Along a busy street in Pico Rivera (Los Angeles Area) CA, is a boarded up restaurant with a sign that says, "One of Ten Best Restaurants —Press Enterprise, 1990."

How can a restaurant be one of the top ten in 1990 and boarded up in 2000? Though I don't know the particulars in this case, I do know that no organization has a guaranteed future. Not even our church.

Rev. 2:5 KJV Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

29-year-old Johnny Lechner was set to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater after 12 years of study, but he decided to withdraw his application five days before commencement. Lechner said he changed his mind because he discovered he could study abroad if he attended one more year. Lechner said, "That's one thing I haven't done."

Lechner's college career has made him a celebrity of sorts. As of this spring Lechner had completed 234 credit hours, about 100 more than he needs to graduate, and was taking an additional seven hours. Had he graduated, Lechner would have earned a liberal studies degree in education, communications, theater, health, and women's studies. Lechner says he did not start out to be a long-term student, but it just developed when he realized how much fun he was having at college.

Michele Eigenberger, an editor at the school newspaper said "It's getting old. For the sanity of the rest of the campus, we want him to get out of here."

—http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060510143609990049. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

At some point, everyone has to turn loose of the past so they can embrace their future.

Philippians 3:13-14 (NASB77) "Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, [14] I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Predicting the results of the most recent election in the United States proved to be more difficult than many elections in the past.Observers expected some long-standing superstitions to predict the outcome of the Presidential race, but results did not support omens from previous elections.

For example, the taller candidate usually wins the election. This time, 5 foot 11 inch President George W. Bush defeated 6 foot 4 inch John Kerry.Sports fans noted that in every election since 1936, the White House has changed hands if the Washington Redskins football team lost their last home game before Election Day.Though the Green Bay Packers defeated the Redskins on October 31, the White House remained in the hands of the Republican President.Fans of the Boston Red Sox even believed that since the team had won their first World Series championship since 1918, a candidate from Massachusetts could ride the coattails to win the White House.

Though most superstitions connected with election results did not materialize this election, a couple of indicators were correct.Halloween masks depicting the President outsold those depicting John Kerry predicting a win by the President.The children's magazine Scholastic News had correctly picked the winner in all but two elections since 1940.Scholastic readers predicted a Bush victory with 52 percent of the vote. He actually received 51.

The strangest predictive omen of the election was the first lady cookie recipe contest held by "Family Circle" magazine. This year Laura Bush's oatmeal-chocolate-chunk cookies were picked over Teresa Heinz Kerry's pumpkin spice cookies.

—Reuters, Baseball, Football, Bloodline, All failed Kerry Bid, November 4, 2004. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Predicting the future is a near impossible task.I suppose that's why we have far more historians than we do futurist. And why we focus our attention on today, instead of worrying about tomorrow.

Matthew 6:34 (NASB) "Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Each April, general managers and coaches of the National Football League go to the yearly draft in hopes of finding the NFL’s next superstar player. Teams dream of finding the player to turn their fortune around. However, many of these “can’t miss” players will become part of a long list of multi-million dollar mistakes. Each year teams rely on several tests to them identify the best players, but new research suggests the criteria teams are using do not predict success in the NFL.

According to ESPN, out of the top ten draft picks in the past five years; a total of 50, players; eight had been released or traded at least once, and five are no longer in the league. A new study conducted by Frank Kuzmitz and Arthur Adams, from the University of Louisville, found no significant links between performance in the NFL’s Combine performance evaluation and a player’s success in the league. The only test that showed any correlation was a draftee’s time on the 40 yard dash for those seeking a position as a running back. Kuzmitz says the NFL might do better if they relied on the same techniques used by other companies to fill vacancies. He said, “Contemporary human resource techniques could be applied to any hiring decision, including the NFL hiring process. Basically, teams could develop a regression equation with various success predictions weighted.” Kuzmitz added, “It could be done, but in the end ‘art’ would probably trump ‘science.’”

--Why NFL Draft Picks Often Fail, http://www.livescience.com/culture/090424-sports-nfl-draft-strategy.html, April 24, 2009, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

How many truly talented players were overlooked because attention was focused on a few big names?

Matthew 6:34 (NASB) "Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

What if you looked into the future and caught a glimpse of yourself like you would be then? This is the premise of the television drama, Flash Forward. The whole world passes out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds during which they see themselves exactly seven months into the future.

--World, October 24, 2009, p. 17 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

The question becomes, “is my future predetermined or does free will mean I have the opportunity avoid it?” In the drama, individuals wonder about the future they saw. In life, we continue as if the choice for the future is ours while knowing that our eternal future is secure in Christ.

Romans 8:38-39 (NASB)”For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, (39) nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

George Steinbrenner was once quoted saying “I will never have a heart attack, I give them”

-- http://blog.syracuse.com/sports/2010/07/i_will_never_have_a_heart_atta.html ; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dexter-rogers/george-steinbrenner-dies_b_645891.html Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Shawn Beaty

James 4:14 (MSG) You don't know the first thing about tomorrow. You're nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing.

People use a lot of different methods to predict the outcome of events like the Super Bowl. Some use a logical approach, examining season records, reviewing games, and talking with friends. Others rely on less convention methods, such as taking advice from a camel. Princess the camel lives at New Jersey’s Popcorn Park Zoo. The Bactrian camel has correctly picked the winner of five of the last six Super Bowls. She went 14 and 6 calling the outcome of regular season and playoff games this year, and even has a lifetime record of 88-51.

Zookeepers use graham crackers to get Princess to reveal her picks. They write the name of competing teams on each hand, and then cover the name with a cracker. Whichever hand Princess nibbles from is her pick. Her only mistake in recent Super Bowls was to pick the Indianapolis Colts over the New Orleans Saints two years ago. Her best season was 2008, when Princess got 17 out of 22 games right, including correctly picking the Pittsburgh Steelers to win the big game. A local radio station started asking Princess who was going to win each week. Now, zookeepers say they have people calling Sunday mornings to ask which team the camel picked that week. When asked about Super Bowl XLVI, Princess promptly picked the New York Giants to win the championship.

--Super Bowl Camel: Princess Predicts Giants Over patriots In Super Bowl XLVI, http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2011/story/_/id/7507689/2012-nfl-playoffs-new-jersey-camel-picks-new-york-giants-new-england-patriots-super-bowl-xlvi; January 26, 2012, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

James 4:13-14 (GW) Pay attention to this! You're saying, “Today or tomorrow we will go into some city, stay there a year, conduct business, and make money.” (14) You don't know what will happen tomorrow. What is life? You are a mist that is seen for a moment and then disappears.

Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer said, “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share.” Ballmer saw cell phones as functional tools in the business world, which caused him to bet on the failure of the iPhone. Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, wagered that the iPhone would become an indispensable source of entertainment and social connection. Apple went on to sell over six million of the first generation iPhone. Jobs was right. Ballmer wasn’t. —Jim L. Wilson & Andrew DeHart

No one knows what will happen tomorrow except for God. It’s wise to have a strategy for the direction of your life, but only God holds the future. We should hold our plans lightly and hold our trust in God tightly.

Proverbs 16:9 (HCSB)“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps.”