Esther 4: Wide Awake in the Second Chair

If being "deep" in your position means excelling, then "wide" means collaborating. Not content to focus on the narrow confines of your job description, the "wide" worker is looking out for what is best for the entire organization. Your competence (or depth) is what gives you credibility to speak into others.

The show Undercover Boss shows what happens when the CEO of a corporation steps into the role of an ordinary worker in their company. Their normal role as the leader isolates them from pertinent issues for their workers, managers and customers. There is humor and irony as these CEOs see the truth in their own company and how it is affecting its health.

One of the roles of a good worker is listening to what is going on around you and taking the group or organization's pulse.[1] This means listening well. Knowing what people are thinking and feeling in an organization is valuable. Many times, managers and leaders are cocooned from what is going on around them. Maybe it is being filtered-people just don't tell them what they think. Maybe the day-to-day requirements of a leader's position reinforce a focus on particular issues that leave some things un-addressed. But for one reason or another, your boss is missing out on a vital fact: morale is low, friction is rising, solutions are being overlooked, a train wreck is coming. Part of being a good worker is helping avoid surprises. If there is a problem, its better they find out from you before the phone rings.

The Bible narratives describe this role and its effect a few different times. But Mordecai springs to mind. He was hanging around the gate and heard about a plot to kill the king. He gave the info to Esther and the conspirators were caught. Later, he hears the rumors about Haman's plot, gathers documentary evidence and gives it to Esther so she can make her fateful decision.  (Esther 4).

Jesus asked his disciples: Who do people say that I am? (Matt. 16) The disciples came back with what they had heard. Whether Jesus already knew the answer is not clear, but he clearly knew and expected that his followers were keeping the pulse of the crowd. They needed to understand the gap between people's perceptions of their mission (Elijah, John the Baptist, Jeremiah) and the real mission (Messiah, church).

You can see it with Daniel (see ch. 2), even the Pharaoh's baker in the story of Joseph! I don't want to stretch these Bible examples too far. They aren't exact parallels. But in each case listening to hear what people were thinking and feeling was valued, it helped the leader avoid a train wreck and God used it to advance his purposes. It doesn't always lead to their advancement. But it leads to the purposes of God advancing. And this wasn't in church, it was pagan government.

One of the ways I've seen this work is in regard to morale. For much of my career, I've worked either for company A, but my office was actually inside company B, or I've worked at home. One of the great fears for employees like me is that we will be forgotten, passed over and ignored. They often can't take part in our company's parties (because they're remote) and they can't take part in their host company's parties (because its for that company's employees only). When they are talking layoffs, we hope they don't remember us. When they are talking raises and promotions, we hope they do remember us!

As such, I am particularly sensitive to signs that engineers in a similar situation within my company are feeling low. I, myself, look for ways to challenge and encourage them, and I help my bosses remember how certain actions will be perceived by those who aren't sitting in a cubicle in our office. This isn't a major thing, but it is one where I have seen God use my ears to help extend my boss' understanding. This is one way I am growing as a "wide" worker.

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[1] I was introduced to this term in Leading From The Second Chair, M. Bonem & R. Patterson. For an excellent summary, see Rich Woods, Leaders Book Summaries, http://www.richwoods.org/richwoods/greenhouse/Second_Chair.pdf, retrieved March 9, 2017.

James 4:13-15: Going and Sending

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” - James 4:13-15

Today, as I was flying to Boston for business and staring out the window, I was praying that God would invite me into whatever he was doing in the place he was sending me. Then it occurred to me that wherever I am going today for work was actually a place he was sending me. Wherever I go, there the kingdom of God is, because of his sovereign claim on my life. So I'd better be sure I was sent.

I think that's why James speaks so strongly to business people. If we think that we are going because of our business, "you boast in your arrogant schemes." (vs. 16).

There is nothing wrong with taking risks, being entrepreneurial, and building a business as long as we realized that God is already on the other side of what we are planning. He has been there already. He has seen the aftermath of your venture. He has seen the result of our plan. And maybe it isn't his plan, and maybe it isn't his best.

So I take a different approach: I am being sent into a situation where God is already at work and he is inviting me to join him, even for the span of a few days. I pray that my eyes will be open to what is happening. I pray that my heart will be humble to trade my agenda for his. I pray that his kingdom will be furthered, not mine. I'm here as a part of my job, but I'd prefer he supercede. As tobyMac says, "Steal my show."

It is curious to me that before Jesus left, his followers were called disciples-followers. But after he left, his disciples were called apostles-sent ones. "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." (John 20:21)

I could say I made my plane reservations (I did) for my business reasons (I did). But God has his own purposes for letting me go. God does not just rubber-stamp my itinerary as his plan. Rather, he is utilizing my life, in all its journeys, to make his point. If he didn't want me to go, he could have told me (by his Spirit) or diverted me, or stopped me. James notes that I am just a mist. My plans don't stand a chance compared to the power of God, if he wants something else.

We can too easily set up our goal as if it is the reason for going. But today, as I landed in Logan International Airport, I am going because God was sending me into what he was already doing.

Daniel 1: Deep and Wide, There's a Fountain Flowing

Hiring the best did not pull the team together. Each person came aggressive and passionate for his or her own ministry without commitment to the whole. People were not recruited and hired to join a coherent and unified movement. - Simple Church, T. Rainer and E. Geiger

What makes a good staff member. As Simple Church points out, just "hiring thoroughbreds" and "letting them run" doesn't lead to healthy organizations. This is one of the key tensions described in Leading from the Second Chair: Deep vs. wide.

"Deep" is reflected in how well you carry out the responsibilities of your role. Do you do your job well? The software engineer in me liked solving problems well, devising elegant and functional solutions, learning from really smart people and passing on what I knew to others. Later, as a team lead, architect and CTO, there was an interpersonal aspect; working with teams, persuading others, and communicating clearly. People talk with me expecting clear answers and doable solutions. For other jobs, there may be less technical expertise and more people expertise involved. I have come to respect, for example, project managers, who are responsible for schedules and yet don't have the power to make those schedules happen except through people skills. The best show a level of creative thinking, perseverance and willingness to take heat for the team that I truly admire.

"Wide" is reflected in how your awareness of the situation in the rest of the organization. Good workers see the big picture, identify the greater opportunities or pressing problems and take initiative. Organizational silos naturally build up in an organization in order to optimize what that silo does. I like silos. I like the general surgeon model that allows me to hyper-focus on my problems and my solutions and what I need to solve them. But we need to think wider than that.

Why? Because when each business unit or ministry becomes a kingdom, it fosters unhealthy competition rather than collaboration. I've seen reputation-depending, locked-down, no discussion, envious, passive-aggressive, finger pointing, only-vertical communication styles that cripple managers and companies. Division of labor is a useful thing, but the stress brought about by the change inherent in every organization's life cycle inevitably challenges the kingdom boundaries we set up.

This is a tension to be managed, not a problem to be solved. We need competent people, teams, groups and divisions. We also need collaborative people, teams, groups and divisions. And these both need time, attention and resources taken from a finite pool. So we manage the tension.

We see some of these in the life of Daniel:

To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds...In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.- Daniel 1:17

This was an unpleasant work environment. Daniel and his friends were new, recently displaced and from a completely different culture. There was huge pressure to conform (1:10, 311-12). God gave them insight and talent, they were diligent in their studies and their excellence was, in due time, rewarded with recognitions. Like Joseph, they put in extended periods of time without tangible rewards (cf. Daniel 1:5, "three years")

This was a high pressure environment. The boss (King Nebuchadnezzar) was not always reasonable and had a penchant for axing (literally, 2:8), burning (3:21) or "throwing to the lions" (literally) those who disappointed him. Even more discouraging, their job success depended on making the government headed by this self-centered maniac succeed and prosper (cf. Jer. 29) Let that sink in for a moment.

This was a back-biting environment. Success was rewarded but also brought envy. Others mini-kingdoms were being threatened by the rising prominence of the outside recruits.God deliberately stirred up the government and religious leaders of Babylon to accomplish his goals. He brought in young men, tested their character and gave them insight and talent to disrupt the status quo for his glory. But the status quo disrupted right back with gossip, traps and sanctioned violence.

In this environment, just remember: God knows it all first. No matter what your field of expertise, God has already discovered what can be discovered and thought what can be thought. God never watches you and goes, "I wish I'd thought of that." Instead, we are following after him. He delights in showing us more. Daniel said, "there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries." (Dan. 2:28a) It wasn't only spiritual stuff that God revealed, but he also taught them "all kinds of literature and learning." One of the sharp contrasts in Daniel's life is between those who give credit to God for their success (Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) and those who do not (Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar)/

It is satisfying to be the master of your area of expertise or manage your group productively. But you can gain still meet every group goal and objective and your organization can still fall apart. That's were the wide perspective comes in, which we will look at more in depth next time.
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Genesis 41:1: Can't We Speed Things Up Here? (Or, Two Years is Too Long)

“Second fiddle! Without a doubt. I can get any number to play first violin, but to find one who plays second violin with as much enthusiasm is a real problem.  Of course, second French horn or second flute would be similar.  And yet, if no one plays second fiddle, we have no harmony.” - Leonard Bernstein, when asked the most difficult instrument to play.

Jesus challenges how we work as an employee. Under workplace stress, the character of Jesus in us comes out...or not. For the second time in software engineering career, I am a manager. I didn't do so well the first time, several years ago, and my manager removed that part of my job. Many times I have reflected on what happened and asked God to teach me. This is the second time he's asked me to do something a second time, but more on that another day.

God challenged me, first, to be a good worker under for a manager. He did this in my roles as a senior engineer and a church leader. You get along with some; you don't get along with others. Sometimes you get to choose who you report to and then regret it. Other times you don't get to choose who you report to and then find it was a blessing. One thing is true: Under God's superintending hand, each has taught me something God wanted me to hear.

Also, during this period, I found a book, Leading from the Second Chair, that helped to clarify my thinking about what it means to support a leader or manager in both church and non-church settings. In particular, it noted that many of the great characters of the Bible were not leaders, but rather, second-in-commands. Joseph, Daniel, Mordecai, Deborah, Esther, and Nehemiah, for example. Often, they were advisers to people who were not God-fearing, but God put them there anyway.

One incident that I have often reflected upon in the Bible was the life of Joseph:

Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The Lord was with Joseph (Gen. 39:1-2a) 

[Potiphar] burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. (Gen 39:20a)

Joseph didn't have a lot of choices when it came to bosses. After being carried to Egypt by slave traders, he found himself with a pretty good job with Potiphar (Gen. 39). Then things go south and he gets put in prison and he finds himself in a pretty good job working for the prison warden.

But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. (Gen. 39:20b-21)

While he is there, he makes friends with two important members of the household of Pharaoh, the baker and the cupbearer, who were out of favor because of some court scandal. Poisoning was a occupational hazard for the royal family and these two were at the center of the drama.

Joseph becomes friends with them. While his job in the jail under the warden is ok, he wonders if maybe he could transfer to Pharaoh's department or, maybe, get a parson and job recommendation. So he talks with his friends, but one dies and "The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him. When two full years had passed..." - (Gen. 40:23-41:1)

Why two years? That question has teased me. Here are my reflections:

1. Those were two years with God's presence. In his time in Potiphar's house and his time in prison, the Bible states clearly that God was with Joseph. God is present in these rough times as slave and prisoner, just as much as He is in the better times. Joseph himself reflected later, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives" (Gen. 50:20) Whatever my role and whoever I report to, God is in the role with me. 
2. Those two years were practice. Joseph started as a bad manager. His father Jacob delegated authority to Joseph, which he handled poorly. He alienated his brothers and offended his mother and father (Gen. 37:10-14). God led him through his own house, Potiphar's house and then the prison before leading him before Pharaoh. He failed at home (brothers), then managed small (Potiphar's house and prison) and then managed big (Pharaoh & Egypt). He failed with his gifts at home (dreams), used his gifts small (cupbearer/baker) and then used them big (Pharaoh & Egypt). My current role is training for who I will be tomorrow, and what God will do tomorrow.
3. Those two years were not about Joseph. They were about God. We groan with the weight of the wait. But it is not about me or you. It is about God. He is always at work. He places us in a wait-and-grow mode while he orchestrates all according to his will and then, when it is safe for us to enter his plan, he green-lights our next step. Maybe it is about your boss, or your company, or you colleagues, or the community, or your industry--not about you at all--and he is placing you in a safe place, knowing he can trust you, while He makes his big move. 

There is an element of patience to all of this: the discipline of prospering-in-place, growing-while-slowing, blooming-where-planted. We can miss the benefits of working under our current manager (no matter who they are) if we are too busy longing for the next. There is a time for change, but is it for the right reason.

“Too many leaders focus all their energy on moving to the next chair as quickly as possible, and they miss the opportunity to develop their gifts in the current chair.” - Mike Bonem, Leading from the Second Chair

So, as a manager for the second time, I appreciate workers who have that patience. One day, they may surpass me. Great. But we can learn together while they are here.

Psalm 118:23-24: Make Not My Day, But Yours

The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad. - Psalm 118:23-24

As I prayed this morning, this verse came to my mind. We are walking into His day, not our day. He made it. We enter into what he has already prepared. If we could glimpse a view of today the way that God views it, it would be "marvelous in our eyes". It would be unexpected and improbable.

We are not creating our future, we are discovering a future. This morning, from the other end of today, God calls, "Come, follow me!"

Hebrews 7:19: We'll Come, not Welcome

As I was sitting on the flight back to San Francisco, I prayed to make God welcome in the airplane with me. Then, with ironic insight, I realized that I should instead thank him for welcoming me. He was already there, and he was inviting me into his plan for that place and those people. We step into the stream that has been long flowing.

While I was trying to invite God into my daily life, he was inviting me into his kingdom plan. Without realizing it, I was changing my spiritual life, into a "Come, join me." But Jesus was saying, "Come, follow me!" on the path he has scouted out in advance (Eph. 2:10). My "Please, help me" to God during the day was really an attempt to re-orbit that day around me-a universe in which the significance of events was measured by their impact on me--a plan where he joins me.

It dawned on me that instead, I join him, not vice-versa. It is his banquet. It is his table that he has prepared. It is his presence that we come into. It is him calling. The Bible says, "But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God." (Heb. 7:19) Trust that God's hope for the day is better than mine. That God's table is better than mine. Trust that God's flight plan is better than mine.

Wherever I am, God is there. He has a plan for that moment; you can join (2 Tim. 2:21) and, by sharing his purpose, you are approaching God with confidence. "Come close to God, and God will come close to you." (James 4:8a)

Isaiah 29:16: Role Reversal

You turn things upside down,as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing”? - Isaiah 29:16

The modern era is characterized by men and women who would like to regard God as their peer rather than as their parent. In doing so, it gives them the right to bring every decision of God into question. "Who is God," they might ask, "that he should have the right to decide what is best for me? I don't like the choices being made on my behalf. Give me the data and, for better or worse, let me work out my own choices to the best of my ability and I will bear the consequences."

The raised fist of defiance, or the sly, passive, quietly doing my own thing--each is a radical departure from how people have traditionally viewed the divine. We have walled off heaven, or considered it irrelevant. As a result, our imagination has become stunted and our view of God has been diminished so much that we can only view Him as a smarter, more powerful, more benign but ultimately still limited version of ourselves. As C.S. Lewis said in God in the Dock:

"The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man, the roles are quite reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge; if God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty, and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God’s acquittal. But the important thing is that man is on the bench and God is in the dock."

The truth is, God does not owe me a defense or an apology. It may upset me that he uses his power so willfully, without consulting me. I may accuse Him of violating the very moral strictures that He places on me. In the end, I must confess that the moral calculus of it all is too complex for me to be God. I must acknowledge I can't put together a reasonable defense of my own behavior that would satisfy even my conscience. I must trust that God knows what in the heck He is doing and that He truly had my best in mind when he sent Jesus and called me to follow.