Barking Up the Wrong Tree

“More Christlikeness is the only real measurement worth using in your earthly life.” – Os Hillman

Throughout my childhood, I was motivated by academic success. Whereas some of my classmates feared receiving their report cards, I couldn’t wait to get mine because, more often than not, it contained straight A’s. Getting good grades and being at the head of my class was of the utmost importance to me because I measured myself almost exclusively by my scholastic performance.

I also tried my best to please my baseball and soccer coaches. A marginal athlete who was always on the small side, I craved the positive reinforcement that came from making a good defensive play, striking out a batter, or collecting a key base hit. One simple word of praise or encouragement from Sam Hammill, Dave Straub, Ron Goldsmith, or Joe Popielarski had me floating on air… and ready to run through a wall for them.

After high school and college, I began measuring myself by other standards such as how well I did my job, how well I treated my wife, and how well we raised our kids. And when I entered full-time prison ministry, my yardsticks became how many inmates we were reaching for Christ, whether we were meeting our monthly budget, and whether the organization was growing from year-to-year. Since we were an athletic prison ministry – and I coached and played on one of our softball teams – the team’s win-loss record and my personal batting average were also critically important to me.

Next came my nascent political career, and the new measuring sticks became polls, endorsements, and vote totals. So, you can probably imagine how great I felt after winning my party’s primary… and how awful I felt after losing the general election.

Now, at age 63, I am finally beginning to understand how unimportant and counter-productive some of those litmus tests were. Yes, I still want to be the best husband I can be and the best Papa, too. But more than anything, I want to be more Christlike.

Simply put, I don’t need to conquer the world anymore. I just want Jesus to conquer me.

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me… I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12 & 14 (NKJV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President