Big Idea #1 from me
In 1995, the administration of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA released grey wolves into the park.
In less than 6 years after the introduction of the wolves, regions of the park that had been barren was now crowded with trees.
Even more remarkable, due to the presence of trees, there was less soil erosion and new pools began to form in the park, where there had been none before.
All because of the addition of wolves into the park!
Ecologists call this type of animals keystone predators.
In the absence of wolves, the balance in the ecosystem was distorted.
Because grazing animals were left unchecked by their predators, the grey wolf, their population in the park exploded.
In no time, unhindered overgrazing left vast portions of the land barren.
In a similar example, there’s evidence that thousands of years ago, North Africa and the Middle East used to be lush with green vegetation – yes, even the Sahara and Arabian deserts!
But, do you know what else was present at the time?
Lions! A keystone predator that brought balance into that ecosystem
The extinction of lions in that region correlated with dramatic climatic changes that led to the hot, arid Arabia and North Africa we know today.
My point?
You are a creative partner with God in the institution of order in the midst of chaos.
You were placed on earth for a reason and when you don’t play your role, you cause an imbalance in the ‘ecosystem’.
There are destinies attached to you.
There are other people’s stories that will not happen until you step up and fill your gap.
You are the answer to somebody’s prayer.
Awake from your slumber. Put on your strength. Put on your beautiful garments.
Arise and shine!
Big Idea #2 from Research
In a paper titled, “Implications of the Copernican principle for our future prospects“, astrophysicist J. Richard Gott III describes how in 1969, he visited the Stonehenge (which was estimated to be over 3000 years old) and the Berlin Wall (8 years at the time).
Gott then wondered which of the two structures will outlast the other.
As you probably know, the Berlin Wall was destroyed in 1991, while Stonehenge continues to exist to this day.
Gott then mathematically proposed an argument that the longer a thing exists, the more likely it will continue to exist.
This has been popularly called the Lindy Effect.
My takeaway is simple: More often than not, older is better.
Books that were written hundreds of years ago but are still in print today contain more wisdom and practical knowledge than books written in the past 10 – 20 years. And because of their current longevity, these classics will also continue to remain relevant for the next 1000 years.
The same pattern repeats itself in medicine.
Herbs were used by our forefathers to cure ailments and they still remain relevant today. On the other hand, numerous ‘modern’ drugs have been replaced. For instance, as a young child, I remember using chloroquine pills to treat malaria. Artemisinin and other drugs have long since taken the place of chloroquine as the go-to cure for malaria.
This point is instructive: While everybody is shouting about futurism and cutting edge technology, you will be better served to at least keep one hand on systems and structures that the Lindy Effect has vetted.
Big Idea #3 from the Bible
Proverbs 2:6 says, “For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.”
Many people mistakenly interpret knowledge as information.
As a result, they strive to consume as much information as they can. Usually, this leads to information constipation, where the individual is whipped into a state of action paralysis.
One of the Hebrew words translated “knowledge” is “madda”, which literally means “intelligence”.
Staff members of the CIA and FBI are usually called intelligence officers.
This isn’t because they are encyclopedias of knowledge, but rather because they have a specific, privileged awareness of the variables of a specific situation.
In the same vein, the men of Issachar were called men of understanding because they had privileged, revealed knowledge of what Israel had to do per season.
Understand this: Life is complicated as it is. There’s information everywhere – plenty of noise, little signal.
You really don’t need to know everything there is to know!
You only need to have the revealed knowledge of what works and the wisdom to work it out.
May the Lord give you Understanding in these things.
