***Bisperas ng kwarenta’y-dos. This here is what I have to share to my audience in the Academy’s Awards Banquet, starting in a little more than an hour from now… and I suppose it’s a message for myself as well.***
No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
Joshua 1:5-6
There is trouble with merely living in the present. I lost one, maybe two relationships because of that form of short-sightedness – even no-sightedness, actually. Problem with this is that you’re one with the quite plentiful crowd that lacks vision, one member of the kingdom of the blind, where the one-eyed man is king.
It’s ideal for us to have goals, and even systems at an early age. And when it comes to goals (at the very least), the question we ought to be answering for ourselves is, ‘What’s best for me?‘
Throughout my forty plus years of breathing, eating, drinking, crapping and moving in this world, I still feel I haven’t answered that question with earnest. At best, my goals remain short-sighted, and what ‘vision’ I have is counter-intuitive considering that I only come up with one when asked.
Self-proclaimed ‘brain-performance coach’ Jim Kwik is quoted saying ‘the more you learn, the more you earn’. I personally like to say, ‘the more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.‘, or, if you like, ‘the smarter you get, the dumber you get.‘ If virtue is its own reward, then so is learning.
At this point I like to feature the Artist Formerly Known As Prince as an example. I believe he started off with playing the guitar during his formative years – and as he exposed himself to more and more music, he was eventually known to be proficient with the electric guitar, the acoustic guitar, the slide guitar, the bass guitar, the cornet, the pocket trumpet, handclaps, the electronic keyboard among 10 other types of keyboards, as well as around at least half a dozen types of percussion instruments; This, on top of composing songs and collaborating with other artists. Prince learned, and became one of the best in the business.
A side note I’d like to add here is that there’s a difference between learning and mere reading and doing. If you want to learn, you need to at least get yourself ‘into it‘. I only share this because I remember it mentioned in the appropriate documentary that when Prince started playing the guitar, he said that he decided at his young age that was what he was going to be doing for the rest of his life…
…and what I want for our students, and actually, for all of us here, is to get into learning. Learn to learn. Be curious. Have an open mind to possibilities. Don’t merely engage in conversations to wait for your turn to speak, but to really listen. Don’t get into exchanges with shallow intention of saying what everyone wants to hear.
What’s best for us at any given season, no matter how old we are, is to learn, and learn to learn. Consider a mindset of learning.
In fact, we’ve come to a point that we’ve simulated learning, haven’t we? We’re coming up with AI models that do the learning for us. Back in my days in college we had the advantage over our teachers, as we took advantage of Wikipedia before they even learned about it. Generations eventually shifted from Wikipedia to just Google… and now we have AI to help us learn, if not do the learning for us.
We’ve shifted from telling people to ‘Google it’, for telling people off for using AI for legitimate documentation, for image generation and manipulation, and so on an so forth. Once we said, ‘i-Google mo yan’, now we’re saying ‘yuck, ChatGPT’.
I don’t necessarily know what comes next. We’re praying about it, and God-willing He is faithful to His word and reveals to us things that we do not know… But obviously, through the generations, learning is premiere. It never left us. It’s just now we have greater access to quality sources and more efficient tools.
We in the body of Christ have quite the wonderful system we can always default to. Computers have their own default systems out of the box, and so do we.
He who gets wisdom loves his own soul;
He who keeps understanding will find good.Proverbs 19:8
I’m talking to myself here. I’m talking to leaders, pastors, teachers, parents, children and students here – Here’s what’s best for our souls, and here’s what’s good: Get wisdom. Keep understanding.
Where can wisdom be found? Where can understanding be acquired, and how is it kept?
You’ll notice that so far I quoted from the book of Proverbs, a section of the Bible primarily written by Solomon. Most of us here know that the book of Proverbs consists of 31 chapters, which is quite timely since there are a maximum of 31 days in a given month, which has led many a leader and a pastor to encourage the brethren to read 1 Proverb a day.
Folks, no matter what the season, we’d be doing ourselves a favor if we were always in an attitude of learning, awe and curiosity – And in the body of Christ, there is no better material to learn, no greater lesson to be in awe of, no spectacle more magnificent than the Word of God.
To learn is to get knowledge and to keep skills.
To learn the Word of God is to get wisdom and to keep understanding.
You want to move forward, you learn… and there’s nothing better than to lean the Word of God.
You move with the power of the Holy Spirit, You move forward with the Word of God.
…Aaaaand that’s what I was supposed to be sharing last Friday; However, I ended up appreciating everyone for their time and attention, and then I told folks that because of Christ’s death on the cross, we were able to move, and because of Christ’s resurrection, the empty tomb symbolizes our being able to move forward.
Well, it wasn’t all for naught. On the stage was when I remember getting that specific revelation – that Christ was rendered immobile in crucifixion (which was one of the many delicious ways our Roman lads tortured and executed their enemies) and SPECIFICALLY crucifixion – so we would be able to to move. Christ was bound so we would move free.
And Christ rose from the dead a new creation, with the mind of Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit – so we know we aren’t merely moving, but moving according to His will, moving forward at all times.
And though I thought I crashed and burned, I got meaningful feedback from the bunch of parents and children; It’s been almost a week since that time I spoke, and I’m still just thankful that the Lord gives us the inspiration to continue to move, and to speak – for His glory to be made known to all the world.
Truly and indeed, from Him are all things, and to Him are all things; He deserves all the glory and praise, now and forever. Amen.
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