Very grateful,

me

In some ways, I think we want to see our leaders as someone superior to us, at least with regard to areas in life we look to them for leadership. We see our own weaknesses, fears, failures, and shortcomings and hope that our leaders have what it takes to smooth out some of the bumps in our lives where we fall short or lack the resources or opportunity to manage things comfortably. In the church, I want to believe we are following someone who doesn’t struggle with the stupid things I struggle with, and someone who has God’s ear at some level greater than I do, if only because the nature of your “job” leaves you more time in meditation, prayer, and study than does mine.

I realized many years ago that my expections of spiritual leaders can tend to be unrealistic, especially with regard to the “struggling with stuping things” part. This realization was actually very refreshing to me. To recognize my pastor was a man just like me, with special gifts and callings (and responsibilities) from God to lead people to deeper and more meaningful relationship with Him, has helped me to give grace when their all too human negative side manifests. It is much more refreshing to follow someone when we recognize they are simply a tool in God’s hand, not a savior. It gives me hope that on some level God can use me as well. Balaam’s donkey is a sober call to humility for all of us.

My 2 cents on leadership: Too many confuse leading with pushing – or pulling. To me a leader says “walk this way”, and starts walking. My reponse to pushing or pulling is to dig in my heels – to me, they indicate 1) there is an unstated agenda that must be clarified to eliminate the need to push or pull; 2) there is an ego problem involved; or 3) the “leader” is a poser, not a leader.