Technology – I always want the latest and greatest phone, computer, apps, etc.

Seating – I will chose to leave an event if I do no have a great seat.  Some of that is because I am so easily distracted but a lot of it is because I am a snob.

Ink Pens – If it does not flow smoothly, it is in the trash.  Won’t find any hotel pens in my purse.

However, I did not think that I was a coffee snob.  Now don’t get me wrong, I am definitely a coffee lover (read addiction here) and I will bellying up the Starbuck’s bar with the best of them but I will also drink McDonalds, Waffle House or Bob Evans coffee without any problem.  So when I was making plans to come to the Middle East and knew that coffee pots were rare, I thought, “I can do Nescafe for six weeks. How bad can it be?”  Well, it was pretty bad…but I run ahead of myself.

The first sign that maybe this was not going to work was the fact that I had to put so much real sugar and real cream into it to be able to drink.  The next sign was the time about three days into my first week that I thought, “I think I will have a cup of coffee” and then I thought, “On second thought, I don’t think I want one.”  Me not wanting a cup of coffee? This was getting desperate!

I shared my concerns with my fellow Americans – who also happen to be coffee lovers and lived in the home with THE coffee pot and a solution was found.  I would have a pour over every day (actually several of them)!  “What exactly is a pour over?” I hear you asking.  It is basically my own automatic drip coffee maker that is not automatic.

Mark grinded me up some coffee beans.  (Of course, they not only had THE coffee pot but only whole beans – no, I wasn’t bitter – I had the swimming pool at my house.)  Found a filter that would work and voila  my own personal coffee maker. 

The next morning when I made that first cup I thought this is not going to work at all but when that hot, aromatic coffee touched my taste buds for the first time not only did it make me want to slap my mama but also made my tongue slap my brain!!

Now, despite the fact that it takes about 5 minutes to make each cup of coffee, I never hesitate when my brain says, “How about a cup of coffee?”

I guess the point of this whole story is how stinking spoiled I am!  I was whining about coffee while living in a city where the slums are like a scene from a Mad Max movie and the compound in which I live has a humvee at the entrance and the guards I speak to each morning are holding M-16 rifles.  Get some perspective here, Becky!

What about you?  Are you whining about something when it really might not be that bad?  Do you need a perspective adjustment like I did?

Once seated it was not long before the waitress had brought their drinks and were awaiting their orders.  Dad, mom and son were Johnny on the spot but the daughter was really struggling.

“Just pick something, Amy.”

“But, mom, there is nothing I really want very much and I am not that hungry.”

“You have to get something.  It doesn’t matter.  Just decide.”

“Ok, I guess I will take the chicken fingers.”

We have all been there, seen this and have played the role of Amy and mom in this story.  Just pick something.  Anything will do.  It is really not that important.  Average or just above will work.  It is good enough.  Settle on something.  And in many ways what Amy chose for dinner would not propel her down the path of destruction or happiness but there are many times in our lives that the choice will greatly affect us.

Or how about when others settle for us?  “This is what you are going to get – be satisfied with it.”  Now don’t get me wrong…there is a level of truth in that statement and we can’t complain and be disgruntled about everything that comes into our lives.  But, when fine is good enough all the time or when we are afraid to wait out for the best – for the promise land of God – and chose to settle for the ordinary, our lives will be impacted.

When I think about settling, I can’t help but think about a house settling.  As a home is being built, the foundation is poured, the framing is done, the roof is laid and the walls are established.  In five or maybe ten years, the home settles into the ground and the cracks in the walls begin to appear.  The foundation of the home is hard as a rock but the ground under the foundation is sifting sand.

When we settle and are content with mediocrity, day in and day out, we limit God’s blessings in our lives.

Is there an area in your life that you have already settled?  “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…”  Joel 2:25

Are there areas in your life were you are tempted to settle?  To not wait on the best?  “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him!”  Lamentations 3:25

In your work, do you have an attitude of settling?  “B- work is good enough.”   “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Eventually the silence is broken as overhead a helicopter flies by as another dignitary is being taxied into the safe area.  (It is cheaper to hire a helicopter than a personal security detail.) The haunting sounds of the noon call for prayer are beginning to wander into my room.  The guard has gone and switched on the generator and all is humming again.

However, the wonderful thing is that the Peace remains as I continue to be still before Him.  I am so grateful for the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in my life as it was not too many years (maybe even months) back that I would have panicked, literally, with the thought of having to spend so much time alone.  So much time not being entertained by the television or not hanging out with friends or not having a long list of to-dos done or not being able to go to a gym and work out.

You see, I am writing this while in the Middle East teaching English at a language institute.  Because of some peaceful religious activities, there were extensive road closures and the institute shut down for three days.  My cancelled classes and the subsequent three days of NOTHING on the calendar became a blessing rather than a curse.  I do think that He is teaching me to enjoy the moment.  To live in the present.  And I am thoroughly enjoying it!

Who would have thought it would have required a trip to a foreign land to bring about this change?  But some lessons are only learned on field trips.

How about you?  How are you doing being “present?”  How are you doing enjoying the moment?

A friend of mine is a wealth manager – he manages or stewards his clients’ monies and does it based on their preferences.  If my friend were to say to one of his clients, “I know you wanted to invest that money in Coca-Cola but I decided to spend it on my son’s college tuition.  I hope you don’t mind – you have plenty,” he would be fired and I am sure that some ethics committee somewhere would be calling.

The management of one’s estate goes beyond just finances but includes hiring and firing staff, building and remodeling facilities, land usage, etc.  This is true for believers as well.  Often we think of just our tithe or financial gifts when discussing stewardship.  But it goes so much further than that to include our time, talent as well as touch (or sphere of influence.)  As believers, we have an obligation to the Owner of the estate to manage His affairs well.

The Barnabas Group, where I am blessed to be the managing partner, is all about helping people be good stewards of the estate that they have been given.  Our mission is to leverage the time, talent, touch and treasure of marketplace and other Kingdom leaders to help ministries transform lives worldwide.  We are all about connecting leaders and changing lives.

We have an abundance mentality and desire to see the release of generosity in our communities with the utilization of everyone’s unique gift of time, talent, touch and treasure to God’s service.  We do this through quarterly breakfasts in which three to four pre-vetted ministries are able to present their organization as well as their needs to our membership.  When their mission connects with someone’s passion, then we have been successful.

How are you doing on your stewardship?  Does The Barnabas Group sound like something you would be interested in being a part of?  I would love to have you at our next breakfast.

Well, at that Saturday lunch meeting, I was just a consultant who came in to help facilitate the meeting and had no idea what the Lord was going to do in my heart over the next 24 hours.  By the end of the night I was committed to being a part of rectifying this problem.  Of being a part of bringing back the culture of Life to Houston!  And being a part of closing down as many abortion providers as possible.  I committed to being a part of the rectification of this discrepancy!

Even as I type this, tears are streaming down my face – why?  Three reasons:  #1 Passion for Life.  Next to evangelism, I believe God’s second heartbeat is the Life issue and it is mine as well.  I have been in this battle since 1999 and I thought when I left LifeHouse in April of 2010 I had been honorably discharged from that army.  But when something burns deep in your soul, you can never leave it behind.  I am passionate about seeing the sanctity of Life restored and was more than happy to re-enlist when Cynthia Wenz, CEO of The Source, asked me to join them.

Secondly, with my life before the non-profit world being totally in the business world, the concept of comparing ourselves to our competitors made complete sense to me.  To end abortion in Houston, I don’t have to change the laws (even though that is wonderful and praise God for the Texas Legislature and the passing and signing of the Sonogram bill.)  As Dr. Wilkinson said Wal-Mart didn’t close down K-Mart by picketing out front…they closed down K-Mart by providing greater value for the customer.  When K-Mart lost so many customers, they had to shut their doors.  The abortion providers will go out of business if we take their customers away!

Lastly, I am pretty literal when it comes to the Bible and I do believe that 2 Corinthians 5:10 is true! For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. One day I will stand before the Lord and He will ask me what I did about the destruction of thousands of innocent lives in my own backyard.  I am taking responsibility for my part and not just giving it a passing glance and say I already served in that area.  I am not just writing a check that’s, percentage-wise, less than what I tip waitresses.  I am not going to stand by and just let this go on during my watch.

Cynthia has put together an amazing 4-part strategy to fulfill what was committed that night – to save 1,001 babies before May 31^st, 2012.  That is a four-fold increase over last year but is still a drop in the bucket compared to our competition.  But with these sustained strategies, I believe with everything in me that in the following year the number of babies saved will be 2,002…Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Baby Saved!

Then 4,004…Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Baby Saved!

Then 8,016…Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Baby Saved!

Then 16,032 in 2016…Snap!  Baby Saved!  Snap!  Baby Saved!  Snap! Baby Saved!

Five years!   Y2K was over a decade ago – five years will fly by.  During those years, we at The Source alongside of countless other pro-life battlers will be ending abortion in Houston!!  What will you be doing?

Let me tell you about that night…

Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Baby Saved!

The sound of Dr. Bruce Wilkinson’s, keynote speaker at the 2011 The Source for Women banquet, finger snapping still resonates in my ear.  Praise the Lord for the 240 babies that were saved through the ministry of The Source in 2010.  Praise Him for the estimated 2,400 little ones and their mothers who were snatched from the edge of a life changing choice by the work of the 20+ pregnancy centers in the Greater Houston area.  Each life is a vast potential of unknown impact.  We are grateful!

However, as Dr. Wilkinson clearly pointed it out…we are failing miserably compared to our competition – abortion providers.  Yes, we did better than last year and yes, are “numbers” look great compared to other centers and even compared to other non-profits.  However, when we compare our selves with our competitors – we come up sorely short, even woefully.  Based on the latest annual statistics, there were at least 24,000 abortions!  That means for every baby saved, nine!! were lost to the “competition.”

Every 22 minutes a baby is lost to abortion in the Greater Houston area.  Every 3 hours and 40 minutes a baby is saved by a pregnancy center!

Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Abortion.  Snap!  Baby Saved!  Snap!

Dr. Wilkinson shared a visit he once made to the Saturday morning leadership team meeting at Wal-Mart.  On the screen, broken down by departments, were the weekly sales numbers of Wal-Mart as well as their leading competitors (K-Mart, Sears, etc.)  Every department leader who’s sales were less than the competitors had to stand, give an explanation and provide the solution as to how he was going to rectify the difference that next week.  Responsibility and accountability played out.

Before Dr. Wilkerson stood before the amazing supporters of The Source for Women the Saturday night before Easter, he stood before the board and the leadership team of The Source and said, “Here are the numbers.  How are you going to rectify this in the coming year?”  He challenged them to responsibility and accountability.

You may wonder, “Why ‘them’ and not ‘us’?  As the Director of Development, Becky, aren’t you part of the leadership team?”… (to be continued next week)

As you know, upon leaving LifeHouse, I did not have another job and felt strongly that I was to start my own business. A few people looked at me with just a bit of skepticism (or was it pity) that I was starting a business in this current state of the economy. However, I was surrounded by many who cheered me on to do it. My first contract was with The Source for Women and it was the encouragement I needed to believe that KBT Consulting might actually be a viable business.

Just FYI, there was a BIG safety net under me and it was not some “sugar daddy” or a huge inheritance left behind for me. The safety net was that years ago the Lord had called me to live a frugal and debt free life. Because of that, when He asked me to walk away from a regular paycheck there was little fear because my cost of living was so low.

In America today, slavery is still a real issue. Millions of Americans are enslaved to their credit card company (or companies) and the ball and chain around their ankles is consumer debt. “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” Proverbs 22:7 (NKJV) Nine out of ten Americans claim that credit card debt has never been a source of worry but 47% would refuse to tell a friend how much they owe.

Please listen, my friends, there is NOTHING that I denied myself the years it took to get debt free that compares to the FREEDOM (read this with the emphasis of William Wallace at the end of Braveheart) I experience today. Please, if you are enslaved to consumer debt, do whatever it takes to become debt free.

I have learned a lot about myself during these past 16 months – I enjoy my quiet time but working out of my home and not going into an office can affect my emotions. Also, when working out of my home, establishing boundaries is so important. All work and no play was not good for me at all.

The Lord has been SO blessed me and has provided all that I have needed. By the middle of last summer, I had enough clients that my revenue covered all of my living expenses. This past April, God really showed off and now the revenue into KBT Consulting exceeds my salary at LifeHouse! I do give Him all the credit because every one of my clients came to me. I did not approach them and the few times I did try and “drum up” some business I never landed the contract!!

As I type this I am actually in the Middle East for six weeks teaching English. This is my second trip here this year. I have also been to Honduras for a week and have spent lots of time in Atlanta as well as Lakeland, Florida with friends and family. All of this could not have happened if I still was working a 9-5 job.

So yes, days drag and years fly and another 16 pages of the calendar will roll off before we know it. Who knows where in the world I will be in August 2012!!  And who knows where in the world you will be then.   But I do know this – the decisions I made 16 months ago have significantly impacted where I am today. May we all make wise decisions as we travel around the sun another 427 times!

Forgiveness is the willingness to relinquish the pursuit of justice in response to who’s wrong you.  A willingness to free them of the debt that they owe you.  Our motivation to do this is because God forgave us.  Because of the shed blood of Jesus, God’s justice was satisfied and He has forgiven us of the debt that we owed to Him.

Even with this great motivation, forgiveness is still one of the most challenging character traits to walk out.  What makes it so difficult is our inability to forget the offense.  I wish that when I forgave someone the memory of that offense could be wiped from my mind but that is just not the case.  When this happens, I often want to seek justice for things that have already been forgiven and shed the blood of war in peacetime as David said to Solomon in I Kings 2:5.

David’s army commander, Joab, lost a brother in war at the hands of the enemy.  After the war was over and the peace treaty was signed, Joab went and killed the man who had killed his brother.  He sought justice for a wartime offense after peace had been established.

Unfortunately, I can do the exact same thing.  Now, it might not be that I go and murder someone but often times I have extended forgiveness to someone, they have responded appropriately and we are fully reconciled.  Then, one day, week, decade later the memory comes back and I seek justice, again.  I want another, “I’m sorry.”  I am seeking forgiveness in peacetime for something that was already covered.

When the memory comes back, instead of going to the forgiven offender, I need to go to God and ask for Him to heal me in that area and to walk out the forgiveness that was freely given to me.

Forgiveness is one of the hardest acts God calls us to do.  As the wickedness in the world increases, the level of offenses increases as well thus making forgiveness even harder.  To truly walk in forgiveness for these offenses takes much prayer, ministering and even counsel to move beyond the offense.

Many times I focus more on the 2^nd half of this verse, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you,” and the overwhelmingness of that concept almost paralyzes me.  “How can I forgive that offense?”  “It hurts so much”  “They will just do it again”  “It will not change anything” are some of the mantras I start rehearsing in my mind and I often do nothing to move past the offense.

However, if instead of focusing on the second half of the verse, I focus on bearing with others, walking in forgiveness becomes easier.  Not because in any way it lessens the offense but because it causes my heart to begin to softer towards others and to the things of God.  (Please note that this bearing with others may or may not apply to the offender.)

I like to think of bearing with others in the terms of extending grace to them.  Yes, they just did something that could cause me to be offended but I am going to think the best of them and just extend grace.  Yes, what just happened grieved me but I am not going to seek justice in this matter but release them of the debt I believe they owe me and trust God to deal with them.   Christ Jesus on the day He was crucified bore the burdens of our sins and our offenses on His physical body.  Through His Spirit, we can bear with those around us and move toward forgiveness and beyond the offense.

When you are offended, are you quick to seek justice for that offense or are you quick to bear with them and extend grace?  Through out the day today bear with others and intentionally extend grace to all who are around you.

A dear friend of mine was an ice dancer and spent countless hours on the rink doing the same 4-minute routine again and again.  They would even break down the free dance and do a specific lift or jump that may only be 10 seconds long dozens of times.  Why?  Because amateurs train until they get it right while professionals train until they can’t get it wrong.

The question before us today is, “Are we amateur Christians who do just enough to get by or are we professional Christians who train ourselves to be godly?”

To train ourselves in godliness takes three things:  knowledge, practice and coaching.  Obviously, the most logical place to gain knowledge about godliness is through the study of God’s Word.  But we can also gain knowledge by doing life with others.  Want to know what a godly spouse looks like?  Go hang out with someone who models that.  What to know how to run a business in a godly way?  Read a biography of a businessman who does this.

The next step after gaining the knowledge is to start practicing what we know because to know and not do is sin (James 4:17).  The key point here is that it is practice – sometimes we will nail that jump and sometimes we will fail flat on our face.  But regardless, do it again!!

Lastly, we all need a coach, a mentor, an older man or woman to walk alongside of us and encourage, direct and correct.  It takes a huge act of courage to be willing to be vulnerable enough to allow some one into our lives to see the good, the bad and the ugly.  But when we do that not only will we grow but also we will impact those that are around us.

So strap on those skates, grab a coach and hit the ice!!  The Kingdom of God is relying on us.

What areas do you need to shore up your training routine?  More knowledge?  More practice?  A coach?