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     Leadership is not always fun and certainly is not always glamorous. I was reminded of that the other day when Lori and I decided to hike in Buffalo Mountain Park near our temporary home in Johnson City, Tennessee. Here is how the conversation went after a rest break about half way up the mountain trail:

Me: Go ahead, ladies first.

Lori: No, you can lead.

Me: I don’t really want to lead anymore.

Lori: Tough, that is wha you signed up for!

     Whatever your position of leadership, whether it is in business, in church, or in your home, there is never a day off. You may get tired, you may feel confused, and you may even get a little panicky, but you are still the leader. After all, that is what you signed up for. The problem it seems, is that almost everywhere you turn, someone is deciding they don’t care what they signed up for – they are going to quit. You see Dads abandoning their families, pastors leaving churches, and in many cases, people who still occupy the leadership position just not leading. They have forgotten what they signed up for.

     Yesterday, a man and his wife who are 79 and 71 respectively, spoke in our church about their continuing work in Kenya, East Africa. They talked a lot about a lot of different things, but there were two things they said that empowers us to do what we signed up for. Both are rooted in the reality that it is God who strengthens us to do the things that He called us to do and the things to which we said, “yes.” Here are their axioms.

• We just have to be FAT people – Faithful, Available, and Teachable.
• We just show up, and God does the rest.

     That is what leaders do. They remember what they signed up for and they show up each day with a FAT attitude and trust God to do the rest. Lead On!

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