My Dad Reflects on Crunching the Numbers

I had an unexpected and pleasant surprise in my inbox this morning: a guest post from my dad, reflecting on some of the discussion we’ve had here the last few days. I know, I promised Part 3 on confession and self-disclosure today. It’s still coming. Consider this Part 2.5. You can pick up Part 1 and Part 2 to get up to speed.

When I think of what’s made me what I am today, it’s one part my dad, one part my mom, one part being beat up by my brother, one part having a girly older sister, one part reading a lot of books, one part being pursued for years by the love of my life, one part . . . well, a whole lot of parts God worked together to come up with a little something called me. But I was highly blessed to have a mom and dad who taught me the good stuff from day one and lived it out where I could see it.

So I’m happy to break my dad out of the comment box for you today. Ignore his flattery (he’s my dad, what do you expect?) and just move straight to the meat of it.

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by Paul Willingham

Fascinating discussion.  You have the uncanny ability to take mundane things like pocket lint and Show and Tell and make us think.  It is interesting that you posted on this subject this week.  Yesterday, I started putting into words something that came to me in the car and it sort of ties into what you are discussing here.  My opening lines were going to be the words of an old hymn that popped into my head while driving to Grandpa’s last week.

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I am thinking today of that beautiful land
I shall reach when the sun goeth down;
When through wonderful grace, by my Savior I stand,
Will there be any stars in my crown?

In the strength of the Lord let me labor and pray,
Let me watch as winner of souls;
That bright stars may be mine in the glorious day,
When His praise like the sea-billow rolls.

Oh, what joy it will be when His face I behold,
Living gems at His feet to lay down;
It would sweeten my bliss in the city of gold,
Should there be any stars in my crown.

Chorus:
Will there be any stars, any stars in my crown
When at evening the sun goeth down?
When I wake with the blest in the mansions of rest,
Will there be any stars in my crown?

(Words by Eliza E. Hewitt, music by John R. Sweeney)

Underlying your foray into the realm of self-promotion is measuring performance.  That’s really what comment boxes and traffic counters are.  The hymn writer is talking performance measurement too (stars instead of traffic counters).  We live in a world where performance is constantly being measured.  Like almost everything in this world, it can be a good thing (I’m not quoting Martha Stewart) or a bad thing.  Sales quotas met or exceeded, Sunday morning attendance, earnings per share, baptisms, magazine circulation, votes, popularity polls, won-loss records, batting averages, Nielsen Ratings, performance reviews, bushels per acre, investment returns and on and on and on.

Measuring performance is important and necessary.  We all want to know how we are doing.  Performance reviews in the corporate world are designed to help the employee be more productive with positive results for the employer and (hopefully) increased salary for the employee.

Professional athletes present a classic example of performance measurement.  Hit .330 and drive in 130 runs or win 20 games with an era of 1.71 and you will be paid millions annually.  Or score 55 goals or average 35 points on the basketball floor or toss a football for an average of 400 yards per game.

Or go door to door and invite people to a new church starting this Sunday at the elementary school and in 2 years grow it to an average of 350 on Sunday morning.

There are examples of performance measurement all around us.  And it is an important part of every day life.  We need to know where we are at.  Not just for the accolades from others but it is a part of how we view ourselves.

The rub comes however, when numbers become the goal and we are driven to improve numbers by any means available.  Steroid use, inflating the sales numbers, fudging the investment yield, buying votes, corked bats, doctored baseballs, are just a few ways that numbers become more important than what we are doing.  In the spiritual world (and the political world), being driven by numbers often results in telling the people what they want to hear, not what God wants them to hear or what they need to hear.

So what do we do to keep from falling into the trap of being a slave to numbers?  Write a Pulitzer Prize level blog that no one reads or comments on?  Strike out 4 times in one game with runners on base?  Drop the potentially game winning touchdown pass?  Preach to a crowd of one?  These are all humbling experiences and can help us keep our perspective.  Humility and perspective is the key.  God wants and expects us to do our best.  Jesus did.  We just can’t let the numbers define us.  Read Paul’s performance review in Philippians 3 and II Corinthians 11:22-27.

The Apostle Paul was concerned about and understood the role of performance measurement.  But he kept it all in perspective and didn’t lose sight of the ultimate goal.  “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”  (I Corinthians 9:24-25)

Again Paul writes, this time in Philippians, “But one thing I do:  Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13b-14)  If we view traffic counters, comment boxes, attendance figures, sales quotas, RBIs, etc. with the discernment of Paul, we’ll keep performance measurement in balance and we’ll be the better for it.

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Thanks Dad!

About Paul: My dad is a retired CPA, so he knows a few things about crunching numbers. He lives in the Twin Cities with my equally amazing mom. He is granddad to three boys and five girls and is an occasional golfer, skilled carpenter, accomplished handyman and master chef. He gets together with his 101-year old dad each week to work out their latest life-enhancing contraptions and home improvement projects. It goes without saying (even though I’m saying it) that my dad and mom follow Jesus well.