Staying In Your Lane...How's That Working?

Risk management, team building, playing to your strengths are all valid leadership mandates, as long as they are not justification for status quo.

As you read, you'll better understand the reason behind my use of the graphic, or perhaps for you, right up front, if you have ever found yourself on a team stuck in a psychological or spiritual traffic jam!

Why all this Monday morning, fast out of the gate-like language? Last night I experienced a surreal dream, one that woke me up, both literally, as well as revealing a quite personal "aHa!"

As I pondered the dream, it seemed to align with preparations necessary for meetings scheduled today, then along with that, what I hope you'll find to be an interesting blog post?

In the dream, I found myself in a large room, sharing vision with a team of individuals. After a few minutes, I realized that though all knew me well, they were struggling with the concept being presented, but were not speaking up. These were men and women with whom I had served over the decades, though never all together in one room, until this dream!

I was reading their body language and in one case, the lip movement of a dear brother long in my life and serving across multiple initiatives. He was praying earnestly, but silently.

He had always been encouraging, but known to be hesitant to express his views. His fear always that we might move to soon, being very conservative. Then there was another brother sitting silently, but attentive, always known to jump on board once the "train was moving" and secondly, if there was a win for him. He was opportunistic, silently "awaiting a bone", always about building his resume.

The room was also packed with former excecutive staff members and their underlings, with the occasional comment meant as motivational, though naiveté was evident in terms of any real strategic thought.

I'm not kidding you, last night was an eye opener in that all these people were real acquaintances!

In case you are reading this with little knowledge of my background, the room was representative of educators, pastors, nonprofit leaders, and various philanthropic personnel. Again, these were not just images of individuals, but real people whom I knew well.

Once awake, I realized once more just how difficult it is to move people out of their safe lanes, even when their gifts and callings are being underutilized, and huge opportunity is directly before them.

The aHa! reinforced by the dream, (which at 75, I recieve as a sign that my life impact is not yet over) was that I have never struggled with impossibility!

What a gift!

When as a child, virtually living on the streets with few resources, if we needed a tree house, I could scap together materials. However, seldom with permission from the owner of the large tree or the scraps of lumber, nails, etc!

I wasn't a thief, I had a dad who was a carpenter, then later a mason by trade!

In college, I never feared failure, I simply learned to negotiate. Then as a first year teacher, who had held never cared for public speaking, I somehow learned by watching others. It seems now those youngsters taught (some now 70) even enjoyed my "lectures."

I will have to admit that teaching science afforded me lots of toys and tricks intermittent my presentation of the actual subject matter!

Later, as an associate to the local public school superintendent, whatever educators needed, seemed always there was always someone, some business, some foundation with ready resources.

Then as an associate pastor, when the church needed community partners, my graduate work seemed to have providentially prepared my understanding of the IRS 501(c)(3) tax exemption. Thus came such entities as First Family AdVentures, Inc, when we needed an activity bus; Assembly Terrace, Inc for Housing, First Start, Inc for preschool. The latter eventually funded by the governor in his own Smart Start initiative.

Land acquisitions and assemblages in joint partnership with a nearby university led to an invitation to the municipal planning board. From there, an invitation to participate in my first church based Community Development Corporation.

When I heard that our county needed landfill air space, I then pursued a joint venture for a waste transfer station, then a construction debris landfill...way out of my field of expertise, but it all eventually materialized!

The list goes on and on, as I dared step out of my safe lane in pursuit of a decades long promise!

Just yesterday, our executive pastor shared the story of promises made to a young teenager named Daniel, promises that must have seemed like lost dreams when sitting in a lions den.

Yet later, much later, as he was by then 85, on October 12, 539 B.C. everything changed in one night, and just as he had predicted. You may recall the story of the "writing on the wall" just before Babylon fail.

At 75, I could still have ten years and that's a lot of nights for shifts to occur and for promises yet seen to come to pass!

"Wherever I send you, seek (the welfare of) that city, if not this city, the next. I'll give you a city!" The promise made in 1978, and three cities ago!

Maybe it was the sermon that precipitated the dream, or maybe the dream was simply reassurance of the promise?