SERIES: Wisdom (6 of 6)
From Whom Do You Choose To Learn - Part 2

Six weeks ago I shared a riddle whose answer was “wisdom”. I’d like to end with a different sort of riddle today...one “solved” by the wisdom of King Solomon. 
   
Two women came before King Solomon with this story: One woman said, “We live together and we both have infants. This morning, I woke up and found my baby dead. Upon closer examination, I realized the other woman switched our babies after hers died. She took MY child.” The other woman replied, “She’s lying”. No witnesses. No relatives. No DNA testing. How did Solomon’s wisdom help him decide which woman was the real mother? 

You can read here how Solomon solved this real life riddle: bit.ly/SolomonAndABaby  Do you think we could still learn from Solomon’s wisdom today?

We’ve talked about wisdom and being teachable for several weeks now and shared from the book “The Key to Everything”. Today I will share the last two teachers Matt Keller suggests a teachable person will allow in his/her life.

In today’s world, it is perhaps easier than ever to allow experts to be a teacher in your life...someone Matt calls a “distant mentor”. This is someone you may never meet or interact with personally, but they can teach you through their books, teachings, podcasts, interviews or lectures. Matt summarizes it this way, “Find people who have lived your tomorrow and learn from them.”

Lastly, Matt suggests that a truly teachable person can find a way for everybody to be his/her teacher. Observe people whose lives “seem to work”, compare notes and learn how to ask questions. Look at people  whose lives don’t “seem to work”. Ask what they have learned. Observe what they missed. A wise and teachable person can learn from other’s mistakes as well as their examples.

In wrapping up thoughts about wisdom and teachability, I would like to recommend a “distant mentor” to you. When I refer to or quote King Solomon, it’s not because “he’s in the Bible.” He was literally a WISE  man we can still learn from. King Solomon wrote 29 of the 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs. May I suggest taking the next month and reading 1 chapter a day to see what you might learn from this wise man? You can start here bit.ly/ReadProverbs and just change the chapter # on the page each consecutive day.

Let me know what you think,
Pastor Rob

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Links to other posts in this series: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5

Email sent today to APD West District that serves and protects our church:

Vine Fellowship had box lunches from Honey Baked Ham delivered today for everybody at West Station so be sure to take one at lunch.  This is just a small way to say: 
THANK YOU
We appreciate you
We are praying for you and 
We stand with you.  

Vine Fellowship is thankful for APD, especially West Station. We are praying for you today: peace for you and your families, safety and favor with the community you selflessly serve.

Blessings,
Pastor Rob and Vine Fellowship
#350s 

SERIES: Wisdom (5 of 6)
From Whom Do You Choose To Learn - Part 1

When you think of growing up in school, what teacher do you remember? I remember Mrs. Irvin, my 4th grade teacher. She believed in me and made me want to learn. I liked her and learned a lot from her. Some of my other teachers...not so much. Not all school teachers are equal, and that is true in life, too. Learning from some people is easy, and from others...not so much. 

“But here’s the truth both about school and our life today. Everybody has something to teach us. If we choose, we can learn from anyone. But we have to choose.” This is another quote by Matt Keller in the book I have been referring to the past few weeks, The Key To Everything,. He suggests there are four kinds of teachers we should allow in our life  if our goal is to be teachable. I’d like to mention two this week and two next week.

The first kind of teacher we all need in our life is the “Say Anything, Anytime Teacher”.  This is very similar to what we talked about a few weeks ago with people we allow to point out blind spots in our life. We have to pursue people like this in our life and specifically give them permission,  encourage them to speak up about the hard things we may not want to see in our lives. This teacher may be a best friend or somebody we respect and trust their judgment.

The second kind of teacher is “New Voices That Will Stretch You”. Think about a subject where you are knowledgeable. When is the last time you let someone younger or less experienced than you share what they think for an extended period of time without interrupting or correcting them? Matt Keller describes his approach to new ideas from new voices like this, “I don’t agree with everything they are saying. But I think we have to give them permission to stretch the balloon a little bit so that it never quite goes back to the same shape it was before.”

On your job, you learn to deal with people from many backgrounds and different ways of thinking. Having those skills, you can tell a lot of people what all YOU know, or you can learn a lot from what OTHER people know. Which do you do? 

Your service is appreciated,
Pastor Rob

BOOK GIVE-AWAY: Congratulations to Phil who won a copy of Matt Keller's The Key To Everything in last week's book give-away.

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Links to other posts in this series: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 6