If I had a dime for every time I read that as a bio on someone’s Twitter page or blog, I’d be a very rich man. Talking about yourself like this communicates a desire to be something that you cannot choose for yourself. You’re a leader? Says who?

This reminds me of something I heard Erwin McManus say that rocked me:

“Whoever tells the best story, shapes the culture.”

Telling a great story is much more than using words, because the way we live communicates much more than our words.

You want to be a leader of people? Then lead. Talk is cheap.

The people who are the best at what they do, don’t take time to explain what they do, they do it. Leaders become leaders, not by talking about leadership, but by stepping forward and leading.

We spend too much time thinking of ourselves as arrived, rather than becoming something more through the hard work of living well.

One weird thing about me. Far and away my favorite dessert is ice cream. We had dinner with friends last week and the dessert was rhubarb pie. It was decent, but it doesn’t hold a candle to some delicious ice cream.

Blogs

1. I really enjoy Twitter but I don’t like seeing that Newt Gingrich boosted his follower numbers by paying a company to create fake accounts to follow him. Very lame.
2. 10 things Brett McCracken has learned in his 10 years since starting college. He’s a couple of years older than me but a lot of these are similar learnings for me. “When you grow up in the Christian bubble, go to the “Christian Harvard” for college, and regularly attend esoteric theological conferences, it’s easy to forget that most Christians in the world don’t live in an insular faith-based bubble.”
3. Solid post from Chris Brogan on social media fatigue. We’ve all been there at one point or another. “The opportunity is for us to make something interesting and worthwhile, to be helpful, to empower others, to encourage and inspire others. If we’re fatigued, let’s all wake up.”
4. I’d be remiss to not post links for Don Miller’s posts for ladies and dudes on dating/sex/life. It seems everyone read them and talked about them this week.
5. Jon Acuff figured out the secret to success for Mumford and Sons.
6. Easily the best Christian album I’ve heard since Gungor’s Beautiful Things.
7. Nicholas Kristof writes a lot of excellent editorial pieces for the NY Times and this one inspired by the life and ministry of the great John Stott is up there among the best. “Evangelicals are disproportionately likely to donate 10 percent of their incomes to charities, mostly church-related. More important, go to the front lines, at home or abroad, in the battles against hunger, malaria, prison rape, obstetric fistula, human trafficking or genocide, and some of the bravest people you meet are evangelical Christians (or conservative Catholics, similar in many ways) who truly live their faith.”

Grace and Peace.