October 5, 2018

Regaining Lost Ground

Born on February 11, 1847, Thomas Edison was the seventh and last child born in his family.  He was one of only four of those seven children to survive to adulthood.  He received very little formal education; in fact he was pulled out of school because he was such a poor student.  He went to work for the railroad in 1859.  In 1869, Edison quit his job to pursue inventions full time.  By 1875, he encountered some serious financial difficulties, but with the help of his father built a laboratory and machine shop in Menlo Park, New Jersey. Edison was involved with some inventions that to this day changed the world in which we live.  His work with cameras, the alkaline storage battery, and the phonograph are most commonly known.  He also worked on an automated vote counting system for Congress though they believed such a device was unnecessary at the time.  By the end of his lifetime, Edison received nearly 1,100 patents and filed an additional 600 that were abandoned. Many of us know him best for his endeavors to create sustainable and safe electricity. It is said he tried well over 3,000 different prototypes of the light bulb.  While many questioned his ability to accomplish the task, Edison never quit and never stopped pursuing his quest.  Thomas Edison delivered his famous quote, “I have not failed 10,000 times.  I have successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.” We have all failed.  We have all found ourselves in trouble.  In the journey of life, it is what you do and learn from those failures that makes a difference.  Every failure creates the opportunity to learn, to repent, and to lean in closer to God.  Our response to failure is of far greater importance than failure itself. Last week we looked at Joshua as he navigated the troubled waters of failure.  This Sunday, I’m excited to continue this Journey with Joshua with you as we look at Regaining Lost Ground.  No failure is final and trouble isn’t the status that we have to stay in.  Through God’s grace and mercy we have been given the ability to regain ground that we have yielded to our sins. I pray that you will be able to join us this Sunday as we dive into Joshua 8 and continue on this incredible Journey with Joshua. Blessings, Pastor Brandon