I pinched myself and hoped that I would wake up. No shot. This wasn’t a dream, it was reality.
And here’s another reality: God redeems terrible situations-even ones I mess up with my sin. He is slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, and forgives sin.
“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
Moses was chosen by God to lead his people out of Egypt and into freedom. But Moses had many questions, fears, and insecurities; all of which, from a human perspective, were legitimate. If he didn’t have God promising to work through him, Moses would probably be one of the last people, on paper, to be chosen for this task. Many people believed that he had a studdering problem. We, at least know, he was not an elequent speaker. But God chose him based on His power, not on Moses’ ability to lead or even speak well.
God raises up leaders to show how powerful He is. He uses men and women who are flawed, weak, and foolish to accomplish His work so He can receive the glory only He deserves.
A few months ago, I was given a new opportunity and asked to step into a new role. With all my flaws, insecurities, and fears; I accepted the position of Squad Leader. You see, right before I left for the Race, I was working in management at Chick-fil-A. I definitely had my flaws and one of them was getting myself into a daily schedule. I’ve always been the type of person who reacts to life instead of being proactive. And trying to force myself into a schedule-without my heart being changed-was just behavior management. The reactive behavior kept resurfacing again and again. I experienced much grace while I tried to work through this part of my flesh. Long story short, I made a poor reactive choice and it led to my termination at Chick-fil-A. A job I held for 8 years came to a crashing hault in front of me. I pinched myself and hoped that I would wake up. No shot. This wasn’t a dream, it was reality.
And here’s another reality: God redeems terrible situations-even ones I mess up with my sin. He is slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, and forgives sin. Thank God (pun intended) that I serve a God like this. Trust me, in my humanness, I wouldn’t have ever shared that story. And I also would not have been chosen for this role if it wasn’t for His power in me. I continue to amaze myself with my ability to mess things up. And God keeps amazing me with his ability to redeem those same things when I release my grip on them. And he has done so much refining work in me as a leader already. I’m learning to continuously trust His leading and not my own ability to lead.
Here’s a picture of my new team:
They’re pretty cool.
Here’s the heart of the squad leader role: to love the squad and to walk beside them, encourage them, and let them have a place to rest and know they are seen and belong. To speak what needs to be spoken and to challenge them along the way. To step into more intimacy with the Lord and empower them to walk in the fullness and depth of who they are. We also help with the logistical side of things; travel and debriefs and finances and all the other fun stuff that makes up the Race. We pour into the team leaders and try to develop them and set them up for success.
