Ecclesiastes 12:10

  In 1903, a Detroit lawyer by the name of Horace Rackham had his neighbor ask for his services in drawing up the incorporation papers for his new business. The cost was supposed to be $25, but the cash-strapped client asked if Rackham might be willing to invest in the company instead. Rackham had always been cautious with his finances and leery of the speculative nature of the stock market, but decided to trust in his neighbor.  So, Horace went to the Michigan Savings Bank to inquire about a loan so he could buy stock in the client's new company. The bank decided to lend him the money but warned Rackham that it wasn’t sure his investment was sound. The bank president told Rackham, “ The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty—a fad. ”   Against that advice, Rackham took out the loan and invested in 100 shares of his neighbor Henry Ford's new business. That choice would work out for him. 18 years later, he would sell that stock for 12.5 millio...

  In 1853, a contractor named John Coffee was hired to build a new jail in the town of Dundalk, Ireland. The project, however, proved too much, and during the construction, Coffee went bankrupt.  Unable to pay his debt, he was sentenced to serve time.   He became his jail’s very first inmate.   Sin works the same way. At the start, it seems like we are in control of it. But the longer it lasts, the more it takes over. Then, sooner or later, what we thought we were in charge of is now the very thing that traps us. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death . James 1:14-15   Sin is a prison we build for ourselves. The only escape comes when one is willing to pay the debt that put us there.  Sin is too much for us. We are not controlling it; it is capturing us. Only in Christ can our debt be paid and our fr...

    As the Civil War was beginning, Colonel James Ripley was the man responsible for arming the troops. He chose to outfit the Union troops with 50-year-old short-range smoothbore rifles that dated to the War of 1812. Now there were better rifles, the more modern long-range Enfield rifles, available, but he claimed they were too expensive. But cost was not the real reason; it was the fact that the Enfield company was based in England, which Ripley still hated fiercely.    The Confederacy didn’t hold onto that grudge. They were willing to buy the rifles from England. At the first Battle of Bull Run in July 1861, the Confederates devastated the Union troops and suffered a third fewer casualties because their Enfield rifles could hit targets at 800 yards, compared to the Ripley’s guns, which had a range of only 500 yards.   The Union did end up winning the Civil War, but according to some historians, Ripley’s ill-fated gun order made it last two years longe...

    Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “ Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen; few in pursuit of the goal.”   To find success, one must be willing to set one's pride aside to do what is best. That isn’t always easy, especially when we think we are right.  But thinking we are right is not the same as being right.   Paul was sure he was right when he attacked the church (Acts 26:9). Peter thought he was making the right call when he distanced himself from the Gentile Christians (Galatians 2:12). Diotrephes was sure he was protecting the church (3 rd John 1:9-10).   But they were wrong.   And sometimes we are as well.   If you can’t change a path that isn’t working, it may not be because you are dedicated to the cause but because you are holding on to your pride. Success is about making sure you are right before you dig your heels in. Being so set in your ways that you won’t seek to improve is the pat...