Quote of the Week

Quote of the week: Sometimes 80% is 100%.

I have always struggled with the idea of “excellence.” Often proponents of “excellence” are really perfectionist. These people slave over every little detail believing that God is in the details. However sincere they may be, they come across to me as insufferable. I’ve come to grips that not everything we do requires a perfect end result.

I don’t like chain restaurants. I avoid them whenever possible. They shape every hamburger perfectly, they weigh their French fries and measure each ingredient so as to have a standardized product. This method has its place. When you are on the road you can expect that McDonald’s in Phoenix will pretty much look and taste the same as McDonald's in Portland. No one likes surprises when they are traveling.

But given the choice, I’ll go to a mom and pop restaurant where the burgers are hand shaped and custom cooked. These kinds of restaurants don’t bother with the details of trying to make a perfect hamburger. They settle for making a good one and for most of us that’s good enough. Every hamburger looks different, but they’re all good.

I work in a high demand environment. We have a small staff and a huge load of work. We have deadlines to meet and they come upon us at the speed of light. We often have to send out a product that isn’t perfect, but it is certainly good enough. We agonize over our imperfections, but if we waited until every detail was wrapped up, we’d never send anything out.

There are situations that call for perfection. I expect nothing less than perfection from a nuclear physicist. I want my surgeon to pay attention to the details. I want my bookkeeper to balance the books to the last penny. But I’ll settle for my clean-up hitter to hit .300. I’ll gladly accept an 8% return on my investments. I’ll continue to work on bowling a 200 game. Sometimes 80% is 100% and knowing that takes a lot of stress out of life.

Quote of the Day

Beginning today I will feature a quote to live by every Friday. These are quotes much like the proverbs in Scripture. In essence they are generally true and worth pondering. I have found them to be useful over the years for overcoming a crisis, addressing a challenge, or just helping a particular situation make sense. If you have a quote you would like me to consider, just email me at rivera93342@juno.com and I will gladly take a look at it.

Today's quote: I have done so much, with so little, for so long, that I can do the impossible with nothing."

I first learned this principle when I was in the Air Force (1972-1976). I was an aircraft mechanic. We were always short of parts for our airplanes, but needed to repair them and ready them for scheduled flights. When you are working with B-52's and you are under orders, it causes you to be creative. At times we had to borrow parts from other aircraft, fashion new parts from several other parts that had previously been replaced, scavenge from an already grounded aircraft, or rig up the existing part to make it work, at least for the one flight that was scheduled. You'd be surprised how creative you can be when you are working with limited time and resources.

There are parallels in ministry. Lack of resources is always a challenge. But the mission must be engaged. You can't afford to shut down in ministry because the enemy is very adept at securing resources to undermine the kingdom of God. Christian are called to be resourceful, creative, innovative and ultimately successful at finding a way to make sure the work of God gets done. While it is true that "God will provide," it is also true that "seek and ye shall find."

In the Air Force we weren't allowed to use excuses. Sometimes our Chief Master Sargent would bellow, "Don't tell me no, tell me how." But that's a quote for another day.