Problematic Predictions

Jesus calls his followers to look towards a new way of life. But sometimes it’s hard to predict what it looks like with any accuracy.

People are not very good at predicting the future.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the United States in March 2020, many of us thought we’d be home for a few weeks. The virus would pass through the country, and then we’d all be back to school, work and church.

We thought we’d surely be able to gather for Easter Sunday in April!

Well … it didn’t exactly turn out that way.

Most of us did make it back for Easter … in April of the next year.

But our vision of a quick end to the pandemic was not the most boneheaded prediction of all time. All through history, people have made terrible assessments of what a good next step would be.

In The Washington Post, columnist John Kelly lists a number of real stinkers. In the year 1486, a royal committee was gathered in Spain. They said it would be wrong for the king and the queen to provide funding for an Italian explorer named Christopher Columbus. The committee members insisted that sailing west to Asia...