"Perhaps when you were in high school your English teacher made a statement like this, “I cannot overemphasize to you the importance of good grammar.” I’m sure your teacher meant well. But was that a true statement?
I read one person who disagreed, stating, “I could easily overemphasize the importance of good grammar. For example, I could say: ""Bad grammar is the leading cause of slow, painful death in North America,"" or ""Without good grammar, the United States would have lost World War II.""
I like his humorous way of pointing out how we overstate things. For example, some people don't like setting goals because of previously overstated goals they failed to accomplish. You can and should set your goals out of sight but not out of reason.
When you feel led of the Lord to do something, remember, one of Satan’s tactics is to distort God’s promptings into something extreme and ridiculous. That’s why stating ambitious but balanced, realistic goals is a good starting place for redeeming the time.
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"Overbooking is a tactic airlines uses to increase profits. That is, they sell more tickets for a flight than they have seats to accommodate. Airlines do this because they know there will be a certain number of people on any given flight who will be “no shows” and they want revenue from every seat on the plane.
Overbooking can be a good tactic for boosting your productivity as well. If you need 5 volunteers to set up for your church’s special event, you should recruit at least 8 because their commitment level is never as strong as yours. If all 8 do happen to show, no problem. But if you need 5 and get 3 you do have a problem.
When working on a building project, purchasing extra supplies and returning the leftovers is a much better strategy than running out and paying your helpers to wait while you get more.
Only God can see the future. That’s why overbooking is a good strategy for redeeming the time.
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"Success has been defined as “Achieving the great works God planned for me.” That’s a great definition, but it requires good time management, among other things, to achieve.
Management expert Don Aslett writes, “We’re all great managers when things are going our way, right on schedule! But if the flight is delayed on the runway for two hours and we miss our connection or the wedding, “it” doesn’t arrive in the mail, something expensive on the car breaks right before the trip, we have a fire or flood, or someone “totally trustworthy” breaks their word- these are true tests of management. That straight shot at things we imagine and plan for seldom comes to pass without detours and unscheduled surprises of all kinds.
If however we know where we’re going and why, a whole stack of well-organized opposition will just be steppingstones on the way.”
I like his perspective. Because knowing and doing the will of God, regardless of circumstances, is required to successfully redeem the time.
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"A recent Time magazine article documented a unique group of athletes for whom running a marathon just isn’t challenging enough. They are called “ultramarathoners” and they have trained their bodies to do amazing feats. One 42 year old ultramarathoner has run 262 miles non-stop in 75 hours, mountain biked for 24 hours straight, ran 146 miles across Death Valley in the middle of summer, and swam across San Francisco Bay.
Ultramarathoners must overcome pain, cramps, exhaustion, and vomiting. Yet they give us an amazing example of what endurance the human body is capable of with proper training and commitment.
When I read that article I thought, “What lengths am I willing to go to in order to achieve what God has called me to do?” One man in the article regularly rises at 2 a.m. and runs 50 miles. Am I willing to get up 15 minutes earlier to pray and plan?
You and I are in a race with time. Let’s do what’s necessary to redeem the time.
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