I have set my mind to complete a new task. In my office are a collection of “Leadership” magazines. It is magazine specifically designed for Christian leaders. I have had a subscription to the magazine on and off since I entered the ministry. Also, I used to know a used bookstore that sold old copies for 50 cents. So through the years I have developed quite a collection. My oldest copy dates back to 1981. In some ways that doesn’t seem old until I think that I was 9 years old at the time.

My personally assigned task is to go back and reread each issue. Then I will cut out any good comics (there are some classics) and file any really good articles for future reference. This will help to clean out my office and get rid of material that is no longer of any use to me.

A couple of days ago I started into the oldest issue and I have noticed a few things while reading back through it.

1. All of the advertisements are really, really dated. This comes as no surprise, but it is interesting. The books, conferences, and speakers who were on the cutting edge 30 years ago have been forgotten and left behind.

2. Most of the writers are relatively unknown today. I would bet if you were to ask a very committed Christian who Gardner Taylor and Warren Wiersbe are, they would have no idea. There might be a few people who know these names, but many of the leaders of old have been forgotten.

3. Much of the information is completely irrelevant. This magazine was written before praise bands, Powerpoint, video venues, the internet, etc. I really find the articles that predict the future to be the funniest. (More on that another time).

The thing that caught my attention today was the articles written about faith and the Bible. Most of them ring just as true today as the day they were written. One example came in the first few pages I read. It was the story of a young missionary who was newly out of college and went to work in Japan. He barely spoke the language and yet he was thrown into prison ministry. He could barely communicate with the inmates and didn’t know what to do. So he went out and bought a Bible in their own language and gave it to them. He also bought one for himself and determined to connect through the Bible. He later returned to the prison to find a couple of inmates wanting to be baptized. He asked them about their faith. They explained that they had read their Bible and wanted to follow what they were told.

One thing I love about being a Christian is that the names and faces change and sometimes the methods change, but the power of the truth is always the same.

In my last post I shared how I keep list after list so that I do not forget the things I need to do and the experiences that I have each day. They are a powerful tool I use in my ministry.

I want to flip that thinking for a couple of minutes. Paul wrote an interesting statement in his letter to the Corinthian Church. It is in his description of love found in 1 Corinthians 13. In verse 5 Paul states that love “keeps no record of wrongs.”

In other words, keep a list of the good things that happen to you but do not keep a list of the bad things. If keeping lists help you to remember then not creating a list will help you to forget.

One of the biggest struggles that we have in our relationships is that we forget the good and keep track of the bad. What if we flip that over? When couples come into my office for marriage counseling, many of them can tell me in detail the times they have been wronged by their spouse. Very few can tell me how they have been blessed. I wish that were not true. Paul says that it is one of the keys in all loving relationships.

So my encouragement today is to keep lists, but keep the right lists. Take out that list of wrongs and hurts and give those things to God and then burn your list. Some things are better forgotten.

I am a list guy. People are often amazed about my ability to remember things. Honestly, God did truly bless me with a powerful memory. As I am getting older I find that the memories are fading or getting combined with similar experiences. One way that I fight my loss of memory is keeping lists. Personally, I do not use anything electronic for most of my lists. I hand write a great number of things because I believe that also helps me to remember.

I have all kinds of list. I have a “to buy” list of item. Living in Alaska I do not get to the story very often so I write down what I need. I have a “wish list” of items I do not need but hope to purchase one day. I have a “to do” list. This comes in two forms. One is a list of things I need to do right away (within a week) and other is a list of things I need to do in the next 6 months to a year. I have a list entitled “At home” and it is filled with jobs I need to do at home or repairs that are in the near future.

Then there are other lists that make me more productive. I have a list of ideas for future blog posts. Currently I have over a dozen ideas that are in development. I also keep a list of the sermons that I listen too. I write down key ideas, illustrations and any useful thoughts. I also do something similar with the books I read. These two lists I keep on the computer in a Word file for easy reference. Finally, it is not exactly a list but I type in ideas and experiences into illustration files. Many times these start as a few lines hand written in a notebook and then they are typed out in extended form in my computer.

Why do I tell you all this? Simply because this is my key to productivity. This is how I write sermons, Sunday School lessons, blog posts, teach class at a Bible Institute and lead a couple of organizations all while raising 4 sons. I try to never let anything slip from my memory. I do not trust that my brain can remember everything by itself, so I help it out by keeping list after list. Then I take those lists and put them into a notebook and I am always ready for the next project.

A simple idea but I promise you that it works.

Today I opened my blog reader (feedly.com) and started reading through the new posts. I noticed an interested thing on two different post.

First – Seth Godin on HIS BLOG wrote a post about “Cracking the Pottery.” The idea is that he writes three blog posts for every one that gets published. He deletes the three that are substandard and tries to only use his best.

Second – Rich Birch over on his blog UNSEMINARY wrote about his first 300 blog posts. He mentions a rule called the 70 / 20 / 10 rule. It is inspired by Jonathan Mann – “The Song a Day Mann” – who produces a new song every day … 7 days a week … and has been doing it since 2009. He says that about 70% of his posts are mediocre … 20% are terrible … and only about 10% of them are great. He says that ratio doesn’t really change weather is writes once a day, once a week or once a month. So his goal is to write as much as possible as often as possible and the end result will some good stuff.

Both posts present two very different views of writing. I am more in the second camp – as you can tell from reading my posts:) I write and write and hope that some of it is good. I hope that more than 10% is good, but that might be overly optimistic.

So today – I thank you reader for continuing to read and always giving me a another chance!

Sometimes when reading the Bible, something catches your attention that you have never noticed before. That happened to me while doing some reading in Genesis.

Genesis 42:1 (New International Version)
“When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, ‘Why do you just keep looking at each other?'”

I had never noticed this verse until now. Jacob (also called Israel) was living during the time of a great famine in the land. He learns that there is grain in Egypt – it was actually stored up by his son Joseph – but he says this pointed line to them. “Why do you keep looking at each other?”

I love it. There is this biting sarcasm of reality. Jacob’s sons know where the solution to their problem lies. God has provided what they need in Egypt, but all they do is sit around talking about what they should do. Or as Jacob says with a sarcastic tone, “They are just looking at each other.”

This verse is a reminder that God often has a solution to our problems, we just need to stop sitting around and do something. We could sit here and look at each other or we could get up and do something. Which one will we chose?