The Big 10

I looked back on my last post and so much has happened since April 6th. Wow!

Couldn't have predicted how much has transpired! The pandemic is still a pandemic. Where we live in Michigan is still, virtually, shut down until June 15th. By that time I'll have celebrated by 66th birthday and that much closer to retirement. I already chose the official retirement date as the end of July. MK also announced her retirement and is waiting for her replacement as the President of Molly Maid.

We never, really, called it retirement, MK loves the term "graduation". It simply means we will graduated to the next phase of our lives - whatever and wherever the Lord wanted us to be and do. In the 10 years we've been at Dwyer Group/Neighborly we've seen our faith, together, grow stronger than ever, It is a wonderful feeling with so much peace, We've also seen the other phases of our lives grow and become more successful - especially when it came to Leadership.

The past week has been a nightmare for so many. Besides the pandemic there has been, in my opinion, an instance of a police officer murdering someone. This takes me back to the late 60's and Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were murdered.

I was in high school then in Rockford, IL. We had race riots and armed police in the halls. I wasn't as wise then, thank God, than I am today. I didn't look at things like I do today.

I find myself wanting to look back to what the Bible says is so many areas of life. When I do this it simplifies things. Example:

The New International Version of the Bible says in John 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another."

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13: Love is patient, love is kind. . . .it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perserveres. And now of these three remind: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Somewhere along the way we got away from this. Somewhere I got away from this in many areas. Politics is one of the easiest for me. I have strong opinions but try not to voice them. My best friend of 40 years is completely on a different side of the aisle. Other close friends and mentors are, too. Yet, it doesn't affect our relationships.

Now I see what is being justified on TV in so many areas. It has nothing to do with The Big 10. You've all heard of them. In fact, you've probably read them in Exodus 20.

I look back on my own life and whenever I didn't feel good about myself, what I was doing or what I wasn't doing it usually can be referred to Exodus 20. Simple isn't it?

God didn't say to Moses "here are 10 suggestions". He didn't say, "I've got some ideas that you should follow but there are certain situations where an exemption is in order. It was simple. The Big 10 is the Big 10.

The other thing I need to remember is found in Matthew 7. It pertains to Judging Others: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge other, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Three things that say more about Leadership than anything else I know.