Today is the fifth anniversary of the passing of my father. He would be 100.

I am well aware of the great blessing of having him as my Daddy. His story is one of hard work and success. He started off dirt poor, worked his way through college, served as a county extension agent, USDA staff person and progressive dairy farmer. I think he’d be most proud of being a good father though.

He was a meek man. Not a pushover mind you but someone who was quiet, thoughtful, funny, and strong. He did not have to have his own way or be number one. He was a great teacher. I know not everyone had this incredible blessing so I thought to remember and honor him today I would share a very key “Hughism” that means a lot to me.

“Once you decide, don’t look back.”

He would tell us this and he meant it. There is nothing we can do to change the past. We have to accept it and move forward. And it can be very, very hard to do this. He would look at a dead cow in the pasture and quietly say “That cow’s dead and that cow’s not coming back. Let’s move on.”

Too often we let something in our past grab hold and wrestle us away from our future.

I’ve seen it in teams. I spent a chunk of my career implementing computer systems for corporations. Inevitably, the old system could be horrible but when they started using their new system, people longed for their old system. They kept looking back. If you’ve ever gone through one of these conversions, you know going back is not an easy option or a very good one usually. Spanish explorer Hernan Cortes (More about Hernan Cortes) destroyed his ships to keep his men from returning to Cuba and not achieving their exploration mission. It’s a story that I’ve used to help teams move forward.

Lately, I’ve enjoyed the new album from For King and Country titled “Burn the Ships”. The lyrics of the title song are very appropriate. Here’s a snippet.

Step into a new day
We can rise up from the dust and walk away
We can dance upon our heartache, yeah
So light a match, leave the past, burn the ships
And don’t you look back

So long to shame, walk through the sorrow
Out of the fire into tomorrow
So flush the pills, face the fear
Feel the wave disappear
We’re comin’ clear, we’re born again
Our hopeful lungs can breathe again
Oh, we can breathe again

Step into a new day
We can rise up from the dust and walk away
We can dance upon our heartache, yeah
So light a match, leave the past, burn the ships
And step into a new day
We can rise up from the dust and walk away
We can dance upon our heartache, yeah

So light a match, leave the past, burn the ships
And don’t you look back
And don’t you look back
And don’t you look back

Songwriters: Joel David Smallbone / Luke Smallbone / Matt Hales / Seth Mosley
Burn The Ships lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc, Capitol Christian Music Group

Check out the full song here…

Burn The Ships

I hope you can burn whatever ships’ are out there for you. Personal, professional, whatever. Stop looking back at them and move foward.

Blessings…