Today, in our neck of the woods, we were greeted with sunny skies and the sun brightly shining off Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams – pretty indeed especially for the last day of winter.  It is like it is trying to tell us that we forget December, forget January, February and most of March and remember 2016-17 winter as sunny.

But it can’t fool me...

However, it shouldn’t be too long before we can fire up the pits and started smoking, barbecuing and grilling.  Looking forward to it, food tastes so much better – especially the meat – but fresh veggies caramelize nicely and the flavor is also enhanced.

Watching some of the March Madness college men’s basketball games; yesterday the cameras were on a boy of about 10-12, who was completely ‘traumatized’ by his team’s play.  He was crying and saying, over and over, why, why?

As I watched that I couldn’t help but think if we put more of that emotion and passion into helping each other the world would be a much better place. 

And while I am on the subject of ‘March Madness’ why aren’t there more showings of the women’s games?  They play very good games and are not getting the credit.   

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“But it is within our hearts and our beings that God searches and looks. It is our spiritual heart life that is to be simple. It is in our hearts that we are to meditate and be silent. It is deep within our beings that we must be courageous and open to God's leadings”.  AW Tozer

Psalm 63:1-2 “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

² To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.”  KJV

A good leader lies out a path for his followers to take to complete an objective; he then shows how meeting that and other objectives will help the organization to reach their goal.

But he cannot address his group just once, on a complicated matter or plan, and expect everyone to understand and be on board.

He must continually check in and make sure that everyone is doing their best to follow the plan.  Each person has their role and if one fails it weakens the whole group.

It isn’t long before a leader sees who can accomplish their tasks and who cannot.  It isn’t long before he must either take corrective steps or assign that role to someone else who will get the job done.

A good leader knows his people and assigns his task according to skill, experience and abilities.

Now reality also tells us that there are many things that can interfere with the completion of the goal.  Many of those things are not the ‘fault’ of anyone person.

It could be that the leader is too ambitious and is not taking into account either the breadth of the goal, or the skills of his followers (I can speak from experience.)

His timeline may be too aggressive.  He must reevaluate what his expectations are compared to the end result desired and the capability of his followers.

While he can inspire, or harangue, eventually it comes down to how willing is the follower to do the job?  If he is truly willing but still falling down, is training the answer, is a pep talk the answer, what will help this follower to be successful and therefore the project be successful?

Leaders come in all areas, the parents are the first leaders for their children, then the child joins organizations where others are the leaders, school teachers and staff, coaches, employers, all have to have some leadership skills and abilities to get the best out of those that they are in their care.

Parents use ‘time outs’ to get their children to think about what they have done and why they should not have done that – and hopefully after considering what the parent has said, they will change their ways.

The leader may give them extra work that will hopefully make them realize that either the path they are on is going to be successful and how to improve those skills, or to show them that they need to reexamine their actions and get back on track.

As followers of Christ, He is the undisputed leader.  There is no other.  The Word is the guide that we need to follow to assure ourselves to be willing and effective witnesses for Him.

Now we do have Christian leaders; leaders that have been appointed over us that are supposed to be in touch with God and know what is expected of not only their selves, but those that are under their care.

Still it is dependent on the individual Christian to make sure he is on the right course.  He is the only human that has any idea of what is truly in his heart – and even he may not know some problem that is interfering with his total commitment to God.

The only way we can make sure we are following the path God has set before us is to continually be in conversation with Him.

We should be reading His Word, daily; having quiet meditation, daily; open our heart for Him to search it and purify our thoughts and actions, daily.

Psalm 139:23-24 “ Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

²⁴ And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  KJV

It is far too easy to let that daily communication slide, especially when we have to ‘get going’ and our day is full of things we must do.

It is especially on those days that we need to put at the top of our list of things to do ‘spend time with God.’

With all that is going on around us we can feel like we are lost, that we are, indeed, in a dry and thirsty land where the living water of Jesus is unavailable to us.

It is easy to get discouraged, to get frustrated, to get angry – and far too easy to just give up and say that I cannot do anything about this, so why should I even try?  My pitiful abilities are nothing compared to the challenge in this world that I face every day.

But the challenges are not ours to face alone.  If we are following the path laid out for us by God, then the Holy Spirit is not only within but alongside us.  And while we may not fully understand how our small input can be used of God to conquer and lead others to Him, He does and that is all that matters.

A soldier on the front line, in the trenches that is doing physical battle with the enemy does not know the whole battle plan.  Even if he did it would do little good, sense, he has no impact on it, only on what he is assigned to do.

However, if he performs his job well and overcomes the enemy he faces, and others do the same thing then all together they accomplish the goal and become victorious.

The soldier must have trust and faith in his superiors and follow his orders without question, it is the coordinated effort of all – from the highest General, to the lowest private – that gets the job done.

Our God is our leader, HE is our General and we can trust in Him far more than any man no matter how skilled they may be.

To know Him more and better each day allows us to trust in His judgement more each day.  He wants us to check in with Him, daily; to make sure we are doing the tasks He has assigned the way He wants them done; to be open for anything that comes our way that will help others come into and grow in His Kingdom.

Lord, may I always put you on my daily schedule to meet with and meditate with; may I read your Word daily, meditating on the words and thoughts behind them that I may faithfully serve you.

Later, Art (-: