I really enjoyed Leading on Empty: Refilling Your Tank and Renewing Your Passion by Wayne Cordeiro. He pastors New Hope church in Honolulu, Hawaii. I have seen a lot of people tweeting about reading this book and it seemed interesting. I was a bit confused about how someone who pastors a church in Hawaii could be dealing with the stress usually associated with leading on empty, but Cordeiro did a great job up front identifying with anyone that has ever been in a position where other people or circumstances tend to dictate their schedule.
Have you ever felt your schedule spiral out of control to the point that your priorities are completely out of whack and you don’t even know where to start to right the ship? Then, this book is definitely for you. I can honestly say that I have never been in as desperate a situation as Cordeiro shares, but I recognize that at any point, I could be headed that way. I have trouble saying no. If I’m not careful, I will major on the minors and miss out on some great opportunities that God has put in my path.
If you have a vacation or a long weekend coming up, you should pick up this book and make it a part of your plan to relax and recharge. Here are some of my takeaways that I highlighted while reading:
- “We don’t forget that we are Christians. We forget that we are human, and that one oversight alone can debilitate the potential of our future.”
- “Suffering will change us, but not necessarily for the better. We have to choose that. And it was the choosing that made all the difference for me.”
- “It is a gift to be able to launch an inspiring vision. But unless you manage it along the way, it can turn on you, and soon the voracious appetite of the vision consumes you.”
- “Gradually my creativity began to flag and I found it easier to imitate rather than innovate. I was backing away from the very things that used to challenge and invigorate me.”
- “But one of the true marks of a veteran is not how he catches a wave, but whether he knows when and how to get off the wave.”
- “A slightly skewed view of life may be undetectable and benign in the beginning, but it will become increasingly corrosive later on. There are things built into the psyches of those of us bent on making our lives count for eternity that can later cause diminishing returns.”
- “To finish strong, you must learn to rejuvenate your spirit early in your ministry.”
- “Sooner or later every long-distance runner encounters the wall. Regardless of how well-trained the athlete, he will meet it one day, and he will meet it head on.”
- “Like a powerful undertow, life has its own entropy, a constant tide that pulls ever so gently but ever so consistently. As time lapses and our defenses get weary, we can be caught in a tidal wave of emotions with neurochemical reactions.”
- “You might feel important and necessary for the moment, but that fleeting sense of self-importance has a price you will not be able to afford.”
- “The emotional debt may demand everything you have, and that which once thrilled you now stands as your accuser.”
- “Solitude is a chosen separation for refining your soul. Isolation is what you crave when you neglect the first.”
- “The ability to precisely define reality is the starting point for any hope for equilibrium.”
- “Learning the difference between a concern and a responsibility may save your ministry, your family, and your sanity.”
- “Is life any less precious because we don’t know how much of it we have left?”
- “Your choice of what is most important will shape your soul.”
- “We won’t be held accountable for how much we have done, but for how much we have done of what He has asked us to do.”
- “In the spirit of the good monk’s words, one of the best things I have done in my life is to establish values before I have had to make major decisions. There must be certain pilings driven so deeply into my soul that in times of crisis they will serve as immovable, unquestionable anchors of my life. Without these, everything is up for grabs and every value challenged.”
- “In other words, I don’t want to kill myself by overproducing or doing anything without the quality that God and His people deserve. And I also want to leave time to recharge. So I had to establish some guardrails and make some restrictions in my life. The only one who can do that in your life is you? It is not a board decision or your response to a spouse’s complaints. It has to be you!”
- “In a relay race, the baton isn’t transferred when the lead runner is staggering and exhausted. He is at the top of his stride when he reaches the other runner in the box.”
- “When we rest at predesignated intervals, we are reminding ourselves that ultimately God controls the outcomes, not me or all of my wonderful efforts. It’s good for us to wean ourselves off the need to be needed. For many of us, that will be the beginning of health.”
- “A good amount of solitude and counsel are required to gain accurate assessment on the analysis side, but don’t camp there. You won’t tie up all the loose ends-not now, and maybe with some strands, not ever.”
- “Hope is a picture of a preferred future that does not diminish or tarnish with the changing moods of life. It is that vision you wrote down when you were clear-headed and close to Christ. It is what would delight God and be the optimum plan for your life and future.”
- “In each of these assessments, truth is irreducible. Truth is the foremost axiom of personal development.”
- “Your greatest source of motivation is finding untapped potential yet within you. You see, your future is not what lies ahead of you. It is what lies within you.”