Seeing a Bigger Picture

I had a great evening the other day. I met up for coffee, talk and chess with a friend of mine, C. I really enjoy getting together with C because he sees things from a different angle to me which I find refreshing, stimulating and challenging.

For instance, one of the subjects we touched on was talking about the geological way the earth was formed. I'm not sure how we got there, but we did and it was interesting. Oh wait, I think I do remember, but it was quite a path of tangents so don't worry about it. Anyway, C was telling me about the way the Mediterranean Sea was possibly formed which involved a fairly considerable portion of the Atlantic Ocean breaking through the point between southern Spain and northern Morocco and filling up the low ground in the Med. While I pondered the creation of beautiful new coastlines, warm waters and a property developers dream, C saw a bigger picture and reflected on the devastating effect on people living in that area. Just imagine your village being approached by such a huge amount of water. What would you do?

On a lighter note, we think we might have come up with a plan for radically altering people's perception of the Church in a positive way. It involved taking Jesus seriously when he told people to see a bigger picture, leave behind material possessions and follow him. It also involved the Catholic Church selling off St Peter's in Rome. All of it. Every brick, every painting, every gold chalice, every silver plate, every everything!.........and then use it to make a huge dent in the problem of world poverty. Can you imagine the knock on effect? Other church traditions would have to respond likewise. The Baptists, Pentecostals, Methodists, Salvationists, Anglicans, Evangelicals, Presbyterians, et al. And then, surely, other world religions would have to get involved too. Maybe even the you. Maybe even me. What would you do?



I've not played chess for ages. I thought maybe I was ok at it. Oh, man I am not! I must have been thinking about when I played against kids. Thankfully C gave me some sound advice, strategy and ideas. You can't just focus on one piece and one move at a time. You've got to see the bigger picture.