As a recovering coward I realized that “Courage Changes Culture”. Throughout the history of the world it’s only been people who had courage to step out and do something that others thought to be impossible, that have changed the course of history. I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes by Winston Churchill: “History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it”. People like Winston Churchill, Martin Luther, Rosa Parks, Dr. King, St. Patrick, and many others knew that one brave act of courage could change culture forever.
One of my favorite books of the Bible is the book of Joshua. It’s about a young leader who was called to help lead millions of people into there destiny. He was following arguably one of the greatest leaders to walk the planet in a man by the name of Moses. Following Moses would be like trying to follow Michael Jordan as the two guard for the Chicago Bulls. Joshua had a huge assignment before him and there were many things God could have said to him, but He emphasized one thing in Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go”.

God knew that in order for Joshua to change culture, he was going to have be courageous. The question I want to ask us is simply this: Are we living a life that changes culture? If not, what do must we do to change? .

Watching the NBA Playoffs has been very exciting this year. Beside the awful officiating, it has been one of the best playoffs in recent history.  As I am watching the contact that guys like Lebron James, Dwight Howard, and Kobe Bryant are taking, it reminds me of growing up and learning how to take a “hard foul”.

In middle school we would play lunch time basketball and to this day it counts as some of the most competitive games I have ever experienced. I remember that when we would get to game point, we had a rule of ‘no easy baskets’. That meant that, even if you had to ‘kill’ someone, you did not let them score. I remember going to the basket and what happened to me, it should have been a federal crime. I remember that at first I used to shy away from the contact because of the pain I was going to feel and I would never make a game point basket.  Something interesting happened one day and I decided that on game point I wasn’t going to shy away from the pain anymore. I decided I was going  to embrace it and go towards the contact.. Something amazing happened: I got fouled really hard, but it didn’t stop me, and I scored the game winner!

I never realized the lesson I learned on a playground during lunch would help me in life. It started dawning on me recently that I was shying away from the “hard fouls” of life. I was running from tough situations instead of embracing them and going after them like I did on the middle school basketball court. As leaders we must realize that God wants us to not shy away from hard times, but to embrace and attack them. That doesn’t mean it’s not going to be painful, but the truth is we are going to experience the pain any way, so we might as well go towards it. I believe even in the midst of tough times we can live how Paul tells us to, in hard times: 2 Timothy 2:3 “Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus”.

Would love to hear your thoughts.