spiritual leadership

"For I was hungry, while you had all you needed. I was thirsty, but you drank bottled water. I was a stranger, and you wanted me deported. I needed clothes, but you needed more clothes. I was sick, and you pointed out the behaviors that led to my sickness. I was in prison, and you said I was getting what I deserved."
-Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel

i wish i had a clear checklist for what i thought proper leadership, specifically spiritual leadership looked like. i can get really inspired by an idea, a person, a movement, book, whatever and get lost in it, even blinded by it. i can't remember who said it (& im sure one of you will google it for me) but i recently read the quote "our reach exceeds our grasp" in a book im reading about nikola tesla. i can apply that idea to pretty much every area of my life. one that i'm always trying to hone, whittle, craft, prune is of course my relationship with the Lord. more of you, less of me. is sometimes all i can say because well, i am not wise enough to even know what i need so how can i ask for it in so many words? a lot of my prayer time is short things like that these days. i've kind of given up the idea that i know anything about anything about what is good for me, what i need, what leash i need to be tethered to. and boy do i strain at that leash daily. only a fool thinks they are but a handful (or less) of choices away from totally loosing what they stand for. pride erodes, lust degrades, lies chip away - and i think the most endearing and confidence building attribute for a leader is that they own up to their spiritual mortality. their "limp" as my pastor jeff cannell says. the bee in my proverbial bonnet right now is leaders who become misguided by vanity and their message starts sounded more and more like a self-promotional ad. BARF. when you start pointing towards yourself and not toward Him, you'll lose me.