{"id":2054,"date":"2022-10-17T07:29:44","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T11:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2054"},"modified":"2022-10-17T07:29:44","modified_gmt":"2022-10-17T11:29:44","slug":"paddling-as-a-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/17\/paddling-as-a-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Paddling as a Team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>.

Wayne Cordeiro, founding pastor of the New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu, was once invited to compete in a traditional Hawaiian canoe race.\u00a0
\u00a0
The wa\u2019a <\/em>is a large, ocean-going canoe that features a balancing arm and seats six paddlers.\u00a0 As Cordeiro puts it, \u201cAlthough navigating one of these ancient canoes may look basic, the technique required is much more than meets the eye.\u201d
\u00a0
Wayne and five church friends wanted to win the race, despite the fact that none of them had any experience paddling a wa\u2019a.\u00a0 <\/em>Therefore they hired out a local canoe instructor.\u00a0
\u00a0
\u201cOK, everyone!\u201d yelled the coach.\u00a0 \u201cThis is how you hold a paddle.\u201d\u00a0 Everybody managed to put the blade and not the handle into the water.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s go paddle our first stretch of water.\u00a0 It will be an eighth of a mile sprint.\u00a0 When I begin the stopwatch and say Go, <\/em>just paddle as fast and hard as you can.\u00a0 I\u2019ll let you know when to stop paddling.\u00a0 Got it?\u201d
\u00a0
How hard can this be? <\/em>thought Wayne and his friends.\u00a0 They were ready to impress the coach.\u00a0
\u00a0
As soon as he yelled, \u201cGo!\u201d they jammed their paddles into the water and began to pull.\u00a0 The canoe lumbered out of its dead-in-the-water starting position like a drowning elephant gasping for air.\u00a0 No one knew when to switch the paddle from one side of the boat to the other.\u00a0 They all assumed that each person ought to switch when his own arm got tired.
\u00a0
Firing at will, Wayne whipped the blade of his paddle right across the bare back of his friend sitting directly in front of him.\u00a0
\u00a0
\u201cThat\u2019s going to leave a mark,\u201d he observed \u2013 but everyone was far too exhausted to do anything but grunt.
\u00a0
After what seemed an eternity, the coach yelled, \u201cStop!\u201d\u00a0 He looked at his watch.\u00a0 The canoe had traveled one eighth of a mile in one minute, 42 seconds.\u00a0 \u201cThat,\u201d said the coach, \u201cis mighty sad.\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
The men caught their breath, apologized for the scrapes and wounds they had inflicted on each other, and then listened as the instructor taught them how to paddle as a team.\u00a0\u00a0 Each paddler was to mirror the actions of the one in front of him.\u00a0 Everyone would move in rhythm with the lead stroker, switching sides when he switched sides.
\u00a0
\u201cOK,\u201d said the coach, \u201clet\u2019s try that same eighth of a mile stretch again.\u00a0 This time, stroke as if you were on a leisurely stroll through the park.\u00a0 No sprinting.\u00a0 Just imitate the one in front of you.\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
This time the paddles entered the water silently.\u00a0 The canoe went forward smoothly.\u00a0 Everyone was surprised how soon the coach called out, \u201cStop!\u201d\u00a0 He looked at his watch and said, \u201cYou just beat your first time by 24 seconds.\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
What most surprised Cordeiro was that no one had become exhausted, and no one had gotten hurt.\u00a0 The lessons he learned that day in the wa\u2019a have become his favorite illustration of partnership.
\u00a0
It\u2019s possible that we\u2019re living in the most individualistic, who-gives-a-rip-about-partnership culture in human history.\u00a0 Hollywood loves the Lone Hero:\u00a0 Clint Eastwood clearing out a Western town by himself; Bruce Willis neutralizing a band of terrorists by himself; Arnold Schwarzenegger taking over a small country by himself.
\u00a0
CEOs, coaches, business owners, presidents, and pastors have embraced the absurd idea that a real <\/em>leader is someone who excels at accomplishing 25 jobs \u2013 all by himself or herself.
\u00a0
What if leadership were measured instead by our ability to help 24 other people each excel at one of those jobs, and learn how not to become exhausted or hurt each other in the process?
\u00a0
We are not ourselves by ourselves.<\/em>
\u00a0
As Paul says concerning Jesus in Ephesians 4:16: \u201cFrom him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.\u201d
\u00a0
Today, whether you\u2019re holding a paddle, a pencil, or a paintbrush, partnership is the way to go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here. Wayne Cordeiro, founding pastor of the New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu, was once invited to compete in a traditional Hawaiian canoe race.\u00a0\u00a0The wa\u2019a is a large, ocean-going canoe that features a balancing arm and seats six paddlers.\u00a0 As Cordeiro puts it, \u201cAlthough navigating one of these ancient canoes may look… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[518,519],"class_list":["post-2054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-partnership","tag-teamwork"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2054"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2056,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054\/revisions\/2056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}