Monthly Archives: December 2011

I just read a post on Dan Hawkins blog regarding the accomplishments of new Turbo 100 leaders in the TEAM leadership system, Gary and Erika Severson.  This last weekend I was able to hear them speak live in front of about 1700 people in Madison, WI and what impacted me the most was their humility.  The Seversons have applied hard work, serving others, over a number of years to reach their milestone and I know this is only a stepping stone.

As I reflect on the Severson’s victory, I go back to a sermon I heard by Greg Marshall at our church a couple of weeks ago.  The theme was about “worship” in life and who and what do we worship.  Greg, who is a musician, referred to our life as a song – “a life song.”  A song, he described, has a chorus and verses.  The verses represent a story to be told and the chorus represents the main idea or theme.  So as we sing the verses of a song the storyline unfolds and is interrupted by the chorus, or the main theme, to bring us back to a teaching point.  Interesting, I never knew that about music.

What’s your “life song?”

Greg challenged us to describe our “life song.”  What is your story?  Who do you worship?  What would the chorus, or main theme, of your life look like and what message would it convey?  Greg introduced an ancient Greek word proskyneo which means “to bend toward.”  As we walk through our life day to day, we “worship” or bend toward something.  The question is do we bend our lives (worship) toward God and his eternal purpose or do we bend toward ourselves for pleasure and comfort.

In the past, my life story tended to bend toward…. ME!  My natural tendency is self-serving and seeking pleasure.  I had friction in almost all of my relationships. I was judgmental of others, lacking patience, and I was kind to others only if there was some kind of reciprocation.  My work was only a means to a paycheck; otherwise I wouldn’t have sacrificed so much time away from family.   Life, when serving self and pleasure, becomes compartmentalized and pragmatic. We tend to measure the effort and sacrifice put into something based on what return we’ll get from the effort.  It leads to a very discontented life filled with shallow relationships and false hope.

On the other hand, when we bend our life toward a purpose, beyond ourselves, we find fluency to life.  In the Bible, God wants us to bend or lives toward him through serving others first, and having “fruit of the Spirit” as the apostle Paul describes in a letter to the people of Galatia.  When our life song focuses on something greater than ourselves, then our work, relationships, ministry and pleasure become interlaced.  Our work becomes more purposeful, our relationships become more fulfilling, and life becomes more meaningful.

What do the verses of your life song read like?  Is your chorus singing of self-pleasure and comfort?  Or, are you like Gary and Erika Severson who have decided to bend their life toward worshiping God through serving others.  By pursuing purpose beyond themselves through the LIFE business, Gary and Erika are providing real hope to people who desperately need it.