Circle of Trust

CoR

Announcements:  Nacho Libre– Q Source East Side! We start Thursday, HIMS. We meet at 6:30 AM at the Mariano’s cafe on the corner of 75th and Naper. See you there.

Prayers:  A family at F3 Midlands suffered the unthinkable:  Tomorrow F3 Midlands is asking we all wear our brightest colors for Faye. This is a terrible tragedy for that community- a 6 year old girl abducted and murdered- it is a tragedy I pray no other community has to feel. @channel get your colors ready, and let’s lift this community up tomorrow.

A few weeks ago, Hot Box had asked for prayers for his family.  Hot Box’s 5 year old daughter had been suffering from anxiety and mood swings.  They could not find the cause.  Today, Hot Box asked us to continue to keep his family in our prayers.  Due to Hot Box and his wife’s persistence, the doctors finally diagnosed their daughter with viral encephalitis, a curable illness.  Hot Box’s family is finally out of the dark as to the cause his daughters illness, they are now armed with a diagnosis and they can take this fight head on.  Hot Box credited his wife’s refusal to take “wait and see” as an answer from the doctors and she forced them to not stop searching until they found an answer.  I have always been amazed by a mother’s intuition- it remains, to this day, to be the most powerful and effective parenting tool in the world.  Prayers for Hot Box and his family.

WoW

In considering how to close out the morning, I thought of using some snippets from my solo mission BackBlasts.  I decided instead to pass along something that had a profound effect on me when I heard it.

A few years after we got married, my wife’s paternal grandpa died. My father-in-law’s eulogy included an example of how this great man led by example.

My wife’s paternal grandfather was an absolute sweetheart of a man.  Unfortunately; by the time I had the pleasure to get to know him, age and ailments had taken their toll on him, and as my as my sister-in-law once told me, “you really missed out.”  Apparently, he never missed a grand-kid’s game and he was a favorite among all the grandchildren’s friends and teammates, as well as those kids’ parents.

He was a devout Catholic and his wife, converted to Catholicism, I believe, after they had gotten married.  While he and the kids went to mass every Sunday, his wife had not yet gotten in the habit of going to mass regularly.  During the eulogy, My father-in-law remembered himself as a young kid asking his Dad why Mom didn’t have to get dressed up, pile into the family car and go to mass every Sunday.  I don’t recall the exact quote, but the message was clear:  We’ll keep doing what is right and we’ll have faith that eventually she’ll come along- which of course, she did.

No real fireworks there, but that stuck with me as a great example of one of the many different styles of leadership; and possibly the most effective and honorable form of leadership – simply put, leading by example.  Thinking about that story, it dawned on me that the crucial components of leadership are:  Conviction, Faith and Patience.

Conviction:  A never ending pursuit of trying to learn and understand what is right and the Conviction to live right.

Faith:  Faith in the people around you and that, when push comes to shove, they will do what’s right.

Patience:  Having the patience to allow people to determine what is right as well as the patience to allow them to pursue this path.

We are all called to lead in some way or another.

Too often, being a leader is considered to be synonymous with, possibly the most overused word and attitude of the 21st century, and that is the “Alpha.”  The desire to be the Alpha can sometimes derail any true leadership anyone may hope to provide.

There are many styles of leadership.  There are many great stories and examples of leadership.  Today, I wanted to share my favorite story of leadership. One of the most effective forms of leadership is to lead by example and to do so, you only need to adhere to three simple virtues:  Conviction, Faith and Patience.

Finally, a spirited NoR led off by thee Rowdy Ronda Rousey!!!!