dedicated to everyone (especially my friends in the CT EXCO):

Most carnivals have a fun house somewhere on the premises. Inside the fun house, there is usually a mirror. The mirror isn't flat, so it cannot give you an accurate reflection of yourself. It is purposefully curved and shaped so it will distort your height or your size in some way. Short folks can look extremely tall and skinny people can look fat - due to the contour of the mirror. It's designed to make you laugh because you look so different than you do in reality. Sadly, this is a picture of great temptation leaders face: to project a false image of themselves. Sometimes, leaders don't even possess a realistic view of who they are.

Nathan desperately wanted to be elected to the student government at his college. Unfortunately, he knew his chances were slim. He wasn't well known, and tons of popular students were on the election ballot. "Why did so many popular students suddenly run for office? he wondered.

Two weeks before the election, he grew frantic. He wanted this position badly, and he was willing to pay almost any price to get it. During the mandatory debates between candidates, he feared he would come across as inferior. After all, there was so much talent up there next to him. He was at a crossroad when one of the judges asked him what qualified him to hold office. He was intimidated.

He thought for a moment. Then, he did something he never planned on doing. He lied. It was just a little, white lie. No one would notice. He told his sophomore classmates that he had served as a student government officer before. He passed and looked out at the audience. He had their attention. His answer seemed to please everyone. So he went further. He announced that in high school he raised money to purchase video games for the school dining hall. Some from the audience applauded. He was on a roll. After a split second of thought, he decided to go for it. He told everyone that before he transferred to the university, he stood up to his community college president and got some of the policies changed.

Each time he ventured out with another white lie, he seemed to gain in stature and popularity. People were finally noticing him. He was somebody. That is, until later when his friends confronted him on it. They asked him why he had never shared all those things with them before. He started to lie some more, but decided to come clean. He admitted he'd made up most of what he said. He laughed nervously, hoping they would join in with some laughter, too. They didn't. He had not only betrayed them, he was pretending to be someone he wasn't. They began to wonder what else he had lied about in his past. Their friendship began to slowly unravel.

This was only the beginning of his trouble. He got enough votes to tie with another student he was running against. Now, it was showdown time with the faculty advisors. He was asked detailed questions about his past experience in student government. He wasn't ready for this. He didn't have an answer. Suspicious that he was making things up, Dr. Rayburn, Dean of Student Life, asked to talk with him during study hall. He asked Nathan about how he went about "standing up" to his last president, as he had mentioned in the debate. Dr. Rayburn's eyes were penetrating. Nathan's mouth grew dry. He was out of ideas on how he could wiggle out of this one. He finally confessed that he didn't exactly stand up to his president...and that he had made up a few things that he shared at the debate. This began a long conversation between the two of them about why Nathan felt he had to lie to win. Slowly, it began to dawn on Nathan that he was now in trouble with his friends, with the entire sophomore class and with the school administration. All because he felt that who he really was - wasn't good enough.

Leadership can be scary. Most of us feel that we don't measure up. We have this quiet fear that if people really know us, they wouldn't want us as their friend, not to mention their leader. George O'Leary was a great football coach at Georgia Tech during the 1990s. When Notre Dame invited him to become their new head coach, things crumbled. For some reason, O'Leary felt he had to distort who he was. He lied about his education to make himself look better. When this was discovered, he lost his chance at the job. Unfortunately, when we start to distort our image of who we are, it always comes back to haunt us. The Bible is right again - eventually, your sins will find you out. In the end, the damage is always worse than anything negative you experienced in the beginning. Shortcuts to fame and influence don't pay off in the long run.

You may remember a movie that came out early in 2003, called, "Catch Me If You Can". The film was based on a true story. I read the book years ago. It's the story of Frank Abagnale Jr. and his wild and crazy life as a doctor, airline pilot, banker, investor, attorney and celebrity. The irony behind his story is that he wasn't any of these in reality. He deserves an Academy Award for his portrayal of these professions. He was an intentional fake. A fraud. He was a pretender.

It all began quite early in his life when he realised that he had the uncanny talent to convince people that he was "somebody" through his sheer confidence and acting ability. He began to make money at this "game" and soon found himself addicted to role-playing. Before it was over, he'd helped perform surgery in an operating room; conned banks out of thousands of dollars; flew an airplane as a pilot and gone places most of us only dream of going. The only problem was - it was all a show. It wasn't reality. A few years into it, he wanted out. The glamour was gone. He was desperate to come clean, but he had created such a web of deceit, it wasn't easy. The FBI was on him, and he ended up spending years in a federal prison. Frank had legitimate talent, but wasted it pretending to be someone else.

In Matthew 5:37, Jesus said to "let your 'Yes' by 'Yes' and your 'No', 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one". In other words, talk straight. Don't swear. Don't exaggerate. Don't get preoccupied with impressing others. Just tell the truth about who you are and what you do. Why is this so difficult for us as leaders?

Each of us carries around four images of ourselves. We are conscious of all four. We feel their weight. Three of them can be excess baggage. The outer layer represents the image others have of us. The next layer represents the image we project to others. The third layer represents the image we have of ourselves. Finally, the fourth layer represents the truth about who we really are. It is God's image of us. Assess your own baggage. Are the four images congruent? Which of these four images consumes most of your time? Why?

For one solid week, make a commitment to not lie, exaggerate or distort the truth. In your conversations, speak honestly about yourself. If you accidentally exaggerate something, commit yourself to return to that person and apologise; then, correct the statement you made to reflect the truth. At the end of the week, evaluate how difficult this was. How many times did you have to apologise to someone?

dedicated to everyone (especially my friends in the CT EXCO):

Most carnivals have a fun house somewhere on the premises. Inside the fun house, there is usually a mirror. The mirror isn't flat, so it cannot give you an accurate reflection of yourself. It is purposefully curved and shaped so it will distort your height or your size in some way. Short folks can look extremely tall and skinny people can look fat - due to the contour of the mirror. It's designed to make you laugh because you look so different than you do in reality. Sadly, this is a picture of great temptation leaders face: to project a false image of themselves. Sometimes, leaders don't even possess a realistic view of who they are.

Nathan desperately wanted to be elected to the student government at his college. Unfortunately, he knew his chances were slim. He wasn't well known, and tons of popular students were on the election ballot. "Why did so many popular students suddenly run for office? he wondered.

Two weeks before the election, he grew frantic. He wanted this position badly, and he was willing to pay almost any price to get it. During the mandatory debates between candidates, he feared he would come across as inferior. After all, there was so much talent up there next to him. He was at a crossroad when one of the judges asked him what qualified him to hold office. He was intimidated.

He thought for a moment. Then, he did something he never planned on doing. He lied. It was just a little, white lie. No one would notice. He told his sophomore classmates that he had served as a student government officer before. He passed and looked out at the audience. He had their attention. His answer seemed to please everyone. So he went further. He announced that in high school he raised money to purchase video games for the school dining hall. Some from the audience applauded. He was on a roll. After a split second of thought, he decided to go for it. He told everyone that before he transferred to the university, he stood up to his community college president and got some of the policies changed.

Each time he ventured out with another white lie, he seemed to gain in stature and popularity. People were finally noticing him. He was somebody. That is, until later when his friends confronted him on it. They asked him why he had never shared all those things with them before. He started to lie some more, but decided to come clean. He admitted he'd made up most of what he said. He laughed nervously, hoping they would join in with some laughter, too. They didn't. He had not only betrayed them, he was pretending to be someone he wasn't. They began to wonder what else he had lied about in his past. Their friendship began to slowly unravel.

This was only the beginning of his trouble. He got enough votes to tie with another student he was running against. Now, it was showdown time with the faculty advisors. He was asked detailed questions about his past experience in student government. He wasn't ready for this. He didn't have an answer. Suspicious that he was making things up, Dr. Rayburn, Dean of Student Life, asked to talk with him during study hall. He asked Nathan about how he went about "standing up" to his last president, as he had mentioned in the debate. Dr. Rayburn's eyes were penetrating. Nathan's mouth grew dry. He was out of ideas on how he could wiggle out of this one. He finally confessed that he didn't exactly stand up to his president...and that he had made up a few things that he shared at the debate. This began a long conversation between the two of them about why Nathan felt he had to lie to win. Slowly, it began to dawn on Nathan that he was now in trouble with his friends, with the entire sophomore class and with the school administration. All because he felt that who he really was - wasn't good enough.

Leadership can be scary. Most of us feel that we don't measure up. We have this quiet fear that if people really know us, they wouldn't want us as their friend, not to mention their leader. George O'Leary was a great football coach at Georgia Tech during the 1990s. When Notre Dame invited him to become their new head coach, things crumbled. For some reason, O'Leary felt he had to distort who he was. He lied about his education to make himself look better. When this was discovered, he lost his chance at the job. Unfortunately, when we start to distort our image of who we are, it always comes back to haunt us. The Bible is right again - eventually, your sins will find you out. In the end, the damage is always worse than anything negative you experienced in the beginning. Shortcuts to fame and influence don't pay off in the long run.

You may remember a movie that came out early in 2003, called, "Catch Me If You Can". The film was based on a true story. I read the book years ago. It's the story of Frank Abagnale Jr. and his wild and crazy life as a doctor, airline pilot, banker, investor, attorney and celebrity. The irony behind his story is that he wasn't any of these in reality. He deserves an Academy Award for his portrayal of these professions. He was an intentional fake. A fraud. He was a pretender.

It all began quite early in his life when he realised that he had the uncanny talent to convince people that he was "somebody" through his sheer confidence and acting ability. He began to make money at this "game" and soon found himself addicted to role-playing. Before it was over, he'd helped perform surgery in an operating room; conned banks out of thousands of dollars; flew an airplane as a pilot and gone places most of us only dream of going. The only problem was - it was all a show. It wasn't reality. A few years into it, he wanted out. The glamour was gone. He was desperate to come clean, but he had created such a web of deceit, it wasn't easy. The FBI was on him, and he ended up spending years in a federal prison. Frank had legitimate talent, but wasted it pretending to be someone else.

In Matthew 5:37, Jesus said to "let your 'Yes' by 'Yes' and your 'No', 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one". In other words, talk straight. Don't swear. Don't exaggerate. Don't get preoccupied with impressing others. Just tell the truth about who you are and what you do. Why is this so difficult for us as leaders?

Each of us carries around four images of ourselves. We are conscious of all four. We feel their weight. Three of them can be excess baggage. The outer layer represents the image others have of us. The next layer represents the image we project to others. The third layer represents the image we have of ourselves. Finally, the fourth layer represents the truth about who we really are. It is God's image of us. Assess your own baggage. Are the four images congruent? Which of these four images consumes most of your time? Why?

For one solid week, make a commitment to not lie, exaggerate or distort the truth. In your conversations, speak honestly about yourself. If you accidentally exaggerate something, commit yourself to return to that person and apologise; then, correct the statement you made to reflect the truth. At the end of the week, evaluate how difficult this was. How many times did you have to apologise to someone?