Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Living on the edge...

Leadership is something that is incredibly interesting to to me. Look at sports and tell me that leadership doesn't make a difference. A year ago, the Miami Dolphins had one win. Now, they are looking a possible playoff berth and the only thing that changed is that Bill Parcells comes over from Dallas. Sure, he clears out the coaching staff, gets rid of 6 players, drafts with a plan and now is four and four with a very workable schedule, but really not that much changed in the way of personnel. The Chargers have all the talent in the world, but can't get out of their own way because their head coach is a pushover. Changes in head coach and quarterback in Atlanta have the Falcons extremely competitive, while the Cowboys are talented, but being led by a marshmallow of a coach and are hoping that Tony Romo can lead them out of the mess that they are in. Larry Brown can coach the Pistons to a championship, but Flip Saunders can't get back with the same players. Curt Schilling said that he was going to deliver a championship to Boston in the face of curses and Yankees and got it done that same year. Leaders lead and we have a serious lack of that in this generation.

One of the keys to being a leader is this: Living on the edge. What is living on the edge anyway? Living on the edge is when men and women put themselves at risk in order to achieve a certain vision. The greatest mistake that a leader can make is not taking a risk. Everything that Jesus said and did was a great risk to His comfort and well being. We have to push ourselves to the borders of our natural comforts and limitations to achieve this aspect of leadership. When we do this, then we get in the place where the natural and supernatural begin to connect like two pieces of cloth being sown together. If we always stay in our comfort zone, we will live a safe, uneventful and non impacting life. In the natural examples above, all of those men in those different sports are dice rollers. They have taken risks and have lost as much as they have won. In the spiritual, it is much the same. We have to take risks, get out of the boat, so to speak, and make ourselves vulnerable to failure to see God come through and for HIm to get all the glory, which is the point of all this anyway.
So, try it. Put yourself out there a little more then you feel comfortable with. You may just find the hand of the Almighty, reaching out to take yours and taking you further then you ever thought possible!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Amen! If you never venture out past where you are comfortable you will never grow. No one likes to be pushed past their comfort zone but if you live there pressing against the edge God can do amazing things in you and thru you.

Patti said...

you truly have some excellent nuggets of wisdom here....but all i can think of is aerosmith - "livin' on the edge, you can't help yourself from fallin'"....sorry, man