realized that each piece was very heavy. Combined, the limb was probably well over 1 ton. Boy, am I glad I asked for help!

Then on Sunday during my God time, He showed me something in Nehemiah 1:4, "When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven." The very first thing Nehemiah did was ask for help from God. The first thing I typically do is bear down and work harder thinking that I can handle this on my own. To me, God was telling me I need to rely on Him more and seek His guidance (as Nehemiah was doing above) and quit trying to do things all on my own.

Then at church, we learned about the life of Joshua, a great leader who regularly took his "stuff" to God to get direction, guidance and help. Our pastor said that God basically says to us, "You can grind away on your own if you want or you can bring it to Me and I will help you."

So, I think God might be trying to teach me something...to rely on Him more and to go to Him first before doing anything on my own! How about you?