Dear Friends,

Happy New Year!

First things first, make sure one of your New Year’s resolutions is to read Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers”. The book is a quick read concerning “the story of success.” But instead of the typical pull yourself up by your boot straps philosophy, Gladwell asks you to consider where you came from, when you were born and how you were raised all as the foundation of what will or will not make you successful.

Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Bill Joy (the guy who really invented the internet) were born within 12 months of each other and their birthdays all fall in the same 3 year window as several other techonology moguls... coincidence?

Of the seventy-five richest human beings of all time, 14 were born in the USA within the same decade during the mid-1800s. According to Gladwell, when and where you were born matters.

How do those of us who believe in a kind and loving God respond to Gladwell’s insight? I believe his theory does not challenge the idea that God is in control. In fact, we should praise the work of our fellow humans, scientist, artists and authors using their gifts from God to reveal more about the nature of the universe.

Gladwell’s point is revealed in Jesus’ Parable of the Talents(Matthew 25:14-30). Essentially, everyone is given a body, a certain family, in a certain culture at a certain time; our talents. Some provide immediate advantages, like the Rockefellers and Carnegie’s born in the first Democratic Capitalist country during the Industrial Revolution. They were presented with the unbridled opportunity to amass wealth.

We don’t get to choose the story we have been placed into, all we can do is do the very best with what is given to us. But what is success? Is it amassing wealth, or writing the program that runs the world’s computers? Is it loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves while we are making buckets of money and writing those programs? Or are buckets of money and software programs just icing on the cake?

Whatever the case may be, here is to a very successful 2009 for you and yours!

Some New Year News:

Check out a review of 36 Parables: Cyan from The Christian Manifesto, by C. E. Moore.

We’ve made a few changes to the 36 Parables website, IlluminatingUnderstanding.com, please check it out and let me know what you think. We want to give visitors an understanding of what the films are and how to use them... how did we do?

If you are looking for more study material for 2009 check out Enroute: The Official Digital 15 Minute Bible. There are seven 2-3 minute videos that cover the entire breadth of the Bible from Creation to Revelation!

Illuminating Understanding,

The Cinematographer
Stewart H. Redwine
C: 310-770-0448
E: sredwine@36parables.com