King: power to move and inspire

We don't have Kings anymore. It's good to be king, they say - but what does that mean? Being on top? Untouchable? In many ways I think our unfamiliarity with a King and cultural conditioning to find the idea of unequivocal power repulsive creates a hindrance for our ability to conceive of an all-powerful, almighty, sovereign God. We insert democratic ideals into our God-Man relationship. But that's a whole series of ideas...




MLK impresses me as a leader. He's an archetype of a unique class of leaders. They led well. Many have led well. MLK led against the odds. Many have. MLK led a mass of people over which he had no actual authority/power. Again, not unique. MLK led with conviction. Less common, but not unique. MLK pushed a proverbial flywheel towards a quantum idea without compromising values or beliefs. Means never justified themselves by the end goal. That is rare.



If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.

A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan. (what's the church version of this statement?)

We will speed the day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing... Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, I'm free at last.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

The ultimate test of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and moments of convenience, but where he stands in moments of challenge and moments of controversy.

Victory: Is An Illusion...Or How I Learned to Stop Setting Goals and Love the Mission

I did so poorly in my first year in University that I was forced to take a course called “Studying Skills”, which could have been called, “If you don’t start taking stuff this seriously you are going to be kicked out of school, you idiot.”.

One of the main themes of the course was goal-setting, something that has never been a particular strength of mine. We were told to set reachable goals and then strive for them. Reachable goals? What kind of challenge is that?

The idea was that I could artificially motivate myself to do better by tricking myself into working towards arbitrary benchmarks of success. It was a course in the art of self-manipulation. (Note: Do not Google that phrase.)

In a world where we see the value of dangling the carrot in front of the mule, we contend that, as humans, we must occasionally sneak a bite of the carrot if we are to continue trekking. This is goal-setting. This is our concept of motivation. And, apparently, it is psychologically necessary for humans to perform.

I have always been more of a fan of mission statements than goals. Mission statements are intrinsically unreachable, the equivalent of placing the carrot so far in front of the mule so as to kill any hope that it might really be caught and eaten. They are almost better described as ideals in the sense that they set a course but never a quantifiable destination. They are generally ambiguous and subjective in nature, promising to be “the best in the industry” or pushing to be “a leader in the field”.

I work for a company with the stated mission that we are to “...to solve the logistical needs of our customers by moving products where and when they want them better than anyone else.” That is our mission. How can we accomplish that? I would argue that we can’t. We can strive for it, but it is an open-ended idea without timeline or expiration date. The moment we rest on the supposed completion of the mission is the moment that someone else takes advantage of our complacency and becomes better. Hence, we are no longer “better than anyone else”.

Let's take it to the next level. The US State Department’s mission is to “Create a more secure, democratic, and prosperous world for the benefit of the American people and the international community”. Seriously? Is that all? Just a more secure, democratic, and prosperous world for everybody? Okay. The mission only extends to the people of America and the "international community". If an alien race arrives on earth, we will not be required to consider them - well, as long as they haven't organized themselves into nation-states thereby giving them inclusion in the "international community"...

I actually love the statement, though, because it sets the bar ridiculously high. It also clearly defines the "Commander’s Intent", the filter with which to make all decisions. The statement is wonderfully difficult in that, like all other missions, it can never be considered fully accomplished.

I walk through life stumbling towards a similarly unreachable mission: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

I can never stand in front of a banner claiming “Mission Accomplished” on that one. I can, however, consistently measure my heart and actions against the mission that I have been called to. I can be reminded of the filter with which I am to view and respond to the world. I can press on, unsatisfied by the artificially-pleasing bites of carrot and unfulfilled by the arbitrary benchmarks that allow me to relax and rest in my pre-disposed mediocrity. Instead, I press on towards the unattainable, knowing that glory is found in the mission itself, not in the accomplishment thereof.