Once upon a time there was a man who lived on the streets. He had one old sweater and a torn pair of old jeans. There were holes everywhere.
Over the years teams of street ministers would try to get him to come in to the shelter to get some new clothes but to no avail.
Everyone could see he needed to change his clothes; everyone but the man himself. They cajoled him. They pleaded with him. They prayed for him.
One team even bought new jeans for the man and tried to get him to put them on for his own good.
But instead of being grateful for such caring and loving acts of human kindness, the man just got angrier and angrier.
Soon, even the kindest street teams stopped reaching out to him. Then one very cold winter night an ambulance driver picked the near frozen old man up and drove him to the emergency room.
Once there, the driver asked the old man why he would never accept the new clothes, why he would never change. And the old man replied, "These were my fathers jeans I just didn't know anything else would fit."
On some level, in business or in our relationships, sometimes we are wearing our father's "genes". It takes a very brave leader to look at his torn "genes" and choose to throw them off.
Perhaps you got the "anger" genes or the "I am always right" genes. Maybe you got the "I am a failure genes" or the "you will never succeed" genes.
You may have gotten the "it's my way or the highway" genes. At first we do not realize we are wearing someone else's "genes". We just pick it up from our parents or our other relatives or our teachers or our coaches.
But eventually, we are doing things just the way they did with the same results. Relationships get shattered and success eludes us despite our valiant efforts.
I know this is true because I saw my own father wear his father's "genes". Despite being a charming brilliant man, he was an angry man. It was in the last year of his life when he finally asked me for help. He said, "I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do."
My answer to him was simply, "Just say you are sorry. Just say you are sorry." After a short pause my father said, "I'm sorry...I am sorry."
That day, he shed his father's "genes". Within a month he died. The morning of his death he called me at the office, which he never did. We had a very pleasant chat. He died soon after the call.
My father only got to wear his new "genes" for a very few days. Please don't wait that long to receive the gift that comes with your new "genes". Live the life God has planned for you and don't live the broken life of your relatives and teachers.
God has a plan and a purpose for your life and I am convinced that overcoming your family "genes" may be a part of His plan for you.
Just say you are sorry, ask for forgiveness. Accept the loving care of God's ministers of peace, His angles. God loves you.
God's purpose never fails.
Be on Purpose,
