One of the keys to successful negotiations is to always let the loser save face. President John F. Kennedy understood this. In October of 1962, after more than two weeks of tense negotiation, the Cuban missile crisis was resolved when Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev agreed to remove all missiles from Cuba, if Kennedy, in turn, promised not to invade the island.
The only reason the US considered invading at all was to remove the threat of the missiles. According to Kennedy advisor and biographer Theodore Sorensen, the Preident then “laid down the line for all of us. No boasting, no gloating, not even a claim of victory. We had won by enabling Khruschev to avoid complete humiliation – we should not humiliate him now.”
How many marriages would have been saved if we just made the other party feel like we compromised. How many church splits could have been averted had one side simply refused to not humiliate the other.
How has allowing the other person to save face helped you? What is your story?
Tags: hero, humiliation, Kennedy
Twenty-one years ago, on July 3, 1988, the guided-missile cruiser USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian airliner with 290 souls aboard. All were lost. The ship’s captain had mistakenly thought they were under attack by an F-14 Iranian fighter. It was a tragic mistake.
Because the cruel treatment of American hostages in Iran was still fresh in many minds, public opinion polls opposed paying compensation to the victims’ families. But President Reagan, a hard-liner, approved compensation. Asked by reporters if such payment would send the wrong signal, he replied, “I don’t ever find compassion a bad precedent.”
The feeding of the 5,000 was a miracle born out of compassion. Jesus was moved by the physical and spiritual needs of the people (Matthew 14:14; Mark 6:34). As Christians, we must look at the whole person through the eyes of Jesus. Being moved by compassion always sends the right signal.
When was the last time you showed compassion to someone in need? Tell us about it.
Tags: compassion, hero, Reagan
Apollo 11 landed on the surface of the moon on Sunday, July 20, 1969. Most of us are familiar with Neal Armstrong’s historic statement as he stepped onto the moon’s surface: “That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.” But few know about the first meal eaten there.
Buzz Aldrin had brought aboard the spacecraft a tiny communion kit provided by his church. Aldrin sent a radio broadcast to earth asking listeners to contemplate the events of that day and to give thanks.
Then, in radio blackout for privacy, Aldrin poured wine into a silver chalice. He read, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit” (John 15:5). Silently, he gave thanks and ate the bread and drank from the cup.
God is the God of all creation. Buzz Aldrin celebrated that experience on the surface of the moon. Thousands of miles from earth, he took time to commune with the One who created, redeemed, and fellowshiped with him.
How far from God do you feel today? He’s really right there. Embrace Him.
Tags: communion, hero, moon
Another of my heroes of the faith is St. Patrick. Today is St. Patrick’s Day and I always try to wear green. Although I have Irish ancestry (my ancestors had such Irish names as Carnahan, Gillespie, McNabb, Hobson, and Mackey), St. Patrick wasn’t even Irish. Patrick was taken prisoner as a child by raiding Irish pirates from his English home. Sold into slavery, he had a hard life. He prayed and told God that if He would deliver him, he would serve Him the rest of his life. He then found an opportunity to stowaway on a departing ship. The ship was destined for France, and Patrick arrived safe, and immediately entered a monastery to become a priest, keeping his word to God.
Patrick was not the best student, and when the pope sent out a plea for missionaries to go to rugged Ireland, Patrick immediately sensed God was leading him to go back. But the religious leaders were convinced that Patrick’s grades were not good enough for him to carry out such an endeavor and denied him. However, when none of the other priests volunteered to go, they reluctantly approved Patrick as the candidate. The rest is history.
Patrick becomes a hero because he went back to those who had put him in bondage and offered them grace. Isn’t that exactly what Christ did for us? No one had a passion for the wild Irish like he who had been there. Wear green today in honor of St. Patrick.
Tags: grace, hero, missionary, St. Patrick
Anita got me a great gift for Christmas. It was the Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection on DVD. Harold Lloyd was a pioneer film maker and actor in the silent movie era. He made his mark in Hollywood history with his 1923 silent Safety Last. Harold Lloyd owned his own film company and never syndicated his films to be distributed by later companies. Only recently has his family digitized these films and released them on DVD to the public.
In the days when sexual inuendos and plays on words were not possible, Harold relied on creative film methods and visual illusions to entertain. His action-packed scenes high up on building sides and racing down crowded city streets leave the viewer sitting on the edge of their seats and chuckling with delight.
Harold Lloyd is on my list of heros for his effort to break entertainment patterns and pioneer new visual methods, setting a pattern for other filmmakers to follow and improve. I pray God would help me to break patterns in the church world and pioneer new methods for making disciples who make disciples.
Tags: hero, patterns, pioneer
Today I did ministry for the first time since surgery as I preached Max Shumaker’s funeral. It was good to see some of Max’s friends that don’t attend church here anymore. And I’m glad I was able to share words of comfort with the family.
Tomorrow Anita and I leave for Nashville, Tennessee. We put this off to the very end of my medical leave to make sure I was up to it, and I think I am now.
I’ve finished reading David Barton’s book The Bullet-Proof George Washington. David Barton is a Christian historian who writes books on early American history with an emphasis upon the Christian roots of the founding fathers. The problem is, he sometimes tries to rewrite the story by leaving out or adding to the story a bit. For example, in this book he tells the story of how, early in the French and Indian War, George Washington led a group of colonists to try to take prisoner some French diplomats, but it turned sour and some Fenchmen were killed. In reality, George and the colonists thought they spotted a French raiding party, but ambushed a French peacemaking force, and killed the diplomat carrying peace papers. It was an international scandal and George Washington was blamed for it.
Some people think that we have to make heroes perfect people. George Washington was a genuine hero, but he made a major blunder early on that taught him a life-long lesson. I don’t think there are great heroes that haven’t failed along the way. What do you think?
Tags: blunder, hero, perfect