But what if it's REALLY not my fault?

In my last post, I talked about taking ownership for our mistakes, not blaming others, and avoiding the phrase "it's not my fault!"

Well, what happens when it really is not my fault? Let me give you an example:

The last month we've had some drama with our churches' dumpster. The company that dumps it each week had a catastrophic break down on their only truck set up to dump dumpsters. Then the replacement truck they purchased caught on fire and burnt up. The replacement replacement truck has also had mechanical problems. They've come a few times with a pick up to take some trash, and our Master Commission students have taken some loads. But, for the most part the dumpster has been full during this time.

At some point in all of the this some trash blew off the top of the stack and into the brush along the edge of our parking lot. Now, I could blame the dumpster company for not honoring their contract with us, or I could blame the person who continued to stack trash on top of an already full dumpster. I could even blame the wind for blowing the trash around.

But, what good would any of that do? The dumpster company is doing the best they can. The person who put the trash on top of the pile was trying to be helpful by taking the trash out. The wind... Well, I'm not sure how it would work to blame the wind...

Really, it doesn't matter whose fault it was. The bottom line is that there was trash there. It looked... well, it looked trashy.

One thing was for sure, it wasn't my fault. There was no mistake on my part to take ownership of. But... I'm a member of Wasilla Assembly of God. This is my church. I couldn't take ownership of the mistake, but I could take ownership of the solution. I could take ownership of my church.

It took me 2 minutes and 1.74 seconds to pull over there with my truck, grab the trash out of the brush and take it over to the dumpster. (I timed it with my cell phone.) Two minutes. That's it. I took ownership of the situation and got it fixed.

So, maybe it is truly not your fault. That does not mean you get to be a victim and sit back and play the blame game. 'Cause here's the deal: You can be 100% right and still be 100% wrong.

So maybe your boss is a horrible manager. That doesn't mean you can be a lousy employee. Maybe your parents don't understand. That doesn't mean you get to be a rebellious teen. Maybe your spouse has issues. That doesn't mean you are justified in having an emotional affair with a co-worker.

The problem may not be your fault. The solution is completely up to YOU.