Deanna and I are traveling together again after a nine-month pause — a mercy we do not take lightly.
Last week, Deanna returned to Abbotsford for her next treatment while I continued on to Brazil. Because of a layover, I arrived at Clenildo and Angelita’s home at 6:00 a.m. It was their turn to lead Brazil’s national “21 Days of Prayer and Fasting.”
After the call ended, Clenildo leaned across the breakfast table and said, “Let me tell you something.”
What he said next helped me understand one of the most surprising leadership revelations in the Bible.
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A Leadership Case Study
“I was discouraged,” he began.
Not about comfort.
About cost.
Reaching Brazilian river communities deep in the Amazon interior is expensive: fuel for the boat, food for days of travel, and time away from family. Organizing a pastor’s retreat in regions with almost no cash economy stretches us beyond what makes sense on paper.
He told the Lord honestly how heavy it felt.
Then came a thought:
“Find an honest man.”
He didn’t launch a campaign. He didn’t pressure donors. He didn’t complain.
He prayed and pondered what that idea might mean.
For days.
A name surfaced — a friend working in gold mining in another country.
Clenildo called him.
“How’s the gold? How’s business?”
“Not good. Tough times.”
“If you found R$200,000 worth of gold, would that change things?”
“Of course.”
“I’m going to pray the Lord gives you that much this week. If He does, would you give a tithe — R$20,000 — for a pastor’s retreat in the interior?”
A pause.
“Agreed, Pastor.”
One week later:
“We found the gold. What’s your bank account number?”
No leverage. No coercion. No dominance.
Just dependence.
That is servant leadership in action.
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The Danger Inside Glory
Psalm 8 is one of the most beautifully structured poems in Scripture.
It begins and ends the same way: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name.”
At its center, David declares something staggering:
“You crowned humanity with glory and honor.”
That is breathtaking.
It is also dangerous.
Give fallen humans glory and dominion, and history shows what often follows: domination.
Empires. Exploitation. Religious control. Leadership that lords power over others.
Without verse 2, Psalm 8 could be misread as a manifesto for conquest.
But David interrupts his own poem.
Right after celebrating God’s majesty, he inserts infants:
“Through the praise of children and infants You have established strength… to silence the enemy.”
Why?
Because dependence is the only safe container for human power.
Infants cannot dominate. They cannot self-sustain. They cannot claim credit.
They are powerful precisely because they are dependent.
That is David’s safeguard against tyranny.
Jesus: Strength Through Surrender
David planted the safeguard.
Jesus embodied it.
When the disciples argued about status, Jesus exposed the default pattern of human leadership:
“The rulers of the Gentiles domineer over them… It shall not be so among you.”
Tyranny is normal. Servanthood is revolutionary.
Then He went further:
“Whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant… just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus did not merely teach dependence.
He chose it.
He refused to seize power in the wilderness. He refused to call down angels in Gethsemane. He allowed Himself to be overpowered by empire, religion, and mob.
Why?
Because only surrendered authority can silence the enemy.
At the cross, strength came through weakness. Victory came through apparent defeat. Glory came through obedience.
Psalm 8 crowned humanity with honor.
Jesus showed us how to wear the crown without becoming tyrants.
The Question for Us
Clenildo could have tightened his grip.
He could have pressured donors. He could have manipulated urgency. He could have given up.
Instead, he prayed.
He asked boldly.
He trusted God with the result.
That is infant-like leadership.
Not childish. Childlike.
Dependent. Persistent. Secure enough to wait.
So here is the question Psalm 8 presses on us:
Where are you tempted to dominate, or to give up, instead of depend?
In your family? Your church? Your business? Your ministry?
The enemy thrives where leaders grasp for control.
He is silenced where leaders kneel.
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Deanna’s Journey to Healing
Strength in the Body
This truth has not only shaped leadership conversations this week.
It has shaped our home.
Radiation burns intensified for nearly two weeks after treatment ended. The discomfort grew before it receded. Then, almost suddenly, in about three days, the worst of it passed.
We could not control that timeline.
We could not accelerate it.
We could only depend.
And in that dependence, something quiet but steady formed — resilience without grasping.
Deanna’s body has been through the wringer. She remains in treatment. We continue praying for complete healing. But we are witnessing something Psalm 8 describes so beautifully:
Strength emerging where there appears to be weakness.
Victory forming in vulnerable places.
God silencing fear, not through force, but through faithful endurance.
When I arrived safely home after nine months away, I celebrated with a big cup of açaí.
Small joys. Quiet gratitude. Dependent hearts.
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The Real Magnum Opus
Psalm 8 may be David’s poetic masterpiece.
But its genius is not literary.
It is moral.
David understood something history repeatedly forgets:
Glory without dependence becomes tyranny. Power without humility corrodes the soul.
So God established strength through infants.
And Jesus proved that surrendered authority silences the enemy.
Perhaps the real magnum opus of leadership Is not how much authority we accumulate, But how deeply we remain dependent.
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Prayer Requests
For complete healing for Deanna
For the Cristoval Retreat in Marabá
For my re-entry to Brazil
For the mission property – whether we should sell it, and if so, for a safe sale
For our survey trip to Portugal
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A Word from This Week
Deanna and I had one full day near the San Antonio Riverwalk. There are miles of sidewalks along a small river, hidden under big highways and a busy city.
“Açai”
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Prayer
Lord,
Crown us with honor, But anchor us in humility.
Guard our hearts from the subtle drift toward control. Silence the enemy that whispers we must grasp to survive.
Teach us the strength of infants. The courage to ask boldly. The grace to wait patiently.
Form in us leaders Who wear the crown lightly And kneel often.
