February 21. Are You Planning a Ten City Tour?

As a leader, when you think of your habits, and the habits of your team, do you think of the positive ones or the negative ones? Pause on that thought. The interesting thing that we have just done when you assign a good or bad label to the habit is to express your perception.

The habit is, well, just a habit. It is a repeated set of behaviors that you do almost without thought. It is something that becomes routine and gets ingrained into your normal behaviors. The challenge of habits is that they will take you, when combined with your activities in the world, to a plateau.

Many businesses wind up on a plain and they seem to struggle to be more successful. Moving from success to significance requires work and a different set of habits. What you did to get where you are now is probably not going to be what you must do to get you up to the next plain.

This applies to our teams as well. We need to look at our habits constantly to really be progressing where we want to go. Where might you and your team benefit from a habit change?

Do you remember the story of the evil spirit and the pigs? You can find it in the book of Mark 5:13. The spirits are cast out by Christ. The spirits take over a herd of pigs and they go off a cliff. The people of the area tell Christ to leave. They are not happy and want Christ out of there.

The man from whom the spirits were cast out of though wants to go with Christ. That was a very smart idea because the man was about to go back to the city that he had tormented.

He had bothered those citizens for years and now he was to stay but could not defend himself like he had done when the evil spirit was in him. He was going to have to change his behavior immediately. He needed a new set of habits.

Changing our old ways is difficult at best. It takes energy and it takes vision. Our faith faces this every week. Can we move more towards what is the next plain with Jesus or will we remain status quo? Most people will stay in the status quo because we do not want change.

People do not actually fear change. They fear loss. What do you want for your next plateau? Take a step and define it because change does not have to be a giant leap. You do not have to go on a ten city tour like the formerly possessed man did, but you can if that is the step you define for yourself.

Jesus told the man to go and simply tell people how God had been merciful to him. Scary? Yes, but very doable one step, one city at a time. Can you do that for yourself and your team? Remember, you do not have to do it alone.

If you have not started purposefully moving from success to significance the process starts with you. What is the first change you can do in the next seven days to start the process of reaching it?

Let us pray, Heavenly Father, we can sometimes get stuck in our ways, not yours. We do things that make us comfortable and that are not seeking out the discomfort of your call. Help us to grow towards a more perfect love with you. We are stewards of our time, talents, gifts, and service.

May we be willing to change how we assemble all of those to honor you. Let us come to the comfort of the palm of your hands when we get scared of the new plateau. Guide our thoughts and activities as we take up our own ten city tours.

Help us to answer these questions and to support one another. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen,