My son Brandon is an absolute fanatic about bike riding. He bicycles everyday back and forth to work 20 miles. I don't mean every nice sunny Seattle day. Every day, rain, sleet, snow, cold, hot it does not matter. He loves to bike ride. On the weekends his idea of fun is to go on a long ride, say 60 miles or more. He talks about biking, he owns three bikes, and he talked me into watching the "tour de France" which is on TV right now. These pro bike riders are far more fanatical then Brandon is which is hard to conceive of. They ride for 20 days all across France over the Alps and through the towns. I don't understand the strategy much but I will tell you this: it takes passion and commitment.
It seems to me these two characteristics go hand in hand. Passion is an emotional word (Passion: any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.) We all experience passion in different ways about different things. It is a powerful force but it is generally not enough. It doesn’t last.
Commitment on the other hand is a word about the will (Commit: to pledge (oneself) to a position on an issue or question; express (one's intention, feeling, etc.): To express your feeling of passion by pledging yourself to a task for a cause.
These are characteristics we admire in real leaders. They believe in what they are doing deeply and they over come even their own difficulties in order to press on. Phil 3:14 "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
Anybody want to go for a bike ride?!
There are three qualities I believe people want in their leaders that I have been thinking about lately. Webster's dictionary defines them:
Courage: the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery. I think we all admire courage, but I am not sure about the “without fear” part. I actually believe that courage is the act of overcoming our fear in the face of difficulty or danger, not the absence of that fear. Often we tend to think of these dangers as physical attacks or physical health problems. Both certainly are difficulties to overcome. But, as leaders in a mission like CRISTA the most common difficulties I see arise are battles that are emotional and spiritual, or both.
Every day I spend time relating to people and discussing the leadership challenges they face. People not getting along, people not performing up to expectations, people not treating people "fairly", people getting mad, people not having the gifts or talents to do their job. The list goes on. What has this got to do with courage? Tackling these issues with people we serve demands courage. Many of us do not want to wade into these issues for two primary reasons; we know behind the facade there is emotional pain, that if we bring the issue to the light it will cause pain and, secondly if we indeed do bring issues to the surface that have not been dealt with we will not know what to do or how to help resolve them. SO, it takes courage to lead people with love into the light. Of course, even more difficult is the fact that we need to be living in the light to bring others into it.
Take courage for example. Have the courage to talk to people about the issues you see as a leader with an attitude of humility and love. I COR 16:13 "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong."
Next blog. Commitment: the act of committing (I hate it when they do that)! Commit: to pledge (oneself) to a position on an issue or question; express (one's intention, feeling, etc.):
Passion: any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.