IT'S NOT FOR THE GIPPER

IT'S NOT FOR THE GIPPER

You might think that I have lost my marbles ... hang on ... stay with
me. President Ronald Reagan used the phrase often ... "Win on for the
gipper" or "Let's do it for the gipper." One of Reagan's nick name was
the "gipper" coined after a baseball friend whose name was George Gipp.
He died at an early age from a throat infection.

Before dying he told the coach that someday they were going to be
playing with their backs up against the wall and not sure what to do.
Tell them to go out there and "do it for the gipper."

Some of us get frustrated in life in the areas where we work. We THINK
we are doing what we do for a boss or an organization or a Board. We
work and serve in an imperfect world surrounded by imperfect people and
sometimes forget who we are really serving.

"Abraham Lincoln once made these two statements, as he evaluated the
decisions he was making in his attempts to heal a worn-torn nation:

'I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at
the end, when I come to lay down the reins in power, I have lost every
other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that
friend shall be down inside me.'

'I do the very best I know how; the very best I can; and I mean to keep
doing it to the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said
against me will not amount to anything. If the end brings me out all
wrong, then a legion of angels swearing I was right will make no
difference.'

'Whatever you are doing, and in whatever conversation you find yourself
engaged give it:
* Your whole heart
* Your undistracted attention
* And your maximum energy.

Give your all to each task you choose to do; give you best creativity to
each idea you ponder. You may not be the greatest success in the world,
but you will have made a success of YOUR world." (from "God's Little
Devotional Book for Leaders"

But it goes beyond that ... the bottom line is that we need to
continually remind ourselves of what the Apostle Paul says ... "And
WHATEVER YOU DO, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not to men ... And
WHATEVER YOU DO in WORD or IN DEED ... do ALL in the name of the Lord
Jesus ..." (Colossians 3:23; 17)

Today, go out and give it your best - not for the gipper, but for the
Lord!

Great quote: It has been well said that no man ever sank under the
burden of the day. It is when tomorrow's burden is added to the burden
of today that the weight is more than a man can bear. Never load
yourselves so, my friends. If you find yourselves so loaded, at least
remember this: it is your own doing, not God's. He begs you to leave the
future to Him, and mind the present. -- George Macdonald