Houston’s is my favorite restaurant. And it has been for a long time. I first ate there during my college days in Atlanta, more than 30 years ago. And in the more than 30 years that I have been eating at Houston’s, I can count on one hand the times either the food or the service has been disappointing. I absolutely love what they do and how they do it. So whenever I am traveling in the United States, I almost always try to see if that city has a Houston’s.

Earlier this year my wife and I traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina to attend the funeral of my Uncle William in nearby York, SC. Not long after we landed, I immediately checked to see if there was a Houston’s nearby. Since my google search was unfruitful, I navigated to the Houstons website, looked on the locations tab, but alas—no Houston’s. I was crestfallen. But I made an unexpected discovery on the Houston’s website that helped me understand why I love that restaurant so much. In the “about” section of the site, I read this captivating paragraph about the thinking of George Beil, the man who founded Houston’s in 1977:

George and the small organization set out to carefully add locations, emerging from the company’s new southeast home of Atlanta, into cities like New Orleans, Houston, Dallas, and further on to Florida, Kansas City, Chicago, and New York. With the contribution of many talented individuals, Hillstone grew in a deliberate manner, eschewing rapid growth in order to safeguard the standards that brought the company success.

I wrote that last sentence down in my journal and it has been swimming through my mind ever since. In my opinion, Houston’s could be in every city. The food and the service is that good. But it isn’t by choice. Early on, the leadership of the organization made a deliberate commitment to “eschew rapid growth in order to safeguard the standards that brought the company success.” Houston’s is Houston’s because of their standards. They do what they do in a very particular way, and if they are unable to do what they do in the particular way they like to do it, they choose not to do it at all. That explains why in the more than 30 years I have been eating at Houston’s, I can count on one hand the times either the food or the service has been disappointing. They have made safeguarding their standards a habit.

Every organization and every individual has standards. Our standards are what we consider to be acceptable norms of behavior. Our standards are what we do and how we do it. Our standards answer the question “what is good enough?”. Unfortunately, many of us have a tendency to lower our standards based on the environment we are in, the people we are around, or how we feel. In the entrance to the Pittsburg Steelers Locker Room, there is a sign that reads “The Standard Is The Standard.” Asked what that expression means, Coach Mike Tomlin replied that “everyone on the Steelers is evaluated by how many Lombardis’s we win.” In other words, the standard for their team is winning Superbowls. Every decision they make, every person they hire, and every dollar they spend is evaluated by whether it win help them meet that standard. That may be why they are tied with the New England Patriots for the team with the most Superbowl Championships in the history of the National Football League. Your standards determine your outcomes. We tend to get what we aim for.

Here’s my question for you today: What are your standards?

In Leviticus 18:1-2. God gave Moses a very interesting bit of instructions. This is what God said:

The Lord spoke to Moses, “Tell the Israelites: I am the Lord your God. You used to live in Egypt. Don’t live the way the Egyptians do. I am bringing you to Canaan. Don’t live the way the Canaanites do. Never live by their standards. Follow my rules, and live by my standards. I am the Lord your God. Live by my standards, and obey my rules. You will have life through them. I am the Lord.

God told Moses to tell the people not to adopt the standards of the people or the places where they had been. God also told Moses to tell the people not to adopt the standards of the people or the places where they were going. Instead, God told Moses to tell the people to safeguard the standards they had been given. What a powerful lesson!

We are all tempted to compromise our standards based on where we’ve been, where we are, or where we’re trying to go. But we should never allow our environment to regulate our values, determine our priorities, or change our purposes.

1 Thessalonians 5::22 says “hold fast to that which is good.” If its good, keep it.—regardless of what it costs, what people say, or how uncomfortable or inconvenient it may feel. Safeguard your standards.

If you do, people will keep looking for you.