Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Nehemiah documents in the third chapter the building of the gates. He gives credit to those due credit by naming them and explaining how the contributed to the construction of the walls. What I find most interesting is that these "gate builders" were in the city previous to the arrival of Nehemiah. They allowed themselves to live in a city vulnerable to their enemies until a leader that had made himself available to God arrived to cast the vision to build the walls. We know from Proverbs...
29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
A leader gets dirty. A leader fights the enemy. A leader is criticized. A leader is motivated. A leader encourages. A leader does the right thing. A leader casts the vision. A leader leads. A leader continues to cast the vision. A leader leads some more. A leader casts the vision again. A leader does not quit.
As a leader, it is not always easy to have the followers move in the same direction. There will be those that fall away because they lack the stamina to complete the vision. It was John Wooden that said, "It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes it." Despite those that do not contribute to the vision, the city must be built. Nehemiah was a leader with the vision to build a wall with the willing. His vision never changed.
