Monday, May 11, 2020

Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Jeremiah, Chapter 40, Verse 9

Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men: “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, so that everything may go well with you.

Israel has been warned and finally they are captured by the Chaldeans and taken to Babylon. God has promised to bring them back after they have been chastised for not trusting God nor taking actions as He directed. God wants us to take action to ensure the Kingdom is here and now. To do this we must have faith but we must also prepare for success.

John Maxwell, noted author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Series states that all Christian leaders need to learn the proper balance between faith and preparation or planning.[1]

Law#4-The Law of Navigation: Anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course. To make it happen, you have to take action. You must do what you know needs doing. You must do it when it needs to be done. Don’t wait. You can make it happen. Knowing how is not the key. Taking action is.

Where should you start?

1. Follow your conscience. What do you feel you should do? What do you want to do?

2. Consider your passion. What do you get excited about? What do you need to do?

3. Consider your natural talents. What are you naturally good at without much effort? What hobbies do you have? What interests do you have?

4. Consider what society needs and values. What do you love to do so much you would do it for free, but people are willing to pay others to do? What do you see others doing that you would like to do?

If you want to find your purpose, you must get on the seldom traveled road to significance filled with setbacks, roadblocks, obstacles, and detours. This road leads to your purpose. You must develop the vision in order to see where you want to be next. Then, you must take the steps to move from where you are to where you want to be. You should always be grateful for where you are and what you have, but you should never be satisfied.[2]

Twilight Zone Day[3]

“You are about to enter another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone!”

Beloved by children, teenagers and adults alike, the cult classic TV show The Twilight Zone has affected entire generations of people, prompting them to take a closer look at life and various phenomena and take nothing for granted, thanks to its unique combination of science fiction, mystery, and thriller/horror themes. Not to mention how many of today’s well-known actors got their start in it—Burt Reynolds, Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner, to name but a few. How then could this majorly influential show not have its own holiday?

The Twilight Zone was created by acclaimed television producer Rod Sterling in 1959, with the first episode premiering on October 2nd. At the time of its release, it was vastly different from anything else on TV, and it struggled a bit to carve out a niche for itself at the very beginning. In fact, Sterling himself, though respected and adored by many, was famous for being one of Hollywood’s most controversial characters and was often call the “angry young man” of Hollywood for his numerous clashes with television executives and sponsors over issues such as censorship, racism, and war. However, his show soon gained a large, devoted audience. Terry Turner of the Chicago Daily News gave it a rave review, saying, “…Twilight Zone is about the only show on the air that I actually look forward to seeing. It’s the one series that I will let interfere with other plans”. The Twilight Zone ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964.

Twilight Zone Day is an annual holiday created to celebrate this thought-provoking television series, where everything was strange and surreal, and nothing was ever quite as it seemed to be.

How to celebrate Twilight Zone Day

There are a number of ways to celebrate Twilight Zone Day, and the one you choose may be connected to how well you know this TV series. Believe it or not, there are still people out there who have never seen it! You could watch some episodes from the classic series, perhaps “To Serve Man”, “It’s a Good Life”, or “The Eye of the Beholder”, episodes that are widely considered some of the very best in the entire series. If you don’t know the series and would like to get a taste of what it was like in a nutshell, you could also watch the 1983 Twilight Zone Movie. If, on the other hand, you know The Twilight Zone very well, you could get together with some other Twilight Zone aficionados and play Twilight board or trivia games. Alternately, you could discuss who you think were the strangest Twilight Zone villains, and what the true reasons were for them being the way they were. And what would a good party be without some tasty drinks? Yes, there are Twilight Zone cocktails!

Finally, you can try making Twilight Zone cocktails, by mixing Bacardi White, Dark and 151 Proof Rum, Triple Sec, pineapple and orange juices. Sounds pretty scumptious, right? And that’s not its only benefit—if you have a few Twilight Zone Cocktails, you may well find yourself transported to a different dimension, too!