If you are a Twilight Zone enthusiast like I am (my wife and I watched the marathon on Christmas Eve and Christmas), you will remember the episode, Rip Van Winkle Caper. As the story goes, four thieves, led by scientist-mastermind, Farwell, stole $1 million worth of gold bricks. They hid in a secret cave, in the desert in suspended animation chambers, designed by Farwell. The chambers were set for 100 years, figuring by 2061, nobody would remember the robbery and the gang would be in the clear.  

When they woke up, that’s when things went wrong. One of the gang was already dead, a skeletal remain, because a large boulder shattered his chamber. Because of greed, the three remaining thieves turn on one another and two more thieves were killed. Farwell, the scientist-mastermind, was the last of the Rip Van Winkles. He walked through the hot desert and made his way to the highway, but collapsed before he got there. A futuristic car drove up and Farwell offered a gold brick to the couple inside in exchange for water and a ride to the nearest town, but Farwell died moments later. 
 
As the man got back in the car to report Farwell’s death, he curiously remarked to his wife, “Can you imagine that? He offered this (the gold brick) to me as if it was really worth something.” The wife vaguely recalled that it had indeed been valuable in the distant past. The husband replied, “Sure, about a hundred years or so ago, before they found a way to manufacture it,” and he tossed the gold bar away.
 
What a commentary on the church and us as Jesus followers! We have been asleep for too long in our suspended animated chambers of irrelevancy. While we slept, the world changed. Some of the things and programs that were once valuable, have become worthless. People are looking for real life, but we offer them the bitter waters of dead or dying programs. They say to one another,”Can you imagine that? They offered us this (lifeless programs, dead worship services, and inauthentic lives).
 
If the Church and Jesus followers are going to be relevant 100 years from now, we must be like the sons of Issachar (1 Chronicles 12:32): understand the temper of the times and know the best course for the Church to take (1 Chronicles 12:32). The best course for us to take is not to offer dead or dying programs, but to offer people Jesus, God’s unspeakable gift, whose value does not ever change or grow old; He is the same today, yesterday and forever.  
 
Our call is not to chase our own dreams, but to chase the Jesus dream of making life-giving disciples who will go out and make life-giving disciples.
 
Will what you are chasing still be valuable in the future? Under what circumstances might its value change? Might something you now consider worthless take on value in the future? 
 
Tell me what you think. 

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Mostly everyone desires to be successful in their endeavors. However, too much success too soon can be dangerous. Success has a tendency to make us complacent and lazy. When everything is going fine, we say, "Why change what is working for us?" This kind of thinking stops us from thinking new thoughts and trying new approaches. It is only when our jobs, departments, or ministries are threatened with irrelevancy and/or elimination that we are motivated to change and make improvements. 

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According to ancient Greek legend, who ever could untie the Gordian Knot, an intricate knot of cornel bark tied by the god Midas, would become King of Asia. Many tried to untie the knot, and all failed to solve the complicated problem. As legend goes, Alexander the Great tried. After many attempts, he could not find the ends of the rope. All of his efforts were thwarted by the riddle of the knot. So, he made up his own knot untying rules. He drew his sword and cut the knot in half. The legend says that Asia was fated to him. Some may say he cheated, but I think he solved an “intractable problem by challenging the rules with a bold stroke.”

Most advances in technology, history, education, business, and ministry have occurred because someone challenged the rules and took a different approach. Albert Szent-Gyorgi, the Hungarian physiologist who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine 1937, for discovering vitamin C, said: “Discovery is seeing what everybody else has seen and thinking what nobody else has thought.”
 
Let’s take some time this week to identify our Gordian Knots – those intractable problems in your life, business, marriage, ministry, classroom, and department – that we have created for ourselves or someone else has created for us, and decide what rules you need to challenge to slice through them. What bold moves and tough calls do you need to make about one of your problems? 
 
This week, let’s see what everyone else has seen, but think what nobody else has thought, and discover healthy and successful solutions.   
 

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On January 19th, 2009, at her home, Jane Brainard, the mother of my friend, brother, and co-laborer, David Brainard, unexpectedly slipped behind the curtain of eternity and into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. My heart goes out to her husband, George, and the rest of the Brainard tribe. I know all who knew her will miss her dearly. 

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Last week I went to the “golden arches” for lunch. I know, I know it’s not the healthiest food, but I had a “pregnant woman’s craving” for a hamburger and some of those golden, greasy fries. I placed my order, gave the cashier a twenty and he gave me all my food and my change (You know some are notorious for shorting you on everything, and then you have to go back in the cold, dark night and snow and sleet and demand justice! All they can offer you for your trek in the elements is a freakin’ medium drink. I digress).

Later that evening, when I was getting ready for our leaders’ retreat, I noticed that I had twenty-three dollars in my pocket, three dollars more than when I paid for my lunch earlier in the afternoon. 

Wow! I knew God could multiply loaves and fish, but to multiply my dollars while I napped, was beyond miraculous. It could be a ministry: “Increase While you Sleep!” Can the church say Amen! 

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I have the great privilege of writing for two well-known Christian publications. I should be motivated to sit down in front of my computer and push out great articles each month, right? Wrong! There are some days when I am not motivated at all to do anything, more or less write. Thus, the ultimate inspiration for me is the deadline I have been given. I am like Duke Ellington, who said, "Without a deadline, baby, I wouldn't do nothing."  Deadlines help me put away excuses and create an urgency of getting down to the business of putting my thoughts down, one sentence and one paragraph at a time. When I fail to meet my deadline, I thank God for the grace of the editors.  

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About an hour ago, my beautiful, honey brown, wife and I stood in our kitchen and prayed, asking God's blessings on our day and thanking Him for this historic day in our country – the first black man will be sworn in and become the 44th president of the United States of America.

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Once two frogs fell into a pot of cream and they could not get out. So they swam around and around in the cream. "Oh, this is the end of my life," said one of the frogs. It gave up, stopped swimming, and drowned in the white liquid. The second frog, not liking the fate of the first frog, swam and swam, thrashed and thrashed, and beat the cream with its little feet. The cream became a ball of butter, and the frog jumped on the ball of butter and got out of the pot. What persistence! 

You started this year with high hopes to be persistent in reaching your goals. But, life happened, schedules have filled up and you have found yourself being inconsistent. If you are anything like me, you feel frustration over those days of inconsistency and failure. You probably feel like that first frog, ready to stop swimming and give up. I penned this post to encourage you and me to be like the second frog. Let's keep swimming, thrashing, and beating the cream with our little feet until our persistence makes butter, providing footing for our survival and success. Here are a few suggestions on how we can keep beating the cream and become more persistent this year:

Push through quitting points

Keep your goal(s) in sight

Be persistent even when doing small tasks

Learn your "quitting triggers"

Be flexible 

Give yourself grace 

How persistent are you in achieving your goals? What are some triggers that make you feel like giving up? What do you think you need to do to be more persistent? What are some other techniques that have helped you remain persistent in the past? Tell me what you think.

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I have listened to this speech hundreds of times, and never tire of listening to it. As you reflect on and celebrate on this day, I pray you will take time to be captured all over again by the truth of this prophetic voice. I thank God for this man and how God used him in this nation. Have a great MLK day!

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Bandleader Count Basie told a club owner, whose piano was out of tune, “I am not returning until you fix it.” A month later, Basie received a call from the club owner and he told him everything was fine. When Basie returned to the club and tried to play, the piano was still out of tune. “You said you fixed the piano!” an angry Basie exclaimed. “I did,” the owner replied. “I had it painted.” The owner solved the wrong problem!

Is your life, ministry, finances, marriage, family and spiritual life out of tune? Maybe you are “painting the piano” when you should be tuning it. Could it be you are not seeing the kind of success you desire in your life because you are not solving the right problems? For example, the answer to getting out of debt is not necessarily making more money. If you make more money, more than likely, you will spend more money, unless you solve the right problem. The issue that needs to be addressed is mismanagement of the money you already make. You need to become a faithful manager of the financial resources that God has entrusted to you.

Are you solving the right problems? Is there a more significant problem that you are overlooking?  Tell me what you think.

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