Doug Hundt, President of Vermeer’s Industrial division, recently shared with me how Vermeer began with core values to remind their team of Vermeer’s foundation of faith. But as the company grew, they needed to make their beliefs practical corporately, so they developed a Character and Behaviors document with related training. Their actions resulted in their ...

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Nehemiah had an amazing 52 days. He had cast vision for people who didn’t know him, yet he convinced them to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem. This impossible task was made even more difficult due to his enemies constantly attempting to distract and destroy him. Additionally, there was considerable infighting. But the work continued with ...

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Your enemies have no need to bother you when you’re failing, but when you’re experiencing success, look out. Nehemiah experienced some significant success on his project of rebuilding Jerusalem. As he neared completion, his enemies tried everything they could think of to distract or destroy Nehemiah. On multiple occasions, Nehemiah’s enemies tried to draw him ...

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In Nehemiah 4, the Israelites rallied together to fight off their enemies while rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls. But by Chapter 5, the strain of the work, plus the impact of famine, caused the people to begin complaining about the oppression they experienced by their own leaders. Due to oppressive debt, these leaders had put their own ...

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Nehemiah had a vision of rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem. When it came time to start the actual work, Nehemiah decided to allow teams to work on specific sections of the wall. He could have had everyone work together on the entire wall. Nehemiah 3, however, reveals the brilliant part of Nehemiah’s strategy. Nehemiah understood ...

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A fourth-century church manual, the Apostolic Constitutions, called Good Friday a "day of mourning, not a day of festive Joy." Historically, many have called Good Friday to be a day of sorrow and fasting. In our busy work activities, we rarely take time for reflection or sorrow for our brokenness and the brokenness of the ...

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Today is Maundy Thursday. On the night of the Last Supper, Jesus, the Son of God, modeled for us a surprising act. In ancient times, Maundy, which means, “washing someone’s dirty feet,” was one of the worst jobs a servant could be asked to complete. Yet, on Jesus’ last night, He humbled himself and washed ...

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Recently, a new comedy club opened in our neighborhood. An advertisement led me to believe that the show may be family-friendly, so Kathy and I decided to give it a try. We were sorely disappointed. A small crowd had to experience vulgar and very offensive dialogue that left us disgusted. In contrast, my daughter gave ...

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Our work generates value in many ways, but we need to guard how we let it define us. In a recent Substack post, pastor and author Scott Sauls cautioned against measuring our value by our work. We become anxious, he wrote, when “we believe our worth depends on what we produce, how visible we are, ...

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Many in business have learned the hard way the importance of hiring people with strong character. God’s view on integrity, however, is different from the world’s view. Many universities teach moral relativism, allowing you to decide right and wrong. God’s moral code, however, starts with the concept of fearing God. Fearing God is to ...

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