Leadership

If you have a chance to read Wade Hodges blog today on church leadership, do it.

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After my freshmen year of basketball at the college level (which, no matter level that is, is so far removed from the world of high school sports) I decided that I wanted to transfer to a different school. Partly because I thought I should've played (I red-shirted that year), partly because I wanted to get out and see more of the "world"--something I'd get to do for grad school by living in Nashville and Abilene. I went to my coach, Garth Pleasant, who I've written about on this blog in the past . . . and the conversation went something like this.

"Coach, I want to be up front with you. I'm thinking about going to ______ instead next year."
"Really?"
"Yes. I've thought this over" (I'd pondered this decision for all of two weeks) " . . . and I think this is what I'd like to do."
"Well, I'm really surprised to hear you say that. We have big plans for you. We want you to be here. We think you have a chance to be a really good college player."

Something clicked inside of me in that moment. In my immature mind, I thought leaving was the answer. I thought my surroundings were the result of feeling depressed. The truth is always much more complicated than that. The truth is that what I was really looking for affirmation, for someone to say, "we value you" and "you have a place here." Instead I masked that need for something else.

This happens on college campuses all the time. Happens in marriages, at churches . . . we think that if our circumstances change, our hearts (and general disposition) will follow. This simply isn't the case. If it's true that "the hardest place to live is right where we are", as one great thinker has written, than "right where we are" is the only place God can break into our life.

It's also a reminder to us "leaders"--sometimes people aren't following us because we've simply failed to ask.

I decided to stay and play for Coach Pleasant for four more years. Four of the best years of my life.