December 1

SCRIPTURE

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

OBSERVATION

Isaiah wrote the Book of Isaiah likely between 701 and 681 B.C. as a prophecy to the Kingdom Judah. Seven centuries before Jesus was born, Isaiah prophesied that a virgin would give birth to a son. The immaculate conception would be a sign to Judah that it was God who sent the baby.

To put such a prophecy in perspective, it would be similar to someone today accurately predicting who will become the President of the United States in the year 2716!

Oftentimes we glaze over the significance of the fact that the people of Judah had been waiting for hundreds of years for the virgin birth to take place, and year after year there was no indication that Isaiah’s prophecy would ever come true.

Until one day when the angel Gabriel showed up to Mary and delivered the long-awaited news.

APPLICATION

So many times we want God’s blessings now and simply aren’t willing to wait on God’s timing. Trust that God wants to give good gifts to His children, but in His timing. He knows what is best and when is best. He knows your needs and desires. Demonstrate your faith and trust in Him by being patient.

PRAYER

God, there are so many times that I want results now. I want more stuff now. I want more money now. Allow me to not only be patient, but be content with what you have already provided. If you never gave me another gift aside from giving me Jesus, I would have more than enough. Thank you for your patience with me. Amen.

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One of my favorite authors, CS Lewis, once said:

Maybe you’ve never produced music or baptized anyone, but I think we can still be friends since I'm pretty sure you and I still have something in common: YOU'RE SCREWED UP!

I know I just insulted you/us, but keep reading!

Truth be told, some of my greatest life stories capture "Heck yeah!" successes, but most of my experiences include “What did I just do?!” failures. It makes sense though. Somewhere along the way I bought into the idea that failure doesn’t have to be permanent. Failure is merely a learning opportunity and brings you one step closer to getting it right. It is for this reason that failure has led me to some of my sweetest victories.

“Friendship is born at the moment when one man says to another 'What! You too?'”

If you look close enough, every story from the past provides a learning opportunity for the future. My life mission statement is this:

There's a lot of leaders out there, but I've discovered that about 90% of them aren't worth following. Become a leader worth following. You may figure out how based on trial and error… OR you can learn from the past experiences of others so you can leapfrog over their failures and gain insight from their wins.

Let's play leapfrog.

It's not that I believe I have mastered any of my passions, but I have found a leader worth following: Jesus. I invite you to join my journey as I continue to explore and apply what I have learned from the greatest leader of all time. Simple and small action steps will not only help you become a leader worth following, but a leader who IS followed. Let's do this.

“To inspire and equip others to become leaders who are worth following.”

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If you look close enough, every story from the past provides a learning opportunity for the future. My life mission statement is this:

You can become a leader worth following by figuring it out on your own based on trial and error… OR you can learn from the past experiences of others so you can leapfrog over their failures and gain insight from their wins. Let's play leapfrog. It's not that I believe I have mastered any of my passions, but I have definitely learned things along the way and would love to share the good and the bad so you can leapfrog me. My hope is that you can take simple and small action steps based on each blog post that will help you become a better leader. You’ll be amazed at how far you can go by taking one small step at at time.