During my summer break I’ve been reading several books, one of which is The Lombardi Rules.  The sub title to the book is 26 Lessons from Vince Lombardi – The World’s Greatest Coach.  In this insightful book, which is a great read for leaders, it states, “the first steps on the road to self-knowledge involves asking ourselves tough questions.”

This got me thinking about another great leader who asked this, “Search me O God…” (Psalm 139:23).  What would happen if you and I asked ourselves tough questions and then asked God to do the same thing?  What would those questions look like?

How about some like this:

• Why do I want this new job…really?
• Why do I work such long hours…really?
• Why do I drink so much…really?
• Why won’t I let go of this hurt?
• Why do I not want to ask myself these kinds of questions?

What are the questions you are avoiding to ask yourself?  Are there questions you don’t want to really allow God to ask?  What are you pretending not to know?

Lombardi was an incredible coach that suggested one way of getting there was asking tough questions, so let’s start there.  Then, when you’re ready to go the next step, let God start asking as well.  I believe Lombardi was right, and we can learn from his lesson.

In the past while vacationing in Florida, I’ve seen orange netting around sea turtle nest where eggs are buried. Every year during the summer months, sea turtles come up on the beaches and lay eggs and bury them in the sand. In an effort to protect them, the humans come along and put orange plastic fencing so that people don’t disturb the eggs.

Some months later the eggs hatch and the babies are guided by the light of the moon to the sea. This works well on undeveloped beaches where the moon is the brightest light. However, on developed beaches if the lights aren’t kept dimmed, then the babies follow a brighter artificial light in the wrong direction with disastrous results.

We are told to follow the pure light of God and His Word, yet how many of us get distracted by artificial lights?

Do you know God’s Word enough to guide, lead and direct you?  Are you signed up for Crossroads email to send you a passage of the Bible to read each day or some other form of daily intake?

Is the passion of your heart to be in God’s presence or more the things of this world?

The great news is that unlike sea turtles we have the ability to think, adapt and change direction when we realize we are following the wrong path.

We can tune out the distractions and focus on the right priorities and let the pure light lead us to an ocean of possibilities and God’s great purpose for our lives.

This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him. (1 John 1:5 MSG)

I was speaking with someone recently about a principle that they had recently discovered, which was when we lift up others, we get lifted up as well.  They said, “I’ve noticed that when I go about helping others, I feel so much better about myself.”

So, for all those feeling depressed, down or discouraged; instead of focusing on your needs begin to focus on others and something magical will happen.  Instead of feeling even more discouraged, you’ll feel this warm sense of pleasure inside.

Why does this happen?  It’s a principle that God put in His Word a long time ago that still works today.  Give it a try and see if you aren’t feeling better soon.  Find a person who could use a lift (family, friends, co-workers) and get busy lifting.

A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.  Proverbs 11:25

I believe in the power of negative thinking.  People who believe that bad things are going to come their way are usually right.  Why is that?  I think it kind of works like a self-fulfilling prophecy.  You proclaim that bad things will come your way and then your depression; lack of confidence and negativity usually can make it happen.

It’s like the person going in for a job interview believing they will say something stupid and that the company will hire someone else, so they do.  Or, it’s the person who thinks their marriage stinks and will always stink, so they look for it.

What would happen if you thought your best days were yet ahead?  I know you’ve got all kinds of reasons to tell me why they’re not, but humor me for 30 days and act like they are.  See if life doesn’t seem to go little better.  Watch for miracles instead of catastrophes.

See if you don’t get more of what you expect.  Let me know how the 30 day experiment works.