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!
Daily
Devotions
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