Leading By Example

Leaders lead. It's who we are more than what we do. When things are calm, we encourage and coach...when chaos ensues, we step into the foray and walk shoulder to shoulder with our teams. As the years unfold, we lead by helping others lead better and supporting them when they do not. As we walk through the various Leadership roles we have- whose we are can impact our day to day interactions more than we ever imagine. At 17, when I went to work at Disney- there were people and processes that shaped me "at work", yet there was a Friend who began to weave His Way into my work self. Jesus was saying "A new commandment I give...love one another" and Disney was showing me how to do it- Smile and "You're here to take care of our Guests".

Respect and honor- delivered in the workplace- is the Gospel- and it can be delivered without explanation or attribute. When we are pleasant, respectful, honor others, and do right things- it creates in our spaces some intrigue as to what makes us different and that opens doors to share why we're different.

Let's ask God to whisper into our lives the places where we need to let our examples speak louder than our words...

 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34

Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves... Romans 12:10

Between The Rock and Our Hard Places

It's a curious phrase: Between a rock and a hard place. Kind of implies a "no win" situation. If you think about the journeys that God led the Israelites on, there were many seemingly disastrous or impossible situations...and yet, God showed up miraculously over and over again. The very start of their Exodus from Egypt was full of miracle upon miracle upon miracle. Calling Moses through a burning bush, plague upon plague to get Pharaoh's attention (or were those for the Israelites?), the Passover, the parting of the Red Sea...and on and on- for forty years. Looking back in our own lives, what miracles transpired? Some small, some big; some surprises, some long prayed for. Some arriving as we were pressed between our Rock and a hard place- testing or stretching our faith. All offering to lead us to a new level in our walk with our God.

As Leaders, we often stand between the people we lead and their hard places. And, our mission is to hold out hope that the road ahead, while it may be long and winding- is to be walked through for where it leads and what it will show us. How much more certainty we have, knowing that our Rock is at work in every step.

Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. Psalm 77:19

God Charts The Road We Take

In years gone by, paper maps charted our travels. We could hold them, highlight them, fold them (if you could figure our map folding). In today's world, we often have a GPS or Siri guiding us, more dynamic in many ways, and yet, sometimes when I am stressed on the road, Siri just stays calm, adding to my stress because she cannot answer my questions :0 For the Lord watches over the way of  the godly... Psalm 1:6a  Eugene Peterson in The Message, expands and personalizes that meaning to God charts the road you take. Picture God as a mapmaker or the coder of our navigational devices. Both are detail jobs. The God who had us in mind before the foundation of the world (see Ephesians 1), who wove us together in our mother's womb (Psalm 139), is leaning over His desk, with His masterpiece making hands charting the roads we take each and every day and invites our interaction.

Talk to God for just a minute about the roads He's charted that have been extraordinary. Thank Him for the roads ahead that are in His personalizing, detailing, God-hand crafted map making.

As Leaders, we are asked to chart the roads for others. Do we take the same high view of that as God does for us? There are Leaders who poured that kind of charting into me, as a young Leader. Others have given the handcrafted road charting to me as I have led beside them or with them. This week, let's be aware of the road charting we do for others and invite God into the process, that we might learn from the Master Mapmaker...