Response + Able

I have been told more than once in my life that I am an “old soul” in a young man’s body, and as I observe the world around me, I believe those words are more accurate than I would like to admit.

I am my father’s son, and have been without a doubt or apology since the day I was born. In 1978 fathers were not allowed in the delivery room. They were left to wait outside, nervously pacing until the nurse would bring word of the results of “It’s a boy” or “It’s a girl.” On the occasion of my birth, my parents made it to the hospital with barely enough time to get out of their street clothes and into the pale green gowns before the nurse announced, “Doctor or no doctor, it’s time to have a baby!” A few short minutes later, I arrived into the world with my father watching over the nurse’s shoulder. The doctor burst through the door in just enough time to cut the umbilical cord. The first arms that I was placed in were my dad’s, and we have remained that close ever since.

Throughout every chapter and page of my life, my father has been my teacher, leader, defender, and friend. He has always inspired me much more through his actions than he ever has by his words. To say it simply, he behaves like he believes, and in doing so has inspired me to believe as well. My desire is that once you have finished this book, you will be a believer too.

I want you to believe in your ability to make a change no matter what is stacked against you. I want you to believe that even though you may not be the cause of your circumstance, you have the power to affect it. I want you to believe that no matter who you are, where you come from, or what you are going through, you have the ability to respond to the world around you and make a huge impact on your quality of life in the future. That’s the nature of the title of this work Response-Able. Even though you may not be responsible for where you are, you are always able to respond.

Among the most valuable lessons that my father has taught me is to always consider what you can do rather than focus on what you can’t. When you absorb all that is wrong in the world around you, it’s easy to believe that the problems world’s problems are so big you can’t be held responsible to fix them!

I’ve been taught otherwise. Each of us has a measure of responsibility on some level. Physically, financially, socially, emotionally, or spiritually, you must respond to happenings around you so that as they unfold, you are fulfilling your role as an agent for change and improvement. “It’s not my fault” has never been a suitable excuse and only leads to dead-end roads, but when you turn the final page of this book, I believe you will see why you are the person who has been chosen for the challenge, and I know you will be compelled to respond.

If your life is on a course that you would indeed like to change, you can change it. How and when you turn things around is up to you, but it is a matter of your choice nonetheless. Your destiny is yours to determine unless you decide to forfeit the privilege. The circumstances of the moment may not be of your choosing, but how you respond to them is. So I think the only natural question to ask is this: What are you going to do now?

The question “What are we going to do?” is asked often but is seldom settled. It is used concerning all matters both great and small, and everyone wants to know, “What are we going to do?”

The daily questions:

• What are we going to do about dinner?
• What are we going to do on Friday night?
• What are we going to do after church Sunday?

The financial questions:

• What are we going to do about the mortgage?
• What are we going to do about retirement?
• What are we going to do about the children’s college expenses?
• What are we going to do about the rising cost of health care?

The national and global questions:

• What are we going to do about government spending?
• What are we going to do about the worldwide threat of terror?
• What are we going to do about the global economy?

No matter how mundane the daily questions, or how deep and thought-provoking the financial, national, and global questions, these questions often seem more readily answered with the old tried and true: “I don’t know. What do you want to do?” The point? Until you are willing to take a position of personal responsibility in your situation, you will not be able to determine or achieve the outcome that you’re looking for. You will always have the terms dictated to you, and believe me, there are plenty of dictators in the world just looking for an opportunity to control your future. Whether they get their chance or not is truly up to you. As long as you are able to respond, the outcome is up to you.

There isn’t an area of life that doesn’t require a response. We are required to respond. We must respond politically. We cannot afford to continue abusing the future generations of this nation for what seems to be popular and convenient today. We must have the courage to abandon the mind-set of entitlement and embrace a lifestyle of political integrity.

With the proper response in government, we can then create needed change economically. From my earliest years my father made it very clear that you cannot spend what you do not possess. You may say, “Ah yes, but what about credit?” You do not spend on credit; you borrow against it, and what you are borrowing against is your future ability to pay for what you have claimed today. Currently we have borrowed against our future fortunes… against our children’s and our children’s children’s futures to an amount that staggers the mind to calculate. You may feel as though it is your right when you turn eighteen to swipe a plastic card and dig yourself into a hole you will never get out of, but regardless of what you’ve seen others do, you are responsible for your own financial well-being and must be able to respond by taking the position If I don’t have it, I can’t spend it.

When you live an economically responsible life, you will find more resources are available to enable you to impact change and take responsibility in other areas also. The number one answer as to why people do not do more is because they do not have more to do it with.

What if the churches of America had enough resources to feed every hungry person in their cities? What if they had the resources to educate every child who desired to be taught in an environment where respect for God was encouraged rather than opposed, shunned, and oppressed? What if there were opportunities for churches to create jobs to empower people to help change the lives of others and to give everyone the opportunity to give back in the same way that they had received? Many of you might think that kind of world is beyond the realm of reality. In the pages of this book I want to show you that through personal responsibility and a proper response, you can revolutionize the world around you.

We must be response-able in the arena of education. One of the most powerful statements I have ever read concerning education came from a self-taught man who got his primary education in a log cabin in Illinois reading from the Bible. Abraham Lincoln said, “The philosophy of the classroom today will be the philosophy of government tomorrow.” Without a doubt, the education system in this country has to turn around, and it’s our responsibility to do it.

Did you know today’s elementary school students are being introduced to Greek mythological deities, but the areas of reading, writing, and mathematics are being neglected? Colleges and universities are filled with international students who come from nations with barely 10 percent of the resources we have, and they have come to study how to shape the futures of their nations. Yet our homegrown students are failing the entrance exams. If we were to look closely at the impact the educational system in this country has had on America’s future, we would have to consider it an act of war! Unless we respond, the futures of our children, their nation, and their world will be a change we answer for.

Hopefully in this book you will begin to see how all of these things are interconnected. They are like the waves created in a small pond when a large rock is thrown in. At first there seems to be a bit of a disturbance, and then the circles get larger and larger until the entire surface of the water is changed. So, where is the rock that needs to disturb these waters? Where is the agent of change who is waiting to be engaged? That’s where you come in! If we are going to change our world, our nation, our politics, our economy, our society, our education, our current situation, and our quality of life tomorrow, you are going to have to get in the water. The time has come for this generation to take responsibility for tomorrow, and the response begins with you.

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