Ruddered: To Make A Difference

By Scott Lee Rose

What does it mean to be ruddered? Think about someone that made a difference in your life""a person with a positive influence on you and took time to parent, teach, coach, or mentor you. Developing in your mind's eye is the picture of a person from a while back or maybe recently. By now, you are enjoying a fond memory and reflecting on the time you shared. You are grateful because, had it not been for that person, you would not be where you are today, or maybe, not here at all. That is ruddered. A rudder is an instrument on a ship or airplane that steers you in a certain direction. Even in the face of strong winds, a rudder in the hands of a skilled captain can guide a huge ship. Despite a rudder being small and out of sight, it is quite powerful. Put that rudder in the hands of a skilled person, captain, or leader, and you have a possibility for huge impact and positive results. Ruddered is about making a difference in the lives of people""first the reader, then those the reader impacts on a daily basis. Ruddered contains the keys to business success: establish trust, acquire the best talent you can afford, train and develop your team, and be patient because it takes time. Ruddered includes ways to embrace excellence with biblical and contemporary examples. Scott Lee Rose is an author, leader, teacher, and inspirational speaker. In Ruddered, he brings over twenty-five years of Christian leadership experience to bear. Mr. Rose maintains a simple premise throughout"""Good leaders don't work to get everyone on their side, rather great leaders work to get everyone on the same side."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781643498737

Book preview

Prologue

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;

I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

—The Lord Jesus Christ, John 10:10

Igrew up in the 1970s, and although life had its challenges, for the most part, it was great. My parents, Gerald and Lynda tried to instill in me, my brother Todd, and my sister Debbie godly principles. It seemed we were in church any time the doors were opened. During those times, Billy Graham traveled the country, preaching and reaching thousands for Jesus Christ, and we watched his crusades on TV. In our little town in north Texas, local churches teamed up to bring in regional evangelists to lead crusades at our high school stadium. My parents participated as counselors, and needless to say, I heard a lot of excoriating sermons on hell and the wages of sin.

During this time, I remember being very sensitive to the things of God. Although not yet a born again Christian, I carried one of the big green paraphrased Living Bibles that were so popular at the time. During the crusades, there was always one night reserved for the Rapture sermon. I was very interested in the rapture and the second coming of Christ to the point that I read Revelation over and over. Also, I read Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth I found among some of my dad’s books. I was intrigued knowing that this guy thought the events in Revelation could happen at any moment. I was terrified at the prospect of the rapture happening and being left behind or dying and being eternally damned to hell. For some, the love of God is what draws them to Jesus Christ; and for others, it is the fear of hell and eternal damnation. It was the latter for me. The Holy Spirit was drawing me, and God’s righteous judgment had my full attention.

One of my fondest memories of summertime as a kid was attending Vacation Bible School (VBS) at our church. VBS is about as American as baseball, apple pie, and Chevrolet. In the Baptist church, we have what we call an invitation at the end of each service. It is a time of reflection and prayer and an opportunity for the pastor to invite people to make a commitment to Jesus Christ. For some time, my mother had sensed that the Holy Spirit was working on me. For weeks, any time an invitation was given after a service she would look over at me and ask, Are you ready? She was asking if I was ready to respond by walking the aisle to meet with our pastor and pray to accept Christ as Savior. For what seemed like months, I refused—not because I was afraid to commit to Christ, but mainly because I was afraid of the unknown that surrounded the process and having to step out in front of all those people.

It was Friday, June 16, 1972, one day after my ninth birthday and the last day of VBS. I was determined to make my formal commitment to Christ. I had already made that decision personally in my heart and mind, but I wanted to make it public. The pastor spoke, and the invitation time came, my moment of truth and decision. I was not going to be the first to make the move, so I peered over the chair in front of me waiting, watching, and praying someone would get up and walk down that aisle first. I waited for what seemed like forever, and then finally, my friend Barry got up and walked down the aisle. And I immediately followed. The pastor shared this truth out of Romans 10:9–10, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." That day I prayed the sinner’s prayer something like this:

Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and that I cannot save myself. By faith I gratefully receive your gift of salvation. I trust you as my Lord and Savior. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for coming to earth and dying on the cross for my sins and rising from the dead on the third day. Thank you for bearing my sins and giving me the gift of eternal life. I believe your words are true. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, and be my Savior. Amen.

A few weeks later, I was baptized and life was good. After my commitment to Christ, I remember a nice feeling of assurance that if I died or the Rapture happened, I would go to heaven. My eternal destination was secure, but what I did not know was that confessing and believing in Jesus was the easy part. The hard part was living for Him.

In John 10:10, Jesus talked about that abundant life He offered when we surrender to Him. I enjoyed the abundant life for a while, and then, that thief the Lord mentioned in that same verse showed up and wreaked havoc in my life. The thief was Satan, and whereas he could not take away my salvation, he certainly robbed me of my joy and destroyed my witness. He stole the love and stability my parents had for one another, making life at my house combative and dysfunctional.

I began to allow other things to take priority in my life. Early on, I discovered I was an above-average athlete and able to compete with little effort. This made me popular with my classmates, and soon, my focus was sports and popularity. When I got to middle school, add girls to the equation, and the things of God went by the wayside. A friend of mine summed it up well—When a boy gets to high school and smells petroleum and perfume, you’ve lost him. That described me perfectly because my priorities shifted away from sports because it required more preparation and way too much work. I focused on hanging out and pursing girls. In college, it turned into partying and the ladies. I had all but forgotten my relationship with Jesus.

In Exodus 14, we see God