Lessons on Life & leadership

This past weekend one of my brothers and four of my cousins gathered in Sacramento to catch a baseball game between the Angels and Athletics.  At dinner one night we were reminiscing about our parents, our wonderful, loveable, functional alcoholic parents.

Cousin Jerry told the story of another uncle spending the night at his house, when he got up, he came to the kitchen and my Uncle Jerry asked, “Hey, what can I get you?”  The uncle said, “I need a bust in the mouth!”  “What did that mean?” we all asked.  Jerry explained, “A bust in the mouth is when you drink a shot of whiskey first thing in the morning.”  “Oh, you mean a smile!” I responded.  My folks had a shot of bourbon or Irish whiskey every weekend, holiday or day off morning and they called it a smile.”  Cousin Larry piped up, “Oh that?  In my family we called it an eye-opener!”

I’m told that an eye-opener is a Starbucks secret-menu drink consisting of a cup of drip coffee with a shot of espresso. Another recipe for eye openers is: 

Eye-Opener Coffee

• Start with drip coffee

• Add 3 shots of espresso

• Add 1/2 a can of Mountain Dew

• Add 1/2 a can of Dr. Pepper

• Add 1 can of Red Bull

And don’t forget to add one trip to the emergency room!

I hope this article is an eye-opener for you.  It might be a bust in the mouth.  Optimistically you will finish with a smile.  But we all need an eye-opener from time to time.

How can we get our eyes opened?   We all have blind spots.

Ray Dalio says, “The ego and blind spots are the most significant obstacles to clear decision-making.”

We tend to live in echo chambers, where self-awareness is rare and blind spots abound.

So how can we get our eyes wide open?

They said to Him, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.” –Matthew 20:33 (NASV)

Let’s look at a recipe for getting our eyes opened from Acts chapter 9.  It starts this way:

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. –Acts 9:1-2 (NIV)

This is a story about someone who was at the very beginning of his spiritual journey.  I think “Resisting” is typically stage one in our spiritual lives, but Saul wasn’t even to a resisting stage yet--he was at the “Killing Christians” stage!  But in the next verses he moved from killing believers to preaching boldly that Jesus is the Savior.  What caused him to move? 

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.  “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.  “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone.  Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.  For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything..--Acts 9:3-9 (CEV)

Ingredient 1: Disruption

Saul’s life was disrupted.  He fell to the ground.  He lost his sight.  He got a bust in the mouth.

Maybe you are in the midst of some major disruption in your life.  It might be a life-altering blindness, or maybe a more subtle disturbance.  Maybe you’ve been knocked off of your donkey—professionally, personally, financially, relationally, physically or spiritually.

The good news is disruption is the first step to vision.

Ingredient 2: Truth

Saul is confronted with the truth.  He was blind before he was blind. 

We are all at least partially blinded by all the crap that is floating around these days.  Our echo chambers insist that everyone else is blind.  It could be us; it could be all of us. 

Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”—John 8:32 (NIV)

In 1841, Charles Mackay presciently spoke about the herd mentality: “Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.”

Ingredient 3: Movement

Jesus tells Saul: “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” –Acts 9:6 (NIV)

One ingredient in having our eyes opened is taking a step of faith. 

After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.  “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed…. –John 9:6-7 (NIV)

A typical pattern from the Bible is:  God moves; we move; God moves.  But we must move.

The story shifts.  It moves from a story about Saul to a story about Saul and another man.

A follower named Ananias lived in Damascus, and the Lord spoke to him in a vision. Ananias answered, “Lord, here I am.”—Acts 9:10 (CEV)

A new person comes on the scene:  Ananias.  Ananias is not a popular name today as it is currently ranked 1155 in boy’s names.  But Ananias must have been a common name in those days, because there are three different Ananiases mentioned in the book of Acts:  1)  The Ananias, married to Sapphira, who both conspired to lie to the early church then dropped dead.  2) Annanias the high priest seen in Acts 23:  At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. –Acts 23:2 (NIV)  That Ananias liked a bust in the mouth!  And 3) This Ananias who helped Saul. 

The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”  “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.  I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. –Acts 9:11-17 (NIV)

Ananias has his life disrupted; he encounters the truth (Saul is not the enemy) and he takes a step of obedience. 

But first Ananias pushes back, and who can blame him?  He says, “Lord, that’s a nice plan, but how about this:  how about I not go and get myself jailed or killed!  Can’t I simply make a small donation or stop eating pork instead?

Imagine that.  Imagine there’s someone who is out killing believers and throwing every Christian he can find into jail.  What would you say if God told you to go talk to him about Jesus?

Probably, “Thank you, no.  I’m good.”

I suspect that something similar has happened to a lot of us.  Maybe we have felt that God wanted us to go talk to someone about Jesus, but we’ve thought, “Seriously?  He’s my boss.  She’s my neighbor.  It’s my best friend.  This could end badly, “How about if I don’t go talk to them, God?”

The Lord said to Ananias, “Go! I have chosen him to tell foreigners, kings, and the people of Israel about me.  I will show him how much he must suffer for worshiping in my name.”

Ananias left and went into the house where Saul was staying. –Acts 9:15-17 (CEV)

That took incredible courage.  Ananias put his freedom and his life in God’s hands.

Disruption, Truth, Obedience.  But we haven’t even hit the main ingredient yet.  There is no miracle yet.  Saul is still blind.  Ananias is still scared.

What is the main ingredient in getting our eyes opened?

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized and after taking some food, he regained his strength. --Acts 9:17-19 (NIV)

The miracle happened, then the conclusion:

Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.  At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.  All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”  Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah. -- Acts 9:19-22 (NIV)

This is the recipe for an eye-opener.  This is the story of someone who took an incredible leap on his spiritual journey.  Saul went from arresting anyone who believed in Jesus to telling people that Jesus is the Son of God.  Saul did a reversal, a 180, a complete turnaround for God. 

What was the secret sauce?

Ananias placed his hands on him…—Acts 9:17 (CEV)

Did you notice that the miracle in Saul’s life didn’t actually happen until Ananias showed up?

Main Ingredient: Relationships

Ananias showed up.

“Everything rises and falls on leadership.  And everything in leadership rises and falls on relationships.”—John Jackson

Ananias didn’t compete.  He didn’t complain.  He didn’t compare.  He didn’t relax in his comfort zone.  He completed the task by showing up.

In his excellent book, “Outliers,” Malcolm Gladwell writes about a genius with an amazing IQ of 195.  Christopher Langan could ace any foreign language test simply by skimming the textbook a couple minutes before the exam. He got a perfect score on his SAT, even though at one point he actually fell asleep taking it.  Yet Langan didn’t capitalize on his extraordinary talents and wound up working on a horse farm in rural Missouri.

According to Gladwell, Langan never enlisted a community of people to help him make the most of his intellectual prowess.

Gladwell summarizes Langan’s story this way: “He had to make his way alone, and no one—not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses—ever makes it alone."--Malcolm Gladwell

We need more than intellectual competence to open our eyes.  We need other people.

One more piece to the recipe:

Ingredient 5: Encouragement

Notice that when Ananias showed up, he didn’t beat Saul up.  He didn’t criticize, condemn or complain. 

Ananias called Saul up, not out.  He called Saul in, not out.

“The best relationships aren’t built on partners mostly telling each other what’s wrong. They’re built on partners mostly telling each other what’s right.” --Dr. John Gottman and Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman

So, how do we get our eyes opened?

1.  Sense the Ananias in my life

I originally had this as, “Look for the Ananias in our lives.”  But like Saul, we may need an Ananias because we’re blind so we might not see him or her, but we can try to be aware and at least sense that God has somebody providentially picked out to help us.

Anyone who walks with wise people grows wise.  But a companion of foolish people suffers harm.—Proverbs 13:20 (NIV)

We need to get around wise, godly, effective leaders. 

I suspect that God has an Ananias or two ready to make a difference in each of our lives.  Are you sensing them?  Are you available to them?  Are you coming to church and discussion groups

and hanging out with godly people? 

2. Be an Ananias

I also suspect that you are called to be an Ananias in someone’s life.  Your touch, your words just might cause the scales to drop from their eyes.

Brian Burman wrote, "If you are a task-oriented person who struggles with relationship, choose to prioritize relationships as your primary task."

A relational network can actually change our world.

Albert Schweitzer said, “In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.”  Let’s be that kindling.

It is amazing that Annanias said, “Here I am.”  He had his eyes wide open.  He pushed back a bit.  But he fulfilled his call.

Let’s fulfill ours.