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As a result of following this well thought out advice, we are able to determine with no real need for variance what to do when someone violates the code of conduct. Our written code for discipline kicks in. I didn't give them a verbal warning. They CHOSE a verbal warning, etc., etc, when they determine to violate a written policy that has a clear cut code of conduct attached to it.

Thus, at RU International, my personnel decisions are limited to what is not written in our guide. And when that happens, you can be sure a new policy will be written that will cover that decision from that point forward. Why? It is because I don't like having to make that many decisions. Let the decisions make them themselves.

This is especially true in our Schools of Discipleship (www.ruhomes.org) In these homes we place over 100 men and women students and graduate program participants into a proverbial pressure cooker. They awake at AM and journal for an hour, work for 9 hours, eat, chapel, church or discipleship class and go to sleep by 10. This is their life for 6 days a week. Now folks, I got five children and it is tough getting five kids and a wife to church on time, imagine getting 110 adult addicts with behavioral problems to church on time. But it happens, with nary a tardy person, to church, to chapel, to bible study, etc., etc.

Do you think that happens without interpersonal incidents? Yeah, right! We have issues every moment of every day. I would have to sit in a chair with a line a block long to "decide" how to handle each person's case if I didn't allow my policies to make my decisions for me.

With that truth in mind, let me tell you have I came about having an aversion to making my own decisions all time. At the age of 8, I was saved and was immediately placed under leadership that made all of my life's decisions. As I matured in age, I thought somehow these decision makers in my life were leading down a path that would someday cause me to miss out on something. So at 18 I rebelled against this system of following the God ordained "people's" in my life. (Note from Steve: I use people's not to appear disrespectful of God ordained authority, but to offset the word policies with a word that is like sounding phonetically.)

I took over all my decisions, and my life spiraled to destruction over the course of ten years. God was longsuffering with his demolition. My decisions were so bad my life should have been destroyed in two years! At the age of 28 I walked back into the church of my youth and moved back into my parents basement. I had come full circle and here I was under the same "people's". Not one of them was different! How odd. They were ten years wise and I was ten years stupider!

It was at that time I realized there was a Book that had made all the decisions in my life. Each decision within that Book tells us every good thing that what will happen when we follow His direction and every bad thing that will happen when we don't. So, I determine that I was NOT going to be held accountable for any more bad decisions. Thus I made the most logical choice for a young, confused and desperate man:

I turned all my decisions over to His polices as determined by my "people's". I stopped making decisions and I started making appointments! I looked to my parents, preachers, teachers, employers and even the government for all my decisions in life. This decision is what is referred to as God's Umbrella of Protection. And now, when my "people's" make a bad decision for me, which for them would be a failure to follow Biblical protocol, I am protected from the damage it could do.

Why is that? Because I don't need any leader to cooperate with God for me to get exactly what God wants me to have. My leadership, that is to say my "people's", can make mistakes in my life every day and I will still be blessed by God. I am not called to do exactly as I want. I am called to obey God empowered inside persuasion and God ordained outside pressure. And that protects me from the elements.

In life and in work, there are His policies and His people. These policies and people are God's way of developing us into all that He would have us to be, without much need for daily decision making.

Don't be a decision maker, be a decision taker. And that for me has made all the decisions, er' I mean difference!

Here is a book that I wrote on this truth. It is entitled "The Umbrella Fella. Overcoming Sin through the Power of IN". visit the following link: http://www.ruistore.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RO&Product_Code=CE-123&Category_Code=BK

A PRAYER FOR TODAY: "Lord, help me today to recognize when faced with difficult decisions that you have a plan for me. You did not intend for your children to live our life without a very distinct chain of command. Help me to realize I have someone else to go to besides the Lord. Lord, as I go to my authority to seek your face in areas where I cannot clearly see it, would you please give them the wisdom to discern your will on my behalf. Likewise, Lord, help me to recognize the role I play as an Umbrella to those underneath me. Give me wisdom as I discern for them your direction with or for them your distinct direction in their lives. Protect us all from the influence of the enemy or from self centered views in making our every decision in life. I pray this is the bloodstained name of Jesus, Amen!"

A QUESTION FOR TODAY'S MEDITATION: "Do I disobey God in anything?" Pause and let the Spirit prompt you with your answer and if He shows you an area, ask yourself this question. "Why am I choosing to disobey God?"

Have a wonderful day IN the Lord,

Steven Curington