The League that Limped

I’ve spent the past few posts describing the need and process to identify a young man’s “fastball”.   The good news is we all have a heater and should use it whenever possible.  The bad news is, once we know we’ve got it we have a tendency to think it’s all we need to participate at full capacity in the Adventure.  Not true, not by – as the cowboy says – a gut full.

Young men need “team mates” with other fastballs.   In fact, they need to learn how to depend on others so that they can use their strength in the context of team effort to achieve Harmony and create the greatest impact.

In 1996, DC Comics released a story line entitled “The League of Supermen”.   

Superman had been killed (he came back later of course) and a group of scientists stepped in to fill his role.   They chose to subject themselves to a risky DNA altering therapy that would give each of them one of Superman’s powers.  The experiment worked, but with one flaw.  With each power came a critical corresponding weakness.  Each member of the league carried a nom de guerre that described their strength.  Here are some of their names, their strengths and their weaknesses:

Pounder  

Strength: profoundly strong, with the ability to hoist an entire building if necessary.  Weakness: could not control his strength for normal activities; he had to be spoon fed by a teammate so that he would not break the utensils and plate.

Flyboy

Strength: flight – weakness : he could not control gravity enough to stay on the ground.  His teammates had to harness him to earth every night so that he would not float away.    

Shield

Strength: invulnerability – weakness: no sense of touch, not even a friend’s embrace.  His friends had to constantly encourage him.

See-Through

Strength: x-ray vision – weakness:  blind without special glasses his teammate designed.

All young men are created with strengths; they are also created with weaknesses as a constant reminder that they need each other and cannot engage in the Adventure effectively on their own.  Face it; they wouldn’t want it any other way – and neither would we.

Harmony

In his excellent book, Desiring God, author John Piper uses musical expression as a means to describe three different categories of participation we have in the Adventure set before us:

Solo – singular effort by an individual

Unison – team effort, but all participating in the same capacity regardless of gifts

Harmony – the ultimate experience where each participant offers his/her unique expression (Fastball) to accomplish a worthy cause

As an example, here’s my son Kyle in Solo “fastball” expression:

Here he is in Harmony:

Modern mythology often follows this “Harmony” theme:

Did I mention my affection for Superheroes?

When I observe “harmony” – whether in sports, a business venture, ministry, etc. – I sense I’m watching a brilliant symphony in action.     Each “player” has prepared and trained to participate at the peak of his/her ability. Every participant understands their role and relishes the opportunity to offer their best in the context of the performance.

A young man needs to know himself well enough to identify his unique combination of gifts, so that he can prepare to participate at his highest level; or as famous coach John Wooden describes as Competitive Greatness “To offer your best when you best is needed”.

I recommend two categories to help a young man begin his self assessment – Temperament and God given strengths.