A Successful Flop

            Dick Fosbury was not a very good athlete, but he liked sports. He tried several before settling on the high jump in track and field.            

            He tried many of the well-known methods: the western roll, the straddle, and the scissors. At last he did something weird; he approached the bar with great speed and jumped—head facing up and back facing down—with his head leading the way over the bar. Initially, several officials protested, but since Fosbury jumped off of one foot, the jump was ruled legal.

            Great success did not arrive quickly. Fosbury spent years working on his technique. No one—no one—felt inspired to imitate it. Many ridiculed him for it.

            At last, during college, he became one of the top fifty high jumpers in the world. In 1968, he made the U.S. Olympic team. Incredibly, in the Olympic games in Mexico City later that year, Fosbury won the high jump setting an Olympic record of seven feet four inches.

            Little by little, the style caught on. In 1972, Juri Tarmak, won the Olympic gold medal deploying the straddle technique. Since then, every winning jumper has used the Fosbury Flop. For years, it has been the standard in high jumping.

            There are times a leader is so far ahead of the pack that people cannot comprehend where he is going. For God’s leader, it is essential for him to listen to voice of God. 

            This is where Hebrews chapters ten-twelve can encourage. In times when the Christian leader is ahead of everyone else, let him not preoccupy himself with their feedback. Instead, let him play to the audience of God and the cloud of witnesses (those who have gone on before in the faith.) They will cheer him on.

Taking the Wrong Train

            There is an old story, perhaps based upon fact, of a train about to leave a large railroad station. The conductor began to take tickets.

            Looking at the ticket of the first passenger he remarked, “Friend, I think you’re on the wrong train!” “But,” replied the man, “the ticket agent told me this was my train.”             

            After a little discussion, the conductor decided to check with the ticket agent. Before long, it became clear that the conductor was on the wrong train!

           I hope that conductor had no followers. If so, they were on the wrong train!
           Leaders need to be sure of where they are going.

The Legend of Staubach

Roger Staubach was one of my heroes growing up, and I must admit he still is. Staubach still maintains a mythical status at the U. S. Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1965.

One of the legends goes like this:

Staubach was a plebe in his first summer at the U.S. Naval Academy. Like all plebes, he was expected to be unobtrusive in the presence of upperclassmen. At breakfast one Sunday, however, an upperclassman began prodding Roger. He was backup quarterback on the football team, and was well aware that soon Roger would be in competition with him. “Hey, Staubach!” he barked. “I hear you’re going to take my job away. Is that right?”

“No, sir,” replied Roger.

The upperclassman pressed the issue. “That’s strange,” he said. “I’m sure that’s what I heard.”

“What is your job, sir?” asked Roger.

“Number two quarterback,” the upperclassman announced.

“I’m not going to take your job away, sir,” Roger assured him.

The upperclassman seemed satisfied until Roger added, “It’s the starting-quarterback job that I’m going to take, sir.”

Of course, Staubach won the starting job as a sophomore and went on to win the Heisman trophy.

Honk! Honk!

When you lead, life can be difficult. Usually, there are people following behind who complain.

I heard about a woman who was in a car that had stalled at the intersection. Try as she might, she could not get the car started. Behind her was a man who insisted on honking his horn every few seconds.

Finally, the woman got out of her car, walk calmly back to the man’s car, she looked into the window and she said, “I’m having trouble getting my car started. Why don’t you go up there and see if you can fix it, and I’ll sit in your car and honk the horn at you?”

It’s a lot easier to honk the horn than to fix the car.

It is a lot easier to criticize leaders than to be one.

Don’t Honk if You Love Jesus

I heard about a woman, who was in a car that had stalled at the intersection. Try as she might, she could not get the car started. Behind her was a man, who insisted on honking his horn every few seconds.

Finally, the woman got out of her car, walked calmly back to the man's car, looked into the window, and said, "I'm having trouble getting my car started. Why don't you go up there and see if you can fix it, and I'll sit in your car and honk the horn at you?"

It's a lot easier to honk the horn than to fix the car.

It is a lot easier to criticize leaders than to be one.