The Hurricane

Can you allow a disaster to happen around you and not get involved? Do you lead other leaders? Can you let them handle the hurricane? Do you believe in them? Do you sometimes not even answer their questions when you know they don’t need you?

Or, do you have to be in the eye of the storm? Do you have to know everything about everything and have something to say about everything? Even if you don’t need to – do you want to be a part of every single thing?

When a melodrama begins, do you want to throw up or do you want to get in there and get it solved? I am off this week with a great leader – in my structure she is Support Staff, but in her world she is a Top Dog. She has her head screwed on her shoulders and really knows what she is doing. Panama City Beach is getting ready to be hit by an estimated hurricane in just two or three days, and it is great to see the difference between the battle ready and the battle new.

One Emerging Leader went to another this morning and said, “My girl just called me from home and she says the hurricane is…and we have to leave…and don’t you think…” The other emerging leader comes to me and I just tell them not to panic, and talk to the Top Dog. Another emerging leader comes up and wants me to check the weather. And so the story goes. It’s okay because this is how we grow. Interestingly, all of the Support Staff are still in bed or showering or doing devotionals. Why? Don’t they care? Aren’t they concerned? We have to do something!

None of the above. The Top Dog held a meeting after talking to the very experienced owner of this great camp (www.bluehorizonlodge.com). The Emergency Management Committee of PC is meeting at ten, and they will dispense their wisdom on whether we need to leave early or not. The Top Dog had her support staff reserve hotel rooms in Dothan (90 minutes away), a meeting room and plan activities so that if we needed to go then we would have a place and plan to finish our last 36 hours of camp. Then it would be off to Atlanta before the thing ever got to Dothan. The Top Dog also met with the entire leadership team and dispensed this plan with a joke, a smile and confidence. She explained that the goal was to keep the kids focused on camp and the completion of the teaching rather than to get them harried over a storm that may never affect us. Their growth and camp is our purpose. She said to us, “Keep your eye on the ball, this one is handled.”

Impressed was I – would say Yoda. No need for me to be involved, and the crisis is managed. After all, we may not even need to leave. So here I sit on a beautiful, sunny, hot day with calm seas – nowhere near the storm that may or may not hit here before or after we leave – watching a typical leadership scenario play out as the younger (or less experienced) leaders still try to find a drama in what is now a documentary.

Sometimes it is great to be part of something simple, that has no problems, no high emotion, and that is stable. It’s good to grow up and plan instead of react. It’s natural to simply react, it’s spiritual to find Jesus in the boat when the storm comes. I urge you to not get caught up in the moment of the melodrama no matter who said what to whom about what or whom or how horrible this could be. Instead step back, pray, see it for what it is. If you need a contingency plan, get one. Leaders need to be stable when the Hurricane hits. It is our job to keep everyone from running around like chickens with their heads cut off, and our best weapon is our own stability and calm.

After all, as leaders we have already got a plan – right?”