Posts

Thankful Trust

“Thankful Trust.” That’s the phrase my wife has been reminding me of repeatedly in the last few months, and it’s appropriate to share it with you during this week of Thanksgiving. Here’s the reason behind this frequent reminder.

A little less than a year ago, I entered a new place of transition in my life. I have been involved in Christian education for over 30 years and have been able to learn and grow as a leader through my experience. However, during the last two decades together, we (my wife and I) have also been walking through a challenging journey that included her battle with cancer, and it has progressed to the point where I needed to find opportunities to use my experience and skill set in ways that would allow me much greater flexibility to care for my wife’s needs. So, I stepped away from my role as the head of a Christian School, re-established my old website under a new name (www.LeadershipEzra.com), published my second book (“Leadership Ezra”, a book that specifically addresses effective Christian leadership drawn from lessons taken from the Old Testament book of Ezra, available on Amazon), and began to explore opportunities to teach undergraduate and graduate courses on leadership within online programs. I have thoroughly enjoyed being able to organize and clarify some of my thoughts in writing, and then being able to share those thoughts with you. It has helped me to grow even more in my own leadership while giving me the chance to benefit others, and so I hope it is helpful for you. But this process of transition I have been walking through is quite frightening with lots of unknowns – regarding my wife’s health as well as my source of income and service to God – and so I have had to be intentional about trusting God with a thankful attitude.

That brings me back to “Thankful Trust.” It has kind of become a mantra in the last few months, especially when I become overwhelmed with anxiety and uncertainty. Clearly, God has been directing my life in this process (a story for another time), but in my humanity, it is still easy for me to take my eyes off of God and focus on my circumstances. Hence the reason for intentionally being frequently reminded to live in thankful trust: thankful to God regardless of the circumstances, and trusting His love, care, provision, and direction, fully believing that I am in His will and therefore trusting His plan and purpose. After all, isn’t that one of the primary lessons that I took away from my study of Ezra?

So, in this week of Thanksgiving, may I remind and encourage you to be intentionally thankful as well, regardless of life’s circumstances, knowing that God loves you and has a plan and purpose for you, Trust His plan, and choose a spirit of gratitude.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A

/by

Quote Your Dad

“You can’t outgive God.”

/by

Leadership Ezra

“I think I want to write books.”  That was my answer to my dad’s question.  I had completed my seminary master’s degree in marriage, family, and personal counseling and had started working in my first counseling job.  However, I was still wrestling with my future goals and where I ultimately wanted to be in my life.  Writing books sounded like a worthy goal, and I admired people who could write books that inspired, helped, shaped, or guided others (like some of my professors at Liberty University).  So, when my dad asked me what I thought I wanted to be doing in ten years, that was my answer.  “I think I want to write books.”  He reflected quietly for a moment and then with his usual wisdom, said to me, “Jeff, before you can say something, first you have to have something to say.”

Now, thirty years of life and experience later, it seems God has given me something to say.  Or at the very least, something to say for my own benefit, lessons that I have learned and continue to learn from the life of ministry to which God has called me over that span of time, and that I can put down on paper.  In particular, God has taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  I am a connect-the-dots kind of person; therefore one of the ways God has taught and grown me is in connecting the dots between scriptural truth and life application.   

That’s the goal of this book:  to connect the dots between Scriptural truth and life application, specifically within the realm of leadership, using a story in the Bible to do so.  In this case, the story is actually the story contained in the book of Ezra, a book comprised of two different journeys of return for the people of God.  The experiences in this book demonstrate and illustrate lessons that can then be applied to our practice of leadership today.  

I “discovered” these lessons when I randomly decided to do a personal Bible study on the book.  I had been reading in the Old Testament and came across the first verse of Ezra 1, and figured out that it was connected to Jeremiah 29:10-11.  That piqued my interest, so I decided I wanted to start reading through the book as a Bible study and asked the Lord to teach me from it.  I started writing down my thoughts and responses to the story I was reading and began to recognize valuable lessons that directly impacted my leadership role at that time and place.  By the time I finished the study, I was amazed at how much God had taught me about leadership from this unexpected book.

Now I am sharing it with you. In this newly published book, “Leadership Ezra,” I hope you can also make the same connections to your leadership.  But before you order your copy, open it up, and start reading, I would encourage you to first read the book of Ezra from start to finish.  You might be surprised at what God teaches you from your own reading of His Word!

Order your copy of “Leadership Ezra” on Amazon here.

/by