Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Exodus 21-24
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 20:21-23
Jesus: What do you want?
Zebedee’s Wife: When the kingdom of God is made manifest, I want one of my boys, James and John, to sit at Your right hand, and one to sit at Your left hand.
Jesus (to all three): You don’t understand what you are asking. Can you drink the cup I am going to drink? Can you be ritually washed in baptism just as I have been baptized?
Zebedee Brothers: Of course!
Jesus: Yes, you will drink from My cup, and yes, you will be baptized as I have been. But the thrones to My right and My left are not Mine to grant. My Father has already given those seats to those for whom they were created.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
Do you ever crave that center of attention spot? When I got to my first assignment as a brand new Second Lieutenant, I thought, “It must be great to be a company commander and set your own schedule.” See, I had 27 additional duties in my first assignment along with the responsibilities of my real assignment of medical platoon leader in an infantry battalion. So my calendar seemed full. It seemed like I was going to someone else’s meeting two or three times a day. I never seemed to have enough time to do the training I wanted to do with my medical platoon.
Then I became a company commander. And I thought, “Boy, it must be great to be a battalion command and set your own schedule.” See, as a company commander, it seemed I was going to someone else’s meeting four or five times a day. I never had the time I wanted to spend with my company training them to do their mission on the battlefield.
Then I became a battalion commander. And I thought, "Boy, it must be great to be a Second Lieutenant blind to the fact that you have so much time of your own to spend with your soldiers teaching them to work as a team and do their job. I finally figured out (I’m a slow learner sometimes) the higher you go, the less time is your own. The more demands others make of you. The spot light is a pretty lonely place to be and you don’t have much control when you’re in that spot.
As a colonel, I’d come into a room full of my subordinates chatting away with each other about all sorts of things business and personal and as soon as I walked through the door, you could hear a pin drop. It’s not that I wasn’t approachable. Those that got to know me, knew I was pretty personable. But getting time on my calendar to get to know me was pretty hard sometimes. And people were afraid they might say the wrong thing and destroy their career because for many of them in the room, I was their senior rater. That meant changing a few descriptive words on an evaluation or a point or two difference in a rating could make the difference between getting promoted to the next grade. It’s an imperfect military and government system, but the one millions of employees, military and civilian are stuck with. So they were afraid to approach me and just chat.
I’ll have to admit, in my younger days, I wanted those power positions. Commander sounded so nice. But when in the position and you have the life of soldiers in your hand because of the decisions you make, it’s not so much fun. Some of those soldiers you send into battle never come home and those letters are really hard to write. They are tear-stained before they get into the envelop because those soldiers become your family.
I’m not sure James’ and John’s mother understood that about being in the limelight #1. And #2, the positions were not Jesus’ to give. As the Son of Man, He had no authority to name the people who sat on the seats around the Father’s throne. As the glorified Son of God He might, but He wasn’t in that position yet. Besides, He explained those positions were already promised. But then He talks about the difficulty of those top positions.
I’ve been in some of those top positions in the Army. Never as a general and I so very glad I stopped before I got there. I worked with lots of generals throughout my career and watched their lives, or lack thereof. I thought my calendars were full sometimes. They had no life. Sometimes people envied them all the travel, the special treatment they receive in meetings, the perks of being a general. I learned about those perks in some of my jobs. We put the right pen and the right paper and the right drink at the right place at the table. The temperature was just right and the right chair was at his or her spot. The lighting was just right and the screens had no glare from the general’s seat. But these were not perks. We did that because as soon as the general sat down, his total focus was on the work ahead for the next thirty or sixty or ninety minutes. We didn’t want anything to distract his thoughts because another meeting that needed his total focus was happening immediately after that one and that room had exactly the right pen and paper and drink and chair and light and… so as soon as he sat down his total focus was on the work at hand.
Perks? When you wake up in another motel room at 5:30 in the morning and don’t remember what city you’re in today because all the motel rooms start to look alike, travel is not fun. You know someone will be at your door thirty minutes later and whisk you off to breakfast, which will be a business breakfast and the day will run non-stop meeting after meeting until they plant you on another plane or in your motel room after your dinner business meeting at 8:30 that night. Then you get to answer the 300 emails in your inbox before you go to sleep. Perks at the top? Be careful what you ask for. You just might get it.
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