From somebody’s Moleskine, page 70…

Heroes come and go – they disappoint and they leave us wondering “why?” But for all the potential damage they can do, they have, in the past, inspired us, challenged us, helped us through. And now it’s our task to be a hero for them – whatever it takes.

It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who wrote in Self-Reliance…

God will not have his work made manifest by cowards.

I’ve been thinking about that quote over the past couple of days. Especially as I’ve watched the media coverage of the whole Terri Schiavo affair.

I see pictures of people praying in front of the 11th US Circuit Court building in Atlanta, people praying at the hospice where Ms. Schiavo is, and even people getting arrested for trying to take her a simple drink of water.

I’m not sure of all the ins and outs of the Schiavo case. I don’t know where you stand on the case. But there comes a point in our lives when we have to grow a backbone and take a stand. For something. For truth. For righteousness. For something!

These people – good people on all sides, perhaps – came to Atlanta and Florida because they believed in something strongly enough to take a stand.

I’ve learned over 20+ years in “the ministry” (insert pious tone and stained-glass organ music right here!) to really be Mr. Willy Nilly, Mr. Wishy Washy, Mr. Avoid Conflict and Keep Everybody Happy. I pray those days are coming to an end…

Some more thoughts on courage…

Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.” -Mary Anne Radmacher

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar. -Raymond Lindquist

You will never do anything worthwhile in this world without courage. – James Allen

Be strong and (very) courageous! -God, Joshua 1:6, 7, 9

“…ze Mad Dogs, ze Englishmen, and Joe CockEHR!”

I had forgotten how much I liked this album!

My brother had it ON VINYL way back a hundred years ago!

(See there used to be these things, about 12” in diameter. They were black, – or other colors – they had a little hole in the middle, and you put ’em on these things called “turntables.” There was another thing called a “tone arm” and it had attached to it yet another thing called a “cartridge” in which was a sharp little “needle” that ran in these “grooves” as the “album” spun around at about 33-1/3 rpm and mysteriously, sound came out! Amazing!)

Anyway, I found it again today…not on vinyl, mind you, but in the magic of digital music! What is amazing to me, 35 years later, is that some of the songs I thought were brand-new rock-n-roll tunes were actually “standards” from the “great American songbook,” but with that very soulful Joe Cocker treatment! Very, very cool!

Bill Cosby told of his grandfather’s perspective on life when he asked, “You know who died today?” Cosby’s reply always was, “No, Gramps. Who died today?” His grandfather would retort, “A bunch of people died today!”

Well, a bunch of people died today, I’m sure, but two notables stand out: John Z. DeLorean and Bobby Short.

DeLorean was a maverick, who designed the GTO and would later be known for the “time travel” machine in the Back to the Future series of movies. John Truscott, membership director of the DeLorean Owners Association, said…

Twenty years later, it’s still just as modern as anything coming out of the factories now.

DeLorean faced his demons, and most would say he won in the long run.

After the DeLorean car venture failed, he was involved in some 40 legal cases, including his 1985 divorce from model and talk show personality Cristina Ferrare � his third wife � after a 12-year marriage.

“I believe I deserve what happened to me,” DeLorean told The Associated Press after the divorce, which followed his drug trial.

“The deadliest sin is pride,” he said, proclaiming his faith as a born-again Christian. “I was an arrogant egomaniac. I needed this, as difficult as it was, to get my perspective back.”

Bobby Short was legendary for his devotion to the Cafe Carlyle in New York City and the “great American songbook.”

As times changed and popular music shifted from Sinatra to Springsteen to Snoop Dogg, Short, a three-time Grammy nominee, remained irrevocably devoted to the “great American songbook”: songs by Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, the Gershwins, Billy Strayhorn, Harold Arlen.

“I go back to what I heard Marian Anderson say once: ‘First a song has to be beautiful,'” Short told The New York Times in 2002. “However, ‘beautiful’ covers a wide range of things. I have to admire a song’s structure and what it’s about. But I also have to determine how I can transfer my affection for a song to an audience; I have to decide whether I can put it across.”

DeLorean and Short, in their own way, had an obsession with design. Their creations, while different, are tributes to the great spirit of beauty. RIP, indeed…

Thanks, Gary! Thanks a lot! Thanks for putting that NASCAR bug in my ear!

I’m not a big NASCAR fan (Hey, they’re driving around a big ol’ circle for the whole day, OK?) but I think it’s kind of cool that the guy who won on Sunday was the guy who won on Saturday! And he’s a rookie at that! And he’s got a story…one that includes this…

But in a style that has become typical of Edwards and helped make him popular in and out of the garage, he soon composed himself and began remembering those largely unknown people who helped him when he was a struggling dirt-track driver in Missouri. There he raced cars he prepared in his own garage, supplemented his income by being a substitute school teacher and working construction jobs and passing out business cards, advertising: “Race driver for hire.”

He thanked Mike Mittler, a journeyman owner in the Craftsman Truck Series who gave him his first chance in one of NASCAR’s top three divisions. He thanked his current owner, Jack Roush.

“It’s a long story, but the bottom line is a lot of folks have really been very good to me for some reason,” he said. “I’m really grateful.”

Serendipity, synchronicity, or what?

Today in The One Year Bible…

Then they came near to him and said, �We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, but we will take up arms, ready to go before the people of Israel, until we have brought them to their place. And our little ones shall live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our homes until each of the people of Israel has gained his inheritance. For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan to the east.�

And this…

And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, �Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.� And Simon answered, �Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.� And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, �Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.� For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, �Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.� And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

And then this, over at Terry Storch’s blog…

52 Leadership Tips- #18

GO, move, get off your rump!

To lead you have to take risks; you must take on the challenge; you have to look at what others are doing, and do something different. Leaders GO; they move; they get off their rumps!

A great thing to remember is something that I heard a long time ago. It is very difficult to turn a car that is sitting still, but a car that is moving turn�s easily.

GO, move, get off your rump. Great things can happen when you are moving, when you are going. If you sit still, being conservative, waiting on others, you will end up on the fast track to nowhere (Ferris Buller reference). A great example of this is what happened to me today. Over 2 months ago I had a great idea of a website and a cool tool for Fellowship Church. Well, I did not GO, and today I got an email from a buddy of mine of a site that is doing exactly what I was going to do. I did not act, I did not GO…someone else did.

In closing, there is no room for leaders to sit on their hands, no room for leaders being lazy. GO, move, get off your rump, great things can and will happen.

Gary Lamb on how NASCAR gets it…

The main reason I think Gary “gets it” is this part…

They aren�t trying to be something they are not. Church planters and pastors need to learn this. We are not called to be something we are not. LEARN your area more then anyone else. I get asked a lot what I see as the #1 reason behind our success. Besides God, I think it is because we are Canton, Georgia. I fit the area and I know the area. I love North Point and Fellowship but everything they are doing will not work in my area. I eat the meat and throw away the bones. I use what I think will work in my town and do it. What I don�t think will work, I try something new until I figure out what will work. Before trying to build a church, get out and learn your area. Figure out who you are going to be able to reach and be yourself.

I don’t think there’s ever been anybody called to plant a church in a particular area like Gary has. Nobody I know personally, at least.

When we first got hooked up, he was in Iowa (“Is this heaven?” “No, it’s Iowa!”) and was in the first stages of planning what would eventually become RidgeStone. I ashamed to say he knew more about Canton and its surroundings and people than I did, and I had lived here for five years! He and RidgeStone are doing it right and they could be a model for the rest of us!

OK, Gary….that’s enough for now! Just because I’m bragging on you doesn’t mean you’re not still a big jerk, OK?!?!?!

The comments about Leonard Bernstein and other orchestra conductors in an earlier post got me thinking in those terms. I found this interesting little piece on the The CEO As Maestro at the now-defunct Context magazine website.

The author, a composer and professor of music says…

So, Bernstein and Solti may be the correct metaphors for today�s executive. Top managers will find themselves leading less with the stick and more with their vision, their knowledge, and their emotions. Such leaders will allow each person to feel he has the power to express himself, without ever surrendering their own power, their vision, or their responsibility.

Great minds, same gutter, I guess…

A few days ago, out of nowhere, “rhymes_with_kerouac” showed up in my comments. I’m glad s/he did! S/He offers a perspective on life that I don’t know much about – life inside a homeless shelter. You’ve gotta love a person whose description includes…

I write maudlin poetry and sing off-key, though I have the sense to not caterwaul in the shower. I’m always writing, and can spend three hours at the keyboard without batting an eye. I have yet to encounter an unfriendly dog, an unwise cat or a small child that was not a professor. I tip waitresses with abandon and treat cab-drivers with respect, but somehow manage to annoy almost everyone else.

So after a couple of insightful and challenging comments, I decided “rhymes_with_kerouac” has got to be in the list o’ links! Go ahead, check out Daily Life in a Homeless Shelter…

I had another one of those “hurry up and wait” times tonight, and while I waited, I listened to the public-radio series Leonard Bernstein: An American Life.

I guess we don’t usually think of it in these terms, but the great conductors probably have a lot to teach us about leadership. They have to be strong and confident enough to mold and shape and cast the vision of the composer. They have to get extremely creative, often temperamental, very diverse personalities to join forces for the common good. They have to know when to emphasize one section or player’s strength and when to de-emphazise the same player’s weaknesses. They have to keep the show going. They often have to discipline their people. In a lot of ways, conductors are some of the best – or worst – examples of leadership.

According to the WFMT website…

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) was the last classical musician of our time to be a household name; no one since has achieved the level of fame with the general public as Bernstein. Bernstein became an American icon not only because of his ability to conduct and compose, but also because of the power of his personality and his passion to communicate, through music, about life, love and the human condition.

But for all his greatness, Bernstein like many leaders, was not immune to the dark side of life. His depression, illnesses, and addictions affected him in many ways.

Perhaps like many leaders, Bernstein’s greatest monster was his sense of his own importance, and that’s the idea that hooked me tonight as I listened. Stephen Sondheim said of Leonard Bernstein…

He wanted to be important and it got in the way of his work.

That quote illustrates powerfully the need for those of us who fancy ourselves as leaders to remember John the Baptist’s words…

Jesus must become more important, while I become less important.