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Living the Warrior Life

Living the Warrior Life D-Day +50

Welcome back!  If you started on June 6 when we kicked this off, you are now on D-Day plus 50.      

Be the Leader: Just because we have moved on in our training does not mean that the earlier lessons are done.  A leader must be constantly growing and learning.

Discipline:   

Definition:    

Destiny:   

BE THE WARRIOR

 The warrior takes the small things seriously

 The warrior must be a student of history. 

Too many think of the warrior as all brawn and no brains.  But that cannot be.  Muscle can get you only so far.  It is the ability to know how to use that muscle that makes you the warrior.  If I am about to take a test I would love to have the answers so that I know exactly what to study and how to prepare.  That is what history does for you, if you are willing to investigate and study the past.

Solomon tells us that there is nothing new under the sun.  Problems and challenges have been experienced in some capacity before our modern era.  Dig in and see what you can learn.  Sometimes you can learn what to do or more often than not I can learn from the mistakes of others and keep myself from being so foolish.  Sometimes I simply have no clue how to go forward and history can give me a clue.  At the very least I pick up some pretty incredible illustrations.

In the 1930s Calvin Coolidge was president.  Tennis was becoming very popular and Calvin’s son began to play consistently.  One day after playing he discovered that he had a blister on one of his feet but figured it was no big deal.  However, the infection in the blister somehow spread to his legs and then took on the rest of his body.  He was dead in just a couple of weeks.  The lesson learned is that you must address the little things or they will ultimately kill you. (BTW: Lesson from last week.)

Don’t simply look at dates but instead look for the story.  Look for the lessons learned from other cultures.  While it can be difficult to find, the African continent is full of incredible leaders, new technologies and more.  These leaders had to solve environmental issues, community issues and had to overcome immense challenges.  They have lessons that are right there waiting for you.  Every culture and language has had to face problems, look to learn from them.

Finally, don’t restrict your learning to what you typically find in history books.  When you study with a warrior mindset you can find leadership lessons from all of the disciplines.  Science, art, engineering, education and any other venue can provide what you need to solve any of today’s problems.

 This week’s challenge: Today, pick out one season of history and study the snot out of it for the next 3 months.  Look for something out of the ordinary.

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Living the Warrior Life

Living the Warrior Life D-Day +43

Welcome back!  If you started on June 6 when we kicked this off, you are now on D-Day plus 43.      

A quick review is in order.   Last week we completed the first section on being the leader.  You can always go back and read the past blogs to get the details.  A warrior is always the leader who leads from the front.  A warrior is the leader who sets the example.  A warrior is the leader who is comfortable in his/her own skin because they know who they are.  Finally a warrior is a leader who looks to win the war not just the battle.

Be the Leader:

Discipline:   

Definition:    

Destiny:   

Now we go onto the second section

BE THE WARRIOR

I am the voice.

I will lead NOT follow.

I will believe NOT doubt.

I will create NOT destroy.

I am a force for good.

I am a force for God.

I am a leader.

I will defy the odds.

I will set a new standard.

I will rise.

I am the storm.

I am the warrior.

-Modified version of a Tony Robbins quote

Now that you know that you are the leader.  Rise up and live as a warrior.  Not all of those that are leaders are warriors.  But it is the warrior that leaves an impact on the world.  What will your impact be?  Will you help lead climate change?  Will you be remembered as a part of the next Great Awakening.  Will you discover something new?  The possibilities are numerous.  Search your heart. 

Now before you go off to conquer kingdoms and slay the dragon (which you should definitely do by the way), I want to encourage you to do the little things well.  See that is what a warrior does.  He/She lives with excellence in their bones. 

Don Tee was a crew member on a bomber in World War II.  He described long periods of boredom followed by seasons of absolute terror.  Don was a warrior.  During one of the flights the bombs were stuck and Don climbed down into the bay to try to kick them loose.  He could look down and see Europe below him.  Climbing down he began kicking at the offending bomb. Time was of the essence.  He had to get this out quickly or they would miss the window of opportunity.  With all of his might he gave it one last kick and the bombs fell away.  Unfortunately so did Don.  He had lost his grip in the effort to kick the bomb loose.  But that was not the end of Don.  While he was falling out of the bomb bay the patch of his uniform caught on a bolt.  For several moments, Don was getting a literal bird’s eye view of Europe with nothing holding him in the air but a bolt and a patch.  Don could not tell you how long he was hanging there before other crew members pulled him back up into the plane but it did seem like an eternity.

While Don is a hero, he gives credit to two other people for his surviving the war.  One was the person that sewed the patch on his uniform.  They did such an excellent job that it held a full grown man.  That person sewing the patch will never know that the little thing of an extra stitch on a patch saved a man’s life.  The second person is the person that put that bolt in place.  If they had been having a bad day, or were simply phoning in their work that day, Don would have died that day.

You never know how the little things will impact a life.  Do all things with excellence.  A warrior always provides excellence in every task; even if and maybe particularly if they do not know if anyone will ever notice. 

 This week’s challenge: Today, write down three small tasks that you usually phone in and write them down.  Now take that list and purposely do those three things with excellence.

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Living the Warrior Life

Living the Warrior Life D-Day +36

Welcome back!  If you started on June 6 when we kicked this off, you are now on D-Day plus 36.      

Be the Leader:

Discipline:  To be the leader you must put yourself on the warpath of discipline.  These are the little things that you do routinely to develop physically, mentally, socially and Spiritually.  Overall these things will offer you small little nudges of personal growth.  I implore you not to wait until you feel like it, just get up and do it every day.  Every leader that has fallen started his/her descent by forsaking the disciplines that got them into their position.

Definition:   This is where you define who you are.  I am a warrior monk.  In every situation where I am unsure what to do next; I ask myself, “What would a warrior monk do in this situation?”  Additionally, I am a man that simply loves Jesus and longs to hear him say, “Well done good and faithful servant.”  This body that I live in, the roles that I play and the things people think of me are all temporary.  My real self is housed in this temporary jar of clay.  I am the beloved of God.  Leaders who do not know who they are hurt people.

King Saul in the Bible was called of God to lead the nation of Israel.  He was anointed by the prophet yet he ruled in fear of losing his position, losing face and losing his relationship with God.   Because he failed to see himself as the anointed he failed.  Consider King David, who knew that God loved him and believed in him.  Which type of leader do you want to be?

Destiny:  To be the leader is to live life in the long game.  Too many leaders today go for temporary victories.  They might get wealthy or get the girl but they are only content for a short period of time.  The warrior thinks of the eternal best interest of those that he/she is leading. 

A weed grows very fast and takes no effort.  Anybody can grow a weed and be successful at doing so.  But a weed does not last.  Imagine planting a tree from a seed.  It takes skill, time and effort.  There will be days where you can see the growth and days where you notice nothing. If done correctly that tree will impact multiple generations. 

During my time in the United States Army we would do these field exercises and in nearly every one of those the umpires would take me out of the equation by killing me.  My troops would then have to show if I had trained them well or not.  The first time this happened they were not prepared and that was my fault.  I should have ensured that everyone on my team had the skills and mindset to rise up and be a leader if I was not there.  In many ways up until that day I was a highly paid babysitter. I learned my lesson and never again would I set up my soldiers for failure. 

If you are a leader and your organization does not outlast you by at least one generation than you have failed.  I have learned that this can be painful.  Decisions made today do not always make sense in the moment.  Invest your time and energy so that you can be the legend. 

I heard the story of a man who abandoned his wife and two children when the kids were very young.  Many years later, the two children having gone away from their mother for a season, returned to celebrate the mother’s 60th birthday party.  Many friends and family members joined them as they told about how the mother had overcome all challenges with a smile and with much grace.  For two days laughter, tears and stories were told.  Many of the stories were almost supernatural and were surely the stuff of legend.  The man’s name was never mentioned.  It was like he did not exist.  He was a ghost.  My question to you today is this, “Do you want to be a legend or do you want to be a ghost?”

 This week is a good time to review where we have been.  Put together your full ethos statement.  (See mine as an illustration.)  Write out your discipline plan to include what and when you will add to them.  Create a word picture to create the definition of who you are and finally decide.  “I am going to be a legend.”  What do you want your legend to be?  Tell the story and include your whole being.

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Living the Warrior Life

Living the Warrior Life D-Day +29

Welcome back!  If you started on June 6 when we kicked this off, you are now on D-Day plus 29.     That means that it is Independence Day in America.  We take time to celebrate the birth of our nation.  I used to think that I loved this nation.  But then I went to basic training at Fort Leonard wood.  At graduation they played “I’m proud to be an American.”  I started crying.  There was no warning, no build up, just tears racing down my cheeks.  It was then that I realized that I really loved this country.  Now, I agree that we have often made a mess of things from time to time.  We birthed a nation of freedom while holding slaves.  We slaughtered Native Americans, proudly.  We have often had corrupt government and businesses.  But ultimately this nation has stood against the forces of evil in the world and has come out victorious.  Here any man can rise and live his/ her dream.  The United States of America is growing up, be patient and look to the horizon to see what we accomplish in the future.  My guess is that what we do in the future will make it look like we did nothing over the past 250 years or so.  God bless the USA.

Be the Leader:

Discipline: The last two weeks I have been talking to you about personal discipline.  This is critical if you are going to be the warrior.  You should be establishing new disciplines consistently.  Try to build a streak of success.  I remember when I was trying to build the discipline of flossing.  I had been told by every dentist I knew that I needed to put this practice in my life.  I blew them off. (Like some of you have been doing to my suggestions so far.) One day though I thought I should follow through, after all I had been telling all of those dentists that I will start flossing right away.  But to be honest now, I was lying.  I had no intention of following through on that promise.  But I got sick of not being a man of integrity in that area so I made the decision, I will floss regularly.  This started with flossing at least every third day, then I set a standard of flossing more days than not.  Finally, I wanted to see how many days in a row that I could floss.  I went nearly three years without missing a day.  Then I went camping and missed a day.  But since then I have been consistent for nearly 7 more years.  I work to break my record daily.  Build your disciplines.

Slow and steady wins the race.  Build slowly, you never eat the fruit on the day you plant the seed.

Definition:  Now to be the leader you must define yourself.  Who are you?  If you are like me, you have made a ton of mistakes in your life.  Too often I define myself by those failures.  I remember that youth group that collapsed under my leadership and became nonexistent.  I remember being a bad example in Boy Scouts.  I remember my time in addictions and in that I remember how I selfishly hurt people.  My life then was all about me and what I wanted and I hated anyone that disagreed with me.  Hate would have defined who I was.  I could go on for pages in detail about all of the times that I have failed.  However, as a warrior I must not define myself in the midst of those failures.  Many people I know define themselves by their past.  They will say I am an addict, I am a felon.  They will say I am stupid, ugly, cruel or a liar and adulterer.  Some define themselves by their career, or lack of a career.  Others are defined by their appearance.  I am pretty, I am ugly.  The point is that you must rise above all of that. 

There are times when you have been ugly, stupid, trapped in sin of all sorts.  Those are moments of your life.  Do not let them define you.

I am defined as a child of God.  He loves me. 

I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  –Galatians 2: 20

Too often we define our inside by what is outside of us.  That is backwards. The warrior life is all about allowing the inside to define who you are.  With that said I must challenge you to invite Christ to live inside of you.  Without Christ to cleanse us, we are filled with selfishness, bitterness, and all manner of evil.  We are unable to faithfully serve our fellow men in ways that honor them.

If you have not invited Jesus to live within you, then I implore you to not put that off for a single moment. 

I have very few regrets in my life.  I regret not going to Ranger School.  I regret not being a better husband to my wife, particularly in our early marriage.  But the one thing that I regret most in my life is that I did not come to really know Jesus earlier.  Oh, to have prevented the mistakes of my rebellion against Him.  That is why I seek words to convince you not to put this off.  If you need to talk to someone about this relationship; and what that means please email me.  rich.schaus@grmmuskogee.org

Take some time this week to add to your disciplines (by adding that may mean that you are taking something away like pie, or working late.)  Also take time to clarify your definition of who you are.  Let me know what you are thinking and how I can serve you.