While vacationing in Saugatuck, we toured a passenger ship that was open to the public. This ship was constructed in Scotland in 1906 to be used to shuttle passengers on the Great Lakes until her retirement in the 1960s. It was a short cut from the east for those who wanted to travel west to the Rockies. It was mainly the Carnival Cruise ship of its day.

When this huge ship was being delivered, she steamed up the St. Lawrence seaway to the locks that would allow her to pass into the Great Lakes. They specifically built this ship narrow enough for it to fit through the locks. However, they discovered it was too long to fit in the lock! So they had to cut the ship in half and brought her through in two sections, then reassembled her. And the ship was delivered with several kegs of replacement rivets just in case that would be necessary.

Murphy’s Law says that if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong. What has gone wrong for you today and how did you fix it?

Tags: mistakes, preparation, ship

Some inventors work many hours or days to invent a product. Thomas Edison, for example, hired a staff of inventors to test all the possible methods to make artificial electric light in a vacuum bulb. He suspected it was possible, but had to experiment until he found the correct filament. The Wright brothers spent several years experimenting on vacation time before they first flew.

Other inventions are accidents. Such was the case with Sarah Wheeler of Connersville. Sarah was the operator of Wheeler Creamerie Exchange at Connersville. She found that her filling for cream pie had burned and, as a result, tasted like butterscotch candy. She repeated the “mistake” for other pies and this helped build the Wheeler restaurant chain. The first published recipe for butterscotch pie was entered in a Methodist church cookbook in1904.

Mistakes just may be the guidance of the Lord. What have you discovered through a mistake?

Tags: mistakes, recipe

While Jimmy Carter was President of the United States, daughter Amy needed help with some homework. It was a Friday and the homework assignment was due on Monday.

A question about the industrial revolution was in the assignment. Neither Amy nor her mother quite understood the question, so mother Rosalyn asked a White House aide to ask the Labor Department.

Sunday afternoon a truck pulled up at the White House loaded with a computer printout. Somebody had assumed it was information the President urgently needed. So the Labor Department had kept a full computer team working all weekend to prepare the information.

When mother Rosalyn was told that the research had cost hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars she was horrified. But it was too late to do anything about it. So the information was used to help Amy complete her homework.

Ever made an expensive mistake? We all have. The importance of mistakes is the lessons learned. Learn them well.

Oh, by the way, on that homework assignment – Amy got a ‘C’.

Tags: homework, mistakes, Pres. Carter, school

It may just be the greatest botched opportunity in all church history. In the 1260s, the Polos, an Italian merchant family, journeyed to China and were well received at the court of the great Kublai Khan. Before they returned to Italy in 1269, Kublai Khan requested them to ask the Pope to send 100 teachers of science and religion to instruct the Chinese in the learning and faith of Europe.

The Pope only managed to send two Dominican friars with the Polos in November, 1271; but a war frightened the two friars, and even they turned back. The Polos, including young Marco, continued their journey to the Chinese emperor without the requested religious teachers. How might the history of Christianity in Asia been different had this incomparable opportunity been seized!

That opportunity may be gone, but today there is an excitement in the air as people all around us in America are crying out for something real. I’ve got it and want to pass it on!

Tags: China, history, missions, mistakes, opportunity

Stuart Briscoe wrote about a funeral for a war veteran in which the man’s military buddies had a role in the memorial service. The friends requested that the minister lead them to the casket for a moment of silence. They would then follow the pastor out a side door.

The plan was carried out with military precision – until the minister marched them into a broom closet. The soldiers had to make a disorganized retreat.

That pastor made an honest mistake, but it illustrates that leaders must know where they are going. As go the leaders, so go the followers.

The mistakes I’ve made in ministry (and there have been many), have caused me to be more cautious, but never made me want to quit. Let’s learn from our mistakes.

Tags: Leadership, mistakes

If you’ve ever been involved in a traffic accident, you understand the confusion that follows. Insurance claim forms often reflect that confusion. Consider the following actual quotes from insurance claim forms, as printed in the July 16, 1977 edition of the Toronto Star:

• A pedestrian hit me and went under my car.
• The guy was all over the road; I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.
• I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment.
• I had been driving my car for four years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident.

Confusion leads us to make mistakes. To avoid mistakes, we must have a clear view and know what we’re doing. Without God’s Word guiding us, confusion will be rampant in every corner of our lives. Every voice will have equal weight. Understanding God’s Word is crucial to your future on the earth.

Tags: confusion, humor, mistakes