Box Brain.

The blind man pulled into the driveway, walked up to the house, knocked on the door, and a woman answered the door. He gave her a box, said goodbye, walked back to his car, and drove away. What was in the box?

Imagine beginning a semester in a graduate level class with this being one of the first exercises presented to you. This sounds more like a game one would play at recess than something that would be shared with a bunch of intelligent 20-30 year olds in a seminary setting, but this was day one for me in one of my favorite classes. What was in the box? Blinds. There you have it. This is called a lateral thinking exercise, or in layman terms, thinking outside the box.

I love outside the box thinking. I humbly pride myself in the understanding that I have taken up permanent residence outside the proverbial box. Perhaps it is due to my age? Perhaps it is a personality thing? Perhaps it has to do with me being left handed and thrive on creativity? Whatever it is, I am a fan of creativity and "wow, we never did that before" kind of reactions. As an outreach pastor, I get to exercise creativity in outreach events, and every so often I find something that makes me jealous that I didn't come up with, and it stirs me to find that next great idea.

I believe that change must be congruent with the past, but mere replication will inevitably lead to decline and stagnation. It is up to us free-thinkers, as I like to refer to myself, to brainstorm and use our resources to come charging into the room with new ideas for everything. This includes outreach, as well as a myriad of other avenues.

I often that a horrible punishment for me would be for someone to steal my creativity and lock me in the box, and turn me into a Box Brain. Would that be a punishment for everyone? Probably not, but for me it certainly would be. So a challenge for today is to find something you can be creative with and go for it. Try that scary new recipe, or make up an improv bedtime story for your children. Start small and see if you don't like it!

Set your mind to creativity, and go through the Scripture and check out God's creativity in just His communication with us! Talking donkeys? Burning bushes? Jonah swallowed by a Whale? Miracles? Pentecost? God uses creativity to grab attention and make sure the message is not missed - be creative in your invitations to church, be creative in your daily devotions, and most importantly, be creative in your approach to the Gospel.