Looking Beyond The Fog

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For the last six months I have been in a foggy mist. Uncertainty has made me question things about my growth in leadership. I have questioned things that I have not considered before or for at least a really long time. It’s not a fun place; I think that’s why so many scary movies have scenes that take place in foggy fields. It’s confusing and isolating which then produces fear and lack of trust. The unsettling thing about fog is our visibility is reduced and it restricts us from having a greater perspective of things in front of us.

What I have come to learn over the last few weeks is that I’m not done learning how to lead. I know that sort of sounds cliché to say, but it’s true. As much as I hate to admit it, I think I stopped looking at the perfect example of leadership found in Christ. I was distracted by my own successes. Our leadership should model to others that of Christ’s demonstration on the cross. He gave his best for me on the cross, so I should give my best at the things I am responsible for. A question I have asked myself lately is, “How can I mature in my leadership during a season of fog?” I have come to realize that the desires of my heart and the things I want to do are not always the things I should do. To put it the way Herman Melville put it in his book Moby Dick, “If we obey God we must disobey ourselves.” I must place my trust in Christ, who is enough. When I am lost or confused I should look to Jesus. When I am afraid of the future, I should look to Jesus. I have forfeited opportunities He has given me to use my time, talents and treasures. I will not be able to get those opportunities back, but there will be other opportunities to come. It has taken me time to learn this so I hope you learn from my mistakes and are better leaders because of it.

[Tweet “Our leadership should model to others that of Christ’s demonstration on the cross.”]

[Tweet “God has called all of us to be leaders, influencers and creators to some degree.”]

Everyone of us shares in the influence we received from another. Good or bad we received that influence. God has a specific plan and purpose that I get to play a role. I am not the main character,  just an extra, but God is using me anyway. He placed my wife, and children in my care. He placed me at work to be a priest pleading for the reconciliation of others. He placed me in my community to point them to hope in a broken world.

This fog is not gone, but the sun is rising, and light always drives away darkness.