Leadership

Do you realize how important leadership is?

Not only do we need leadership, but we must also continuously trust our leader. A leader helps to establish a plan, guide a group, and ensure tasks are completed. How much better is it when a leader cares for those He or she leads?

Passion is a huge asset in leadership. When we know that our leader cares about us, we trust him/her more. Trust is built when promises are kept.

However, humans don't like to rely on or trust anyone but themselves. Even when the impossible is revealed and a promise is kept, humans will turn on their leader and become complacent with their lives. The number of leaders who have been killed since Julius Caesar in 44 BC is countless. To name a few: Domitian, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Gandhi, John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Salvador Allende, Anwar Sadat, Indira Gandhi, Yitzhak Rabin, Benazir Bhutto, and of course, Jesus. It's important to remind ourselves why we should trust someone to guide and lead us. However, it is also important to seek the truth about any human who is in leadership. Are they of good moral standing presently?

I remember a time in my life when I was in crisis. Grace was 9.5 months old. We were packing up to leave the beach, and my brother was upstairs with the four kids. I heard Grace gasping for air from the floor below. I said to my husband, " Someone's choking," and I ran up the stairs. It was Grace. My brother had her and was performing the Heimlich on her. I reached for her and began doing the same. I told my sister-in-law to call 911. I flipped Grace over, and she was blue. I said, "Should we do a tracheotomy?" My husband said, "No!" I listened to him.

I took Grace under my arm, ran down three flights of stairs, and met the police officer who had just arrived in the driveway. I held Grace out to him. He took her and knelt, bent her over his knee upside down, and began giving her blows to her little back. I also knelt on my knees and prayed that God would save my baby girl. A minute or so passed; he held her right side up, and he said to me, "She's breathing." Soon after, the ambulance arrived. We got into the ambulance; her breathing was checked several times on the way to the hospital, along with her oxygen saturation. Doctors ran tests that day and over the next two and a half weeks at different hospitals and doctors' offices. She still had labored breathing when lying down or crawling.

Finally, we asked the ENT doctor we had been seeing weekly to perform an endoscopy to see if she had ingested something into her lungs. After the procedure, the doctor walked out holding a small Tupperware with a tiny piece of plastic with a small hole in it. He said, "This piece of plastic blocked her trachea completely. I took a picture of it while I was removing it. It's a miracle she survived. It had made its way to the top of her bronchi and would block her lungs whenever she lay down or breathed in. It's also a miracle that she lived with it in her body for two and a half weeks."

I had looked to my husband for leadership during the crisis, and listened to him. I had also looked to God during the crisis, and prayed to Him. We received miracles from God above that day. Our gift of Grace just got engaged two weeks ago. I promised God something that day. I promised I would always praise Him, all the days of my life. I have not always remembered, but He has never forsaken me.

God is the ultimate leader and is good "all the time." He has promised His people so much goodness, but He requires some commitment from us. He has called us to follow His commandments and laws because order depends on obedience. When we become complacent, it's easy to turn from God. Like any leader, we don't always want to follow His commandments and laws. That is why God sent us Jesus, so that He could forgive all who ask for forgiveness and call on His name. Jesus was a great leader for all of us to follow and call on. He only requires that we believe in Him, the Son of God. How much more blessed we are when we acknowledge His ways and sing Him praise.

"I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples." -Psalm 57:9