Christian leadership and Monday Thankfulness

Christian leadership… how different from what most people think of as leadership…

Christian leadership picks up the heaviest weight before the followers begin to lift… A Christian leader forgives before the forgiven thinks to ask… A Christian leader does instead of asking, shows instead of telling, runs to the fight before others can gather their minds… is honest with himself before others know his secrets…

Jesus Christ fasted before others… he was the one who walked into the desert without fear… he went where his enemies were waiting… he simply did … and other followed…

His followers walked his path because they wanted to be like him… though they could never hope to be like him…. they looked at him and saw what they wanted to be and so they tried… they looked at him and saw a person they could love because they were sure he loved them…

A Christian leader walks the walk… others follow because he shows them they can…

a Christian leader lives a life that shines a light on greatness…. it is a life that others want to live… as many have said “I would rather see a sermon then hear one any day”.  His very life is a sermon… wordless, but full of truth…

A Christian leader goes where the sheep are… and they follow… he does not condemn… nor is he placed here to rebuke…  as multitudes followed Christ because his very life was miracle… multitudes will follow those who imitate Christ…

I am thankful for all Christian leaders…

I am thankful for family…

I am thankful for lives well lived…

I am thankful for men who inspire sincere tribute upon their passing…

I am thankful for sons who say goodbye to their brothers with a heart of Christ…

I am thankful for simple uncomplicated faith…

I am thankful for men who come together to worship and discuss what the Bible says to men….

I am thankful for praise…

I am thankful for forgiveness

I am thankful for small expressions of kindness

I am thankful for kids who bump hands with you out of respect…

I am thankful for inspired teachers….

I am thankful for spirit filled preachers…

I am thankful for the brave who go to where the disasters are and where everything is dangerous…

I am thankful for those who spend hours in prayer for people thousands of miles away…

I am thankful for those who honestly read and understand the message of the Bible then teach it to others…

I am thankful for Grace…

I am thankful for bagpipers who play Amazing Grace beautifully…

I am thankful for family tradition…

I am thankful for the dreamers who make dreams come true…

I am thankful for memory…

I am thankful for Christian men who are not passive…

I am thankful for Christian men who accept responsibility…

I am thankful for Christian men who accept leadership…

I am thankful for Christian men who wait on the reward of the Lord…

I am thankful for the long road trips when I can think…

I am thankful for quiet moments when my heart can listen…

I am thankful for thousands who will protest the death of the unborn…

I am thankful for men who are transparent to their brothers…

And finally may the people of Haiti and the Dominican Republic find peace, safety, food, shelter and water coming their way in time.  May the leaders who have the power feel the movement of God within their hearts to offer every possible help to those who have been effected by this devastation.  Let us not forget our brothers and sisters in times of trouble.  Amen..

 

 

 

Full hearts today for a friends mother….

Annette… how do I say how thankful I am for your mother’s life and that I knew her… I am so thankful that I knew her for the time that I did….She is one of those rare people who breathed Holiness…. I never spoke with her when I didn’t find myself surrounded by grace…now she is with the angels in God’s home…. she has seen His face, she knows all the mysteries, she has seen the beauty and the Holiness…  She is rewarded….

She left a legacy that will go on down through time into the very last ages…the daughter she leaves is her image… you are your mother… a wonderful, loving, devoted person without compare… what a woman your mother was to have raised you… even though I didn’t know her as well as I would have liked, I know her through you…and here are some of the things I am thankful for

For someone who loved her daughter unconditionally….

Who gave of herself everyday of her life….

Who was a living example of Jesus Christ….

Who was one of kindest Ladies I have ever met….

Who treated me like an old friend the first time she met me….

Who had a spirit of thankfulness and gladness….

You are your mother Annette….I am thankful for you….therefore thankful for your mother’s life….she gave me one of the most wonderful friends with which anyone could be blessed…one of the greatest of teachers, who truly cares for kids….one of the greatest mothers I have ever known….  the most devoted wife I have even known…. one who is the very imitation of Jesus Christ….

I know you well enough Annette that you are now shaking your head…. but don’t…. I honor your precious mother by honoring you…her precious daughter.    Daughters are the glory of their mothers, they are the ones who are so special to their mothers…

We boys are special to mothers as well, but we are too often mud-covered, messy, dustbins of detritus leaving a trail of chaos every where we go.  We are the ones who ride our bikes off the high bank of the bayou to see how far we can go not thinking that there is water down there, or swinging through trees on ropes that create casts and scrapes for mothers to worry with….We are far to rambunctious, silly-daring, and outrageous to be precious…

but daughters…daughters are the bright lights of their mothers eyes, they shine with beauty…dress up…tea parties…tenderness…beauty…expressed love (something we guys still are learning to do, even the ones of us who try)…. mothers can comb their little girls hair for hours joining their hearts with their daughters hearts, mothers can tell their daughters the secrets of womanhood they simply can’t share with their boys, mothers can love their daughters with that type of love that makes boys quickly wipe off kisses and shake off hugs with false disgust…..  daughters….

It just occurred to me today that I wish my mother had a daughter to share those special things with each day….  I wish she could have had one.   Yet, she got me…one continuous disaster…one continuous injury….the sound of breaking glass….the blare of a trumpet at midnight – outside…the sight of  her kid falling off the roof past the kitchen window where she was standing – superman cape flying, arms flailing away, (well the birds could flap their “arms” and fly) – because I thought the silly cape could make me fly, the arm flapping was my “reserve parachute”…my friend Pat yelling from the roof  “I told you it wouldn’t work”… then the sound of the thud in the flowerbed…then the shingles falling on top of me…  then bless her heart, I took out two other cars the first two weeks I had my learners permit to drive….

  If she could have had a daughter, please God, she would have been just like you.

In these last years….with all the pain we both saw with our mothers, all the days that were so difficult…. we shared something so beautiful that it is hard to express.   We were given the incomparable honor of caring for both our mothers at the end of their lives as they had cared for us at the start of our lives.  That is a rare honor these days Annette…Be thankful for that…

Be thankful Annette…thankful that you were given the gift of being with her….as I was with mine…. be thankful that you were given the choice to take care of her and you said yes…. 

You did it right… You have no regrets to remember about that… you gave her everything you could… I know your mother is pleased….and I know God is pleased…   

So Annette…let me honor your mother by being thankful for you.  Because I know that your mother is the reason you are the Godly, wonderful woman you are.  Your mother is the reason I number you among my very closest friends.  I know that your mother is now looking down from the Heavens at you saying …..  This is my daughter in whom I am well pleased. 

And remember one more joy Annette….your mother is not in your past….she is in your future…. 

She is in your future my dear friend….