Are you living it?

Investing in People
Admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
1 Thessalonians 5:14

"Who are the people that have meant the most to you in your life? Who has had the most influence in your life? Your parents? A coach, a teacher or a Sunday School teacher? Undoubtedly they challenged you to rise above the status quo. I remember people who cared about my character and who inspired me to a solid standard of holiness, devotion and diligence.

The bottom line? They all called me to noble, pure virtues.

Others have also stepped out of the herd and stepped up. Consider the famed scientist and inventor George Washington Carver who once wrote down what he called the "eight cardinal virtues":

1. Be clean both inside and outside.
2. Neither look up to the rich nor down on the poor.
3. Lose, if need be, without squealing.
4. Win without bragging.
5. Always be considerate of women, children and old people.
6. Be too brave to lie.
7. Be too generous to cheat.
8. Take your share of the world and let others take theirs.

Virtuous words. Yet even from a distance of nearly 100 years, they touch us at a deep level of our souls and call us higher than the selfish parts of our natures typically want to go.

I encourage you today to be careful where you look for inspiration--be sure that the people who influence you are those who can be counted on to lead you in the paths of purity and righteousness. And I encourage you to become an influencer, one who has the thick-skinned courage to step out and up and motivate others to be Christ followers. For Christ is the One who truly embodies noble virtue.

Okay, I admit, I totally borrowed this from a daily e-mail I receive from "Family Life - Moments with You." The e-mail is an excerpt from the book, "Moments with You" by Dennis and Barbara Rainey.

Though the advice in that context is directed for husbands and wives I absolutely see how this advice directly applies to GBB boys. The "eight cardinal virtues" are things that we need to follow ourselves and our leaders need to make sure they model them as well.

According to the GBB philosophy of ministry we believe in "demonstration." That means that we must purposely teach and directly model godly character so that our boys see what it means to be a real man. We must also be very aware that even when we do things without purpose, our boys are still learning by watching what we do, how we act and react. Please remember this in your thoughts and prayers today and ask God to help us all to follow and display Christian values.