Ok, so I failed to inform everyone of something big over the last few weeks – I have been asked to be the leader of one of the four ministry teams that are going around the world with me. There are eight people on this team, including myself, which means I’m responsible for seven lives that are my family, friends, peers and co-workers for the next eleven months. It’s an immense privilege and very humbling to be able to lead this team to say the least.
Being in a leadership position causes me to constantly look hard at who I am, what I do, and how I do it. Do my comments convey what I’m trying to get across, do they inspire or fall flat, and do my actions come across the way I intended them from the beginning or does everyone seem to misread me all the time, and so on. And from all this introspection over the last few years of youth leadership and now this, I’ve come to this conclusion: I identify best with my water bottle.
You know how they say you can drive over a nalgene water bottle and it won’t break? I accidentally discovered that it’s true on my first night here. I guess my water bottle fell out of my bag when we were unloading the car and shortly thereafter it was run over and left out over night. If you looked at it now, you’d think it wouldn’t be any good for holding water. It really doesn’t stand up too well on it’s own, has some weird looking bulges and dents, and is just over all a very interesting new shape – but it actually still holds just over a litre of water without any trouble.
Like my water bottle, I’m an odd shaped container for leadership qualities. I don’t lead from the front by taking charge in any given situation. I don’t drill out commands very well as I would much prefer to ask you to do something, or be given direction instead. And I’m pre-disposed to listening in a decision making process rather than being the one to make any judgment calls. In short, I blend in, and so to meet me I don’t think I’d strike you at first sight as a leader. And yet, here I am, apparently because the things I view as un-leader-like seem to allow people to be comfortable with me and trust me and seek my advice, such as it is. So all of a sudden, I find people looking to me for leadership.
It’s the awesome thing about trusting in God and allowing Him to use you – He shows you that the things you view as your weaknesses are actually your strengths, that who you are is who He made you to be and therefore wants to use. Not just the strong parts of you, not just the presentable parts of you, but all of you. For we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and in our weakness God’s strength is made complete. And if you keep trusting Him, you find yourself doing the things you never thought you’d do – like being loved and respected by a group of absolutely incredible people to the point that they will go around the world with you at their head.
Humbled and honored:
The Odd Shaped Water Bottle
