Think About it -- Your Best Ability is Your Availability

Resources Think About it -- Your Best Ability is Your Availability
Share
Share

Carl Chinn

Jan 24, 2026

This week’s TAI is by FBSN member Warren Wells.

The saying, “Your best ability is your availability,” is often credited to Bill

Parcells, the former NFL coach. It’s straightforward and, to be honest, a bit

uncomfortable. While talent, training, and experience are all important, they

don’t matter if you’re not there when it really counts.

This idea popped into my head during a recent Sunday service. The pastor used

a slightly diﬀerent word: dependability. That really stuck with me, especially

when I think about faith-based security work. Availability is about showing up.

Dependability is about showing up consistently, prepared, and with the right

mindset.

In ministry and security, people often think the most gifted person is the most

valuable. The best communicator. The most tactical. The one with the strongest

resume. But over time, teams learn a tough lesson. The people who make the

biggest diﬀerence are usually the ones who can be counted on. They answer the

call. They take the assignment. They follow through without needing to be

chased down or reminded.

For FBSN members, this is especially relevant. Most of us are volunteers or

serve in roles that go beyond our job descriptions. Emergencies don’t wait for

perfect schedules. Incidents rarely happen when it’s convenient. Being available

means you’re willing to step in when others step back. Being dependable means

leaders know exactly what they’re getting when you say yes.

There’s also a spiritual aspect to this. God has always worked through ordinary

people who were simply willing to be used. Moses had doubts. David was

young and overlooked. Peter was impulsive and flawed. What they shared was a

willingness to respond when God called. Availability opened the door.

Dependability kept them in the fight.

This doesn’t mean burning yourself out or saying yes to everything. Healthy

boundaries are important. But it does mean being honest about your

commitments and faithful in the ones you make. If you say you will be there, be

there. If you take a role, own it.

Think About it

It’s true that being available can help you stand out, but being dependable really

builds trust. And when it comes to faith-based security, trust is what makes all

the diﬀerence.

This is the “ready” of Ready / Willing / Able. Ready means you show up faithfully. You’re there.

Comments

To view comments or leave a comment, login or sign up.

Related Content

Think About it -- Remembering Ron Allen

Death never comes at a good time. This last week, FBSN board member Ron Allen (Troy, Michigan) finished his race and went home. Ron was one of the best men I’ve ever known. I was reminded of something Ron wrote to our Board in 2023. It follows, as written by him. GOD'S CALL TO LEADERS. Morning Prayer Notes 8.24.2023. Ron Allen God will never call us to a work that we can fulfill in our own strength. It will always be bigger than we are. That forces us to rely on Him. When God puts people around us to help fulfill the vision that He has given, if we use them, God gets glory. If we don't use them, that means we don't trust God to fulfill His vision. (ownership of the vision then transfers to us and I don’t want to own God vision). Remember, Its God's vision, not ours. He may have given it to us to carry, shepherd and lead, but it's His vision. God will send resources / people to fulfill His vision. If we are uncomfortable using the resources He has sent, (“no, let me do that”) we limit what God can do with His own work. Our job as leaders, as people who are called by God to lead; Pray that God sends laborers and let them labor when they arrive. Love them and lead them in a godly manner. Teach them what God has taught you. Show them the vision so they can run with the portion God has given them. Trust that God will speak to them and give vision for their area of the work. Give them the latitude to hear from God and go with God, (while we are watching to encourage and correct) Discern when the enemy sends wolves to disrupt the work that God has called us to do. Clear out the wolves and get back to doing the work God has called us to do. If the wolves have inflicted wounds, believe God to heal the wounds and move on. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire without the smell of smoke (don’t let wounds linger) Think About it We are called into a work that none of us can complete or even perform well on our own. Ron Allen provided the guide for handling that work.

Lessons From the Farm (No. 1)

Having moved back to farm country (from where I continue to manage the Faith Based Security Network), there is also the reality of needed work to be done on the farm. Fortunately, there is not (yet) any cropland; the daily duties are centered around making sure the small cow herd is healthy and accounted for. It is rare that I can’t think of the applicability of some farm action to the realm of effective security operations. Such was the case this week when a neighbor called to see if I could help him out. Helping is just part of common rural hospitality. It’s called “neighboring.” When someone’s ox is in the ditch, you go help them. He owns no oxen, but he did have a few hundred acres of corn to get harvested in a narrow window of time. He needed to keep 3 semis continuously filled as drivers ran the harvested corn to the granaries. He had a 12-row combine working nonstop cutting the corn. The missing link was a man on a tractor to catch the freshly harvested corn out of the combine into a 750 bushel mobile grain cart, then transport that corn to the waiting semis. The inset picture shows the operation and equipment well. He set aside an hour to have one of his workers train me on the tractor and the mobile grain cart. After that I was all alone in a John Deere 8400, 4-wheel drive row-crop tractor. This wasn’t like driving Dad’s old 2-cylinder John Deeres 50 years ago. This $300,000 monster had a computerized cab more like a cockpit. At 30,000 pounds and 225 horsepower, it was bigger, more powerful and more expensive than any machine I’d ever operated. One hour of training. Think About it The great late Jeff Cooper said, “Owning a handgun doesn't make you armed any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician” (another version quoted him as, “Owning a pistol doesn't make you a pistoleer any more than owning a piano makes you a pianist”). A few hours operating powerful machinery doesn’t make one a farmer either. Is your training commensurate with the tools and the needed actions? How much is a life worth? If you think an hour might be a little light for training on a monster tractor, how much is too light for your tools of protecting life?