LEADERS are ROWERS
LEADERS are ROWERS
While Celebrating my 30th Anniversary (35 years together) - #blessedbeyondwhatideserve - with The Gorgeous B-E-A-Utiful Lisa this past week sailing in Antigua, -I was introduced to a new the Atlantic Challenge, where 35 boats set off on Dec 12 every year to ROW 3000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from the Canary Islands in Spain to the finish line in English Harbour in Antigua.
Known as the “World’s TOUGHEST Row”, participants spend 60 days at sea in a small boat, braving 40-80-foot waves, sharks, illness, and a rigorous schedule that sees them sleep and row in two your shifts as they make their way. To put the grueling race in context, fewer people have rowed across the Atlantic than reach the summit of Mt Everest!!
To say I was INTRIGUED, INSPIRED - even INTERESTED myself - was an understatement - call me or google it if you want to hear more ha! But we did get to see Boat 31 (of 35) row in to the Harbor and cross the finish line on Thursday night.
Words fall short - they light flares, boat encircle them, super yachts are blowing their horns, and their family/friends await to greet them. I learned it’s no so much an “extreme sport” as people race for Charities such as cancer, recovery, wounded warriors, children’s hospital - whatever CAUSE they choose that helps motivate and inspire them to persist and overcome daily challenges at sea.
As leaders we are “rowers” navigating through the swells, challenges, and obstacles for meaningful RELATIONSHIPS with our families and teams and the CAUSES we choose to FIGHT for. Every day we “row” as a leader toward the finish line, we have the opportunity to “ROW WELL” to Choose, Lead, Live, Overcome, and Honor Well!! DON’T GIVE UP!! The Apostle Paul says it best - - yes,
“Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running (ROWING - emphasis mine)—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will SHOOT ADRENALINE into your souls!”
Hebrews 12:1-3 MSG