“People don’t’ follow titles. They follow courage.” William Wallace in Braveheart
Man Movies.
Movies such as Gladiator, Band of Brothers and The Pacific Series, the Rambos, the Terminators, and the Rockys stand as some of my all time favorite “man movies”, but if I were to name one man movie that stands out it above the rest it has to be Braveheart. Heck, I was sweating with anxiety the first time I watched it way back in the nineties! The execution scene was epic. I am still tempted to close my eyes when Mel Gibson’s character, William Wallace, is disemboweled. The truth be told, it is the only secular movie on my iPod!
Maybe it is because of the rugged beauty portrayed in the Scottish Highlands. Maybe it is the epic battle scenes (I promise it is not because of the quilts!). Maybe it is because of the ultimate victory of the underdogs, or maybe it is because when I place myself in those scenes I question how I would respond as a man, a warrior, and patriot. One thing I do know is that the quotes strategically woven throughout the movie penetrate a man’s heart like the sword of William Wallace in battle.
Not only do many of these quotes resonate with my spirit, but they compliment what is written in the word of God. We see this in the Bible when Joshua, the son on Nun, who was Moses' personal assistant (Numbers 11:28, Joshua 1:1) is selected by God to replace Moses in leading the Jewish nation to war in the Promised Land. Can you imagine the fear on Joshua’s face when he realized that he was going from ammo tech to general! Listen to God’s admonition in Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
Essentially God is saying, “Hey Josh you don’t hold any titles worthy of this position, so you had better find the courage you mustered back in the day when I sent you, Caleb and those cowards to spy out the land (Numbers 13:16-33). A title you do not have, but courage you must!”
We live in a world of positional leadership. According to John Maxwell in Developing the Leader within You, positional leaders are at the bottom of the leadership totem pole where, “People follow because they have to.” As a young man fresh out of college I worked I spent a year working in a correctional facility with incarcerated youth as a drug and alcohol facilitator. Each dorm housed about 70-80 inmates, had one leader and the rest of the staff were YC’s (Youth Counselors). One dorm in particular had a woman (her gender has nothing to do with this story) in charge who was grotesquely overweight, weak, passive and clearly incompetent. I soon observed that the facility was actually run (albeit without having the position) by another individual. Every decision went through him but she passively signed off. When I asked another YC why she had recently been promoted instead of being fired, the answer I got was disturbing, “She is a minority woman and it is easier to promote her than can her.”
Welcome to life after college! Welcome to the real world.
We must stop hiding behind our titles. Through a step of faith and an act of courage we must get out in front and lead our children, lead our bride, lead our life, and lead in our communities. A new friend of mine, Dave McCombs, recently responded in an e-mail: “Courage is the leading edge of every man's faith. Why? Courage and faith are almost symous in a man's life. Every time a man takes a step of faith he will always be required to step through a wall of fear (passivity is a variety of fear). Fortunately what he will always find on the other side of the wall is Jesus. Fear of the unknown paralyzes most men. If a man knows that Jesus is on the other side of the wall, the unknown becomes known.”
Like a school boy hiding behind his mom’s skirt the first day of school, men must stop hiding behind titles and begin to hide behind Jesus. It is there that we can trust him to grab us by our quilt (I hope not) and thrust us headlong into the battle!
