Made to Last

Sometimes we wonder how our talents and our pain can work together to forge a new direction, perhaps far greater than what we have ever before imagined.

Jackie Robinson dreamed of playing baseball his whole life, but did he imagine he would be the kind of person to change a generation?
Jackie’s hard heart and fearless temper (two things he was notorious for) were probably birthed over the years — growing up with an absent father in a nation full of prejudice and segregation, and facing many personal moments where his talent was dismissed due to the color of his skin. The ingredients of his story could either have driven him toward revenge or redemption.

It is said that those who experience the worst traumas in life will change the world…for good or for evil. Either way, the brutality of life can build resiliency. What darkness had intended for evil, God used to build a man who could endure fire and brimstone hurled his way. Jackie’s courageous leadership wasn’t something he planned for; he simply lived the life he was given.

In a time and place when segregation was accepted and tolerated with little push back, Jackie Robinson achieved greatness: He was the first black man to play professional baseball with the Brooklyn, Dodgers, fully knowing the cost he would pay.

There were moments he was ready to give up because the cost seemed too unbearable. Then, he heard a story of a young white boy who was pretending to be Jackie as he played baseball with his friends on the playground. A glimmer of hope, a possible shifting of mindset. Change never comes easily. Both Jackie and the Dodgers’ owner, a man scrutinized for his choice to recruit and support Jackie, were called to something greater than their own glory.

Leadership opportunities stare us in the face all the time. In moments when we are tempted to blame our past, to blend in with the status quo, or make a name of ourselves at the cost of others, we have a choice. Leadership is never just a position held, but an attitude. It’s a conviction to do what is right, despite the acceptance of the opposite. That may mean going left even when others all go right, or a willingness to stand taller for those who cannot, to speak for those who have been quieted or to give away self-pride in order to lift up a greater good.
The number 42 will forever represent a man God made to endure, to last. Watch the movie. You won’t be disappointed!