Weekly Thought – June 17, 2014

Fred read slowly and carefully.  He carefully digested every line, writing notes in the margins of all his books.   Fred perused books for key ideas often outlining them on the inside cover so reviews could be made without rereading.  He believed reading, travel, and association were keys to personal and professional success.

Fred’s book Leading With Integrity is a practical approach to a critical topic.  An attractive packet of Integrity Cards is now available for a gift of $10 or more to BWF.  For more information, please contact Brenda@breakfastwithfred.com   They make a great platform for individual or group study.

Day by Day

Life has thrown you a curve and you want to pull the covers over your head.  Or maybe you go into a manic “futurism” exercise.  The prospects of tomorrow hold much more appeal than the painful realities of today.  Where does perseverance fit in?

One of the most interesting little books I repeatedly review is A Way of Life by Dr. William Osler.  He admonishes us to live in “day-tight compartments.”  This tiny volume is a talk delivered to the students at Yale.  He addressed them as “fellow students:” to emphasize the life-long search for knowledge.  He told them, “When I was attending the Montreal General Hospital, much worried as to the future, partly about the final examination, partly as to what I should afterwards, I picked up a volume of Carlyle and saw ;Our business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.  It was the starting point of a habit that has enabled me to utilize to the full the simple talent entrusted to me.” Osler showed me today is my only day.    (more…)

Weekly Thought – May 27, 2014

Fred consistently brought our thinking back to basics. He believed in simplicity. His mentor Maxey Jarman taught him the power of the pen for clarifying thoughts. If you can’t write it, you aren’t quite conversant with the idea.

Our Breakfast With Fred Leadership Institute season is complete for 2014. We are in preparation for 2015. Please join us in prayer for the teams to assemble, financial and prayer support develop, and the doors open which will promote “stretching and blessing the next generation of leaders…to the glory of God.” As an intergenerational ministry of connection, we see God’s linkage between the millennials and the builders.

Back to Basics

Trouble opens our mind; perseverance opens us to learn. Enduring isn’t natural, but we can train our emotional and mental reflexes. Hanging tough can become a habit.

Tensile strength is the greatest degree of stress possible to bear without breaking apart. The critical dimension of this measurement is the point where the substance still bends, but does not deform. Bridges have load limits and we do, too. Many times we don’t know how much we can handle until we’re called upon to test our strength. Scripture confidently tells us God is with us through the most difficult of stresses. He is the ultimate structural engineer.

We must distinguish between patience and perseverance. One is passive; the other active. Certainly, there are times when we must be patient. There are times when we can do nothing but survive. But perseverance involves action. My friend, All-America, All-Pro Bill Glass, played 22 years of football without serious injury. He attributes this to the fact he was always so aggressive. “The man who gets run over generally gets hurt worse than the guy who is doing the running down,” he says.     (more…)