Invest Wisely - My Word to Me

Meet Teen Tommy. Do you have any advice for him?

I wonder what I would tell this kid if I met him in some time-warped, celestial vestibule during a meet and greet.

Could I tell him anything?

Or should I just play dumb and let him figure it out as best he could ... which ...

I suppose he did.

Would you actually try to tell your younger self anything if you had the chance?

"I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. " -Psalm 27:13

I have a challenge for my young local heroes, so engaged in our cities and driven by the passion of gospel that has deep implications for the poor, marginalized, and oppressed: Start raising up some among you to run for office.

Build coalitions, raise funds, and speak at every meeting where kingdom issues are addressed.

We need your voices and your leadership. My generation is stuck in a rut of old ideas and biases. All we can come up with are clichés and repackaged prejudice. You think with fresh minds.

This is your day. Take it.

Today could be a turning point for you and for others.

Some Turning Points Are World-Changing.

On this day in 1983 – Bill Gates introduces Windows 1.0.

 

What will happen today that will change the world tomorrow?

 

How will you be part of that?

 

What if we started every day with that question.

 

What questions arise from that one question?

 

How might you strategize around that?

Some Turning Points Are Catastrophic.

On this day:

"The Wilmington insurrection of 1898, also known as the Wilmington massacre of 1898 or the Wilmington coup of 1898.

It was a turning point in post-Reconstruction North Carolina politics.

The results were

- more severe racial segregation
- effective disenfranchisement of African Americans

"What happened in Wilmington became an affirmation of white supremacy not just in that one city, but in the South and in the nation as a whole ... " - Laura Edwards (Democracy Betrayed)

According to Wikipedia, it "affirmed that invoking 'whiteness' eclipsed the legal citizenship, individual rights, and equal protection under the law that blacks were guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment."

At first, the perpetrators sought to blame the black population for "precipitating a riot" and held themselves up as victims and heroes.

Beit She'an , Scythopolis (Σκυθόπολις in Ancient Greek) is a city in the Northern District of Israel, which has played an important role in history due to its geographical location at the junction of the Jordan River Valley and the Jezreel Valley. It was an amazing Roman outpost in its day.

 

The ancient city was destroyed in one day in the Golan earthquake of 749.

 

Many things can happen in one day or a single hour.

 

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/bet-h-shean

 

I would give myself this advice:

 

Be careful what you consider permanent if you are investing your life in it.

“Alas, alas, for the great city

that was clothed in fine linen,

in purple and scarlet,

adorned with gold,

with jewels, and with pearls!

For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.”

And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning,

 

“What city was like the great city?”

And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out,

“Alas, alas, for the great city

where all who had ships at sea

grew rich by her wealth!

For in a single hour she has been laid waste.

(Revelation 18:16-19 ESV)

 

Invest Wisely

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