Twenty Miles and a Power Point

There is a saying in sales that you are an expert when you are at least 20 miles from home and have a powerpoint presentation.  There is something about our natural tendency to give instant credibility to some one new.  It is like we are saying, "I don't know you, so you must be an expert," When we only look at the surface we see more polish than blemish and the pitch sounds like a winner.

It probably isn't the credibility of the new comer as much as we discount the familiar.  We want to say "Oh right, you're the expert." With the familiar we have long known about the blemishes below the polish.  We want to say how could this person be an expert, I knew them back when.  Life is often about the ordinary every day stuff.  How could what we see every day be truly special.

It makes me think about the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Stay with me here.  I remember growing up learning about the Berlin Wall.  The Berlin Air Lift was before my time, but I remember Reagan calling out Gorbachev telling him to "Tear down this wall."  At some level I knew that the wall couldn't last forever, but still.  The day that I heard on the radio that the Wall was coming down, it was unbelievable.  To think now?  Right now?  This is the time?  It didn't feel like a special day.

Sometimes the extraordinary is right in front of us all of the time.  Watch this clip from Pastor Mike.

The Jews believed that God would send a messiah.  They really did.  But now?  Today?  And it's Him?  I knew Him back when.

We believe that someday Jesus will return.  But today?  Who knows.