An Adventure in Proverbs - Chapter 16 - Rudy T style

Pride goes before destruction,
    a haughty spirit before a fall.

The appetite of laborers works for them;
    their hunger drives them on.

Today's selection is two separate verses (18 & 26) that work together and reminded me of one of the great moment in Houston sports History. The Rockets second Championship season.  After Rudy's squad won an unlikely 2nd championship in a row Rudy gave an amazing speech (you can read it here) that ended like this.

"While our opponents were talking trash and guaranteeing that we would loose, when we had the upper hand, we did it the right way. We stayed HUMBLE and HUNGRY."

Rudy could have been reading straight from Proverbs 16. The warnings against pride and for hard work in the Proverbs are numerous. Life experience and much observation have proved to me that hard work + humility does result in success. It has the added bonus of earning you respect and friendship along the way. What else could you ask for but to have worked hard, had some success and made deep friendships along the way? 

Enjoy the Rockets second championship, including Hakeem Olajuwon hitting a three at the end of the game to sweep the Orlando Magic in four games.

An Adventure in Proverbs - Chapter 15 - Team Sports

I'm a big fan of team sports. While I enjoy individual sports, if there is ever an opportunity to play as a team, I'll pick that option every time. Running is an individual sport and at this point in my life it's the only sport I participate in regularly. A few years ago I had the opportunity to run in a 12 person relay race across 230 miles and it was a blast. Why? Because whenever you get to do things with people and work together towards a common goal, that just makes the experience that much better. When it comes to big decisions in my personal and professional life I prefer team sports as well, which is a segway to the verse I chose from Proverbs 15:22.

NIV
Plans fail for lack of counsel,
    but with many advisers they succeed.

The Message
Refuse good advice and watch your plans fail;
    take good counsel and watch them succeed.

Too often I've seen calamity take place in friends and coworkers lives when it could be avoided by consulting a few trusted friends or colleagues. In any situation where we are required to make a decision we can always use others input, because we only see thing from one perspective. I'm continually surprised by insight I get into sticky situations, topics, issues and events by including others in the conversation. Even more so when I get the perspective of someone who disagrees with my initial opinions. I think one of the great crimes of growing older is that we naturally begin to surround ourselves with people, ideas and inputs that we already agree with and we start to shut out the people we know we don't agree with. We essentially surround ourselves with "yes" people and don't let anyone or anything challenge our ideas and opinions. This doesn't make our ideas and opinions stronger, it actually makes them weaker because they aren't tested anymore. It's like a muscle that goes unused, it gets weaker. So bring on the counsel of wise advisers and make sure you get some dissenting opinions in your life every once in a while to keep you fresh.