Hard Call

Thanks to Jamie's recommendation, I am now reading John McCain's latest book, "Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them." The book describes great decisions made throughout history, telling of those individuals who possessed composure, wisdom, and intellect in the face of life's toughest dilemmas. The first chapter is about two of my sporting heros, Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson. Branch Rickey's goal was to break baseball's color barrier, and he chose to have Jackie Robinson be the player to do it. I have long been a fan of the old Brooklyn Dodgers, and have read many books describing their history, their players, and the fans that they have touched. In the spring of 1947, Jackie Robinson became a part of their amazing history.

"Branch was the man who built two of baseball's greatest dynasties [the St. Louis Cardinals and the Brooklyn Dodgers], but he will always be remembered for the decision he made so skillfully to bring America's game to all Americans, to do something as big outside the ballpark as it was inside. He had seen something in Jackie Robinson that was greater than his athletic prowess. He had looked for a great baseball player with principles, courage, and dignity. The man he found had those qualities, as well as a temper he really didn't mind showing when provoked. He was a brave and driven man, but an often angry one. And Rickey saw something else in Jackie Robinson that maybe even Jackie wasn't sure he possessed. He saw a man with the courage and strength to maintain his composure under the most trying circumstances, a man whose pride could become a self-effacing dignity. He saw the man who would represent on the field and off the ideal American, and who could make integration, and long-delayed justice for his race, heroic to white America. They shook hands on the deal and made their country a better place."

John McCain, "Hard Call"

What hard call have you had to make in the past? What difficult decision are you now facing? Do you lean into other's advice when you face these challenges, or do you go it alone? What part does God play in the process?