Catalyst

Archive for January, 2010

Sunday started out as a normal day–until the quiet evaporated with the ringing of the phone. At 6:45 a.m. my day shifted dramatically.

The call informed me that our preacher had fallen ill during the night and I was on tap to preach. I now had three hours to prepare and polish a message for an audience of 1000 listeners.

The sermon went well and was well-received. While that may be true, it is difficult to go from 0 to total presentation in three hours. How do stay ready so you prepare effectively when under the gun?

It doesn’t start when the call comes. Someone once asked me how long it took to prepare a sermon. My answer is simple–it took 30 years. All immediate preparation is a reflection of years of training. If you don’t put the hard hours in the cool of the day, you won’t be ready when thrown into the fire.

Yet, you need to do some things regularly to prepare for the last-minute situation. (These are also essential for the routine preparation of sermons.)

Read widely.

Reading is the river that fills the mental reservoir. Reading puts ideas into the mind and into notes. Read novels, self-help books, biographies and books on Bible topics. In addition, find some mind-stimulating blogs and read them daily. All will allow ideas to haunt the mind, reading it for the call when it comes.

Reflect daily.

Sermons take place at the intersection of text and current events. Think daily about what is happening. Analyze the news and think through reading. What do the events mean? What kind of implications are there for living? This kind of thinking is a tumbler turning rock into gemstone.

Write regularly.

One reason I write a blog post is to force me to do focused thinking. I write in a journal, put words into letters and memos, and make presentations. All are the whetstone of thinking. If the knife is not sharp, there’s no time to do it at the last minute. Too many preachers are dull because they don’t sharpen themselves regularly.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t enjoy the pressure of hurry-up preparation. I would never recommend it as a steady habit of life. However, when you take moments to prepare yourself daily, you are ready to prepare a message in a pinch.

King David eulogized his fallen predecessor Saul, with the mournful words, “how have the mighty fallen.” Not all fall of a battlefield wound. Some suffer from the mortal wound of a damaged reputation.

As the ball dropped in Times Square on New Year’s Eve 2008, Tiger Woods was a commanding figure. He was the professional golf tour. Tournaments he played gained attention (and money). His endorsement deals were stratospheric. He was the boy next door, the polite and polished young man with a beautiful wife and cute kids.

Then came the wreck, followed by the hushed calls on a cell phone to a woman who turned out to be a mistress. Then came the revelations of more and more women. The image gave way to history and his reputation sank as easily as one of his putts.

The question is always the same. How can someone with so much talent, fame, and money do something like that? Some have said it was arrogance. Some blamed the spotlight. Others mentioned his father’s death. No one really knows the true answer.

Yet, the sad saga of Tiger reminds everyone of one simple truth–your reputation is fragile. It is built over a lifetime and can be crushed in a moment.

How do you protect your reputation?

Know what you really want to be. If you don’t intend to be that, don’t kid yourself. Be genuine and transparent. Too many people want an image. Strive for more than a cardboard cutout of a character. Have character.

Constantly evaluate self. It’s easy to drift off course. Take time to peer into the mirror of your own soul. If you can’t be honest with yourself, find someone who won’t try to preserve your feelings. You need the honest feedback.

Live transparently. Someone has said, “conduct your life in such a way to make any accusation sound ridiculous.” The only way to do that is to be open and honest in actions, thoughts, and dealings.

Confess and change. Confession is not just “sorry.” It’s not a statement of others misunderstanding. It is what you did, admission, specific, facing the music. Don’t gloss over. It requires a bigger person to admit exactly what he did than to hid behind excuses.

Whether Tiger will ever come back is left to be seen. But sometimes the best lessons are learned from bad examples. Take good care of your reputation because you may never get it back.