Thursday, January 7, 2010

A Lonely Road.



The last five months has been a life changing experience for me - it has been a huge time of growth and maturity in my walk with God.

God has taken me places that I've never been before and shown me things I’ve never seen before. This helped me become better leader and a better Christ follower.

If I could sum it all to one experience it would be one word. Lonely. Up until this year, I never really had experienced leadership as a lonely road. I had heard many people say that it could be, but didn’t actually understand it, until I had experienced it.

God spoke to me through Jeremiah 29:11
" For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

He said something along the lines of;
“I do have plans for you Chance, wonderful awesome plans for you. I’ve had them ever since the foundation of the earth. I want them for you, I want you to be the best leader, and the best man of God you can be. Will you let me give them to you?”

God showed me that sure, he does have awesome plans for me, for all of us, but how many of us actually let him unravel them to their fullest potential.

God taught and continues to teach me that as a leader I need to be ahead of my team, seeing, experiencing, and learning things before everyone else and there will never be a time when there is not distance between myself and those I lead. Leadership can be a lonely road and sometimes so frustrating but Jesus himself, spent much time in lonely places and living lonely lives. He was and continues to be the greatest leader of all times. And if lonely means being the best leader I can be, awesome.

A "sweet" friend of mine encouraged me with this quote the other day.

“A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. They are much like eagles - they don't flock, you find them one at a time.”

3 comments:

  1. Yep. Mountain ridges can be lonely places sometimes. Especially when He leads you away from what's comfortable and familiar -- but, as you say, where God walks with us, we are not alone. His grace and His authority are enough. Peace on your walk this year, bro. Give 'em heck. :)

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  3. I'm not sure that in my experience the most effective leaders are necessarily the ones with all the answers. Anyways, we all feel lonely at times, but keep it in perspective by remembering we ARE NOT alone, and use it when you reach out to those who are truly alone.

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