Ancient Wisdom

We all would love to have some secret ancient wisdom. I think this may be some of the allure of the book The Secret than my friend Mike mentions in his blog. Let me tell you how I found some ancient wisdom.

I was on a weekend trip with my oldest son, and we had a list of “ice breaker” questions to help get the communication flowing. One of the questions was “If you had a time machine, who would you go back in time to meet?” Of course we both agreed that it would be coolest to go back and meet Jesus and see him during his ministry, so we focused on the next choice. His answer surprised me. He said that he would like to go meet Solomon, because he wanted to learn from the wisest man that ever lived.

I like that answer. It got me thinking, that I too would like to go learn from the wisest man who ever lived. So, I did. I couldn’t find a time machine, so I did the next best thing. You see Solomon left us his teachings in the book of Proverbs. I decided that I would make one chapter of Proverbs part of my daily (most days) Bible reading.

I now have some secret ancient wisdom. I have read through Proverbs more times than I can remember (I’m not trying to keep a tally). I think some of it is sinking in. When things happen in life, the applicable part of Proverbs comes to mind. Every time through the book I see something I missed before. Most importantly though is that I think it is helping me to know God better. His wisdom shows me more of his character.

So, if you want some secret ancient wisdom, go meet Solomon, or maybe more accurately go meet God in the book of Proverbs.

Come Tour My Boat

This is the advisers minute that I gave to our OA Chapter on Tuesday night.

In the Navy, a submarine is affectionately referred to as a boat.

Let me take you on a quick tour of my submarine. First we walk across the companionway and meet the topside watch. He is the most important person on this boat. Without him, anyone could come on board, including our enemies. Follow me as we walk across the deck and climb through the hatch in the sail. We drop down the ladder into control. This is the place where the officer of the deck (OOD) stands his watch at sea. He is the most important person on this boat. He gives the orders on where to go and what to do. Let’s walk forward; on the right is the sonar room. We step inside, and meet the sonarman. These are the most important men on the boat. They keep a careful ear listening for other ships and subs to ensure that we do not have a collision, and remain undetected by our enemies. Let’s cross the passageway into Radio. Here again are the most important people on the boat. Without them, we would not receive our orders of where our country needs us to go. As we continue the tour through the torpedo room, mess deck, engineering spaces… you will notice that every space and person that you see is “the most important on the boat”. Even the trash disposal unit. How can this be? A ship (or sub) is a unit; every member of that unit plays an important role. If any one of these people does not do their job, the whole ship is in danger. Your troop and this OA chapter are much like my sub. Everyone in it is the most important person in the unit. If each member does not do his part, the whole unit can be in danger. And that danger can be very real. So remember, you are the most important person in your unit!

The Home Team

I think of a marriage and a family as a team. So the home team is just that; the team at home.

We all have our positions on the team. I like to think of myself as the head coach. I am a head coach who leans very heavily on my staff of coaches. OK so the staff of coaches is really just Susan and I, but it is a good staff.

If we were a sports team, Susan would be the defensive coordinator, team manager, and team trainer (medic). I would be the offensive coordinator, equipment manager, and chief grounds keeper.

Our offensive coordinator takes care of earning the income. The defensive coordinator takes care of extracting the most bang for the buck from that income. I think I have the defensive coordinator of the year on my staff. She has really helped us keep our spending under control, which has enabled us to pay off lots of debt, and be able to accomplish the things that we want.

The team manager runs the day to day operations of our players. She keeps the team schedule, and helps coordinate player development. She makes sure that they have the things that they need to be successful (clean clothes, food, education, that kind of stuff).

The equipment manager keeps the equipment running, the vehicles maintained, appliances running, computers networked, buildings maintained, etc.

The team trainer takes care of all of the day to day injuries our players get from playing the game of life. She not only cares for the scrapes and cuts, but for the wounded spirits and bruised egos as well.

Grounds keeper, well I make sure that the outside of the house stays respectable. I delegate as much of this as possible to the boys, but ultimately, I’m the one who needs to be accountable for it.

Now don’t get me wrong. We both cross over in these roles all of the time. There are also way more roles than I listed. Like any good team, we pick up each others slack, and when we see what needs to get done, we pitch in and do it.

We may not win the super bowl, and our house will never be picture perfect, but that’s not our goal. Our goal is to honor and glorify God in all that we do, and right now that means raising four boys into men.