We Are All Leaders

Those who guide this people mislead them,
   and those who are guided are led astray.
Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men,
   nor will he pity the fatherless and widows,
for everyone is ungodly and wicked,
   every mouth speaks folly. – Isaiah 9:16-17

       

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 9-10; Ephesians 3

Being a leader is no joke.

 People aspire to leadership roles for a multitude of reasons. Some folks want to help as many folks as they can in whatever given enterprise they are engaged in. Others simply want to get paid. Others want power. They love the feeling that they get when they can stand before a crowd of folk hanging on their every word.

But leadership is serious business.

The Power of Meditation

Be still, and know that I am God. Psalms 46:10

Today’s Reading: Psalms 46-48; Acts 28

I had a conversation recently with a friend about meditation. We were talking about how powerful it is, how when we are able to reach that place where we can let go, we are connected to something that is wonderfully powerful, beyond measure.

This brought me back to the time where this blog was born; the ten day fast that I did in September of 2007.

Many years had passed since I had really spoken to God. Sure God was around and maybe I hollered at him every now and then when I thought I needed him, but I was in an utter state of confusion. I couldn’t see anything clearly.

Then I decided to do the master cleanse and unplug from the TV and Internet for 10 days.

The experienced changed my life.

When I look back on it I see that the power of that experience wasn’t in the lemon drink or the salt water flushes. The power was in the silence. When everything was shut off my spirit was able to shake off the burden of the noise in my mind and finally exercise its wings again. In the silence I was able to hear what God wanted me to hear. I was able to listen.

The times that I spent meditating and reconnecting with God were so powerful and so comforting. It was like going back home and realizing that I never left.

For several years prior to this I spent so much time trying to solve all of the spiritual problems of the universe that I had forgotten what my position was. In the attempt to understand God, I gradually started trying to do his work. I tried to answer the questions that only He can answer. I tried to solve the puzzles that only he can solve.

But when I became quiet I was able to see clearly and know without a doubt that He is God. Not me.

Often times we don’t know the next step we are supposed to take in life because we spend too much time talking and not enough time listening. Give listening a chance sometime. Find a quiet place where you will not be interrupted and just close your eyes and sit there. No music. No soothing meditation sounds. Just silence.  If your mind starts racing about random topics, let it race. Listen to what it is saying without trying to control or judge it. Let it talk freely and observe what it has to say. Eventually it will tire itself out and go silent.

This is when the miracle begins.

From this silence the spirit will burst forth. It will sing the songs that God wants to speak into your life. This is what inspiration is for me. It is when we are blessed with ideas and visions and dreams that are bigger than our small minds. They are so big and beautiful for our lives that it is clear that they are not ours.

Then when you open your eyes you will see what I saw and continue to see. What once was foggy is now clear. And in that clarity you will know the next steps to take to make your dreams come true.

The only question is… do you have the courage to take the first step?

If you don’t have some crazy, miraculous epiphany the first time, that’s cool. Keep trying. Having the patience to reach a state of quiet is very difficult. It takes work and patience.

But I promise that if you put in the work, you will reap the fruit one hundred fold. 

Humility Gives Us Power

When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!" Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker…

But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: "Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. – Excerpt from Acts 14: 11-15

Today’s Reading: Job 32-33; Acts 14

It’s interesting that this comes so quickly after the episode with Herod. When Herod was worshipped by the people he received their praise. As a result he was eaten by worms.

Yuck.

When Paul and Barnabas saw that they were being worshipped for healing a paralytic they were horrified and begged and pleaded with the crowd to see them for what they were.

Regular people just like them…

The juxtaposition here is interesting. The first thing I thought was wow… with great humility comes great power. But how does one stay humble when they possess such power? How did Paul fight off the urge to start feelin’ himself a bit too much?

I’m sure that the occasional stoning helped… but seriously… how does that work.

These were regular dudes with an irregular level of faith. But in the end they were regular folks. They had the same weaknesses that we all have to the human vices.

I imagine that the key to their walk was understanding that they were not the center of their own universe.

Here’s what I mean.

When Paul and Barnabas saw the paralyzed man they “saw that he had faith to be healed”.

It’s really hard to see others when you are looking at yourself.

The gifts that Paul was given to heal and to teach functioned through his humility. If he lost focus on God and others and started focusing on himself he wouldn’t have been able to see these opportunities that he had to work miracles.

When we place ourselves at the center of our worlds, that world has a funny way of collapsing in on us. We aren’t strong enough to support it.

But when we recognize that we don’t have to be that foundation, but rather, that we are standing on infinitely stronger shoulders; then there is no limit to what we can do.

Giving up control gives us power. 

Dominoes Tournament of Champions

"But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. – Matthew 23: 8-12

Today’s Reading: Exodus 36-38: Matthew 23:1-22

For years now my friends and I have played a game called Dominoes.

It is essentially a four-way algebra chess match except that the only chance that is involved is the dominoes you draw at the beginning of each game.

We all think that we are very good at this game. Also, we are all extremely competitive.

But there is something that I have noticed about myself. When I talk trash about how good I am, I always lose.

Always.

This was never more painfully true than when we organized a “Dominoes Tournament of Champions”. We wanted to determine who was truly the best among us. We built it up for weeks and finally the day came. I felt that I was at top form and that there was really only one threat to my victory.

My domino nemesis, Kieran.

So, I thought about his strategy and worked on ways to thwart it. When the weekend of the tourney arrived I was ready.

But disaster struck.

As I talked trash I lost more and more. It turned out that the winner wasn’t Kieran; it was Larry.

The most insufferable winner that one could ever imagine…

Larry wore a silly cowboy hat for each game and he destroyed us all. While Kieran and I were talking trash about how great we were, Larry spent weeks studying everyone’s game, tactics, strategies and patterns and figured out how to play us against each other.

He was a silent assassin.

At least five years have passed and Larry regularly reminds us that he is still the undisputed, reigning DTOC champion.

I still carry the sting of bitterness in my heart.

What I learned from this experience is that when we foolishly build ourselves up with arrogance we tend to fall. The reason why is that we spend so much time focusing on ourselves and the image that we want to portray to others that we lose focus on everything else that is important.

It’s not about us.

Whether it is dominoes or our careers, relationships, or spiritual walk; it’s important to remember that we are only part of the equation.

Focusing on God tends to make things work out better in the long run anyway.  Just like Jesus said above, “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Clown all you want to now Larry. But next time… I’ll be ready.

Humble and silent.