Staying accountable: Peace

<--Very Serious Photo = Peace, right? (keep reading)

I don't have the stamina to read more than a chapter at a time (okay, a WHOLE chapter is pushing it), so I'm trying to pace myself. Slow as I am, I find Leaders Who Last to be - if not riveting - continually yanking me back. (Click here if haven't the foggiest what I'm talking about).

It never ceases to amaze me when synchronicity (<-- great word!) strikes. For example, the chapter I read this weekend speaks directly to the sermon I had just finished about life's storms and knowing peace within the storm.

Here's a bit of what Margaret J. Marcuson reminds me about PEACE:

• "Pastoral Ministry is not the place to look for peace of mind....[T]he peace of mind we receive from ministry will be the peace of mind we bring to it" (p. 6).
• "Perseverance is one of the chores of leadership....[I]n the big storms that are part of the territory of leadership, we do not know exactly how things will turn out. Often the only way out is to go through it, to move ahead through the storm" (p. 7). 

And, my personal favorite...

• "Being a good leader and being extremely serious are not identical, and can even be mutually exclusive! (exclamation mine) ...This relaxed attitude comes from personal security, which can come from faith. if we live out of trust in God, we can relax--we do not have to worry about taking care of everyone, because the results do not depend on us" (p. 19).