On one side of town, she gently lays her graduation gown over the passenger seat. Sliding behind the wheel, she backs out of the driveway and drives the familiar roads to her graduation. She passes friends’ houses where she played, elementary schools she attended, and the park. She smiles, remembering a special day at that park. It was a windy Saturday, perfect for a family picnic and flying kites. It was her first experience with kites, and she could remember her dad’s instructions. He said, “The wind will carry your kite, but it is up to you to run and get it started. Then, just hang on.” She blinked a tear in disbelief that she flew that kite over ten years ago.

On the other side of town, he throws his graduation gown through the open window of his truck. He pushes a stack of T-shirts, empty fast food sacks and receipts over so he could sit down. He pulls out of the driveway and hurries to graduation. He drives past the fields where he played ball, trails where he rode his bike, and the pond. Looking at the pond, he remembers a Saturday afternoon when he and his dad launched a homemade sailboat. The morning was spent cutting the wood, fitting the pieces, and setting the sail. As they let the boat into the water, he remembers asking his dad, “What do we do now?” Dad said, “Son, you’ve done all you can by getting the boat ready to sail. Now it is up to the wind to determine where it goes.” Looking back to the road, he couldn’t believe that launch occurred over ten years ago.

In some respects, life is like a kite in the air or a boat adrift on a pond. Where we go and what we do will be determined by certain winds of life. Now before we go any further, don’t let the analogy of winds confuse you. Natural winds are beyond our control, but personal winds are not. Personal winds are the ones we generate such as the winds of attitude, change, values, and forgiveness. These four winds of our own making will either direct our lives into life’s storms or out of them.

This is evident in the life of Joseph. His story is recorded in Genesis 37-47, and the course of his life was determined by the winds mentioned above.

The Winds of Attitude

I’d rather not be grouped with other authors and speakers who believe that positive thinking is the answer to all life’s problems. However, you can’t avoid stories where a wrong attitude created problems and a right attitude resolved them. This is where we find Joseph in Genesis 37:5-8. The winds of his attitude are about to stir up a storm of trouble for him.

5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”
8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

Joseph was exceptional in many ways. He was handsome. Rabbinic literature says he was endowed with knowledge beyond his years. And, he was Daddy’s favorite. You remember that he received his coat of many colors. Some believe all his ability and attention produced a “better than thou” attitude in Joseph. This attitude would soon change the direction of his life—a direction he would not like. Yet, this direction would teach him a valuable lesson about his attitude about others and himself.

A wise mentor once said, “Remember, there will always be someone worse off than you just as there will always be someone better than you. If you want to go far in life, treat others as you would want to be treated.”

The simple Bible truth, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is a course setter. Henry Kissinger became Secretary of State and internationally respected because his motto was, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, PLUS 10%.” On the other hand, we have yet to find the body of Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa because his motto was, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, ONLY WORSE.”
Your attitude about yourself and toward others will set the course of your life. When Andrew Carnegie hired Charles Schwab to manage his steel empire in 1897, Schwab became the highest paid employee in the world, earning a million dollars a year. Someone asked this former mail carrier and grocery store clerk what equipped him to earn $3,000 a day. He said it was his ability to inspire others—his ability to work with people.

Your attitude toward yourself and others will chart the course of your life. Thus, to be certain you have the right attitude, remember the two greatest commands of the Bible. Jesus said they are “… to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.… (And to) Love your neighbor as yourself…” (Matthew 22:34-40). If you see God and love Him this way, you will see others with His eyes and love them His way.

The Winds of Change

Joseph did not do this with his brothers, so he experienced the winds of change. Just as the direction of the wind can change so quickly, so did the conditions of Joseph’s life. You see this in Genesis 37:23-28:

23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the richly ornamented robe he was wearing— 24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.

26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.

28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

It’s surprising how much your life can change in a single day. Here, Joseph’s brothers have taken him and thrown him in a cistern. They planned to leave him there to die until Judah changed their minds. Instead they chose to sell him to the Midianites who, in turn, sold him as a slave in Egypt. In one day, he was stripped of his many-colored coat, nearly killed by his brothers, and sold as a slave. It seemed he had lost his family and his future in one day. He had been hit by the strong wind of change.

Of the five winds mentioned, this is the only one beyond our control. No matter how hard we try to forecast change we cannot predict it. In 1950, Fortune magazine asked eleven distinguished Americans to predict what life would be like in 1980. In 1950, America had $3 billion in the bank. None of the eleven predicted we would be billions in the red. David Sarnoff, Chairman of RCA, predicted that by 1980 homes and all forms of transportation would be atomically fueled, and that guided missiles would transport our mail and freight overseas. Henry R. Luce, editor-in-chief of Time magazine predicted the end of poverty, and John von Neumann predicted that all energy would be free.

I cannot predict the changes you will go through in the next thirty years. However, I can safely predict you will experience many changes. Just as Joseph’s changes were beyond his control, many of your changes will be beyond your control. Yet, how you respond to change is always within your control.

The old phrase “Never say never” never applies to God. Let me offer you three “NEVER”s which will help you when you face a change in life.

1. GOD WILL NEVER CHANGE! Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” Acts 1:11 promises “…this same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven will come back….” Though people and situations change, God never changes.
2. GOD NEVER BREAKS PROMISES! Hebrews 6:18 says that “ít is impossible for God to lie.” “Though others may not, I will keep all my promises.”
3. GOD WILL NEVER ABANDON YOU! When ambushed by change, you feel alone or abandoned. God promises throughout the Bible, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Jesus said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

When the unpredictable winds of change alter the course of your life, you can survive. When you feel out of control, hold onto my three “NEVER”s and you will make it.

The Winds of Values

After arriving in Egypt, the winds of values directed Joseph’s life more than any other. Joseph’s values were based on protecting two relationships. They were a right relationship with God and a right relationship with others. Read Genesis 39:6b-10.

6 …Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

8 But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

Joseph’s abilities and trustworthiness placed him in charge of his master’s house. When his master’s wife wanted to have an affair with him, he said, “How could I destroy your husband’s trust, and how could I sin against God?” He knew the value of two relationships—his relationship with others and his relationship with God.

Bestselling author Steven Covey was asked by a young bank president to come and determine why morale was so low. Bright and charismatic, the president had worked his way through the ranks only to watch it crumble around him. He told Covey, “No matter what incentives I provide, they won’t shake off the doom and gloom.” The typical response of the employees was, “How can anyone trust what’s happening here?” Listening to employees, Covey learned the reason for the low morale. This bright, young, charismatic bank president was married, and yet was having an affair with an employee. Everyone knew it. Bank morale was bankrupt because the employees did not trust the president. If his own wife can’t trust him, how could they?

Listen to this formula. The level of your values will determine the level of trust others give to you. The level of trust you are given will determine the level of success and peace you experience in life. Yet in one way, this formula for success does not hold up. That is, if those around you do not share your values. The wife of Joseph’s master lied saying Joseph had an affair with her, and Joseph was thrown into prison. In prison, Joseph could have said, “Look where my values have placed me.” He could have thrown them away, but he didn’t. As a result, the warden placed Joseph in charge of all the prisoners and prison activities. While in prison, he correctly interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker. When Pharaoh needed someone to interpret his dream, the cupbearer called for Joseph. Joseph interpreted it and was placed second in command of all Egypt.

Wherever Joseph went, he was given great responsibilities because of his high level of trust. Joseph had a high level of trust because his values were based on a right relationship with God and with others.

To be sure the winds of values keep you on a favorable course, ask yourself three questions. FIRST, “Is it right in God’s eyes?” Though a consensus may say one thing, God may say another. You must do what is right in God’s eyes. SECOND, “Is it fair to others?” It may be more profitable, but may not be fair. If you choose to do what is fair, it will also be right in God’s eyes. THIRD, “The Bible is your book of values.” Read it daily. It will help you use the winds of values to chart the course of your life.

The Winds of Forgiveness

Just because you protect your relationships with God and others doesn’t mean you will be free of conflict in relationships. How you handle conflict in relationships will also chart the course of your life. I call this the winds of forgiveness.

Joseph gives us an example in Genesis 42-47. A famine strikes the land and Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt for food. Joseph recognizes them. Instead of enslaving them, as they did him, he forgives them. Listen to what Joseph says to them in Genesis 45:4-7.

4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”

Joseph will send for his father Jacob, and Pharaoh will give Joseph and his family the choicest land in all Egypt. All of this would have been impossible without the winds of forgiveness.

An employee of John D. Rockefeller made a two-million-dollar mistake. When word seeped out, other employees avoided Rockefeller. However, one had an appointment with him and had to face him. Fearfully, he stepped into the office and saw the great oil baron writing notes. The employee said, “Mr. Rockefeller, I guess you heard about the two-million-dollar mistake.” Calmly Rockefeller replied, “Yes. I’ve been sitting here listing all our friend’s good qualities on this sheet of paper, and I’ve discovered that in the past he has made us many more times that amount he lost us today by his one mistake. His good points far outweigh this one human error. So I think we ought to forgive him, don’t you?” The benefits of the relationship warranted forgiveness. In my opinion, it will every time.

If you fail to forgive, you chart a course to sail the sea of bitterness with fewer hands on deck. If you choose to forgive, you chart a course to sail the ocean of contentment with all hands on deck.

Responding to the Wind

Before closing, it would be good to return to the words given by the two dads. One told his daughter, “The wind will carry your kite, but it is up to you to run and get it started. Then, just hang on.” These are good words to hear. The last seventeen plus years has been your running start. The winds of attitude, change, values, and forgiveness are going to hit your kite. I can’t tell you which one or when. Sometimes, it will seem too strong to handle. So, my best advice is to hang on with godliness for, in time, winds change.

The other dad told his son, “Son, you’ve done all you can by getting the boat ready to sail. Now it is up to the wind to determine where it goes.” Your parents have been preparing you for years for this moment. Your life is being set on the pond of life. How you respond to these four winds will determine where you go. Respond well. Make right choices.