Raise Your Own Bar (1-4)

Personal accountability . . . I am not sure how good I am at that. Yesterday (No 'I' in Team) Miller said p.a. is the key to team health. Could it also be a key to God's Kingdom? The next few days I will present food for thought . . . ways to raise your own bar. You can't possibly implement all of the ideas. Pick a few that jump out at you. Begin raising your own bar.

1. Ask Yourself Hard Questions and Answer Them. Get and Life and Practicing Greatness, by Reggie McNeal, are tough question books. Great questions are everywhere. Make your own short list. The highest performing leaders are self-coached. They feel a high sense of accountability to themselves and God.

2. Pray. That's right, no Sunday School answer here. Blackaby, in his book, Experiencing the Prayer Life of Jesus, said: Jesus entered prayer with goldy fear and reverent submission toward God's will - a sense of 'divine accountability' . . . never thought of prayer as my personal accountability talk with God.

3. Get a Coach. God has used coaching to increase my accountability factor from a 2 to a 6 (1-10 scale). We all need mentors and sages in our lives. A coach helps us work through obstacles and overcome foggy areas.

4. Play with Players Better Than You. My Uncle Harold told me this about pick up basketball when I was a kid. People who are taking areas of their lives to higher levels make me uncomfortable. They also stretch me, make me think, and show me what God can do. Find them and eat lunch with them, with eyes and ears wide open. More tomorrow (5-8).

Columbia yesterday. Hanging out on Stonebridge (World Headquarters of the South Carolina Baptist Convention) with people who care about the Kingdom . . . Camden today.

No 'I' in Team . . . A Myth?

John G. Miller, business consultant and author of the book QBQ! The Question Behind The Question said:

There's a misbelief, a myth, that there is no 'I' in team . . . that is so wrong. Every team is full of 'I's and when the 'I's start taking care of themselves, the team wins(Dallas Morning News 2/4/04).

Still on the topic of personal accountability . . . When I stumbled over Miller's ideas when Googling accountability, it made me uncomfortable. Accountability is a systems issue, I am learning. To some degree, we either get it, or we don't. We like accountability, or we don't.

I have bragged, Ask me questions, that only makes me look good. Did some throw up come to the back of your throat when your read that? Sorry, Thinking Out Loud can get ugly. Just trying to be accountable :). Truth is, what I should say is, Ask me questions in the areas where I would like you to ask me questions, that only makes me look good. Please don't confuse that with, Ask me anything.

For the next few days I will talk about raising your own bar. The idea is that you and I must volunteer to be accountable. No one will make us. And remember, when we choose to be accountable, the team wins.

Great weekend. Went to Family Life, with Greg Abrams. I love God's fingerprint on Lakepoint in Lexington. Enjoyed a run to the club (Sam's) to keep America's economy moving forward. Vols and Saints won! Not that I pull for either team anymore, because when I do they lose. In Columbia today with movement makers. Will report on that tomorrow.

Where Are You? Part III - Secret Places

What does it really mean to be accountable to God? How can that help me along the journey? Am I accountable to God simply because I say I am? Am I accountable to God because He is Boss of the universe . . . King, Lord, Master?? Is it impossible to be not accountable to the one who knows what time I got out of bed this morning (5:20 a.m.)? And what time I went to bed last night (10:00 p.m)?

Accountability has multiple layers. One layer is, I am accountable to God, I will answer to Him for every action, one day. Another layer is, I answer to some people in my life, no matter if they ask or care. For example, Yvette, Anna, Abby . . . what I do affects them, even though they don't yell at me and they trust me completely. That circle of influence is much wider than I would like to believe, but those closest to me are most influenced by how I behave.

The third layer, however, is the ultimate, because it influences the other two. Day to day, God is watching me. It is in my best interest and the interest of those around me, to behave in line with He thinks. This layer goes deep into my secret places. In my life, there are tightly guarded spots that I never volunteer to show. Secret places can destroy me. How can I let Jesus into those places?

Every devastating scandal, Ted Haggard, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Baker, Michael Vick, Bill Clinton and billions more, started with a secret. An underestimated cost, moments of insanity, a memory lapse, that what I do is being watched by God and countless others. What is your secret? More Monday.

Weekends and holidays . . . football, Boo at the Zoo, Sam's Club, and one final coat of paint.Yesterday in the upstate with Neal thinking about landscaping . . . always great. Larry and Dwight couldn't make it. Bummer.

Where Are You? Part II: The Santa Affect

My personal accountability to God is supposed to be a really big deal. If you were in a God environment as a child, one of the first things you learned was, God is watching you. I am not sure if that came before or after the Santa thing for me. I learned Santa watched too, and short term that could mean even more trouble. I felt a little over matched. A tag team glared over my shoulder on a given day, neither of whom were really concerned about a kid's privacy.

Santa quit watching me sometime around the age of five (I think). He threw his hands in the air when I (accidently) dropped a heavy wooden object on my sister's head. Glad to get that accountability relationship off my back.

God still watches. I am not sure He is overly entertained either. One option for me is to adjust what I am doing to become more in line with I think He wants. Another option is to some how put the fact that he is watching out of my mind (like I did years ago with Santa). A third option is to hope He stops watching.

The QBQ (question behind the question) is how can I, and the people around me, enjoy the benefit of my accountability to God? There is a benefit, right? Is there an upside to my accountability to God? Remember, I am thinking out loud here. More tomorrow.

Yesterday I was in Charleston with movement makers at Charleston Southern University. The Midtown crew, Clark Carter, Dr. Rick Brewer, and students who will change the world were all in the room. Great conversation with Ronny Byrd. Today I am in the Upstate with Neal McGlohon, Larry Bateman, and Dwight Huffman from Canada. My uncle used to tell me, play basketball in pick up games with people who are better than you. They will force you to raise your game.