If you grew up in the Philippines and watched television during the early 1990's, then chances are, you know a Japanese game show called Takeshi's Castle1.
It aired on IBC-13 and featured the Japanese actor Takeshi Kitano, in the role of a count who owns a castle and sets up ridiculous challenges for players (also known as a volunteer army) to get to him. It was like a Super Mario Brothers video game coming to life!
The contestants who made it through the challenges get a chance to face Count Takeshi for a final showdown, which involved carts, water guns, and round paper targets.
One of the challenges in Takeshi's Castle was the Honeycomb Maze, wherein the contestants go through a series of hexagonal cells with doors all around, hoping to get from point A to pint B, while avoiding “the guards” and the moat. Some things that happen in the maze are quite funny to watch, actually. I shared a Youtube (UK dubbed) video of the Honeycomb Maze challenge below.
We live in a fast paced world where, in my opinion, the slow only gets left overs. We always feel the need to expedite matters without giving proper time needed to reflect. We are constantly being presented with doors – options, opportunities and problems around the clock, and we need to open a door soon... Otherwise, we'll miss that window of opportunity to act on something. We also hope that by the time we get through the maze, we land on solid ground.
Let me share to you one thing that recently happened to me.
I've been recently trying to venture into the real estate industry and been practicing a bit to get a feel of how things are done. I began looking on possible deals and opted to buy a foreclosed property with my friend as a form of investment. I was really confident that I could do it, and wanted to give more time into this venture (there is really a lot more to real estate than just buying, renting out or brokering, mind you), so I decided to talk about my resignation with my boss.
It was a Saturday.
Come Monday morning, my boss gave me his counter offer. And I advised him that I will be giving my final decision two days later. Although I prayed for God to give me an answer that will be according to His will, I was already quite decided on resigning.
Everything was looking fine, and things seemed to be going my way, when by Tuesday, problems surfaced from the possible deal, and my back up plan didn't seem to be such a good idea by then. In short, God closed all the doors for me except one, which was to stay with my current job... For the time being, at least.
Only after I decided to stay, did God begin opening one door at a time again. Maybe, it was His way of telling me to take things slower this time, and to think things through more carefully. A reminder that things shouldn't be going my way, but His way.
With this experience, I remember reading what J.M Farro wrote on her devotional book, Life on Purpose for Men
:“The Lord can open up a new door of opportunity for you as a result of your prayers. If its not His will for you to make a move right now, He can make your present job more pleasant and fulfilling somehow.”
Which He did. I was given more responsibilities and more room to explore and to do things in ways I see fit - which is very conducive for growth.
Who's in control of our lives?
Who's in control of our lives?
Ever seen a domestic car with two steering wheels? There is no such thing in existence (for the consumer market, that is), because a car is not meant to have two drivers controlling it at the same time. Can you imagine when you're about to hit a tree that suddenly grows in the middle of the road, and one driver steers to the left, while the other steers to the right? The car won't veer away too much towards any direction, and will still end up hitting that tree!
One sign that God is still in control of our lives is when He closes the doors that He wouldn't want us to take, and then opens the door that will lead us in the right direction. Our part is just to hand Him the key to those doors.
God bless!
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