The Code in Action

What it looks like
on a Tuesday.

The code is not an idea a man agrees with. It is what he does on ground nobody is watching.

Twenty scenes, four for each discipline. None of them is a heroic moment. That is the point: the line is held in the ordinary hour, or it is not held at all.

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Moral Courage

Do what is right when it costs.

A man on a site raises a hand to stop the work while the others look up. — Moral Courage TELL THE TRUTH BEFORE IT COSTS LESS.

Men of several ages pass sandbags along a line against a rising flood, under a breaking storm. — Moral Courage HOLD THE LINE WHEN COMFORT SAYS MOVE.

A man speaks up in a room of seated men, standing while the rest stay down. — Moral Courage CONVICTION BECOMES VISIBLE UNDER PRESSURE.

Two men brace and re-set a fence post in open country as the light goes. — Moral Courage COURAGE MOVES BEFORE FEAR GIVES PERMISSION.

Servant Leadership

Put strength to work for the good of others.

Three men kneel to fit the decking of a wheelchair ramp against a house. — Servant Leadership STRENGTH GETS LOW ENOUGH TO SERVE.

A man takes the heavy end of a load so the man beside him can manage his own. — Servant Leadership CARRY THE WEIGHT. GIVE AWAY THE CREDIT.

A man stacks chairs alone after everyone else has left the room. — Servant Leadership LEADERSHIP BEGINS WHERE ENTITLEMENT ENDS.

Four men load boxes of food into a car boot for delivery, the youngest lifting first. — Servant Leadership GO FIRST. STAY LAST. BUILD OTHERS.

Self-Control

Govern appetite, attention, anger, words and action.

A man sets his phone face down on the table and leaves it there. — Self-Control RULE YOUR APPETITES OR THEY WILL RULE YOU.

A coach sets a young wrestler’s stance while four teammates kneel around the mat and watch the correction. — Self-Control COMPOSURE IS TRAINED BEFORE IT IS TESTED.

A man finishes the last of a job in poor light rather than leaving it for the morning. — Self-Control FREEDOM IS BUILT ONE GOVERNED CHOICE AT A TIME.

Three men work an engine bay by lamplight, an older man guiding a younger one’s hands. — Self-Control WHAT YOU REFUSE TO FEED CANNOT COMMAND YOU.

Brotherhood

Be known, corrected, strengthened and never isolated.

Men set their shoulders together against the same load. — Brotherhood NO MAN HOLDS THE LINE ALONE.

One man stays sitting with another rather than leaving him to it. — Brotherhood STAND CLOSE ENOUGH TO TELL THE TRUTH.

Three men push water out of a flooded hall with squeegees, boots soaked. — Brotherhood A BROTHER SHOWS UP BEFORE HE IS ASKED.

Four men rebuild a porch step together while an older neighbour watches from the doorway. — Brotherhood ISOLATION BREAKS MEN. COVENANT HOLDS.

Stewardship

Build faithfully with everything entrusted to you.

A father guides his daughter’s hands on a birdhouse at a workbench, an older man working behind them. — Stewardship CARE FOR WHAT OUTLIVES YOU.

A man services a machine that is not broken yet. — Stewardship SMALL DUTIES REVEAL THE WHOLE MAN.

A man mends a fence line at the boundary of the ground he is responsible for. — Stewardship WHAT YOU HAVE IS A TRUST, NOT A TROPHY.

Neighbours of three generations turn beds in a community garden, a boy working beside them. — Stewardship LEAVE THE GROUND STRONGER THAN YOU FOUND IT.

Begin

Twenty-one days
to practise it.

The Field Manual is the first step: Scripture, a short reading, two honest questions and prayer. Twenty minutes of devotion.

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