Faith Is the Spine That Held Me Up When My Title Was Gone

June 16, 2021.

I woke up at 5:04 a.m. like any normal day. Hydration. Exercise. Breathing work. Prayer. Reading.

By the time I was out of the shower, my phone rang. A corporate Executive VP I was expecting at my office later that morning asked if I could meet at the Marriott instead.

My stomach hit the floor before I hung up.

A few minutes later I was sitting in that hotel lobby, and I was no longer Managing Partner of the firm my dad built.

I didn't make it far on the drive home. I pulled into a parking lot because I couldn't see the road. I couldn't see because I was crying. Half an hour, alone in my car, asking questions nobody in that parking lot could answer.

That morning took my title. It took my access, my calendar, my email and the team I had poured into for years.

It did NOT take the one thing that had been holding me up the whole time.

I want to talk about that thing today, because I think a lot of high achievers are standing on something they have never tested.

Your Faith Holds the Weight Before Anything Else Does

When I sat down to build the framework that became The Kairos Code, I kept coming back to one conclusion.

If I'm not right with God, who has given me life on this earth, then nothing else matters.

Spirituality has to come first.

That is why the Spiritual Bridge is the first of the Five Bridges. Spiritual, Internal, Relationships, Environment, Legacy. In that order, every time. The order is the whole point.

Think about your own spine for a second. You don't see it. You don't post about it. You don't think about it on a good day. But every move you make runs through it. Pick up your kid, swing a golf club, sit through a three-hour board meeting . . . it all depends on what's holding you upright.

Faith works the same way in a leader's life.

Your strategy, your hiring, your marriage, the way you talk to yourself at 2 a.m. when the numbers are bad, all of it hangs on what you believe about who you are and whose you are.

You may not believe what I believe, and I'm not here to preach to you. But I'm certain you've been to a visitation or a funeral. If you have, you know that the body is there and the soul and the spirit are gone. Whatever your belief, we can agree that we are spiritual beings. So we have to guard and tend our spiritual life first, above everything else.

I Had Put My Weight on the Wrong Thing

Here is where I have to own something.

How do I know a leader can lean his whole life on the wrong support? Because I did it.

I believed in God. Prayer was part of my routine every single morning. If you had asked me what my identity was built on, I would have given you the right answer.

But if I'm honest, a lot of my weight was on the title. On the numbers. On being the guy who was first in and last out. My office was putting up numbers never seen before, and I was 100 percent sure I was on the right track.

So when the title was gone, I found out fast what was carrying the load.

Five days later was a Monday. It was also Jenna's and my wedding anniversary. I wrote in my journal that it was the first Monday since I was terminated, that my purpose had been taken from me, and these words:

"I continue to pray, know, and have faith in God's plan, but I cannot help myself from asking . . . why?"

Read that line again.

I was praying and asking why in the same breath. That is what faith can sound like in the middle of the hardest season: no answers yet, still standing, still praying.

My kids asked questions I couldn't answer. My oldest wanted to know why I wasn't in my work clothes. My youngest wanted to know why my eyes were wet. Those questions cut deep.

Then I wrote the shortest journal entry I have ever written. Two words: "They're watching."

I was talking about my kids. It turned out everyone was. My wife, my former team, my community, even the people who were rooting against me.

What they were watching was my spine.

Lesson: The thing you lean on when everything else is gone is your real foundation. Find out what it is before life finds out for you.

What is your weight really resting on right now?

Faith Under the Code Means Praying and Moving

There is a mentality I adopted years ago that I still live by.

Pray like it all depends on God, and act like it all depends on me.

Both halves matter.

Some leaders I coach have plenty of action and no prayer. They grind, they hustle, they white-knuckle every quarter, and they wonder why they feel empty even when the P&L looks great.

Other leaders have plenty of prayer and no action. They say they're waiting on God, and really they're waiting on comfort. The Bible is blunt about being lukewarm. God wants us ALL-IN.

The Kairos Code is about recognizing the opportune moment, the appointed time, and moving when it arrives. Chronos is the clock. Kairos is the moment that matters.

You won't recognize a Kairos moment without a quiet heart. And you won't seize it without a willing body.

Your dreams lie in the whispers. They aren't blared at you through a foghorn.

So I ask two things of the leaders I work with.

First, are you taking time to listen? When is your quiet time alone with God? If you don't have any, create that space. Ask the question, "What do you want me to know today?" and then sit with it.

Second, move. Don't sit around waiting for a lightning bolt. Keep moving in the direction you believe you're supposed to go. If God has a different path, He will course correct you.

He course corrected me in a Marriott lobby. I would not trade where I am now to go back.

A Spine Is Proven Under Pressure

Here's a question from the book that still gets me.

If you say you're a Christian, could you be found guilty in a court of public opinion? Would your defense attorney have enough evidence to make the case, or would the prosecution have an easy day?

That one stings.

You can't profess your faith only in private. If you read the Bible and pray every day, but only alone, how would anyone know?

For a business owner, the evidence shows up in very ordinary places.

It shows up in how you handle the employee who made a costly mistake.

It shows up in what you say when a client asks you to cut a corner.

It shows up in whether your family gets the leftovers of your day. Our loved ones don't deserve our scraps while our business world gets the filet mignon.

All of that takes a spine, and no sermon will build it for you.

Here is what I've noticed in the leaders who walk through hard seasons and come out stronger. They aren't the most talented. They aren't the most connected. They aren't the ones with the biggest bank account.

They are the ones who knew who they were before the hard season showed up.

That is what the Spiritual Bridge does. It settles identity before strategy. When the title goes, the deal falls through, the partner walks or the diagnosis comes back, a leader with a strong Spiritual Bridge still knows who he is. He can grieve, he can ask why, and he can still stand.

If you want an honest read on where your bridges stand today, start with the LQ Assessment. It shows you where you're strong and where you've been carrying weight on something that won't hold.

Action Items From Today

1. Write down what you would still have if your title, company and income were gone tomorrow. Be honest about how long that list is.
2. Set a daily quiet time of at least ten minutes this week, with no phone. Ask, "What do you want me to know today?" and write down what comes to mind.
3. Name one decision you've been praying about but avoiding. Take one concrete step on it in the next 48 hours.
4. Name one decision you've been pushing forward without praying about. Pause and give it real quiet time before you act.
5. Ask someone close to you what evidence they see of your faith in how you lead. Listen without defending yourself.
6. Read ten pages of a book that challenges how you think about faith and leadership, every day for the next week.

Five Bridges Challenges

Spiritual Bridge: Pick one recurring time each day this week to be alone with God and protect it like a client meeting. At the end of the week, write down what changed in how you showed up.

Internal Bridge: Write one sentence that describes who you are without mentioning your job, your title or your income. Read it out loud every morning for seven days.

Relationships Bridge: Tell your spouse or your kids about one hard season where your faith held you up. Let them see the spine, not just the success.

Faith is easier to live out when other leaders hold you to it. Bridge Builder Mastermind is where this work gets done in a small cohort of leaders. If you want the full story behind the Five Bridges and that morning at the Marriott, read The Kairos Code.

The Moment is NOW.

Inspire & Impact,

Josh