Like Dave Grohl once crooned, I've got another confession to make. At times in my life, I have denied Jesus. In subtle and not-so-subtle ways, over the last twenty-six years of following Jesus, I have denied Him a grievous number of times. But one time that stands out happened back in 2018. I was travelling from one coast to the other amid a string of trips to preach at different conferences. I was tired, very tired, over tired because I was living out of an overpacked schedule and failed to recover well—talking to a few of you all right now.

I first heard the phrase tall poppy syndrome when I was first in Australia. When I asked what it meant, it was explained to me that Australians tend to tear down those "standing tallest" or those who stand out. At that moment, I thought about how that same syndrome plays out in the U.S. We love to make heroes just to break them. More still, I find that our culture labels people—according to one or even a few incidents they find wrong or unacceptable—and tries to lock them in those labels, even if they change.

Jim Collins, famous for several books, including the groundbreaking Good to Great, once wrote, “Bad decisions made with good intentions are still bad decisions.” Weighty words and apropos of our time today as we look at the life of my favourite leader. Moses' life and leadership are the stuff of legend. Though he initially recoiled at the Lord's “invitation” to lead, no human being has led a larger, more disgruntled group of people in the rest of history. No one has led better. He even showed such humility that he is called the most humble man on earth.

So how did he end up on this list? I am still reeling from the discovery, but it gave me an even greater appreciation for the difficulty of leadership, the kindness of the Lord, and the danger of one unmanaged moment.

According to the National Institutes of Mental Health, public speaking is the greatest human fear—more so than death. I contend that if public speaking is the greatest fear—even more significant than death—leading people must be a very close second! In twenty years of leadership, time has proved this to be true from my vantage point, but nothing has been like these last few years. Author, former pastor, and leadership expert John C. Maxwell said that the past three years have been the most challenging season to be a leader he has seen in fifty years of leadership.

Founder and outgoing pastor of Saddleback Church, Rick Warren, recently named five storms that the world has weathered in the last few years: global infirmity, social instability, racial inequality, financial insecurity, and political incivility. Amid all of those storms, culturally, much of what used to be understood norms for leadership has largely vanished. In today's new world:

Have you ever been motivated by fear? Has that fear ever motivated you to do something potentially hazardous or ruinous? There is a great film based on a novel called The Human Stain that I am quite possibly about to ruin for you, even as I commend it to you. In it, the main character, played by Anthony Hopkins, finds himself trapped in a prison of his own making. He is an English professor and the chair of the English Department at a reasonably prestigious school. He spent his career cultivating that department, particularly fighting to make space for African-American people to serve as faculty members in the department and at the school.

How do you deal with trauma or tragedy? The question I place before you is an important one, both in light of your life pre-twenty-twenty—because “life under the sun”comes with challenges simple and life-altering—and in light of everything we have navigated as people since twenty-twenty alone—r.i.p. Kobe, civility, security, financial predictability etc. Unfortunately, trauma and tragedy can push us to do things we never imagined we would do, or at the very least, something that seemed far outside our character. And when that happens, the associated shame can be almost as crippling as the original event or events themselves.