Love, desire, motivation, inspiration, and passion are in the final analysis the greatest differences between good leaders and great leaders.
– The Extraordinary Leader pg 136
Page 32 of 43
Sir Ed was a hero of mine and I don’t use that word lightly.
Obviously because he climbed Everest and was an amazing adventurer, and fiercely competitive.
Of course it was because of the work he did in Nepal, building schools, hospitals and medical centres.
But what made him a hero the most to me was his typical bloke authenticity. He had some really dark patches in his life and admitted them. He was open about how he lacked self confidence in his earlier years.
And finally he was a reminder that we can achieve our goals with a intense determination, team work, a bit of cunning and hard work.
Sir Ed is a man I have never met, but greatly admire. I shed a tear when I heard of his passing.
He will be missed by his family, country and the people he helped.
He was a true hero.
An Adventurer
Authentic.
A friend of mine has a new toy. It is a Lama V4 remote controlled Helicopter. He is seriously addicted and now so I am I.
I wish I had known about these before Christmas. I mean if I had a Lema V4 my life I think would be all but complete. Seriously, what more could I want. Really?
It is interesting to me that so many of our wants revolve around “if”.
If I just had …
If only …
If …
I am drawn to these toys, the same way I can be drawn to many other things. It is almost as though I have fondness to whatever the “if” is. As though by not having this thing, I miss out. I am deprived of some great pleasure.
In reality of course by not having a Lama V4 I miss out on little (Or a lot depending on your world view). But I actually have everything I need.
What I am really trying to say is this: “If” can be a dangerous word.
Footnote: I did $65 dollars damage to his Lama the first time I flew it. I could have flown to Tauranga in a real plane for that price.
Disclaimer: Nothing in this post should be read to indicate that I will never buy a RC Helicopter. As I said I am now addicted and that may be the theme for another post.
It was a beautiful evening and I left Auckland amongst the heavy Friday traffic and made a bee line for Tauranga. Well actually it wasn’t so much a bee line as a zigzag. Nevertheless I head south and choose my route carefully, using my local knowledge to the best of my advantage to reduce precious minutes from my driving time.
Everything was going well, traffic was busy but flowing and I soon found myself heading down the Kaimai’s into my home town and the picturesque Bay of Plenty. Suddenly the display on my dash popped up a message I had not seen before. It was a picture of a tree with a picnic table underneath it. Below the picture the words “Rest Reminder” appeared. A rest reminder built into a car. Handy.
I was thinking, sometimes it would be great if we could get those reminders in life. You know when you are moving at 100 mph, when even a good nights sleep doesn’t bring rest. Wouldn’t it be handy if a display popped up and said hey you need to rest.
Really REST.
Resting is more than having a sleep in or taking it easy for a day or not going to work.
You can do all these things and still have a million things or worries or uncertainties in your mind. You can take a rest physically and yet not rest mentally or spiritually.
What if really resting means something more than just having a break.
So if we have burdens and baggage, if we have been toiling and labouring hard, if we have a million thoughts and worries running around in our heads, if we have been trying hard on our own to be nice rather than naughty.
Jesus has something really profound to say to us who are like this.
He said “Come to me”, and
“I will give you rest”.
I know he means real rest. Rest mentally, spiritually even though you may not be physically resting. Rest for our souls.
After the reminder popped up on my dash, I pressed cancel and kept driving. Ironically for me physical rest leads to mental rest, leads to spiritual rest. Quite often I press cancel part way through this journey and just keep going.
So rest this Christmas. Rest physically. Rest mentally. Rest spiritually.
Rest!
When I was in Fiji recently, Karina and I hired a car for the day. We wanted to drive to places that most people wouldn’t go. We wanted to see the people of Fiji. To experience. To open our eyes.
On this particular day we met with Karl (from Malomalo). He graciously led us down the coast where we checked out the water. Karl explained that the average income for the people of Fiji is $1 – $2 per hour. But the cost of living is basically the same as New Zealand.
Our journey with Karl took us down some serious back roads which was fun. We travelled through villages that 99.9% of visitors to Fiji will never see. Unlike the Villagers on the main road, they are not sponsored by Coke or Pepsi. They don’t have signs up saying they are supported by NZAID. They are just villages.
On the way back to our resort. I took these two pictures. The first is 3 guys working collecting sugar cane. As I slowed on the railway lines I took another, because I thought the lines of the track were cool. One of the guys called to this older man and he stood and posed for the picture.
I took the picture, gave him a wave and kept driving. At the time he was just a picture. Now the picture has become so much more.
I didn’t care about his circumstances.
I don’t know his name.
His family.
His needs.
Him!
He may not have had needs. He may have been happier and more content than me. But to him, I am sure, I was just another rich tourist who took a photo and kept driving.
The picture will be a vivid memory of the day I went to see the needs of the people of Fiji and forgot to see the needs of the individual before my eyes. I forgot to be.
I think we do that often.
"Aggravate that most useful human characteristic, the horror and neglect of the obvious.
You must bring him to the condition in which he can practice self-examination for an hour without discovering any of those facts about himself which are perfectly clear to anyone who has ever lived in the same house with him or worked in the same office."
– Screwtape Letters pg 11
It was a stunning day. 27 degrees, warm water and a gentle breeze flowing from the shore out to the deep blue Pacific Ocean. The location is Sonaisali Island Resort just 500m off the Fiji mainland.
Sitting on the shoreline the Hobbie Cat was geared up and in the offering. How could I resist? I donned the obligatory life jacket and haul the boat into the gentle swell.
In an instant, a blink if you will, I made the decision to wear my expensive prescription sunglasses on the boat. I mean the wind and sea state was such that there was simply no way I could capsize the boat.
So I push off, sheet in the Main and sail at a lazy almost meaningless pace off down past the resort. It is after all a holiday and even the wind seems to work on Fiji time.
Sometime and distance later round the boat downwind and prepare to jibe. It is at this point that I notice for the first time that the tiller extension has undergone some Fijian style refurbishment that has left it practically impossible to cross the boat with the extension in my grip. I grab the tiller bar and complete the job, the sheet in for a long slow broad reach.
I then lean out of the back of the boat to recover the tiller extension when Slip … Slop … Splash … my glasses fall into the now very murky water. I lurch out to grab them, then make a decision to fully commit to their recovery.
Moments later after diving into the water and trying to swim to the bottom with a lifejacket on. Yip. I quickly become aware that the glasses are lost at sea. I stand up and find the water is chest deep then turn to see the boat is slowly making its way seaward without me. Oh yeah, one of the first things I was taught about sailing. ALWAYS stay with the boat unless it sinks.
Now had the wind been any stronger the sail would have circum and flapped in the breeze. Not today. Just enough wind so I couldn’t dog paddle after it. Just enough wind so I couldn’t swim then stop for a break. I tried both and each time the boat sailed off.
I had to put in some serious swimming to finally catch the boat, round it into wind and pull my water logged body back on board. Heavier and darker!
Thus ended the first morning of my holiday and now here is the strange implication:
Sometimes we make blink decisions (deciding to wear my glasses); that lead to bigger decisions and commitments (going in after my glasses); that lead to a whole heap of extra work (swimming after the boat).
Sometimes our blinks are wrong!
There is a standard rule in communication theory. It goes like this: when predictability is high, impact is low. If I think I know what you are going to say and you go ahead and say it, I am not likely to be very affected by your message. The inverse is also true: when predictability is low, impact is high.
– Michael Frost (Jesus the fool) pg 27
Friends, in what other life are you going to go all out? We all have one shot and one shot only to leave a lasting legacy – a definitive mark on this world that reflects our decision to lean into, not away from, our areas of holy discontent.
– Bill Hybels: Holy Discontent (pg 136)
… this one is particularly good. From the Herald yesterday
Battered pilot Bob Robertson waits in shock for rescuers to cut him free from his plane after it disintegrated around him.
The 34-year-old had a miraculous escape after his 1960s light plane lost power and crashed on to a motorway.
Firefighters had to cut Bob free from the wreckage of the aircraft after it clipped a building and crashed on to the busy road in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
He suffered head, arm and leg injuries and was airlifted to hospital.
How does your cockpit completely rip off, and you end up sitting up waiting for help. WOW!!
