"Lead Me"
 
As I enter the third decade of my life, I understand that, by myself, I am not a strong individual.  This realization has become more of a reality as I have transitioned to a husband and then a father.

While maturing throughout my early years, I certainly recognized that life required a certain strength. I never truly fretted, however, because I knew I could ride the coattails of those older than me who certainly possessed and imparted the wisdom needed to walk through any challenge.  My parents, for example, always seemed to know how to encourage and inspire an inner strength and calm.  Now that I am a husband and a father, it is I who is expected to provide that same level of wisdom, leadership, and strength.

What that means is that I am now in the position my parents were when I relied so heavily on them.  It means that my wife and I are now tasked to be the providers and leaders of our family.  And, it means that I must take seriously the reality that God has privileged me with the responsibility to care for my family.  However, I have begun to realize that I am already demonstrating a certain weakness.  This is partly because I have allowed fear to enter my heart.  Instead of fearfully respecting life’s challenges, I fear life’s challenges.  As a result, I have seen myself become crippled because of anxieties, fears, stresses, and a lack of confidence about who I am and what I believe.  All is not lost, however.

God recently caught my attention through the only way I’d listen– a song’s lyrics.  Though the song describes a different challenge facing a family, the end result is still the same in that a husband and father lost his way and was no longer leading his family.  The song’s subject needed a reset, a new start.  Concluding the song, the lyrics note the man’s prayer that should be the prayer and chorus of all husbands and wives, fathers and mothers:

Father, give me the strength / To be everything I’m called to be
Oh Father, show me the way / To lead them
Won’t You lead me?
To lead them with strong hands / To stand up when they can’t
Don’t want to leave them hungry for love / Chasing things that I could give up 
I’ll show them I’m willing to fight / And give them the best of my life
So we can call this our home / Lead me ’cause I can’t do this alone*

The lyrics identified for me all that I was (or perceived I was) lacking and identified the way to be set free from that burden.  Most importantly, I (and we, as a corporate people) are to lean on God for His strength, not ours.  As mortal beings, our strength will always falter.  With God’s strength, we’ll be free to be who we were called to be by His grace.  With that strength, we can be free to lead with a strong conviction.  With that strength, we won’t be tempted to sit when we should be standing.  With that strength, we’ll be empowered to fight when we feel like the battle is lost, when we’ve given up, and when we’re afraid.  With that strength, we’ll be able to give them the best of us – that which was beautifully created.  Most importantly, the lyrics end with the most important point that I’ve come to realize – I can’t do this alone.  None of us can.  So that I can be of help and strength to my family, I am going to need the help and strength of God.

Looking back at my youth, I now understand how my parents seemed so strong and from where their wisdom came.  They certainly were not perfect and I know they had troubled times.  However, their faith was always in God and they always sought His strength.  It is my hope that I can continue their tremendous example.

President Kennedy had a small plaque on his desk in the Oval Office.  The plaque was a Breton fisherman’s prayer – “Oh God thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.”  Those words have always stuck with me since learning of them because they speak to the perspective that our presence and capabilities in this world are limited.  Luckily, we have a God who will lead us through the troubled, rocky seas. The issue becomes, will we ask Him to lead us?

*Song: “Lead Me”
Group: Sanctus Real
Songwriter(s): Jason Ingram
Copyright: Sony/Atv Timber Publishing, Windsor Hill Music, West Main Music