Welcome to Day 1414 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Unity During Social Unrest – Meditation Monday
Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1414 of our Trek, and it is time for Meditation Monday. Taking time to relax, refocus, and reprioritize our lives is crucial in order to create a living legacy. For you, it may just be time alone for quiet reflection. You may utilize structured meditation practices. In my life, Meditation includes reading and reflecting on God’s Word and in prayer. It is a time to renew my mind, refocus on what is most important, and making sure that I am nurturing my soul, mind, and body. As you come along with me on our trek each Meditation Monday, it is my hope and prayer that you, too, will experience a time for reflection and renewing of your mind.
Today’s world seems to be so unsettled. The vocal minority desire to do destroy, do away or ignore the past. Most of us do seek justice in our own lives and the lives of others. We seek peace and unity in the future. Today let us meditate on:
Unity During Social Unrest
The apostle Paul spoke the truth about God, the Father, Son, and Spirit. Paul wrote about God’s desire for a new covenant people where we are all equal and united in God. Galatians 3:26-28: For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Significant prejudice is undoubtedly not a new issue. It has been with humanity since the beginning of creation. Let’s look back in the first century, shortly after the time of Christ. Almost everyone in the earliest days of the church was Jewish. Prejudice was a significant problem. Sometimes that prejudice manifested itself toward non-Jews who were coming to Christ and being added to the church, which was the dominant problem addressed in Acts chapters 10-15. However, prejudice was also an issue between sub-groups within the Jewish community. Grecian Jews who were in Jerusalem, and who had become disciples of Christ, made an accusation of discrimination. Their widows who did not speak the native language in Jerusalem were being overlooked and were going hungry while the native-speaking widows were receiving better care and more ample provision as the early Christians shared their possessions. Sharing of provisions is found in Acts 4:32-35.
Rather than denying the accusation of prejudice or ignoring this charge of discrimination, The apostles acted very wisely. Notice what they did:
- Openness
- The apostles brought all the community of disciples together to discuss this issue — no secret meetings and no sweeping the problem under the rug!
- Calling
- The apostles pointed out that their primary calling was to proclaim the message they had received from God.
- Involvement
- The apostles called on the church family to be involved in the solution to this problem — more than just being open with the communication, the apostles were asking for help in selecting men to find a solution.
- Direction
- The apostles gave clear criteria for selecting those who would be part of the ministry team to the Grecian widows and asked the whole congregation to put forward leaders who fit this description.
- Participation
- The congregation of believers selected seven men who fit the criteria of being full of the Spirit and wisdom.
- Empathy
- The congregation recognized the need for those who could understand both the language of the Grecian widows and also their plight as hungry foreigners in the homeland of their ancestors. As a result, they chose men who had Greek names — one was even a non-Jewish proselyte — and who would be familiar with the Greek language these widows spoke.
- Appointment
- The apostles publicly commissioned or ordained these men for service and publicly prayed for their ministry.
- Growth
- The problem was overcome, the message continued to spread, and many came to faith in Christ.
- Equipping
- Some of these men selected to serve the widows later became essential leaders in other ways.
- Focus
- The apostles devoted themselves to their calling — prayer and sharing the message of Christ. They also encouraged and equipped others to engage in ministry.
Meditate on these ten principles of great leadership and congregational problem-solving that are listed above. These are great principles to put into practice among Christians today. All of society would benefit from them. Every problem has the potential for disaster or development. Led by the Holy Spirit, the apostles turned this potentially crippling problem into an opportunity for the development and growth of Christ disciples.
Imagine how unaddressed prejudice could have wrecked the growth of the early church. However, the Spirit’s guidance through Godly leaders turned around this potential disaster. Instead of disaster, the actions of the leading disciples became the springboard for more significant growth. It also provided a new group of leaders the opportunity for development and service.
To set the stage for today’s scripture, think about the issue. Things were going well, and the number of disciples was growing. But a problem arose. The Greek-speaking believers became frustrated with the Hebrew-speaking believers. The Greeks complained that the Greek-speaking widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. The twelve convened the entire community of disciples. Here is how unity was achieved during social unrest.
But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.
So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”
Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.
So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.
That is a wrap for today’s Meditation, next week; we will continue our trek on Meditation Monday as we take time to reflect on what is most important in creating our living legacy. On tomorrow’s trek, we will explore another wisdom quote. This 3-minute wisdom supplement will assist you in becoming healthy, wealthy, and wise each day. Thank you for joining me on this trek called life. Encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’ 
If you would like to listen to any of the past 1413 daily treks or read the daily journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day will be downloaded to you automatically.
Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly, I am your friend as I serve you through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.
As we take this Trek of life together, let us always:
- Live Abundantly (Fully)
- Love Unconditionally
- Listen Intentionally
- Learn Continuously
- Lend to others Generously
- Lead with Integrity
- Leave a Living Legacy Each Day
I am Guthrie Chamberlain….reminding you to ’Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday’! See you tomorrow!
Our analysis so far has been overall Jobs in Manufacturing, Brick-and-Mortar Retail, Restaurant Industry/Future Dining, Commercial Real Estate/Offices, and Education. As I mentioned in the past five weeks, I do not have a crystal ball nor a prophetic message about life after Covid-19. That being said, I do have over 40 years of business and nearly 64 years of life experience, which helps me to see what others may not.
(1) Continued increase in global abundance: The number of individuals in extreme poverty continues to drop, as the middle-income population continues to rise. This metatrend is driven by the convergence of high-bandwidth and low-cost communication, ubiquitous AI on the cloud, growing access to AI-aided education and AI-driven healthcare. Everyday goods and services (finance, insurance, education, and entertainment) are being digitized and becoming fully demonetized, available to the rising billion on mobile devices…
(6) Everything is smart, embedded with intelligence: The price of specialized machine learning chips is dropping rapidly with a rise in global demand. Combined with the explosion of low-cost microscopic sensors and the deployment of high-bandwidth networks, we’re heading into a decade wherein every device becomes intelligent. Your child’s toy remembers her face and name. Your kids’ drone safely and diligently follows and videos all the children at the birthday party. Appliances respond to voice commands and anticipate your needs…
(11) The insurance industry transforms from “recovery after risk” to “prevention of risk:” Today, fire insurance pays you after your house burns down; life insurance pays your next-of-kin after you die; and health insurance (which is really sick insurance) pays only after you get sick. This next decade, a new generation of insurance providers will leverage the convergence of machine learning, ubiquitous sensors, low-cost genome sequencing, and robotics to detect risk, prevent disaster, and guarantee safety before any costs are incurred…
(16) Cellular agriculture moves from the lab into inner cities, providing high-quality protein that is cheaper and healthier: This next decade will witness the birth of the most ethical, nutritious, and environmentally sustainable protein production system devised by humankind. Stem cell-based ‘cellular agriculture’ will allow the production of beef, chicken and fish anywhere, on-demand, with far higher nutritional content, and a vastly lower environmental footprint than traditional livestock options. This metatrend is enabled by the convergence of: biotechnology, materials science, machine learning, and AgTech…
I hope that you have enjoyed my analysis and predictions for this next decade. Even with Covid19’s impact, it is projected to be considered the roaring 20s
If you would like to listen to any of the past 1412 daily treks or read the associated journals, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day will be downloaded to you automatically.
Our friends John and Suzy headed out early one morning for a road trip. The first couple of days went off without a hitch. The weather was great, and they were making good time. On the third day towards evening, John pulls into a gas station to fill up the car for the next day. He paid for the gas and headed on down the road. About 30 minutes later he smacked himself on the forehead and told Suzy; I think I forgot to put the gas cap back on. So John pulls off the side of the road, and sure enough, the gas cap was missing. John pondered for a few minutes then said to himself, “other people must have done the same thing, I’ll look by the side of the road since even if find my own gas cap, I might be able to find one that fits.” John walked about 50 yards up the road, and sure enough, after only a short time of searching, John found a gas cap. He carefully wiped it off and slipped it into place with a satisfying click.
I hope that brought a smile to your face today. If it did pass your smile onto some else, we all could use a kind smile each day. Our Thursday thought is, “The bad news: There is no key to happiness. The Good News: It isn’t locked!” 
If you would like to listen to any of our past 1411 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day will be downloaded to you automatically.
Perhaps the notion will be foreign to you, but I have met Christians who presume that material wealth and personal success are proof of God’s blessing. There are whole ministries that play on people’s emotions that support this unbiblical philosophy. It doesn’t take much thought to realize how unbiblical that proposition is. Many unbelievers are financially prosperous and quite successful. Conversely, many believers have next to nothing. They aren’t poor or persecuted because they don’t have enough faith or because they haven’t sent money to a ‘television ministry.’ They are poor for a plethora of reasons, some of them quite complex and systemic to their political and cultural situation. But if they are faithful, they are also blessed.
Perhaps the most poignant contradiction to the notion that wealth and prosperity defines the blessing of God is Jesus himself. Jesus was homeless and dependent on the support of others (Matthew 8:20; Mark 15:40-41). His torture and crucifixion for crimes he did not commit is the highest example of suffering for believers (1 Peter 2:19-23; 4:1; 5:1).
Many Christians will no doubt be surprised, and perhaps disturbed, by this assertion. Yet it is something taught quite clearly in the Epistles. But from the outset of our brief look at the subject, we must be clear that “church discipline“ (as it has come to be called) had restoration of a sinning believer in view, not jaded shunning.
If you would like to listen to any of our past 1410 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.
Everyone is called to action in life. God did not create us to sit around and have no impact on the lives of others. We are bearers of God’s image, that means our lives should be a representative of God and show His attributes to those who don’t know him. That being said, while we are all called to action, we are not all called to the same action. Some may have a more visible and leading role, while others are to be more supportive. God calls some to visible action, while others may not be noticed or stand out. One is not more important than the other, just different. Some may have more strenuous tasks of duty, while others are more leisure. Some may feel the weight of being yoked in the harness, which requires them to strive mightly, while others may have burdens that are easier to bear. In either case, we are to continue on with our call to action until God calls us home to be with Him. The key is, we are not to stop. We are to wear out due to use, opposed to rusting out due to idleness. Keep moving forward, engaged in the action to which you have been called.
If you would like to listen to any of our past 1409 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.