The Red Lantern

I've been thinking a lot about school & community lately, as all three of my kids are now in school. Fall baseball has started, and there are wide variations in skill on my eldest son's team. How they treat each other on & around the baseball field, as well as in school is on my mind & heart when I'm at the games, and particularly at bedtime when we talk about the day, one-on-one.

Seth Godin blogs about The Red Lantern, a celebration of courage & determination in the Iditarod (and also the Tour de France, by the way). In particular, this is a celebration of people who are so far behind in a race they'll never win, yet they don't quit.

Why not celebrate people who
push through their own limitations?

Everyone wants to be a winner; it is painful & often very public to show up in last place. My kids won't always win at things they do, and I love the idea of celebrating them for not quitting when *everything* tells them to: the scoreboard, the crowd, their bodies, their flagging determination.

This spirit runs through men's work: the idea that we celebrate a man's victories without comparison to the scoreboard [read: paycheck, house, car, title, family success, how attractive his wife is, etc.]. In fact, men's work, when done right, provides an environment where men can set & achieve goals of real substance & merit: go after things which scare them to death; important, weighty issues with a ripple effect extending well beyond themselves. Men have challenges to face, they can get support and accountability, and they can break through their own barriers, limitations, addictions, distractions.

God won't evaluate me based on how well I perform relative to the rest of the human race. He'll evaluate how well I did based on what He gave me to do in the light of His holy expectations. That is a tall order. I'm grateful for grace, and a community of men who help me do my best to stay in the race, even when I'm way, way behind the leaders.

If you're way behind in any (or many!) of the races in your life, don't quit. Prayerfully consider attending one of The Crucible Weekend retreats. The "Red Lantern" can be simple & powerful: "Well done, good & faithful servant."

Sept. 20-22   Houston, TX
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