We talk about an athlete being the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time). What makes that true?

Yesterday I wrote about the qualities that make a person great. It came down to Love God first; Love my neighbor second; Love myself last. Rather than continue writing in the abstract, I’d like to relate the story of Peter and Jessica. 

When they were first married, Peter was serving in the New Zealand Army. At graduation he was the youngest full lieutenant. He was on track as a top student for captain. As a newlywed couple and then expecting their first child, Peter and Jessica saw the impact of deployment on marriages and family. So he stepped away. 

He began work with a commercial diving school where he quickly excelled as a manager and part owner, training divers for the oil and gas industry. But soon he found himself consumed by work and pulled away from from his family. His oldest son asked him when they could be a family again. He was heartbroken-not because of having to give up a job he loved-but at becoming an absent father. (My note: Children can sometimes be brutally honest, can’t they?).

Once again Peter changed course. His new mission became to look at the impact of fatherlessness on the way people relate to God as Father.  His mission: “Teach every believer to love God, love others, and teach others to do the same.” (Story condensed from How Leaders Lose Their Way by Greer and Heisey- Pages 48-49)

The desire or ambition to be the best often drives us to places we don’t need to go or even become people we don’t want to become. According the Solomon in Ecclesiastes, it’s all vanity, worthless. 

Some choose poorly. Let’s choose wisely WHOM we will follow. One more thing: may Peter and Jessica’s tribe increase.