Author: jcudd14

It is funny how things work. Maybe it is funny how God works in your life. Whatever it is, it’s ironic how things happen sometimes. I’ve had this topic on my heart for the last week or so and today at church our preacher’s sermon was along the same lines as what I was wanting to write about. So that convinced me to go ahead and roll with this topic.

I’ve thought a lot lately about what our responsibilities are right now. I know responsibilities are broad. Responsibilities at work, home, church, or exactly what? Well I think those can all be related. I don’t think it has to be just one of those. Our responsibilities in several, or all of those areas, can be very similar. We can look and see what God wants from us by reading the Bible. What I have thought a lot about lately is what our responsibility is as Christians in this current time we live in. What can we do to make things better? What are we called by God to do, not only in times of struggle but all the time, that could help make things better? We have so much going on right now in our country. That is no secret. There are so many different opinions and ideas and division among people. It’s really sad to see, but true.

In Romans 12 Paul talks about our personal responsibilities. In Romans 12:9-21 it says, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

I know that was a lot of verses to take in. But I didn’t feel like I could leave any out. I think they all apply to our lives right now. We (and I say we as a whole, obviously not every person everywhere) have gotten to the point that if someone has a different opinion than we do, we hate that person. We can’t seem to agree to disagree anymore. It’s all or nothing. If someone is not on the same side of the fence as us on whatever the issue may be, we are finished with them.

It is like our preacher said today, we can’t overcome evil with more evil and be in line with what God wants us to do. There are so many of the verses above we could break down and analyze. We could see perfect examples of how we could put that into practice in our lives. But then we could find ways that we don’t put these into practice in our lives because we let the world influence us into thinking it is OK. It is OK to wish bad things on people that don’t agree with what we do. It is OK to fall into the trap of the evil things that so many people are doing right now. If someone wrongs us, it is easy to not bless them. But we see here how we are commanded to approach that situation. But do we do it that way? Do we bless those who persecute us? Do we live in harmony with one another? Do we live in peace with one another?

This has just hit home lately as I have watched what has happened to our country. It breaks my heart to see so much division. Instead of all being on the same page and wanting to go in the same direction, we are so far apart in so many areas. Being on the same page and wanting to go in the same direction doesn’t mean that we agree on everything. But that does mean that we have the same goals and principles in mind. Love God and love your neighbor. I have talked a lot about that in this blog. These are just more verses that talk about that same thing. Loving your neighbor doesn’t mean we agree with them on everything they believe or do. We can still love the person, which is what we are commanded to do. Something so simple, yet we make it so difficult sometimes. Sometimes we aren’t very lovable and sometimes we struggle to love.

Sometimes, or maybe a lot of the time, we don’t love those who wrong us. But, what if God treated us when we wrong Him like we treat people when they wrong us? Have you ever thought of that? We love the fact that God loves us no matter what we do. We mess up daily. We sin against Him daily. What if He reacted to us the way we react to others when they wrong us? How would that make us feel? I have thought about that a lot lately. I have thought about all the evil and hate there is right now and how we as a whole treat other human beings. What if God treated us that way? There wouldn’t be much hope of anything good after this life is over.

I recently text someone I know who is going through a tough time. She has a lot on her plate right now. It is a time that is very stressful for her. I just text her that I was praying for her and I really looked up to and admired her for what she does and how she does it. I told her Kristin and I really admired her Christian example that she was in her personal life as well as in her profession. I read her reply over and over numerous times. The more I read it the more I was uplifted. I text her back and told her that it’s funny how God works. I text her to encourage her and I’m the one encouraged. That’s what it’s all about. You never know who you might get to influence with just a positive comment or text. I don’t know if she meant to do that or not, but she did. The comment she made and the encouragement she gave me will serve me well as we navigate through this crazy and unpredictable school year.

Let us all be mindful of these verses in Romans 12. I encourage you to read them over and over. I have today and I take something new from it each time I do. Let us lift each other up. Let us love each other, even when we don’t agree. We can still love the person even if we don’t see eye to eye with everything they say or do. That’s what God does. He loves us, even when we fail day after day. He is still there to pick us up. He will never leave us. Let us remember to leave the judgement to God. Let us leave the revenge to God. But instead, feed people when they are hungry and give them something to drink when they are thirsty. I would love to see what this country would look like if we all would try to overcome evil with good!!!

As I started my teaching and coaching career as a 23 year old rookie I thought I knew it all. I had it all figured out already. After all, I had played baseball at a high level. I knew exactly how to do things. My players would do exactly what I told them to do because I told them to do it. Not because I would take the time to teach them what was best, but just because I said so. I had no plans of becoming an administrator at that point. I was going to coach forever. But, in the event that I did become an administrator, teachers would do what they were told to as well, just simply because that’s what they were told to do. Students would be the same way. It wouldn’t matter what type of relationship I had with them. I would make the decisions and they would do what they were told. There are times when tough decisions have to be made in leadership roles and they may not always be popular. But, what type of relationship you have with those people you lead is really important to how those decisions go over. Do they know you really care about them? That will determine a lot. When I had kids, they would do exactly what I told them because I would be their dad and that is how it worked. I, like many others, have been guilty of telling my kids, “because I said so, that’s why.” When I do that I think, man, that’s great leadership dad (insert the emoji of the face in the hand). I could not have been more wrong. It takes a lot for me to admit that too. But it is true. I had a false sense of what a true leader is and does. I had been so wrapped up in what I was doing and that I was going to play baseball forever that I hadn’t really paid much attention to how the leaders I had in my life did things, even though I had some great ones. Life has gotten so much better since I put myself aside and was enlightened on leadership, and actually paid attention. Am I perfect at it now, nope. Far from it in fact. But, the day I quit trying to get better at it, I am going backwards.

The definition of a servant is: a person who performs duties for others. Leadership is defined as: the action of leading a group of people or an organization. As I took classes to obtain a master’s degree in order to become a principal, I learned a lot about a concept of combining these two things. I knew what serving others was. I also knew what leadership was. I had been in situations before where I had served others. I had also been in leadership roles a lot to that point in my life. But to be honest, I had never really thought about combining those two and the importance of that combination. I’m going to preface this whole post by saying that I am a long ways from where I want to be as a servant leader, but also a long ways from where I was that day when I was first introduced to this concept. I had a professor during my time in that program that I really respected and still quote a lot of things he told us during those classes to this day. Mr. Andy North was really big on servant leadership. I remember a number of classes where this was discussed at length and examples were given of how this looks in real life. It opened my eyes to a whole new view of what it means to be a leader. So whether you know it or not Mr. North (not sure if he reads this or not, but giving him a shout out anyway), you had a huge impact on me and the way I have done things from that point forward.

Servant leadership is defined as: a leadership philosophy in which the main goal of the leader is to serve. This is different than the traditional style of leadership where the leader focuses on the success of the company or organization that they lead. While that type of leader can be successful, what I learned during my time in these classes is that it might not be the most effective. A servant leader shares power with others and develops a relationship and trust with those they work with in order to make everything as efficient and effective as possible. A servant leader truly cares about those they work with and takes the time to seek to understand them deeper than just what is on the surface. More times than not, I would say those relationships and that mutual respect gained with this type of leadership style proves to be the difference in the success of whatever it is they lead. These deep and meaningful relationships can sometimes be life changers as well. This type of leader is always looking for ways they can serve those they work with and improve as this type of a leader.

The style of leadership that someone chooses to lead with is obvious when it comes to leading a company, business, or an organization. Those types of things are typically on display in a more public way. But, what about how we lead in a personal way. Someone might say, “I am not really in any type of leadership role.” Well, the reality is that everyone is in a leadership role. We all have an opportunity to lead. It doesn’t have to be a business. In fact, sometimes those other types of leadership roles have more of a lasting impact on people than we could ever imagine.

Do you have a family? Do you have children? Do you have friends? Do you have a job? Do you attend church? The list could go on and on, but if you answered yes to any of these then you are a leader. You have the opportunity to impact people by how you do things every single day. Whether you want to admit or believe it or not, you are a leader. We all are. It is like I have said in here before, we are going to impact people every day. Whether it is good or bad is completely up to us. We are also going to lead people every day. It is up to us whether that is good or bad as well. It is all well and good to talk about this. But, the question I had when I was taking those classes was how this looks in real life. What does that look like on a daily basis? In the business world a servant leader looks at the way they can help others. They look at how they can make others better at what they do. They look at what they can do to make everything more successful with a group effort instead of it being an individual effort. They look at how they can lift others up and everyone work together to go in the same direction for the benefit of all involved.

But, I don’t think this only applies to the business world. In fact, I believe the most important leadership role we have is our role as a Christian. What better way to find out how to do this than to look at the Bible. Why not look at the greatest leader this world has ever known, and that is Jesus Christ himself. How did He approach His role as a leader?

In John 13 Jesus washes the Disciple’s feet. In chapter 13:12-15, after washing the Disciple’s feet Jesus says, “Do you not understand what I have done for you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” Jesus was, is, and will be the only person to walk the Earth as a perfect human and He was looking for ways to serve others.

In Matthew 20:25-28 Jesus is teaching about serving others. He says, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus mission was to serve others. A true leader has a servant’s heart. A servant leader realizes that they are not above any job. I have worked in public schools for a long time. I have seen many different types of leaders along the way. Some good, some bad. I am a lot more aware of this now that I am in a larger leadership role myself. One of the most impactful leadership examples I have seen came in the cafeteria one day. The cafeteria had a worker call in sick. They were one short and it was going to be very difficult to serve lunch in an efficient manner being a worker short. This was before I was an administrator, but I would soon become one. So I was really interested in observing different leadership styles. In fact, during this time I was taking those classes so leadership styles were fresh on my mind. So that day I went to the cafeteria to get my lunch tray. When I got to the serving line I saw the superintendent in the serving line. He had gloves on (didn’t have a hair net because there was no need for that for obvious reasons) and he was serving mashed potatoes. A student asked him what he was doing and he said they were short handed and needed help so he was happy to do it. He could have went and found someone to do that job, but he decided to do it himself. That’s a picture perfect example of what a servant leader does!!!

In my opinion, without a doubt, the most selfless act I have ever heard about goes back to the greatest leader I have ever heard about. Jesus death on the cross was the ultimate example of servant leadership. What Jesus did for all of us cannot be matched by any of us. But, it can serve as a prime example of the approach we should take to serving others. I have said in here many times that life comes down to loving God and loving people. Everything else falls into place if we do those two things. Jesus died for us out of love for us and with a servant leader’s heart. Our goal every day as a Christian is to be more Christlike. We should work on modeling all aspects of Jesus life. Being a servant leader is a great place to start.

My challenge to everyone this week is to look for ways that we can be a servant leader. Look for ways that we can put ourselves aside for the good of others. This has been on my heart a lot lately with the start of school nearing. There are so many uncertainties with the upcoming school year. Leadership is going to be very important. I know several educators read this blog and I want wish all my fellow educators a great school year. I said earlier I am a long way from being where I want to be in this aspect of my life. Whether it is my professional life or personal life, I can always improve at this. I would be willing to bet that everyone could say that. But, how much better would this world be if everyone really and truly focused on this for one day. One week. One month. Then what if it became a habit? What if it became a way of life for a lot of people? That might just make a huge impact on a lot of lives in a positive way. This week, look for ways to serve. Be aware of opportunities to serve others. Strive to be more Christ like in every way, beginning with serving others! It might just be contagious!!!

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We have raised chickens for several years now. There is nothing better than farm fresh eggs, if you like eggs. But, naturally living in the country we have numerous varmints that frequent our ponderosa. So we have went through several chickens over the years. We are currently down to one chicken thanks to a recent critter getting the rest of them. We aren’t sure what it is, but we intend to figure it out soon. This one chicken refuses to go back into the pen that they have been in for a long time. That tells me that something traumatic transpired in that pen recently that caused her little chicken friends to be no more. So this one chicken, the lone survivor, the winner of the survival of the fittest chicken competition on the Cudd ranch, is now a loner that just roams around everywhere. It’s really kinda sad, but it just rocks the single chic life like it’s no big deal.

I got up a few mornings ago to work out. I went out to the garage to get on the elliptical. I did this just as I have done countless times before. I got the podcast I was listening to brought up on my phone. I stepped on the elliptical. After step number 1, I found out that our lone chicken had roosted in the garage on a shelf about 2 feet from my head. I had no idea it was there. It didn’t make a peep. Didn’t flinch a bit. Until I took that first step. Then it went to squawking and yelping and flapping its wings (insert whatever chicken noises you feel are appropriate right now). You can just imagine the fear this would inflict on a person that did not expect this. I just about fell off the elliptical before I could not so gracefully get off of it. When I freaked out the chicken came down off the shelf. I immediately went and opened the door that leads to outside and chased that chicken around the garage until I got her out of there. After I recovered a little bit and my heart rate dropped back down to a safe level, I got back on the elliptical to continue my workout.

I say that to say this, as Christians we have to expect the unexpected. If you haven’t seen 2020 as an example of this, I’m not sure where you are living, but it’s not around here. 2020 has brought us many challenges. The most notable one is the coronavirus. It’s not just the virus itself, but everything it has changed. There have been so many plans changed and ways of life altered. So many people have what they feel is the right solution or theory on all of this and they want to tell the real professionals how to do their job. There have been health experts and data collection experts and all sorts of other kinds of experts that have come out of the woodworks during this time (sense the sarcasm?). But, the reality is that no one really knows for sure. If there is one thing that I have learned during this whole ordeal, it is that I don’t know. I get asked all the time about all sorts of things concerning school and sports and numbers and statistics and whatever else there is to look at. My common answer is “I don’t know”. I don’t know what the right answers are. I’m not going to try and outdo the health experts. They obviously know way more about this than a high school principal and baseball coach does. I’m not going to criticize the people that collect and report data for how they do their job. I don’t know any more about how they do their job than they know about being a principal or baseball coach. All I can do is pray for those people and pray that God will give them the knowledge and wisdom to lead us in the right direction concerning this situation. So that leads me back to “I don’t know”. None of us have all the answers. We just have to do the best we can to navigate through this unprecedented time.

As the last few months have unfolded and we have had some awkward and uncomfortable times, it reminds me of our Christian walk. As a Christian, our most uncomfortable times are usually when we grow the most. That is when we are challenged. We can either rise up and meet that challenge head on, or we can stay comfortable and not grow. During the last few months we have had information thrown at us from so many directions. You can look at any article with any take on it and then turn around and find the opposite take within a matter of minutes. We have heard different information on how you can contract Covid-19 and how it spreads and if masks work or they don’t work. We have heard different ideas about if certain tests work or don’t work and if people can get it twice or not. There are so many things out there that we don’t know what to believe. Being a Christian is similar to this. We can get caught up in what someone else says is acceptable or accurate or we can stick with what they Bible says. II Peter 2:17-18 says, “Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be he glory both now and forever! Amen.”

We have to expect the unexpected. We have to know that there will be people that will try to challenge or rattle our faith. We have to be prepared to defend our faith. There are always going to be people that want to pull us down. During challenging times are when we can grow. The last few months are no different. We have a chance to be a positive influence on people by how we treat others. We can get caught up in the complaining and the negativity that a time like this can bring. We can also use this time to be an example to others of how to handle this situation. It doesn’t always have to be with words either. Proverbs 17:27-28 says, “A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered. Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.” This isn’t always easy to do. It is easy to be critical of how someone handles a situation or to throw out our opinion of things and just assume that it is right. We have seen that a lot the last several months during the situation we have been in. We see here that is not always the best way to go about it though. We learn more when we are silent. When we do that we then gain more knowledge and have more in common with those that are wise. Perhaps then when we do speak, it has meaning.

My challenge this week is to try to be more silent. Not silent in a way that we sit back and do nothing. But, in a way that we sit back and try to learn. We try to gain knowledge from those that are wise. We try to learn from those that we look up to that live by the Word of God. When faced with a sense of uncomfortableness, we need to take that as an opportunity to grow. We need to face that challenge head on and with the attitude that we will make the most of this situation. I also challenge everyone this week to look for an opportunity to share Jesus with someone. This happens when we expect the unexpected. We should look for those opportunities to be a true disciple of Christ. I truly believe those opportunities are there a lot and we just don’t always notice them. I see them a lot of times after the fact. The reason I didn’t see them in the present was because I wasn’t truly looking for them (kinda like a roosting chicken in your garage). We can all get better at that. Take advantage of the opportunities we are given to share the Gospel and always expect the unexpected, even if it’s a sneaky little chicken!