Leadership & Strategy

So Pastor, What's Your Point?

Good old Dr. Prutow discussing preaching.

I am thankful for the time I spent studying under this man of God.

A Lack of Leadership: Today, you started smoking so you can have more breaks at work.

So you hate your job.
And the best part of your day is your smoke break -and you don't even smoke.

One of the main reasons why people are so disgruntled at work is directly related to motivation (or lack thereof) in there workplace. 

If you are a leader, then you know how important it is that you keep your workers internal fire lit. 
Below are 10 obstacles that need remedied in the workplace that will help your workers put down their bubble gum cigarette and go back to work (with a smile on their faces). 

10 Obstacles to Work Gratification:
1.  Disagreement with work goals
2.  Duplication of work
3.  Others belittling you/your work
4.  Unwarranted criticism
5.  Unchallenged standards
6.  Lack of recognition
7.  Inconsistency from leadership/management
8.  Job goes on and on and on and on ...
9.  Jealousy
10. Lack of clarification/goals

Take a look at the list again.
Better yet. Write it down. 
Now go to your team and give the list to every one of them and then schedule a time to talk individually & then colletevely. 
Go with an open heart and I guarantee 2 results from your actions:
1) You will have won over the majority of your teams heart.
2) You will have paved the way for a better, more motivated workplace. 

Question: 
-Do you see any demotivators on the list that you have personally dealt with in your workplace?
-Is the list lacking?  Would you add anything to it?

Q: What is the best way to abort a Puppy?

2 Questions:
-My 10 month old lab recently finished her first heat. Is there a way to tell if a pure bred dog got her pregnant?
-I am hoping she is not because I only want pure bred labs.
-Is there a method to abort dog pregnancies?

Answer #1: 

Pregnancy (gestation) is 62-63 days in dogs. Because of its short duration there has been no reliable pregnancy test developed for use in dogs. What we can do is feel (palpate) her abdomen. After the 28th day the fetuses are big enough for us to give an answer. What we cannot know is whether they are pure bred Labs until they are born. The greater question is: How important is it to know?

Answer #2: What about finding good homes for cross bred puppies? If the puppies are of mixed ethnicity there will be plenty of deserving homes willing to adopt a multicultural dog. And a mixed bred litter now will have no influence on your dog’s ability to deliver purebred Labrador Retrievers later. That assumes, of course, that Mr. Right will not be concerned about a woman with a past.

Answer #3:
Abortion of the litter? Yes this is possible using injections that are given in the veterinary hospital. It would require your dog to stay for a few days. The process is uncomfortable for the dog and may carry some risk. It is not recommended and is generally unnecessary. You can instead choose to let her deliver the babies. As soon as they are 7-12 weeks of age they should be easy to place with good families. In fact many people prefer mixed bred dogs because of their lower tendency for birth defects.

Repulsive right?

IT'S EVEN MORE REPULSIVE THAT HUMANS DO THIS TO THEIR BABIES.

Adultery... Jealousy... Feeling dirty yet?

Jealous.
1.Feeling or showing envy of someone or their achievements and advantages.

2.Feeling or showing suspicion of someone's unfaithfulness in a relationship.

Q:  Does God get jealous? 

I have had this question come up before, so I decided to write about it and just point people to this post.  My light bulb finally began to glow about a month ago when after I started explaining the meaning behind "God's Jealousy" the person's forehead started to bleed. It was then that I decided to stop verbally explaining things like this and just jot it down here so that people can read it at their own leisure.

OK?  So Does God get Jealous?  In a word, Yes.

Let's start with a word study:
The root idea in the Old Testament for the word "jealous" is to become intensely red.
It refers to the changing color of the face or the rising heat of the emotions.  The word carries an intense zeal or fervor over something important. In fact, both in the Old and New Testament, the word for jealousy many times is translated as  “zeal.”
The Scripture paints a picture of God's jealousy being synonymous with a zealous / fervor for the things that He loves.

---God is always zealous (eager) to protect what is precious to Him.

One thing that is especially important to Him in both the Old and New Testament is the loyalty he demands from His people.

"For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth." (Deut. 7:6)

"But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY."   (I Peter 2:9-10)


We can illustrate this point by just thinking of a common marriage:  
A man with any morals never wants to share his wife with another, in the same way God does not want to share your loyalty with anything or anyone else.
God is not into a divided heart. He expects exclusivity.
By now you should have figured out that this "jealousy" is not the kind that so often is portrayed in our modern, glossy society. 
---There is in fact such thing as a healthy jealousy-- for instance, when a person pursues another lover outside of their marriage, you should expect the spouse being cheated on to become jealous.   

The same can be said about the idols in your own life.  When you worship other gods, you commit spiritual adultery, and God gets jealous.  He gets jealous because He is zealous for your love.  Plain and simple. 

                                                                             

This is why James writes, "You adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."  (4:4)

James is merely highlighting the fact that if you claim that your life is bonded with Christ, then when you go out living like a prostitute, you are committing spiritual adultery.  And God gets jealous because you belong to Him.

So does God get jealous?