The Bible tells us that, “We all like sheep have gone astray.” Don’t let anyone try and fool you. Sheep and lambs are cute as buttons and to pet one or keep one close is a treat. But despite the Disney idea of cute barn yard animals, Sheep are just plain dumb. I cannot begin to tell you how many sermons I have heard about the lack of intelligence of sheep. And what does the Bible tell us? We are the same. Sheep need a shepherd or a strong leader in order to survive, without one they will die. In England there is even a beer named after the term used when sheep gets on it’s back. You see when they end up in that position they cannot get back upright on their own and if they stay that way they will die.
Oh by the way, I love leg of lamb, but that’s not what today’s column is about. Today we are talking about leadership. We have a real need to follow someone who knows better than we do, when we are attempting something new. Make no mistake we all follow someone. It may be an example of someone that we read about. Mother Theresa, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Rooney, or Elton John, we look and we say I can use them as an example and we try to emulate what they did in order to achieve the success they had.
We may have a mentor, which is even better. It’s great to have someone who will stick with you and see you through obstacles on your way toward a goal. The saying that, “No man is an island” is true for all of us. We need to teach and learn, we need to follow and lead. In fact no leader is ever free form learning, so every leader is following someone. When life is like this we are in a very good spot. The smartest people in the world share one common trait. They all know that they can learn more.
I have some great mentor’s and I follow one and he is my leader more than the others. My mentors include trainers like Bob Harper, philosophers Like G.K. Chesterton and Novelists such as JRR Tolkien and teachers such as C.S. Lewis. All of these are my mentors in one way or another. There are living mentors as well. Pastors and friends Brad Fredrickson and Eric Kohler, Friends like Lee White and Ted Graham, these men teach and help me along life’s strange roads and they also put me back on my feet when I have rolled on to my back and can’t get up myself.
With the one exception of Bob Harper, and this may be true of him as well, all the of the people mentioned above also follow one man, and God Jesus Christ. This is not a column about religion on the other hand Jesus is not about religion either. This is not the place for that discussion. However choose who you will follow. You may not know it, but you already have in one way or another. Find leadership and people to gather around you and to help you. Then extend your help and leadership to others as you do this your life will be transformed.
