I did a 5-mile round-trip, night hike last night that I finished at about 1:15AM. It was from Black Horse Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Wilson Creek Shelter. You can read about it in our Bird Family Chronicles. But I wanted to put down a few things about leadership that the Holy Spirit spoke to me about during the hike.

RISK: As I said previously, there was definitely an element of risk
involved in my night hike last night. Deep leaves on the trail can hide rocks, roots, missing ground, etc. A misstep is much more likely when you can’t see the ground you’re walking on. In relation to leadership:
Leaders aren’t afraid of risk. I’ve heard it said that Faith is spelled
R-I-S-K. When a leader has Faith in what he or she is doing, he is
willing to take the risks involved to pursue whatever the task is at
hand…even if he can’t see the ground ahead of him. Each step forward may be a step of faith that the footing will remain sure and the ground will not crumble out from under him. Also, a true leader will never ask his followers to face a risk that he himself has not faced first.

TRAIL-BLAZING: As I mentioned in the BFC post, the trail was covered by heavy calf+ deep “leaf-fall” along many stretches. Now that can pose some extra risk even in the daylight, but when you add that to a night hike it can really add a sense of “excitement”. On the way to the shelter I developed a what I call the “cross-country skiing” leaf-technique. It’s a shuffling walk that helped me to be aware of the ground UNDER the leaves. (I was glad that the temperatures have been cold and there was little chance of snakes in the leaves. When the leaves get as deep as the top of your calves, there’s no telling what might be hiding in them in the woods!)

While it wasn’t obvious as I was moving forward, as I shuffled through the leaves, I was creating slight “waves” on either side of where my legs pushed through. It wasn’t until the return journey that I could see the effect of my previous trip. I had created somewhat of a “path” through the leaves. Granted, there was already a path there. But being able to see where I’d already gone, faint as it was in the dark, gave me guidance and a greater assurance as I traveled back down that same trail.

In relation to leadership, leaders do the same thing at times. They go ahead down, at times treacherous, unknown paths and blaze a trail for others. Sometimes they have to go down that path two or more times before others can safely follow it. But because the leader has gone ahead and blazed the trail, the followers can follow that same trail with greater assurance.

NEW TECHNIQUES/CHANGE: While I was walking through the deep leaves I found that my normal hiking gait/style was not appropriate. I had to come up with the shuffle style walk to assure my safety and reach my destination.

In relation to leadership, leaders have to be agents of change. They help develop new techniques of doing things, and then help with Change Management. Their ability to do that smoothly shows the type of leader he or she is. A “Manager” will try to TELL people “What” they need to change, but a true leader will educate his or her followers as to the “Why” of change and get a sense of buy-in from the followers. Once people buy-in to something, change comes about more easily.

It’s getting late and I need to get to bed…church is just a few hours away. But I hope that what I’ve shared will benefit you in some way. Grace and Peace!