I had to read it twice before it became really funny. Sadly theft isn't funny though and it seems to be a career for some folks these days. When God told us we will have to toil the soil as our punishment he probably didn't foresee that eventually some of us would figure it's easier to steal from the toiler than till ourselves. He made sure we knew about it when he gave the commandments to Moses but by then he needed to make another nine rules to cover all the sinful things we were getting up to. Interesting that breaking the one seemingly small rule in the garden opened us up to so many new ways to do the wrong thing and the need for even more rules.
Eventually he figured out that we needed a life coach to better explain the rules so he sent his son who happened to be an expert in the field to be his earthly consultant. In the way of all top notch consultants JC spent some time getting to know the organisation and asking lots of questions as well as studying the corporate charter (aka old testament) before beginning his coaching sessions. He soon figured out where the wastage was and who could be made redundant or re-trained, he formed a change management team to keep the project running after he left, he challenged the corporate culture and suggested widespread reforms that would rule out the need for middle management and put the organisation in the hands of the toilers once more.
Unlike most consultants though his client was very far away and had unfortunatelty lost much of his influence on the organisation after a clever move in the boardroom by one of his ex protege's. This unfortunate turn of events meant that he had to leave before the project was finished and instead of being paid by the organisation he had to pay dearly from his own resources for the project to keep going. Such was his personal authority though and so profound was his teaching on the change management team that they were able to effect a massive reform to many parts of the organisation and re-introduce the rules with the priorities that JC had set for them. There was of course some resistance by the fat cats in the old guard and sadly some blood was spilled on the boardroom carpet along the way. Fortunately JC was there to offer a good position with an even better package to all of his team so that their efforts were not unrewarded.
The changes continue to be felt and there are still many disciples following and moving to his teachings now some 2000 years after he presented his solution. Sadly those that followed the protege are also still very active and they continue to seek new and more subtle ways to break the rules and undermine the results that JC's project achieved. They find clever ways of interpreting the rules to suit their own ends or to recruit JC's followers unkowingly to their version of the project.
The pattern continues that was set when the first small rule was broken in the garden, like the first small rule we break as children. It is up to us though to decide whether we continue to break the rules as we grow up and understand what they mean. It is up to us to decide that the rules are not just for certain occaisons but for our whole lives.
How about you ? did you realise you are a part of the world's biggest reality show which we might call "the Disciple" ? If so will you be hired ? the best part is that there are unlimited positions available, the rules are simple and you don't need to beat your competition to win. You just say yes to JC and follow the rules and he will provide you with the guidebook, mentors, coaching and all you need to prepare for his organisation. And the retirement benefits are out of this world.
What are you waiting for ?
I hope this entry gets read by many- very good penmanship here, DB!
Posted by: SB | November 25, 2005 at 10:14 AM