Deep Calls to Deep
by David Mercer
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When it was my turn to be boss, I wanted to be secret agents, keeping stealthy surveillance on the Soviet embassy, recording suspicious criminals in our nifty notebooks and using real ballpoint pens--not pencils.
But the guys couldn't get into it. To them it was just sitting around and watching an empty church building across the street. And writing stuff down sounded too much like school.
But I'M BOSS," I reminded them, "and you hafta do what I SAY."
A little more arguing and yelling ensued. Then something happened that I have never forgotten.
"We're tired of you being boss," they said. "We're gonna do something else." And they did.
I was six years old and already impeached.
My first lesson in leadership was that you can't force people to do things they don't want to do."
Rehoboam in the Old Testament didn't know about that when he became king. He thought he was king because his daddy, Solomon, said he could be. He thought leadership consisted of talking tough and being mean. "I will drive you not with whips," he told the people, "but scorpions."
Most of the kingdom responded by walking away from him. "To your tents, O Israel," they said, and they went home and chose their own king, leaving Rehoboam to sit on his throne all by himself (See I Kings 12:1-19).
We can't lead by force or threats or waving our credentials about.
Rehoboam's grandfather, David, led the people by inspiration. They followed him for his courage, integrity, and winning ways.
And they were proud of their king. "I want to slay giants, like David," the kids probably said to each other. No one ever said, "I want to grow up and be mean and stupid like Rehoboam."
Leadership is a combination of persuasion, inspiration, courage, and genuine care for people. It's not about credentials and pedigrees, it's about ability and results. These are the qualities we need when we teach in school, lead our churches, govern our communities, or raise our kids.
--copyright © by David Mercer 2007
Boss
for
the
Day
When we were children, my friends and I had an agreement about what we would do for fun. Each day, one of us would be the boss and decide what we would play. When Glen was leader, we made a fort out of hay and wiped out whole battalions of enemy soldiers with machine guns and bazookas. When Reeves was boss, we were all Tarzan climbing trees, fighting rhinos, and calling to each other with that special yell, like this...
Oh well, you can't hear it off the page.
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