In occupied Europe, 75-80% of the Jewish population during World War II was executed.  And, yet what if I told you that in one country, approximately 75-80% of the Jewish population in that same period survived.  What if I told you that number may not include thousands of more foreign Jews living in that nation?  What I then told you that this nation where so many Jews was one that was Hitler’s prime ally?

Of course you read the title of the post so you know by now it happened in Italy - fascist Italy.  But if you were didn’t know all this you were like me and most students of history and you were like the author.

What does God expect of me?

Dave Gibbons begins the Monkey and the Fish: Liquid Leadership for a Third-Culture Church with an eastern parable.  A well-meaning monkey sees a fish struggling in the water after a typhoon.  Having a kind heart, the monkey with considerable risk to himself reaches down precariously from a limb of a tree to save the fish snatching him up from the water.  The monkey lies the fish on dry land.  For a few minutes the fish showed excitement but soon it settled into a peaceful sleep.

I am rereading on of my favorite all-time books, The Killer Angels. I was first introduced to this book about 8 years ago when I was part of a leadership class one summer led by Jay Lorenzen.

Though Jay doesn’t like being known for this one talk – he gave a great talk that I can’t forget called “Care and Courage” where he shows clips from Gettysburg.

That talk and this book introduced me to Joshua Chamberlain who lead both with care and courage. Last night I read my favorite part where he holds the last line at Little Round Top and leads his men who were out of ammunition to fix bayonets and charge down the hill. AWESOME!!!

I think one day I’d like to take my three boys on a manhood excursion to Pennsylvania. We will talk about how being a man involves displaying courage but always caring for others sacrificially.

We would go to Gettysburg where men gave their lives to set men free. Maybe I will read Lincoln’s eulogy. We will then go to the field where Flight 93 crashed – where Americans gave their lives for our nation.

And we will go to Pittsburgh where I proposed to their mother.

This weekend I finished, “Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology” by Eugene Peterson. Peterson also authored “The Message”.

When I read the first chapter all I could say was ‘wow’! I found myself saying these over and over again. I couldn’t put it down. This is a theolgy book that reads like a novel – a good novel.

Peterson style of writing is captivating. He paints a masterpiece with his words. It’s not a theology textbook that is just some academic knowledge of God – though Peterson teaches you a great deal about God often things insights you may have never known. It is not a book about ‘do this and then this and everything will be okay’. This is a book about the life of Christ living in us in ten thousand places and our being tranformed to live the Christ life. It is about the Spirit bringing life to us and our experiencing the glory of God among the community of believers.

He breaks down his book into three main chapters: Christ plays in Creation; Christ plays in History; and Christ plays in Community. Each main chapter focuses on two main passages; one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament.

One thing that I have found myself mulling over and over again is peterson’s insight into how that Wind, Breath, and Spirit are all the same word [pnuema] in both Aramaic that Jesus spoke and the Greek that the NT writers wrote in. Peterson asks us to imagine how our perceptions would change if we used ‘wind’ and ‘breath’ when we thought of the word ‘spirituality’ or the ‘Holy Spirit’. For me it has caused me to think differently about the Spirit prevading my life, my family, our church, Boulder, places we send teams… the way the mighty rushing wind invading the upper room in Acts 2 or the way the breath of God invaded Adam and created life.

I finally sat down this week and started reading this book I bought last fall. It’s been in my reading list to the right for months but actually I picked it up and few times and ended up reading other books. I finished it last night.

It is called the Children’s Blizzard. It is a tragic story of a blizzard that stuck the Great Plains in 1888. It’s called the children’s blizzard because the day of January 12th started out as a unusually warm morning after weeks of cold weather. So most of the kids in the Dakotas, Nebraska, and western Minnesota went to school that day and often with very few jackets. But the warm weather was just the front of a massive cold wave from Canada. When it struck it struck fast and with incredible fury. Many children died trying to make it home or even to the nearest farmhouse. Men even died trying to get from their barn to their house.

It’s a good read especially of how people react in a crisis. It reads like a mystery at times. The author does a good job of describing why and how these immigrants from Eastern Europe and Scandinavia came to settle the Great Plains, about weather systems and what happens when hypothermia sets in.

Last week I finished a pretty good book The United States of Appalachia. It was really interesting and informative. The author, Jeff Biggers, does an excellent job breaking down stereotypes that Appalachian people are all feuding, banjo-playing, cousin-marrying, Anglo-Saxon hillbillies.

I was not totally convinced by his entire premise though. Biggers’ subtitle is “How Southern Mountaineers brought independence, culture, and enlightenment to America.” While he builds a strong and readable case for some huge influencers being from this part of America, I think it would be better stated that “Southern Mountaineers helped bring…”

His case to me is not as strong as for instance Arthur Hermen’s How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe’s Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It. While the later presents a presents a compelling argument that the prime players in Western Civilization were Scots, Biggers presents more of a case that some strong players in American culture that you might not have been aware of or even thought of were Appalachians. The author also uses examples beyond ‘Southerners’ and even ‘Mountaineers’ like when he describes cotton mill strikes in Gastonia, NC. But I would say Gastonia is not in Appalachia but in the Piedmont. My nitpicking keeps me from giving this book 5 stars but I would give it 4 1/2. It is a very enjoyable read that gets stronger as you go. This is a really good first book for Jeff Biggers.

The following is from The Way of the Shepherd: 7 Ancient Secrets to Managing Productive People by Dr. Kevin Leman and William Pentack. (I will edit it to apply to leading teams when needed.)

1. KNOW THE CONDITION OF YOUR FLOCK
* Follow the status of your ‘team’ as well as the status of the ‘mission’. *Get to know your flock, one sheep at a time. * Engage your ‘teammates’ on a regular basis * Keep your eyes and ears open, question and follow through.

2. DISCOVER THE SHAPE OF YOUR SHEEP
He uses the same SHAPE test found on p. 66-69 in your playbook

3. HELP YOUR SHEEP IDENTIFY WITH YOU
* Build trust with your ‘team’ by modeling authenticity, integrity, and compassion. * Set high standards of performance. * Relentlessly communicate your values and sense of mission. * Remember that great leadership is not just professional; it’s personal.

4. MAKE YOUR PASTURE A SAFE PLACE
* Keep your team well informed. * Infuse every role with importance. * Reassure the sheep by staying visible. * Don’t give problems time to fester.

5. THE STAFF OF DIRECTION
* Know where you are going, get out in front and keep your ‘team’ on the move. * When directing, use persuasion rather than coercion. * Give your team freedom of movement but make sure they know where the fence line (boundary) is. * Remind your team that failure is not fatal.

6. THE ROD OF CORRECTION
* Protect: Stand in the gap and fight for your team. * Correct: Approach these times as teaching opportunities. * Inspect: Reguraly inquire about your teammates progress in ministry.

7. THE HEART OF A SHEPHERD
* Great leadership is a lifestyle, not technique. * Every day decide who is going to pay for your leadership – you or ‘your team’. * Foremost of all have a heart for your sheep. * Model Christ-likeness to ‘your team’.