John Gunter

Thoughts on Life and Living

“It’s lonely at the top” – Leadership Isolation

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The statue of David
King David saw isolation open the door for his moral collapse.

I have been grieved this week to read of three high-level men, one in ministry, one in education, and one in politics, who have apparently all fallen in horrendous sin.  Two of the men are being accused of pedophilia and the other of murder.  Like you, I read these accounts and I am mortified over the thoughts of such moral deadness and absolute failure on the part of these men.  They have all taken vows to care for and protect those under their domains of responsibility and done the complete opposite.

It has gotten to the point where stories of “fallen” leaders are the norm, rather than the exception.  Whether it is sexual indiscretion (too many cases in politics and ministry to recount), financial corruption (as is the case in the main story of fallen leadership in the country where I currently live), or emotional breakdown (the recent break of the producer of Kony2012), “fallen leaders” seem to be dominating headlines across the world.

While there is clearly no one answer for this problem, I do think that one of the core issues of moral failure in leadership on this level is ISOLATION.  The “higher” you get in leadership, the fewer the peers and the greater the responsibility. The fewer peers you have, the less healthy outlets there are to “decompress” in life.  The greater the responsibility you have, the higher the emotional toll and stress you shoulder.  The result [Read more…]

Further thoughts on life and depression – Psalm 13

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Picture by Monica Skinner. . . not about depression.
This picture has nothing to do with the article, I just think it looks cool (taken by Monica Skinner).

This morning when I was reading the Bible, I came upon this chapter. I wanted to quickly share this Psalm with you.   Psalm 13…

1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, 4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. 5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

In light of my last post on some of my thoughts on the death of Junior Seau (click here to read), this Psalm stuck out to me this morning.  It really is a great look into the matter of struggle and depression.

King David wrote this Psalm.  One of the many aspects of the Bible that I deeply appreciate is the fact that it is painfully honest in its writing.  In this Psalm, David is clearly depressed.  He feels abandoned by God and personally lost.  The Lord is distant and David’s earthly enemies are close.  He is scared for both his earthy life and his eternal soul.  Ever been there? I have.

What I noticed this morning, though, is the abrupt shift in David’s tone towards the end of the Psalm.  [Read more…]

Upon second look. . . David and Goliath

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David-And-Goliath-69251
Henderson vs. Tucker. . .um, I mean David vs. Goliath

It was the first game of the season. We had just completed summer football 3-a-days (yes, we had three practices a day in the Atlanta August heat). All off season, we had heard of the greatness of the Tucker team, led by a consensus all-American defensive end/fullback. Personally, it was my first big varsity game as a starter AND it was against the school where I knew many of the players (and fans from both sides). The stadium would be packed. To say the least, I was nervous.

Sitting in the courtyard of my high school an hour before getting on the bus to the stadium, our head coach sat us down for the climatic pre-game motivational talk. To my surprise, Coach Wilson raised a Bible, opened it to 1 Samuel 17, and promptly read the story of David and Goliath. The general theme. . . with faith, you can accomplish anything. Coach Wilson’s point was that with faith, we could beat our Goliath, Tucker. We were, I suppose, David.

We lost in an embarrassing blow-out. Goliath dominated us. 

No offense to Coach Wilson, whom I really liked and respected, but upon second look, he completely missed on the main point of this story (and clearly the “motivational talk” was ineffectual as well).

Read this story again (1 Samuel 17), as I have this past week and see what you think. Upon second [Read more…]

The Leadership/Popularity Conundrum

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MichaelScott
NO THIS IS NOT ME. . . Michael Scott was often an example of failed leadership by trying to gain popularity.

Popularity, to some extent, is often what brings people into positions of leadership.  Whether it is to the position of CEO, president of a country, student government, the garden club, or the Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin, popularity plays some role in people being placed in positions of leadership.  You advance at work by being popular with your bosses, in politics by having more votes than anyone else, and at school by having the most friends.  You even gain “leadership of a family” by being popular with your girlfriend to the point of her agreeing to marriage.  Then it comes time to lead and the followers (employees or voters or teammates or. . .) want their absolute way in everything.  I’m no different in times of being subordinate to people.

Leading based primarily upon popularity will eventually end in the failure of the leader.  Leadership is anything but a popularity contest.  Leadership 101 is that “you can’t please everyone, every time.”  It is my experience that in leadership, though, this doesn’t go nearly far enough.  In reality, with very few exceptions, it should be “you WILL disappoint someone every time.”  Just as there are multiple sides to every story, there are also going to be multiple opinions of every leadership decision.  True leadership is making what you are confident is the right call and moving forward to execute this decision.  Nothing more, nothing less.

24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with [Read more…]

To whom shall we go?

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return-prodigal-son
Rembrandt’s “The Prodigal Son”

This may surprise you, but one of my favorite passages in the Bible is John 6:68-69.

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

I have come back to this section of the Bible countless times during periods of struggle. Life throws many temptations and trials at us. Whether it is obvious, overt sin, such as sexual indiscretion or something much more subtle, like greed, temptations abound. Many times, I find that temptations can then make it as far as becoming a way of thinking for me. This is when it gets dangerous. “I would be happier if I followed a life driven by financial gain.” “I would be happier if I just married this girl, instead of God’s choice for me.” “I would be happier if I were doing a different profession.”

On my worst days, I’m tempted to even doubt the goodness, care, power, and love of my God, Christ Jesus. This is generally following times of extreme heartache, loneliness, disappointment, or loss.

Whether it’s precipitated by moral failure, personal loss, or challenges to my faith in Christ and the Bible, I love this passage (John 6:68-69) in illustrating this point. I love the [Read more…]

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