Christian Ethics…an oxymoron? October 21, 2009
Posted by Byron in Culture, Discussions, Spiritual.Tags: Christian ethics, oxymoron, Paul, Romans
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Many in the world today would describe these two words, Christian ethics, as an oxymoron (you know, like jumbo shrimp, freezer burn, same difference,etc). They’ve seen too many examples of “Christians” acting in ways that were most definitely unethical. They don’t see Christian ethics as any different from their own. If fact, many non-Christians could rightly argue they demonstrate more ethics than many of the Christians they know, or read about.
Don’t know about you, but this makes me sad and just a little angry. Sad that it’s come to the point where Christian ethics could be considered a valid oxymoron. Angry that Christian leaders have not done a better job living out Biblical ethics. Coming out of the secular business world, I was accustomed to dealing with folks whose ethics were not what they should be. Trust was something that had to earned and maintained, not freely given (Unfortunately I learned this in the school of hard knocks!).
However, coming to work in a ministry business, I thought (perhaps naively) ethical behavior would be a given. Unfortunately that has not always been the case. If we, as Christian leaders, can’t live out our Christian ethics, why should we expect the world to listen to us? For that matter, why should other Christians listen to us, much less follow our leadership?
These thoughts all really came to a head this morning as I was reading in Romans. Paul has given us the blueprint for what Christian ethics should look like. In fact, in my Bible, “Christian Ethics” was the heading above the passage. It’s a passage I’ve ready many times, but today it just jumped off the page and I felt compelled to share it with you.
“Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lack diligence; be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Be in agreement with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone. Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead leave room for His wrath.” Romans 12:9-18
Take time to think about this question today. Are my ethics a reflection of Christ, or are they an oxymoron?
Hotels Can Be Pretty Crazy Sometimes October 6, 2009
Posted by Byron in Christian Camping, Culture, Musings.add a comment
Today, as I was looking through the books in my office bookcase, I came across a blast from the past. The book is titled Without Reservations – An Uncensored, Unabashed Look At How People Behave In Hotels and is a compilation of guest stories from Holiday Inn hotels during the early 90’s.
As I looked at the book, I remembered first reading it when I was the general manager of the Holiday Inn Townlake in downtown Austin, TX. The book was loaned to me by Oscar Sanchez, my front desk manager at the time. After reading I must have set the book aside and forgot to give it back when Oscar left to go to another hotel. So, Oscar, if you read this… I’m sorry man!
From experience, I can tell you that guests really do some strange things when staying in your hotel. I wish I would have been smart enough to right down all the crazy stuff I’ve seen over my hospitality career. While I don’t remember all of them, here are just a few that I’ll never forget.
- While helping to open the Crowne Plaza Galleria in Houston I remember I man coming down to the front desk and complaining about the toilet in his room. Not an unusual complaint for most hotels. However this one had a twist. See, we had really rushed the last couple of days of construction in order to get the hotel open in time for the Houston Homebuilder’s Show and when you rush construction, some things tend to get missed. When the desk clerk told him she’d send maintenance right up to fix the toilet he told her the problem was not a ‘broken’ toilet. No, the problem was he didn’t have a toilet at all, only a hole in the floor of the bathroom! Big oops!
- One night, when serving as the Manager on Duty, I got a call on the radio that someone was shooting off a fire extinguisher on the 4th floor. Grabbing two security guards to go with me, we headed up the elevator. When we got off the elevator, we didn’t see anyone and it was very quiet. Thinking we must have missed them, we started to head back down to the lobby. However, before we could, we noticed CO2 powder running down the corridor carpet so we followed the trail. The trail led us directly to a room on that floor so we knocked on the door. Imagine our surprise when a young man opens the door with a fire extinguisher in his hand. Talk about finding a smoking gun! Needless to say, he and his buddies had been partying in their room just a little too much. They ended up spending the rest of the night in jail…
- One Saturday afternoon, while working as the F&B Director at Holiday Inn East in Montgomery, AL, I got a call from the front desk saying someone had reported a ‘bum’ loitering in our Holidome. She asked if I would check it out and if true, politely ask him to leave. I said sure, but before I could walk out of the restaurant, one of my waitresses came running into the restaurant all excited. I asked her what was going on and she breathlessly explained that she had just see Hank Williams, Jr in the Holidome. Turned out he was the ‘bum’ that had been reported to the front desk. Evidently his tour bus had stopped next door to the hotel and he was just walking around to stretch his legs. Needless to say, I didn’t ask him to leave. Even though he did look a bit like a bum…
What about you? Care to share an unusual hotel experience?
Don’t Be A Jerk Boss! September 21, 2009
Posted by Byron in Christian Camping, Discussions.Tags: bad bosses, Leadership, leadership principles, love 'em or lost 'em
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Last week I wrote a post listing the top 10 reasons why people stay with an organization (read entire post here). In that post I referenced a book I recently read entitled, Love ‘em or Lose ‘em. In this book, the authors offer 26 engagement strategies for managers to use in helping retain good employees.
Of the 26 strategies, 25 were proactive and basically a list of do this, or do that. However, one chapter focused on what not to do. The chapter was titled, “Jerk – Don’t Be One”. Immediately below the chapter title was this, “WARNING – If this book landed on your desk with a bookmark here, pay attention!”. If you’re like me, you probably chuckled when you read that.
Unfortunately the reality is that it’s not really funny for a lot of people. The reason being, they work for a boss that acts like a jerk and it makes their work life miserable. Over the years I’ve had the unfortunate experience of working for a couple of jerks (none so far at LifeWay!) and it was not fun. In one case, it was bad enough that I was ready to quit. When I complained to my general manager he told me that I could learn as much from the bad managers as I could from the good ones. (Not sure that’s what I really wanted to hear, but looking back I think there’s a little truth in there somewhere.) Fortunately, before things got really bad, I got a promotion and was transferred to another hotel. To read more, please click here.
