As I have been preparing for, and then making the transition into my new position here at ALERT, I have been thinking a lot about humility. I am only 32 years old, and still prone to think I know the best way to do most things in life (at least most things in other people’s lives). Further, I am in a job where most of the campus is required to show me visible demonstrations of respect, even if I do not have (or deserve) their actual respect. And finally, I am in a job that involves me giving advice, mentoring, coaching, leading, and hopefully discipling the men under me. Each one of those things puts me in a position to be uniquely at risk for a special sort of pride. The pride that enjoys being called sir, and likes being the one people look to for advice, and savors the institutional respect, and gets comfortable being the expert in the room. Each of these risks is also present, to a lesser degree, in the members of the Battalion leadership team as well. From me, to Sergeant Major, to the unit leaders, we are all young men who tend towards pride, each one of us filling a position that provide fertile soil for that pride to grow in.

I am going through an excellent little book on humility with the Battalion leadership team this quarter, and a concept in the book that I keep coming back to is the idea of having yourself in the center of the lens that you view the world through. That is a really helpful analogy for me as I think about pride in my life and at work. I want to take myself out of the center of the lens so I don’t interpret every situation in life through my own ego and how it will affect me. How will this decision make me look? How will this conversation improve my stock with that individual? What do I deserve in this situation? How should I be treated?

I want to replace the lens of self with the lens of Christ and His gospel. How can I better model Christ in this decision? How can this conversation show the love of Christ and His gospel to that individual? How can Christ work through me in this situation? How can I love as Christ loves? Please pray for me and for the Battalion leadership team, that we would live lives of humility and love as we serve the men under us. Pray that we would be vigilant to the creeping temptations of pride, and that we would do the work to root it out as we catch it making inroads in our lives. And pray that we would daily show Christ to the men in the Battalion.