There was a show a few years back called “Sports Night”, I absolutely loved that show. And don’t try to tell me you did too, I know you didn’t because it got horrible ratings and was cancelled after only two seasons. Some people have said that was too smart for TV and they may have been right. That is a good thing since I have tried to base the majority of my philosophy on life around two lines from that show.
1. Napoleon’s Battle Plan
Casey (Peter Krause) is trying to win over his love interest Dana (Felicity Huffman) but his plan is to simply be in her general vicinity. He claims to have stolen the idea from Napoleon who had a battle plan that consisted largely of ‘show up and see what happens’.
I think this is a fundamental key to God’s plan as well. Often he calls us to do something and we spend so long planning away every detail of it that we get very little actually accomplished. I once went on a mission trip to Indonesia that consisted of little more that showing up and seeing what happened, or perhaps more accurately what ‘seeing what God will do.” It was an amazing life-changing experience to be sure, but I’ll talk more about that another time.
What would happen if we just did what God said, no questions asked and just fully trusted him to take care of the details. Like Abraham taking his family into the wilderness a we would all wander into the wildernesses in our own lives and ‘all peoples on earth will be blessed through you’.
2. The Hungry and the Hunted
Jeremy (Joshua Malina) fails to raise objection to his boss Isaac (Robert Guillaume) for fear of being fired. (Seriously how amazing was this cast? And I didn’t even mention Sabrina Lloyd) Isaac then imparts the following nugget of wisdom concerning leadership “If you’re dumb, surround themselves with smart people. And if you’re smart surround yourself with smart people who disagree with you.” I don’t think Aaron Sorkin (seriously, this show was amazing) came up with that line, but he used it well.
As Christians we often think that we should all get along and be all lovey dovey all the time, but that just isn’t true. If you feel like your brother or sister is wrong you have an obligation to tell them (2 Timothy 4:2). We like it when people tell us we’re doing the right things but what God wants is for us to surround ourselves with Christians who will love us enough to tell us when we’re wrong.
Most of all though one cannot be a leader without followers. When Jesus started His ministry on earth the first thing he did was to go out and recruit some help. So if God could use a dozen knuckleheads to get his Word out how do we expect to do it all on our own? So find others to help you carry out Napoleon’s battle plan, just make sure that they’re willing to tell you when you’re wrong and you may manage to avoid a Waterloo.
I’m writing all this now because I feel God tugging me towards a new ministry. I’ve felt His nudging before but I’ve always managed to reason my way out of it, but not this time. I’m going to keep moving forward. I may fail. I may fall flat on my face, but when I do I will pick my self up off the ground, dust myself off and find that I’m standing exactly where God wants me.
But I’m going to need some help on this journey. I won’t go into all the details now but I’ll be sure to keep posting and if you want more information then send me a message or leave a comment below.
Or at least send me the Sports Night box set.
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