Kimo and the rattler (a lesson in leadership)

Yesterday was an interesting day weatherwise in Castaic, where I live. There was a storm moving in from two or three directions yet in many places the sun was shining through. I went for a walk with one of our men from the church, David Thompson. We were in a place called Dry Gulch. It's one of my favorite local places to hunt, hike and pray. And sometimes I just hang out there with Kimo, my German shorthaired pointer. People have been saying a that this year will be one of the most prolific snake seasons that we've had for a long time. Though I've never seen a rattlesnake in that area before in over two a half years of hunting and hiking it I trust what others say. I thought there might be a chance that we would run into a rattlesnake but not so much so if we stayed on the well-traveled path. Well, we got into an area where I hunt sometimes and we started to hear the quail call. Kimo got really excited so I let him run into the brush. I was about to send him up the hill to chase the quail a little bit. I happened to look down and about 8 feet for so from where I was standing was a coiled rattlesnake (pacific black). The snake was at rest and not aggressive but still very much a danger. My dog was ahead of me about 15 yards but because of the brush I couldn't really see him but I knew that to get back to me he would have to cross directly over the snake. Normally I have a pretty cool head and I think on my feet fairly well, but not today. I called out to my dog to get his attention so that I could direct him away from the snake. He heard my voice and probably heard the anxiety in it and came directly towards me. Meanwhile the quail are still calling and Kimo, being a bird dog, the stops to listen. Unfortunately, he stops directly over the rattlesnake at which point I'm really panicked, thinking my dog will soon have a rattlesnake tattooed to his chest. In panic and desperation I ran up the hill in an attempt to get Kimo to follow me. Thank God, it worked. Five minutes later he would almost drown but that's another story.
In retrospect I see the rattlesnake incident as a good example of really really bad leadership. Having noticed the potential for disaster I should've quietly walked a safe distance away then called my dog and totally avoided any danger. Unfortunately I totally panicked, something I normally don't do. In haste I called my dog and he basically did exactly what my voice told him to do. He was trying to follow my voice, listen to the tone and take the appropriate command. Sometimes just the tone of my voice is direction in itself.

In a short time I'll be installed as Rector of all Saints Church. I'm very sensitive now how easy it might be to lead in panic. I realize now that even leaders that have the best intentions for those who they lead can potentially do great damage if they aren't very careful how they lead. Panic and fear based leadership is lame at best if not down right dangerous. Those who follow us will listen to our voice. I pray that we as leaders are listening to God's voice instead the panic that can so easily take us over (or at least me)-- Go and live the BIG STORY .

Veronica's veil

There is only one the Station of the Cross that doesn't come to us directly from Scripture. That is a station that is called the Veronica's veil. It used to bother me that the nonscriptural station existed. The tradition of Veronica's veil comes to the Roman Catholic Church from the Gospel of Nicodemus. Of course this Gospel never made it to the cannon. I was contemplating the stations of the Cross earlier this week and I get stuck on Veronica's veil. I realize even though unscriptural it is a beautiful and perhaps it an extremely necessary station to have within the body of the rest. You see ,Veronica saw the pain and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. She felt his pain to the point that she wanted to it wipe away. But the best she could do was to wipe away the perspiration and blood from our Lord's face. She didn't understand that his pain was so necessary for her salvation. I don't think she she knew at that moment that every drop of blood was shed for her. Yet she embraced the passion of our Lord to the point that she was left with an indelible image of the lord. Of course this image was concrete and visible on the handkerchief she held in her hand. I believe this is a lesson for us. That during this holy week we really need to embrace the passion of our Lord, to live it, to let the Lord's passion or run through our veins. And in a very real way wipe the face of Jesus with our hearts that it may leave an indelible image upon us forever. So that we know absolutely our salvation was bought at a price. What so many Christians don't want to think about, that seemed so brutal, so bloody is really the most beautiful act ever seen on earth. I pray that all of us will carry that brutal yet beautiful image forever on our hearts. Blessings and remember without the crucifixion there is no resurrection.

Blogging for Jesus?

Two weeks ago if ya asked me about blogs I would have clutched my crucifix and with a gentle pastoral tone told you in not so many words that one could spend there day more industriously drinking beer and getting tattoos. Yet here I am writing my first blog thing.

Yesterday ,my pal Charley AKA Pastor Rafiki, sent me his blog link. I'm no copycat mind you but I saw something in this blog stuff. When I went to Charley's blog I realized that this blog stuff even though technological allows people inside the mind of the blogger on a day to day basis. Although it is a scary thought for people to be inside my mind a little bit every day - scary for them mind you, I have no problem with it - I think this blogging stuff is an opportunity to communicate with written words when our spoken words don't seem to come out and communicate what we want them to when we are actually in front of people. We've all walked away from a conversation and thought "oh wow, I should have said this..." "what I really meant to say was this..." "oh, why didn't I say it when I had the chance?".

One of my new goals is to be wholly known. Jesus knows me through and through but I want the body of Christ, the church here on earth, to know me like that. I want to be transparent. I want to have no secrets. And so hopefully this blog thing will help me to be wholly known by those who I love and those who I want to love and don't know yet. The scary thing for me about this being wholly known is that there is always a chance to be wholly judged. That's just another anxiety I have to give up. So hopefully in these future blog things, I have no idea what you call them, I'll be able to share my thoughts about life with Jesus and living this epic adventure we call the Christian life. Now, GO BIG OR GO HOME.