"Lazarus, come forth!"

The title line comes from John 11:43. Lazarus, a dear friend of Jesus had been deceased and buried for four days when Jesus arrived on-scene. Had Jesus simply called out "Come forth!" in all likelihood every once-deceased person would have burst out of their graves/tombs.

Reflecting on the event I consider what I may have at some point given up for "dead:" a friendship, another relationship, a health issue, a dream, a career, a project... "All hope for this one is gone. It is flat-line. Best to wrap it up, dig a hole, dump it in, cover it up and walk away."

Moses failed nine times before the Egyptian Pharaoh before he was permitted to lead the children of Israel out of bondage. Naaman, military leader of Aram had to dip into the Jordan River seven times before he was cured of leprosy. At Bethsaida Jesus touched the eyes of a blind man twice before he could see clearly.

On actor-comedian Jim Carrey's first comic stand-up at a club called Yuk Yuk’s in Toronto, he was booed off stage. Later, when he auditioned for Saturday Night Live for the 1980-81 season, he failed to land the part. He persevered and the rest is history.

Bill Gates didn’t rely on his family. His business acumen was second to none. But his first business was a failure. The goal of Traf-O-Data was to create reports for roadway engineers from raw traffic data.

The machine that they had built to process the data flopped when they tried to present it to a Seattle County traffic employee. Yet, this business helped to set Gates and his partner Paul Allen up for major success with Microsoft.

Henry Ford failed two times that abruptly resulted in bankruptcies, prior to successfully launching the present incarnation of the Ford Motor Company.

The key to success often lies more in persevering, perhaps taking a slightly different tack than in taking the easier way out and putting the thing to rest.

As a result of this heart-searching I have decided to exhume and re-examine the old "corpses," determining with wisdom from the Lord whether they truly are and ought to be deceased or whether there remains a spark of life that can be brought back into the body. If so, then they were not truly dead at all and may have a brilliant life ahead for them.

Thank you to Carman for the inspiration, truly a message from God.