Serving Your Tribe!
“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. “
John 13:14
Today we are going to go deeper into how to serve your tribe, what a tribe is, and how to keep God in the center of all of it.
Let’s start with what a tribe is.
A long time ago, in lands across the world!
Just kidding.
When I think of tribes I think of the native Americans.
Here in the states our schools pretty much only associate native Americans with tribes. Or at least the schools I went to.
I want to change the way you think about it though.
Webster’s defines a tribe as a group of persons having a common character, occupation, or interest
If we take that definition, we have lots of tribes in our lives.
I am a huge fan of Russell Brunson and Tony Robbins, so I am part of their tribe.
My family and church are also part of my tribe.
Not to mention everyone on our team at Eclipse DOT, DOT Docs.
What about everyone who reads our devotionals from God First Life, are they part of our tribe?
YOU BET THEY ARE!
In all actuality, I am involved with multiple tribes and am actually the leader of several tribes myself.
Just like you are. (can’t see it, try digging a little deeper)
NOW, let’s get into the real meat of this.
Are you ready??????
Ok, how do you serve your tribe?
There are tons of ways to serve people.
Jesus did it by performing miracles throughout his life. He also did this by washing the feet of his disciples.
Not to mention what he did on the cross was most definitely a service for all of us!
So how can you serve your tribe?
Let’s talk about the tribes I belong to and how I serve them. (Maybe that will spark some ideas for you.)
My Family: this tribe is by far one tribe that I am dedicated to and it is super easy to serve them.
A few ways that I serve are to provide the best life I can for them. I can do this by working hard, showing up when they have something special planned, going out of my way to help them, helping them to build their core values (not mine), giving them a firm foundation for life, and letting them fail occasionally so that they can learn. (Man, I should write a whole devotional about that, maybe I will.)
Those are just a few ways that I can and do serve my immediate family.
But remember that my family is much larger than just my wife and kids.
It extends out to my parents and brother, my wife’s parents and brothers. Then it goes out to our parent’s parents, our parent’s siblings, and their kids. Then even further to my grandparent’s parents, my grandparent’s siblings, their kids, and their kid’s kids. It just keeps growing!
I think you get the picture.
We could stay busy simply serving our families. Especially if you have teenagers, lol!!
Another tribe that I serve is our Eclipse DOT and DOT Docs tribe.
These are our employees, their families, our customers & their families, potential customers and their families, vendors that we work with & their families, the groups we support and their families, and so much more!!
You might be asking why everyone’s amily is included in who we serve.
Let me explain.
Let’s just say that you get that dreaded letter from the federal government stating that you are getting a DOT audit.
It might cause a little stress, am I right?
You know I’m right.
Then what happens to that stress?
You take it home with you, right? (Again, you know I am right)
So by removing that stress from you our team and level of service are affecting our client’s family.
Our level of service to the people in those tribes is HUGE! That’s why we don’t take it lightly.
What about our communities? How can we serve them?
Well, there are easy ways of serving by going out and cleaning up or helping anyone in our community that is in need.
We see people all the time (especially around the holidays) go to soup kitchens to serve for a day. Or we see them take time to do a roadside clean-up once or twice a year.
There are other ways of serving our local community too.
One is to simply see a need and fill that need.
When you walk by a piece of trash, in the ditch, in a park, or outside your house. Pause and pick it up then throw it away.
Maybe when you see that someone is hungry you can give them a little cash to go buy lunch. What I have found is that the ones who need a little help are too proud or scared to ask for it. So don’t look for the beggar on the corner. Look deep into your community and see who really needs the help.
I could go on forever about serving your tribe, but I won’t.
The last thing I want to bring up about serving your tribe is..
Think outside the box.
Most of us look for the easy solution. (Hey, I do EVERY day!!!)
But when it comes to service they have to be more creative. Don’t do what everyone else is doing. Go the extra mile and over deliver to every tribe that you belong to.
Take Action
It’s that time again. Time to take action!
So here’s what I want you to do.
First off identify the tribes that you belong to.
Go ahead I’ll wait while you write them down, seriously I’m waiting.
Alright.
Now I want you to make a quick list of ways that you are serving them already.
What are you waiting for? go ahead and write them down. (if it helps set a timer for 2 minutes and write all that you can write until it goes off)
Done?
Perfect!!!!!
Ok now comes the hard part. For each tribe I want you to list one thing outside the box that you can do to serve that tribe even better.
Here is mine:
Tribes: Family, Eclipse DOT / DOT Docs, God First Life, Community
Family: Set a quitting time each day and NEVER work past that time. Set a time where I no longer answer work calls on my phone. Take them with me more on work trips. Do something special for each kid and Jenna.
Eclipse DOT / DOT Docs: Do everything I can to make each team member feel like they are family. (not the bad family, but the ones you truly want to spend around). Lead by example for our clients and team. Think of ways to serve our tribe. Ask them how we can serve them better.
God First Life: continue to bring devotionals to them weekly. Daily post scriptures on social media. NEVER stop talking about God First. Show my love for God in everything that I do. Bring more events to our area.
Local Community: Give back more! Continue to be a leader in 4-H. When I see someone in need I do not hesitate to help them.
Outside the box:
Family: Teach Nathen to drive a standard transmission. Support Billy with his falconry dreams. Be there for Brianna in her crafts and encourage her to continue to start TONS of projects. Guide Jacob to learn his true potential (that kid has got some MAJOR charisma). Take more walks with Jenna, slow down, and be PRESENT when I am with her.
Eclipse DOT / DOT Docs: Go the extra mile, even if it costs more.
God First Life: Write a book about keeping God First in every aspect of your life
Local Community: Be looking for the opportunity to serve, I know that God has HUGE plans for us. So I need to be ready to take ACTION when he calls
Prayer
Lord, God, Father in heaven. Today we come to you with full hearts. Our hearts are full of love for you and everything you have ever created. Yes, that includes ourselves. We are so grateful for the way that you serve us, your tribe. Your service to us cannot be described in words. You have definitely over-delivered time and time again. We are grateful for that.
God, today we pray that you would continue to serve us. Continue to show us how to serve our tribes. Continue to allow us to serve our tribes. God, we also pray that you would help us to grow our tribes! Help us to share your words. Help us to serve more people every day. Lord, you are so amazing, and the creativity that you have you share, and we are beyond grateful that you chose to share that with us.
Lord, today I would like to personally pray for the world. I know that you are in control of everything, and that brings me great comfort. I know that you have it all under control, but I would still like to pray for our country, pray for our leaders, and pray for those who will have leadership thrust upon them in the times to come. I pray that you help your world and the people in your world to see you alive in everything and everyone.
God, I pray that you help us to serve our tribes the same you serve your tribe!
We ask all these things in your precious son’s name.
Amen
A Little More
Let’s start with a little humor that just hit me from Jeff Foxworthy.
A person from the south, I tell you what
Normal person, What?
Southerner, I just told you!
Normal person, confused beyond belief
Anyways.
I started writing this section last September (2021) and I have enjoyed this as much as I have writing the actual devotionals.
For a couple of reasons.
It allows me to just be free.
I don’t HAVE to have a point. I just got to write a little story. Sometimes it relates to the devotional, sometimes it doesn’t even try to connect.
To
ANYTHING!!!! Lol
So if you are actually taking the time to read this far, I’d like to say, HANK YOU!
I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.
If you don’t enjoy it, WHY THE HECK ARE YOU READING IT? HAHAHAHAH
Let’s get this started. Shall we?
As you probably know, about 6 months ago I started taking flight lessons. Why not throw one more thing into my schedule. Raising a family, running a business, building software, and growing a Christian non-profit just wasn’t enough.
What you probably don’t know is that I actually went up on 2 discovery flights on the same day last spring (2021).
I liked the first one. It happened on a nice calm morning. 0 winds, beautiful sunny day. The air was like glass.
The second one that same day with a different instructor, was a little too much though.
The plane was busy until about 1 pm. And if you know Colorado in the spring, there is ALWAYS afternoon wind.
We took off out of Durango (Animas Air Park) and flew out over the house.
It was a little choppy. (Especially for a newbie!)
As we flew back towards Durango we hit a few bumps. The flight instructor didn’t even spill his coffee.
Me on the other hand, I almost wet my pants.
Looking back, I set some pretty high expectations for myself that day. In the end, I was the real issue.
If I would have simply been going up to enjoy the scenery it would have been a completely different experience.
Instead, I had told myself that I HAD to learn to fly to save us time as a family because flying cuts down the time spent on the road. That would open up the world to us even more.
There was so much to look at and do. I mean this little ole single-engine Cessna 172 had like 10 gauges and the steering wheel didn’t work on the ground, but it did in the air. Then through the rudders in there. I mean I had to use my feet and my hand at the same time, watch all these gauges, and NOT DIE!!!
I was a little overwhelmed, to say the least.
So I got scared and didn’t go back for another lesson. Two in one day was all I could do. I just accepted that I would not be able to fly my family around.
Then at the end of November Billy came to us and said, I’d really like to try flying! Any chance I can go on a discovery flight?
I called Mick in Farmington, set it up, and asked if I could ride in the back seat? He said yeah no problem.
I got in the back seat and absolutely loved the flight!
It was so cool to just sit there and watch.
Shortly thereafter I started taking lessons, and we worked Billy in when we could.
I got to the point where I was solo flying (flying by myself). Then I got this wild idea, let’s buy our own plane!
I had a few things that had to work though.
- It had to be able to carry 6 people so that I could haul our whole family in one trip.
- It needed to be able to carry all of us (including 2 HUGE teenagers) safely
- It couldn’t cost me an arm and leg
- It needed to be safe
- This is just a beginner plane
So I started looking for planes.
I found some I loved and showed them to Mick and he was super nice. Yeah, I love them but can you get insured on them?
What insurance do I have to get insurance? Lol
Found out I was just like a teenager again (in the flying world) and it was CRAZY expensive to get insured on some of these machines.
So I prayed and kept looking.
We found a Twin Engine Cessna 320, that I could actually get insured on that did cost an ungodly amount either.
We went out and picked it up in California, and I was in the honeymoon phase the whole way home! Just like a little kid in a candy store. Not really understanding what was going on, just sitting there enjoying the ride.
Then after we got it home, Mick looked over at me and said, are you ready to start flying this beast?
HECK YEAH.
Guess what, we went out and I got up in the air. Then it hit me again like a ton of bricks. HOLY COW WHAT DO ALL OF THESE GAUGES MEAN?
There were now over 30 gauges that I had to watch. Some were three gauges in one, some were in different places, and some were digital!
I was overwhelmed again! (Apparently, I get overwhelmed easily. Lol) Not to mention the rudder pedals were way touchier than the single-engine I was flying before!
I took a few steps backward and said, let’s start with the basics again. Help walk me through this Mick!
That was a few months ago. Now we have flown up to Idaho as a family and are working on planning more and more trips with this amazing new tool that we have.
I guess my whole point to this is that when we first start something new, things seem harder than they actually are.
After we get the basics down it goes smoother and smoother until we seem like a pro!
What we have to do is NOT give up when things get hard. We need to push through the hard parts because that is where we have the most growth.
I would also say that having a good guide (coach) is HUGE in pushing forward.