Vanguard

Sometimes in leadership we grow tired, weary, and weak. And I mean who can blame us; we’re humans right? But in the midst of the tiredness, weariness, and weakness one sometimes wonders if that’s all leadership does to a person. This is for the leader who is tired and who has wanted to throw the towel. This is for the leader who has been stuck in the mundane and can’t seem to find a way out. Leaders this is for us.

Yesterday, August 8th 2018, I was at the OC Fair riding the Ferris wheel. Amazingly, the fairgrounds are right across from Vanguard University which, if y’all didn’t know, is where I go to school. While overlooking at the campus from above, the Lord put in my heart to write about the word “Vanguard”. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Vanguard means: a group of people leading the way in new developments or ideas. Also, the foremost part of an advancing army or naval force. Notice that these definitions are not talking about just whomever, they are talking about leaders like you and I.

In the Bible we see a vanguard of men in King David's Army. But there's one that is highly teachable to us leaders today. In 2nd Samuel 23 vs. 9-10 we learn about him. It says " He was with David when the Philistines poked fun at them at Pas Dammim. When the Philistines drew up for battle, Israel retreated. But Eleazar stood his ground and killed Philistines right and left until he was exhausted—but he never let go of his sword!". So from this we derive that Eleazar was a leader in the army. Fun fact: his name אלעזר (in Hebrew) means God has helped. But the 3 major descriptions about him are 1)He stood with David when all others left, 2)He grew tired, and 3)He never let go of his sword.

So what can Eleazar's life teach us as leaders today? Well for starters,he stood with David. One thing I have told my youth all the time is find someone older, smarter, and more experienced (physically and spiritually) to grow under. This can cause us to grow in knowledge and the older crowd is able to teach a new generation of leaders how to lead correctly. The second point is that he grew tired. Reality check, we grow tired and even burn out sometimes. But don’t let your tiredness become greater because that is when leaders use it as an overused crutch of excuse. We all need to take a breather, but never allow the breather to stop your action, holy zeal, and fire. Last lesson, He never let go of his sword. While life gets crazy, those are the moments to clinch your hand to the sword even stronger. As leaders, we must not stop swinging our swords because who do you think the devil attacks first? he attacks the people in the front line; and the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God.Finally, leaders do not ever grow tired in doing good. As Paul said, in due season we will reap, if we don’t give up. So leaders we have a big job to do so let’s go and do it as the vanguard generation. I like that name how about you?