Your Move
“Kennett, Missouri – home of Sheryl C_OW.” Clearly a mischief maker found great humor in removing the “R.” It made me think about the power of letters.
Think about the power of an “e” when you decide to be better, rather than bitter.
During my years of care giving I experienced many difficult and challenging moments. There were times when I felt truly overwhelmed. One night I sat at the computer, typing out my emotions. At the end, I realized Mom and Dad gave me the opportunity to see the Lord change “scared into sacred.” Holy transposition!
An old game gives you a word, requires you to shift one letter at a time, and then arrive at a completely new word. There is a great leadership principle embedded in this exercise. Cultural transitions aren’t made by jumping from A to Z. Making incremental steps allows the organization to stabilize before making the next move. They are shifting a letter at a time to complete the change.
Sometimes the word game gets off track because the moves weren’t the right ones. Isn’t this true of organizational morphing, as well? With each step, reassessment and review is necessary to see if the ultimate goal will be reached.
When we play the Scrabble game of life we want to make sure it doesn’t turn into a Scramble!
Prayer Network
by Brenda A. Smith, BWFLI.com, BreakfastWithFred.com
“Lift high the Cross.”
Scripture warns against the offense of the Cross. Culture wants to define Biblical Christianity as a cult. As a community of faith, we are called to stand together against the fiery darts of the evil one. Our prayer network is a group of believers committed to prayerful intercession on behalf of our institutions of Christian higher education. As they stand we will hold up their arms.
This month pray for:
1) Favor from government in maintaining their symbols of faith
2) Bold witness for the students, faculty, and staff as they travel throughout the world this summer
3) Health for all to sustain their efforts
4) Joy in the journey
5) Power through the Christ life
The Cross: Our Message and our Model
by Bob Deffinbaugh, Bible.org, BWFLI.com
“13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross (Colossians 2:13-14).”
“17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. 18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:17-18, 22-23).”
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24).
Nothing is more central and crucial to our faith than the cross of the Lord Jesus. It is on the cross that Christ bore the punishment for our sins, and thus it is by means of the cross that we are saved.
The cross is also our message, the good news that we proclaim to lost sinners, urging them to trust in the work of our Lord on the cross.
And, the cross is also our model. Just as the Lord Jesus took up His cross, so we must take up our cross to follow Him. The cross is both an offense to unbelievers, and a cause of suffering and sacrifice for those who would truly be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pray for the students and staff in our schools who may not yet have trusted in Christ, that they may embrace the His work on the cross for their salvation.
Pray for students and staff to lift up the cross in their conversation with others, for this is the good news that leads others to salvation.
Pray for those in our schools, students and staff, to be willing to take up their cross in order to follow Jesus, even though this will require sacrifice and suffering.
Sign up for the monthly Prayer Network newsletter to be delivered to your email on the first Monday of each month by clicking here.
Keep Looking!
Weekly Thought – May 5, 2026
Fred loved to turn experiences into experiments. He once underwent dental work with a stopwatch. He decided to run the watch just when it really hurt, not when he thought he was going to hurt; now when he was afraid he was going to hurt – just when it hurt. He reported it was only four seconds! Not many of us would volunteer for that!
Keep Looking!
As leaders of businesses, institutions, and families, we need to:
1) Find Opportunities. An SMU professor said the difference between corporate and entrepreneurial is the perception of a situation as either a problem to be solved or an opportunity to be maximized. A Harvard study showed focusing on problem solving dulled the ability to see opportunities. But, opportunities have to be within the purpose of the organization. I once sent a quick note to my daughter who was always seeing “open doors.” “Opportunity is not mandate” was my cryptic counsel. Many businesses and ministries hang up “Out of Business” signs because they didn’t define what they did and adjust opportunities to fit the mission.
2) Define Problems. A problem is something I can do something about; a fact of life is something I cannot solve. Understanding the difference is critical to leadership. I have no use of my right hand because I fell on a Mason jar at age 3 and a drunk physician allowed an infection. Is that my problem? No, that is a fact of life. Have you seen people who spend their time fighting with facts of life? Stick with the problems – something you can do something about.
3) Look for the Key Log. An amateur will always try to move all the logs around to get them moving down the stream. A pro climbs a tree, finds the key log, and blows it out – then the movement continues. But you can’t kid yourself about what the log is and you can’t duck it. A friend who was a President of a bank called to say he was working himself to death. I asked, “Who’s work are you doing? Anytime you are overworked, you are doing work that isn’t yours.” He thought and said, “The cashier’s.” That was the key log. Time to blow it out.
4) Value Confidence. Confidence doesn’t increase your ability one iota. So, what is its value? It gives you the ability to concentrate. Concentration is thinking the right thing at the right time. Fear and cockiness are enemies of concentration. One distracts from accomplishment by saying “you can’t.” The other distracts by falsely saying, “you can.” True confidence gives us focus and allows our abilities to operate freely.
Think about this: 1) How does confidence help me concentrate? 2) Who needs to hear Fred’s words today? 3) Where have I transposed problem and fact of life?
Words of Wisdom: “Concentration is thinking the right thing at the right time.”
Wisdom from the Word: “So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the family of faith.” (Galatians 6:10 NET Bible)