What are Your Core Values?

They are the Foundation of Your Business

I was having a discussion with a sub-contractor. They were venting their frustrations with a general contractor they had worked for. This GC bid the project low to get it. Then after getting it, continued raising the price through change orders.

The sub-contractor felt this was dishonest and unethical.

Core values are the building blocks that make up the foundation your business is built on.

Core values are fundamental beliefs. They are your guiding principles. The definition of CORE is the central or most important part of something. This is the most inner part of who you are. This is also the most inner part of your business.

It’s like your conscience. Deep down, on the inside, who God made you to be. VALUES are the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something; a person’s principles or standards of behavior; one’s judgment of what is important in life and business.

You choose these values. How you want to be, how you will treat others, etc. This doesn’t mean they have to be good. Some people’s values may be selfish or greedy, but regardless, we choose what values we will live by.

A wise person builds their business on a solid foundation. The rain can pour down, rivers flood, and the winds beat against the business. But if it’s built on a solid foundation, it will not fall. (Matthew 7:24-25)

Bad core values will not support the business in the long term.

The foolish person builds their business on the sand. The rain can pour down, rivers flood, and the winds beat against the business. It will fall with a crash. (Matthew 7:26-27)

The core values that my business is built on are a collection of some things that I’m naturally good at and some things…not so much. I’m constantly working to get better at all of them.

These things are in alignment with what I believe God wants from me and my business.

These core values, other than the first one, are in no specific order. Some you may recognize as quotes or common sayings. Others derived from things I’ve heard or experienced. All of them are values I hold high and am striving to live out daily. Here they are:

  1. Honor God in all that I do
  2. Pay attention to detail
  3. Spend time wisely, there is a limited amount
  4. Never be satisfied with mediocrity
  5. Find and maintain the balance in everything
  6. Build the wall one brick at a time
  7. Remember that I have two ears and one mouth
  8. Avoid drama
  9. Be accountable
  10. Take off the blinders, be more observant
  11. Make all I can, Save all I can, Give all I can
  12. Intentional action

You can find out more details about these core values by following the links above.

Build your business on a solid foundation!

This post includes excerpts from my previous post, Using Core Values as My Life Filter.

We Need to Build Our Lives on a Solid Foundation Using the Right Cornerstone

The Problem is That Most Amateurs Think They Know More Than the Builder

As a builder I understand the importance of building on a solid foundation. Sure, it’s harder and takes more work than building on sand. Amateurs often look at the quicker, less expensive way of constructing. The problem is that the short-term gain isn’t worth the long-term cost.

The same is true for building the best life.

In Luke 6:47-49 Jesus tells us that listening and obey Him is like digging down and building our lives on solid rock. But anyone who hears what He says and doesn’t obey is building their life on sand. When the storms of life come, they will be washed away.

Over the past several weeks Pastor Lisa has been taking us through the book of Luke. This week’s message is focused on Luke 20-21.

Throughout the book of Luke, the Jewish leaders of the day were continually trying to trap Jesus.

The same is true in this week’s Scripture. In Luke 20:1-16 we see them once again questioning Jesus. They ask Him who gave John the right to baptize. Of course, He, being Jesus, knew what they were trying to do so he answered their question with a question. Either way they answered it was going to get them in trouble with somebody.

Jesus went on to tell a story about a man who owned a vineyard and had rented it out. When it was time to harvest, the owner sent a servant to pick up his share of the grapes. The renters beat him and sent him away without the owner’s share.

After having the same thing happen to a second servant, he sent his son. The renters, thinking they were smarter than the owner, decided to kill his son thinking that they would inherit the vineyard.

Jesus tells those listening that the owner will then have the renters put to death and rent the vineyard to someone else.

Like the renters in this story or the amateurs building on sand, we often think we’re smarter than God.

The people listening to this story were outraged at the renters and said, “This should never happen.” Jesus looked right at them and said, “Then what do the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘The stone the builders tossed aside is now the most important stone of all’? Anyone who stumbles over this stone will get hurt, and anyone it falls on will be smashed to pieces.” (Luke 20:17-18)

Here we are, back to the importance of a solid foundation.

This most important stone that Jesus is referring to is called the cornerstone. A cornerstone is the first stone laid in a foundation. All other stones will be set, referencing the cornerstone to determine the position of the entire structure.

The Jews listening to Jesus would have had the Psalms memorized and would have immediately thought of Psalms 118:22 and the stone that the builders tossed aside.

This sounds a little like the renters above, doesn’t it?

We can choose to be like the renters and the amateur builders, or we can build our lives on a solid foundation using Jesus as our Cornerstone.

Having a Plan for Building Something isn’t Any Good if You Don’t Use it

The Bible is a Blueprint for Building Our Best Life

We live in a world of idea bombardment, and it’s hard to sort through it all to know what is real. We see things on the news, social media, the internet, and TV programs. We hear things from our family, friends, neighbors, and community. So many different opinions.

The world thrives on conflict.

How can we determine what is real and what’s not, what’s right and what’s wrong? This is a subjective question that can be hard to answer. Who do you believe and why?

Just like building a structure can be done in a variety of different ways…so can your life. Ultimately some things work, and some things don’t. A house without a roof is going to get wet inside when it rains. A house without a foundation is not going to stay standing when the ground erodes.

A house built on a solid foundation will weather the storm.

Back to the question of how can we know how to build our best lives? Just like building a good building, we need a plan…a blueprint. Just like how a building project doesn’t go well when the blueprint is ignored, so it is with our lives and ignoring the Bible.

The Bible is our blueprint for building our best life.

Using a blueprint requires some work. Just because you have a blueprint in your office doesn’t mean it’s going to help you if you don’t get it out and use it. This doesn’t mean that unrolling it and flipping through the pages is enough…it’s not. You need to study it, learn it, and implement it or the building will not turn out well.

The same is true for life. If we don’t get the Bible off the shelf and study it, learn it, and implement it, our lives won’t turn out well.

A good builder doesn’t just look at the blueprint once and then put it away. There are questions and problems that come up constantly throughout the project. He uses it every day until the project is finished. The more he studies it, the more he knows about what is expected.

We should use the Bible in the same way. We should study it daily so that we know what is expected.

Another problem that can happen with blueprints is when a builder doesn’t fully understand or misinterprets the blueprint. Just looking at the foundation plan doesn’t tell us about the roof. Just looking at one page of the print will lead to mistakes in the construction as well as subcontractors being led to do the wrong things. This is why it’s important to ask questions and discuss it with the architect and other builders.

This happens with the Bible as well. We can’t just pick and choose a verse here or there and not know the whole plan.

You need to take the whole Bible into account so that you don’t make a mistake when building or lead others to.

Blueprints let us see what the architect expects from the builder. He shares all the different aspects of a building and how they should fit together. A builder who has built buildings before can begin to think he knows how to build and doesn’t need a blueprint. Inevitably this is when mistakes happen and can be very costly.

God is the architect of our lives and when we begin to think we know more than Him problems are sure to happen.

A builder must decide if he’s going to trust the architect’s plans or not. He can ignore them and build the building however he wants. The problem is…the building doesn’t belong to him, and if it’s built wrong, he won’t get paid.

The same is true for us. We have free will, and we can live our lives however we want.

The problem is, in the end, the payment we receive will be what we earned.

Use the Bible as your life blueprint. Get it off the shelf, study it, learn it, ask questions, and build your best life.

This past Sunday, Jim Miller shared the message to “Just Tell Them the Truth”. Here is a list of Scriptures that he used throughout his message.

  • Matthew 6:33
  • 2 Corinthians 11:2-3
  • Ephesians 4: 14-15
  • Colossians 2:8
  • 2 Timothy 4:1-4
  • Hebrews 2:1
  • Revelation 2:4-5
  • Revelation 3:3
  • Romans 3:23
  • Romans 6:23
  • Romans 5:8
  • Romans 10:13
  • Romans 10:9
  • Romans 12:1-2

You Can Choose to Accept Love or Not

Just Know That Not Accepting, Makes It No Less Real

There are too many people out there who have not experienced real love. For whatever reason they find themselves in situations that may be called love but is not.

I’m fortunate to have been blessed with a loving biological as well as church family. God knows that I did nothing to deserve it. It’s part of a bigger plan that only He knows. My part in this is to share this love with others.

Love is the foundation for everything.

In Matthew 22:34-46 the religious leaders of the time had lost sight of that foundation. They had gotten caught up in the worldly perspective of the law. They overlooked the foundation the law was built on.

Not that the law isn’t important, because it is. It just isn’t the foundation. They were loving the law more than God. They were attempting to make God into their image of what they wanted Him to be. Be careful to not love the law more than God.

In Verses 37-40 Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your soul, all your heart and all your mind. …Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and writings of the prophets depend on these two commands.”

This sounds a lot like a foundation.

There was a young Christian man who wanted to share his faith with others. Not being super educated or sophisticated, he was surprised when he felt lead to share the message of Christ with a brilliant local attorney.

When he attempted to share his faith, the attorney laughed at him and had an argument for every point the young man made. The young man realized he was in over his head and felt ashamed for thinking he could do this. In his shame he gave up and as he left, he said,

“I just want you to know that I came here because I love you.”

Within a few hours of the young man going home and shutting himself in his room, the attorney showed up and knocked on the door. The young man’s wife tried to get the attorney to leave, but he was adamant about speaking with the young man.

When the young man came out to speak with the attorney he said, “I suppose you’ve thought of some more arguments to prove your point.” The attorney said, “No, I just want to know more about your faith.”

The young man said, “Every time I tried to tell you, you came up with an argument that I couldn’t answer.” The attorney replied, “Yes and you came up with an argument that I couldn’t answer.”

When you said that you loved me…I couldn’t argue with that.

God is love. He saved us out of His great love. You can accept or reject it, but it doesn’t change the truth of God’s love.

You can’t argue with God’s love!

Which will you choose? To accept it or not.

A Cornerstone Is the Foundation of the Foundation

What Is the Cornerstone You’re Building Your Life On?

Getting distracted and losing our focus is easier now than ever before. We are flooded with information that can wash away our foundation if we aren’t careful.

This even happened when Jesus was alive. In Matthew 21:33-46 Jesus points out to the priests and church leaders that their foundation was eroding and going to collapse if they didn’t get them aligned with the Cornerstone.

The cornerstone is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone.

The Cornerstone determines the outcome of the entire structure.

The foundation is the most critical part of building. If the foundation isn’t square and straight the building won’t be either. It is critical to refer back to the foundation constantly and repeatedly.

The quality of the foundation determines how we make it through the storms of life. A wise man builds on the Rock not the sand. Building on the Rock will allow us to better weather the storms.

The kind of foundation we build on is up to us.

What if we started our building on a poor foundation? It’s not too late. Remove the bad one and put in a new and solid one. Our lives are under construction until we die. The sooner the foundation is corrected and aligned with the Cornerstone the better. Don’t wait…

Build your life on The Cornerstone!

Building Your Life on a Solid Foundation

Core Values Are the Building Blocks of That Foundation

We’re currently working on designing a process for grading or scoring our production teams. We’ve been considering this for years.

One of the parameters that we’re looking to base this system on is our companies core values. As we were discussing those core values, I realized that I hadn’t finished sharing our core values with you. (I got busy fighting hot fires.)

Important things become less urgent when we get sidetracked fighting a hotter fire.

In January of 2017 I wrote about using core values as a life filter. In that post I defined what core values are and shared ours. Core values are a combination of things you are good at and come naturally. They also consist of things that you aren’t so good at but deep down you know you should be.

CORE is – the central or most important part of something. This is the most inner part of who you are. This is like your conscience. The deep down, on the inside, who God made you to be.

VALUES are – the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something; a person’s principles or standards of behavior; one’s judgment of what is important in life. This is the part that you choose. How you want to be, how you will treat others, etc. This doesn’t mean they have to be good. Some people’s values may be selfish or greedy.

You can choose what values you will live by.

Here are the foundation blocks that I am building my life and business on.

1 – Honor God in all that I do

2 – Pay attention to detail

3 – Spend time wisely, there is a limited amount

4 – Never be satisfied with mediocrity

5 – Find and maintain the balance in everything

6 – Move the mountain one shovel full at a time (Sharing the shovels)

7 – Remember that I have two ears and one mouth

8 – Take off the blinders, be more observant

9 – Intentional action (the importance of intentionality)

10 – Avoid drama

11 – Be accountable

12 – Make all I can, Save all I can, Give all I can

Like building a building…you can choose the foundation your life is built on.

Like I said earlier I neglected to finish sharing our core values with you so…I’m holding myself accountable (#11) and going to share the last three over the next few weeks.

People Are the Foundation of the Church

Jesus Is Building “It” On Believers

In Matthew 16:13-20, Jesus asks those following Him, “Who do people say that I am?” Peter’s answer was “You are the Christ, the Son of God.”

Who do you say that He is?

Jesus tells Peter, “You are the rock on which I will build my church.”. This is the first time that “church” is used in the Bible. Too often, people think of a building when they hear the word church.

Jesus was not talking about a building when He spoke about the church. He was talking about believers. People who believe that He is the Son of God. Too many people think of church as a building.

Jesus was a liar, a lunatic, or Lord.

C. S. Lewis said in his book, Mere Christianity that…

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse….”

Believing that Jesus is the Son of God makes you one of the foundation stones.

There is a responsibility that goes with being part of this foundation. The weight of the church rests on it. The more blocks that are in the foundation the lighter the load is on each block.

The load appears lighter to those who choose not to be a part of the foundation, in reality, the load we carry alone is much heavier. The load is lighter when it’s shared.

If we choose to be a foundation rock, we have a responsibility to the other rocks. To share the load with the other foundation stones while showing those who aren’t yet, how to be one.

We have a responsibility to be the best foundation that we can. It’s our fault if the building falls down.

Round Three of the Construction Questions

 

 

These Are About the Physical Process

 

This is the 3rd in the series of answering the questions asked by the Scout group. The first week we discussed the willingness of these young people to ask questions, unlike most adults. Last week we answered some basic construction questions.


As was the case last week, most often answers to questions need answers to other questions. With this being a one-sided conversation, I’ll answer these questions without having any specific answers to additional questions.


Do you hire the electrical/plumbing or does the owner?


This will vary on each project and will depend on the customer’s needs and goals, but as a general contractor I usually provide subcontractors. As an example of varying between projects, the owner of the project we’re currently working on is a retired electrician, so he’s doing the wiring on this project.


What equipment do you use most often?


I think the piece of equipment that I use the most often is a hammer. Some people would probably consider equipment as something motorized or powered. According to Collins dictionary, “Equipment consists of things which are for a particular purpose,” which would include a hammer. If you insist on only power tools being equipment, the second most used piece of equipment would be a cordless screw gun…there are you happy. 😊

 

Do you prefer to use more manual or electrical equipment?


Here we are again, manual vs. powered. I definitely “prefer” using electrical equipment or most any power tool over manual. Power tools make most tasks they’re used for easier. However, depending on the task being performed in some cases the manual tool is better suited and more productive. For example, you shouldn’t use a pneumatic nail gun as a hammer to drive a board into place.


How do you dig a foundation?


The size of the project will usually dictate how the foundation will be dug. If the project requires moving a large amount of dirt, for example a basement, then typically a large excavator (link) will be used. If it’s something smaller, we would most often use a mini excavator. (link) If the project is small enough or inaccessible to equipment then it could be dug by hand with a shovel.

 

 


These next three questions relate to the dangers of construction.

 


Where are the dangerous places on a construction site?

 

Everywhere on a construction site is dangerous. Sure, some are more dangerous than others, but heights are among the most dangerous. Falling is the number one cause of construction site injuries. Some other dangers on a construction site are; power saws, pneumatic tools, electricity, heavy equipment and cave ins of ditches.


How often do injuries happen?


This answer depends on how we want to define “injury”. Some people would consider a splinter an injury. For this answer I’m going to define injury as something requiring medical attention, i.e. stiches, broken bones, requiring a doctor’s attention, etc. During my forty plus years in construction I have personally witnessed or actually been injured 8 – 10 times. If I take that number of times over the forty years, that’s .000137%. As dangerous as construction sites are and as much construction that’s done, surprisingly it’s not as often as one might expect. The key is working smart and safe.


Have you ever broken a hard hat?


This is one of the most interesting questions asked and easiest to answer. I can answer it with a resounding NO. This is not to say they can’t be broken, but it takes a lot to break one.

 


There are still several questions left to answer so next week we’ll look at types and specialty forms of construction.


If these questions raise additional questions for you, send them to us in the comments below and well answer them.

 

How Can I Know Who I Am and What I’m Here For?

 

 

 

 

 

By Digging Down To the Foundation

 

 

 

Who am I and why am I here, are questions that we’ve all asked. Finding the answer is the tricky part, not to mention we may not like the answer once we find it.


We will never know who we are until we determine WHO’s we are.

 

 

There are a lot of lost people wandering around seeking purpose in money, a job, a relationship or some other worldly treasure. Not that any of these worldly treasures are wrong, in and of the themselves. The problem is when we build our lives on them. Making these things the most important is like building a house on a sand foundation.

 

 


Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:24-27, what happens if we build on sand. He tells us to build on the Rock. If we use Him as our foundation everything we build is solid and steady.

 


To use Jesus as our foundation requires us to get to know him. The more time we spend with Him the better we will know Him. Just like parents, grandparents, spouses or children, after spending large amounts of time together you recognize them by their smell, shape, voices, actions, etc. The same is true for spending time with Jesus.


The Master Architect has designed our lives, it’s up to us to read the blueprints.


This past week was youth Sunday at church and Hannah (the youth leader) gave a super message. Here’s a link to a short video titled “Who I Am”, by David Bowden that she used as part of the service.


Who are YOU and what are YOU here for?

What Are the Rules That You Live By?

 

 

 

They Will Be the Building Blocks in Your Life’s Foundation

 

 

 

We all make choices everyday about how we will live our lives and how we will treat those around us.


Often, we adults make things more complicated than they need to be and it’s really pretty simple. All we really need to know we learned in kindergarten, just ask Robert Fulghum.

 


Here’s a partial list:

  • Share everything.
  • Play fair.
  • Don’t hit people.
  • Put things back where you found them.
  • CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
  • Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
  • Say you’re SORRY when you HURT somebody.
  • Wash your hands before you eat.
  • Flush.
  • Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

 


These are just good common-sense things that will be great foundation blocks for building a better world.

 


We can make a big difference by doing small things, even though at the time it might not seem like it. The story of the young boy and the starfish is a good parable that makes this point.

 


“One day, an old man was walking along a beach that was littered with thousands of starfish that had been washed ashore by the high tide. As he walked, he came upon a young boy who was eagerly throwing the starfish back into the ocean, one by one.
Puzzled, the man looked at the boy and asked what he was doing. Without looking up from his task, the boy simply replied, “I’m saving these starfish, Sir”.
The old man chuckled aloud, “Son, there are thousands of starfish and only one of you. What difference can you make?”
The boy picked up a starfish, gently tossed it into the water and turning to the man, said, “I made a difference to that one!”

 

 

Use good blocks for building your life.