Focus For Success:  Are You Good Enough To Be Upset?

September 2007

“ … if we’re going to live with urgency, live like you’re dying, we must be passionate about the life we have left.” Sammy Gilbreath, Evangelism Director, Alabama Baptist Convention

Sammy’s statement, delivered during the North American Mission Board’s State Summer Leadership Conference is one deserving of further consideration. His challenge to us as leaders is more about balance than simply prioritizing events in our lives.

Take golf for example. The game of golf can be a great character assessment. Bobby Jones, one of the all time golf greats and an attorney himself, once said that he had hired many an attorney in his day, after he had played 36 holes with them. In the span of 4 to 6 hours you and your playing partners are faced with frustration, success, adversity and numerous other life situations.

If your playing partner “improves his lie” on the golf course, you can expect that he will do the same thing off the course. How does he handle frustration? Is he calm in a storm or does he explode and throw clubs? If he explodes on the course he will likely explode when faced with repeated frustration off the course. Why should this matter anyway?

Because research shows that when you have a burst of anger, your coronary artery is reduced in efficiency by 5 to 8% as a result of constriction. As you emotionally recover, your coronary artery relaxes and the rush of blood through the expanded artery creates micro tears that lay the groundwork for plaque buildup, a process over the years that increases coronary risk.

Research also shows that that the highest single predictor of coronary death is recurring angry, hostile expression. None of us are immune to this. Managing anger isn’t just about breaking 90 - it can be a matter of life and death.

Recently a good friend and I had just finished a round of golf, and I wasn’t particularly pleased with how I had played. Although I hadn’t expressed hostility toward my clubs, the ball or the course, he must have “read” a disappointed mood in my posture. He asked what was wrong. I told him that I was not pleased with how I had played.

You know what he said? “You aren’t good enough to be upset!” He was right. The only players good enough to be upset are those who play for a living.

Keeping the “game” and life in perspective, and living purposefully with urgency requires an ever-growing loving relationship with Jesus. One that prioritizes love for Him first and service to others before ourselves goes along way toward achieving balance in life.

“… let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us …” Hebrews 12:1

Don’t allow the frustrations of life to take you from the ministry physically, emotionally, or spiritually. Seize the day and finish well.

The Kansas-Nebraska ReFocus strategy exists to assist your church become the church God envisioned it to be. To learn more about the KNCSB ReFocus strategy and process, please contact me at 1-800-984-9092 or on line at .

For stimulating and thought provoking reading, check out “Talent is Never Enough” by John Maxwell.

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