Consider Yourself Rebellious?

Last year I prepared a teaching on the book of Hebrews. The author of this book is unknown, but what we do know is that is was a letter written to a group of Jewish converts to Christianity. These new Christians were fully aware of the persecution that was imminent due to their decision. Leaving Judaism meant leaving traditions which their entire society was built around, laws, synagogue commitments, prayer commitments, dietary requirements etc... They hadn’t just left a belief system, they had changed their way of life. They were persecuted.

They were rebels...

Hebrews tells us that they would endure anything from public humiliation, public beatings, jail time and confiscation of all their possessions. The temptation was to return to their old ways, to their religion (Judaism) to avoid being persecuted.

The author encourages them to continue to be confident and hold unswervingly onto their hope. He takes 13 chapters to do that in what was a committed attempt underpinned by a deep desire to keep these readers from doing a 180 degree turn. One of his points, in particular, interested me.

The author makes mention (Hebrews 3) of the time that the Israelites spent in the desert. If you remember they were enslaved by the Egyptians. Moses was the hero who went in and did the extraction! Having left Egypt their destination was a land of milk and honey promised to them by God, aptly named the promised land. To get there they had to cross the desert, know as the Sinai today and into modern day Israel. 40 years later, Moses and his entire generation who left Egypt died in the desert, having simply wandered around in circles never to enter into the promised land. Their desert life was routine. God provided food and water daily, as well as a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day to protect them. They had food, water and shelter. They were comfortable and protected. At one point Moses sends 12 spies to find out what getting into the promised land actually meant. 10 came back saying impossible! The tribes they would have to overcome were made up of monstrous men.

The desert - safe, comfortable, routine and predictable.

Journey to promised land - unknown, risky, adventurous, challenging.

They chose the former. The author of Hebrews refers to a passage of scripture found in psalm 95 where he states the Lord who refers to this time in the desert as the time of the rebellion!

They were rebels...

Two different perspectives! Society labeled the converted Jews as rebellious for leaving the traditions and comforts of Judaism and living a life of risk and potential persecution.

God frustratingly labeled the Israelites who stuck to comfort, tradition and religious mindsets rebellious. Maybe that’s why it is aptly called the Christian faith?

Consider yourself rebellious?

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Travis Gale has spent the last 5 years running his own development business in South Africa’s corporate world and is currently involved in various long term partnerships with clients across a number of industries. Furthermore he has travelled to conferences internationally hunting down latest trends and insights. Having cycled around the world and survived a tsunami, his passion for crossing borders often lends itself to an interesting blend of stories and insight. He sees himself as a ‘change catalyst’ and displays strength in facilitating insight into the right spaces. Find out more at www.appletreelive.com

Is Leadership Lonely?

Have you heard it said that leadership is lonely? I read this week a quote by ML Anderson that said “leaders are called to stand in a lonely place…”

Leadership can be lonely, but as a Christ follower, living out your call as a leader means you never lead alone. We stand with Christ by our side, having access to his love, guidance and LEADING.

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you and watch over you." Psalm 32:8

God is speaking…

Are we listening?

He wants to lead and guide us, he wants to speak to us. But so often we struggle to hear. Sometimes we are hoping that we would hear God’s booming voice loud and clear, telling us what to do.

But maybe we need to try things differently. Maybe God is speaking, but His voice is drowned out by all the noise around us.

1 Kings 19:11-13: "The Lord said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.' Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?'"

We have winds of work and stress, earthquakes of hurry, fires that burn with the desire for instant answers and solutions. But God so often comes as a gentle whisper, and these things drown out His voice. We can so easily miss it if we don’t take a step back, remove the noise and listen for the whisper...

Have you ever taken time out in silence and solitude?

In his book Leading On Empty, Wayne Cordeiro says that there are only four ways to live your life:

1. Reaction – passively dominated by urgencies and pushy people
2. Conformity – succumbing to the fear of man and just being and doing what everyone else wants, which is not necessarily following God’s will for you personally
3. Independence – nonconforming rebellion in the name of freedom, marked by doing only what you want and ignoring godly authority over you
4. Intentionality – reverse-engineering your life and living it prayerfully and purposefully, journaling your thoughts throughout the day, and using silence and solitude to hear from God and organize your life

How are you living your life now? Where would you like to be?

Why not try do things differently from now on. Instead of wanting God to shout above the noise, why not try spend some time and turn off the noise and listen for the whisper...
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Don Muller has spent the last 4 years working into corporate and church leadership development and training both locally and internationally. He has a passion for and works towards seeing individuals live out their strengths and calling daily.

A New Start

There seems to be something within us that longs for a new start. Maybe this is why each year we make New Year’s resolutions. Often as leaders we hope for the opportunity to start over, try again, to do things differently.

I think we have this desire in us because it is a desire of God …

Revelation 21:5 says "And the one sitting on the throne said, "Look, I am making everything new!""

It speaks of the newness of what God does in our lives. Each day is new and fresh.
Another scripture which speaks about the idea that God is in the business of ‘new’ is Isaiah 43:18-19:
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”

As leaders the idea of God’s newness is so important, and there are some very clear points that come out of this scripture.

Firstly, God is saying we should forget the former things and that we should not dwell on the past. Often the past haunts us, there is stuff that happened in the past that hinders us moving forward. Or maybe we experienced great things in the past and thus constantly look back at those times, instead of forward to the newness He has.

Is your past holding you back? What are these things is your life?

The promise is that the past is forgotten. God has forgotten it, now we need to as well.

Secondly, we see again the idea that God is wanting to start something NEW! He is wanting to speak to us about the newness He has for us. How often do we create space for God to talk to us about the newness He has for us? As leaders let’s make time to listen.

We also need to understand that with newness comes a new way of doing things. There is a saying that if you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got.

Jesus used an awesome analogy to explain this to his disciples, when they asked Him why he was doing things differently. His reply in Mark 2:22 says:
“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.”

When newness comes you have to do things differently. Let’s not try put the new wine God wants to pour out into our lives into the old wineskins of how we did things before, or how we expect things to be.

To remember this, why don't you start doing something differently? Drive a new way home, start a new book, try a new hairstyle, try a different Chocolate bar. Whatever it may be, try do something differently.

"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?"

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Don Muller has spent the last 4 years working in corporate and church leadership development and training both locally and internationally. He has a passion for and works towards seeing individuals live out their strengths and calling daily.

What's In Your Hand

I dove back into the archives this week and ended up watching a TED clip by Rick Warren on purpose. Go to to view. You will remember him for authoring Purpose Driven Life. I have heard it before but again was riveted by what he was saying. One of John Maxwell’s leadership laws is the ‘law of process’. This law states that developing leadership happens through a continuous reinforcing of what has been learnt. It is small actions over time that deliver results rather than cataclysmic events! Watching this clip reminded me of commitments and insights that I had when I first saw him speak in 2006 and again how critical the ‘why’ and ‘what’ are continuously reinforced in our own lives.

Last week we reminded ourselves of a ‘deeper purpose’. This week we add a layer and look at the ‘what’. Once the ‘Why’ is clear it makes sense that we focus on ‘what’ we have to work with. Rick Warren uses the metaphor of Moses’s staff in the Bible which represented 3 core areas in his life - his Identity, his Income and his Influence. In other words the staff defined the job that he had, how he earned his money and the influence he had in that position. Rick uses the metaphor in talking about his work with NBA basketball players. The Ball represents their Identity, Income and Influence. That’s what’s in their hands.

What’s in your hand? What talents, skills, passions so you have that can impact on others?

Connecting to this ‘what’ off the foundation of a solid ‘why’ yields defining changes in your daily actions. You have been given gifts. You were not born with nothing to offer, but rather a great deal of uniqueness which the world needs to see. You being all of who you are is what makes the difference to the rest of us. Spending time on these questions helps you shift your focus away from self and onto others. Impacting on others fuels meaning and fulfillment, something all of us desire to strongly.

Take some time to answer these questions:

• What, when you do it, makes you feel powerful? Time seems to fly by, you feel energised and alive?
• What positive feedback have you been given consistently - a skill, talent, character trait etc?
• If it was not about money or time what would you most like to do with your time?
• What do you dream about doing to make a difference in the world?

Own it. Own what you have in your hands. Own it and use it!

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Travis Gale has spent the last 5 years running his own development business in South Africa’s corporate world and is currently involved in various long term partnerships with clients across a number of industries. Furthermore he has travelled to conferences internationally hunting down latest trends and insights. Having cycled around the world and survived a tsunami, his passion for crossing borders often lends itself to an interesting blend of stories and insight. He sees himself as a ‘change catalyst’ and displays strength in facilitating insight into the right spaces. Find out more at www.appletreelive.com

Finding that 'Deeper' Purpose

A while back, a friend of mine recounted a dream he had last night where I sat him down and challenged him on finding his ‘deeper purpose’. I was fascinated by his ‘nocturnal’ encounter with these words. In his dream he was unsure about what it was which meant he was not able to respond to my continual quest for clarity from him. I told him he needs to discover his deeper ‘inner vibe!’ and be connected with why he was doing what he was doing. Eventually I sent him up a hill with a journal and pen to journal what he thought this ‘deeper purpose’ could be. After a period of reflection he came up with some answers.

The person who I am referring to, in my opinion, is pretty connected to why he does what he does. In fact, I would say he has an array of questions and statements which he reminds himself off constantly. Words like purpose, vision and values form a part of his weekly speak. Yet the question in the dream challenged him. As we spent time discussing the dream I realised it challenged me too! The reason was that one word: deeper.

What is that deeper purpose for you? What is that ‘why’ that runs through your veins, is ingrained in your DNA and that connects you powerfully with how you live your life? What is it that you feel so powerfully about which runs as deep as the oceans within your soul?

The timing of this discussion was impeccable. My challenge lately is to continuously remind myself of the ‘why’ rather than to become too focused on the ‘what’ and the ‘how.’ When this ‘why’ is not clear I look back over a week and wonder how much of what I have done has been effective. The disciplines which are important to me such as times of quiet and solitude go out the window. When I focus on my ‘why’ I can clearly see which of my actions have substance and color. Those actions feel rewarding and energising rather than empty and fruitless.

The point is we both realised we would like to be able to articulate that ‘deeper purpose’ off the cuff. If we have to journal on the hillside to find it out it probably means we are not going to be able to call on it in the moment. That’s where it counts!

How many of your actions have purpose behind them?


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Travis Gale has spent the last 5 years running his own development business in South Africa’s corporate world and is currently involved in various long term partnerships with clients across a number of industries. Furthermore he has travelled to conferences internationally hunting down latest trends and insights. Having cycled around the world and survived a tsunami, his passion for crossing borders often lends itself to an interesting blend of stories and insight. He sees himself as a ‘change catalyst’ and displays strength in facilitating insight into the right spaces. Find out more at www.appletreelive.com

Work, Life and Balance

The last few days I have been workshopping at a clients wellness day. I have been very interested to hear the challenges that people face in the area of ‘work life balance’.

My take on the term is that we need to get rid of the word balance. It seems the separation of work and life as two separate entities is what is getting us into trouble.

When work is seen as one thing and life as another it would make sense that when there is too much work and not enough life that the desire to escape work becomes very real. We end up living for 1.5 days of the week - Saturday and half of Sunday and simply getting through the necessary grind that is work Monday to Friday.

But what if we simply looked at just LIFE and decided that LIFE includes work and a bunch of other stuff?

The most important question then becomes - how do I live optimally?

A few commented that the answer to a happy work life is in fact working for yourself where your time is yours i.e. when you get to work less and have more space to surf, take time out etc. Again, when the work side is minimal and the life side is maximum. This is why books such as ‘4 hour work week’ have been a such a great success. The quest is to reduce work and increase life. Most saw the ultimate ideal as work ending and life being the only thing to enjoy.

Work is getting in the way...

At Appletree we call this preparing to live. We need to challenge this perspective and move toward living life now.

Sometimes the changes are subtle. For example one of the differences I saw was in the approach to work by those who exercise and those who don’t. Those who exercise seemed to have a notably different perspective on their work. One woman commented to me that ‘her nerves were frazzled’ before she committed to running every day. Her work has not changed but her experience of work has through her engaging intentionally with the other important areas of life!

Another chooses to get out with her friends during the week. Another chooses to grab a coffee during the day. Small things which remind us that work is part of life rather than feeling like work is consuming life!

In other words if we change the way we live our experience of work will change too.

We need to ask ourselves what we can do to live more optimally even whilst our reality includes a full time job or a difficult work season. What else needs to be included in your life and how can you be more intentional about living well given...

Life includes work and a bunch of other stuff.

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Travis Gale has spent the last 5 years running his own development business in South Africa’s corporate world and is currently involved in various long term partnerships with clients across a number of industries. Furthermore he has travelled to conferences internationally hunting down latest trends and insights. Having cycled around the world and survived a tsunami, his passion for crossing borders often lends itself to an interesting blend of stories and insight. He sees himself as a ‘change catalyst’ and displays strength in facilitating insight into the right spaces. Find out more at www.appletreelive.com

Name

“You want to go 
Where everybody knows your name, 
And they're always glad you came; 
You want to be where you can see, 
Our troubles are all the same; 
You want to be where everybody knows your name.”

Do you recognise these lyrics? Are you singing the theme song in your head?

They come from the classic theme song for the popular 90’s sitcom Cheers.

I heard the song the other day and I haven’t stopped thinking about those lyrics, I think they are extremely powerful and contain a powerful leadership gem.

There is power in someone’s name, and even more power in knowing someone’s name. One of my primary influencers and friends, Rory Dyer, has the incredible ability to remember the names of people he meets. He has influence over thousands of people, meets new people all the time but I have witnessed time and again how he remembers not only people’s names, but also their story. I have also heard over and over how this has made an impact on those people whose names he has remembered. They feel valued and appreciated, and for many it has been the reason they are part of his church.

People wanna go where their names are known. A name represents a person’s identity, their heritage and their uniqueness – it is no wonder people wanna go where these attributes of themselves are embraced, appreciated, valued and even celebrated.

The creators of Cheers really chose a perfect song for their show – it summed up what the bar was all about. A place where people could come, where they would be free to be themselves and would be welcomed by the people there.

Imagine if we created the same environment for those we lead. Imagine if those we lead always felt that we were glad they came, that they weren’t alone in the challenges that they were facing. Imagine they felt they were appreciated, valued, an integral part of the team. Imagine they didn’t have to go to a bar to feel this way.

I believe the most effective leaders are those who see the value in those they lead. Instead of manipulating people, they treat them as assets and strive to build and develop them.

They lead with clarity, distinctiveness and direction, all the while making others feel safe and valued.

If we can strive to lead like this, I believe we will create an environment like that of Cheers… Where everyone knows your name.
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Don Muller has spent the last 4 years working into corporate and church leadership development and training both locally and internationally. He has a passion for and works towards seeing individuals live out their strengths and calling daily.