CITIUS, ALTIUS, FORTIUD

“What is a man that thou art mindful of him?” the psalmist implores as he gazes in awe at the

moon and the stars before him. Beheld by the heavens, he becomes aware of his momentary

existence of space and time. His life is but an epoch, fleeting. And yet, he feels inside him a

semblance of harmony with what lies before him. He feels the sense of the eternal and the

immutable.

And there was light.

It is said that civilization begins with a rebellion. Prometheus, one of the titans, steals fire from

the gods on Mount Olympus and brings it as a gift to man, marking the birth of human culture.

For this rebellion Zeus sentences him to be chained to Mount Caucasus where vulture consume

his liver during the day and at night it only grows back only to be again eaten away the next day.

This is the tale of the agonies of the creative individual whose nightly rest only resuscitates him

so that he can his agonies the next day.

Such is the agony endured by the athlete in his steady pace to reach the summit he seeks to

surmount. An Olympus to climb, so to speak. Thus the struggle: not against the distraught

qualms of violent men whose petty affairs have left nothing but parched earth, it is one where he

conquers the ultimate adversary - himself. This he pays with nothing less than blood, sweat, and

tears.

With him he carries the flame of Prometheus to light the cauldron’s eternal flame. What light he

has seen he now longs to shine upon man. It is the beacon in the darkness for all mankind to see

that there can be peace, that there is hope for better stewardship with God as an inspiration for

true leadership.
Yes ladies and gentlemen, right knowledge about who God made me truly see my identity in

Christ. He made me understand my life and everything in me is God’s. this calling is not about

me or the organization I belong. My life is not for myself but for God and for His Glory, and for

the best of my fellows. My victory as a lowly leader against this world, myself and the enemy

has already won with the unconditional love of our creator.

More than anybody else, like the athlete who yearns to be remembered by the crowd not for his

words but for his deeds as steward of true leadership. Suspended in time, I also aspire to

overcome my momentary existence. I attempt to make a mark on history and prepare myself to

become a legend of stewardship. It is said, history and legend has the same goal, to depict eternal

man beneath momentary man. Thus, just like the athlete, I rise above myself, above the moment

– and become the embodiment of the eternal and the immutable, so essential and necessary to all

that is good in a leader or to men. In carrying the light towards the stadium, the athlete becomes

the light. Like him, I aspire to be a steward of leadership who in my own little way could serve

my fellows without reservations.

Stewards are entrusted with great responsibility. Those who lead are entrusted with stewardship

that comes ultimately from God and will be judged by him in the end. We are given a job to do

and significant authority as a trust. We will shipwreck our leadership for certain if we do not

remember that we are stewards, not lords, of all that we hold by trust.