Sheer Genius

"Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results is the definition of insanity" said my friend Wayne Howes in a Sunday school class discussion several years ago. I was fascinated with the statement and have hung on to it for a long time.

Several years later, I discovered that it was Albert Einstein who had first said these words. But when Wayne spoke those words, they went straight to my heart and they have been the inspiration for many times of re-evaluating things in my life that I've wanted to be different.

I was also introduced about the same time to the phrase, "thinking outside the box." I believe both the formula for different results and "thinking outside the box" are pretty much saying the same thing.

Here are some conclusions about boxes I have come to in the intervening years:

#1--before you can think outside the box, you have to realize you are in a box

#2--boxes can become caskets if we are not careful

#3--not all boxes are wrong

#4--all boxes have a life span of their own (I think Scripture refers to these times as seasons)

At a recent conference, I was reminded of the Dakota Indian tribal wisdom that said, "If the horse is dead, it might be time to get off."

I was also reminded of the temptation for some of us when we discover that the horse is dead, to yell louder at the horse, work harder at spurring the horse on. And some of us even pray for a resurrection of the horse instead of getting off, taking our saddle and search for a new ride.

I've had folks ask me why they weren't growing in their faith or why their marriage was getting better. It could be that something different needs to be done if they are truly interested in seeing different results. They need a new horse!

Remember the words of the genius, insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting something different to happen. Just maybe we need to do something different today.

This was the experience that the fisherman, turned apostle, Peter, had early one morning. But that's for the next entry......hope to see you there.

Always in Pursuit!