How the Mighty Fall

15.01.10: 23:19 (Taiwan)

On my way back to Taiwan, I read a Business Week magazine on the plane. It was advertising a new book by Jim Collins, called: "How the Mighty Fall and why some companies never give in."

Perhaps I was reminiscing about the good ol' days where success seemed so easy, or when everything I touched turned to gold, or maybe because the book was just an interesting concept, I found it a compelling book, compelling enough to make a note to order it when I landed.

The book was basically about how every company, no matter how strong they are, can still be prone to falling. Falling into irrelevance,mediocrity and lose their sense of prominence. It talks about the various stages of falling, and the importance of recognizing these stages.And it talks about then taking steps to avoid further falling and go back up.

It is easy at times to view life as a series of 'has been'. We all want to be today's men and women, or even tomorrow's men and women, but nobody wants to belong to yesterday. We all want to be relevant, prominent, leaders in our fields, the top and not the bottom, the head and not the tail. Well...for some of us anyway. Having just been at an American Scientific meeting didn't help this ambitious drive.

When it comes to the Kingdom of God, the feelings are even more complex. What about people who were once used by God, but now not really are? what about churches that were once talked about constantly, now being relegated to irrelevance? worse still, trying to act as if it is still leading the pack when it is no longer doing so.

Perhaps it is better to then not strive for excellence in the first place. or to fidn that place of influence. or to remain in obscurity all the days of our lives...and therefore never having to go through a 'falling' period.

it is easy to laugh at those who are falling. people who never fall, because they never climbed, will never be laughed at. Which is better?

This book helped because suddenly I found myself in the company of 'fallers'. fellow people who have fallen to that place where it is neither fatal, nor tolerable. It is not fatal because we are still producing and still serving, but it is not tolerable because of where we have once been.

Are there lessons to learn on the way down? absolutely. what about on the way up? you bet. And learning these lessons produces a dignity that can only be understood by 'fallers'.


So, what shall we do when we are 'fallers'? Read Jim Collins' book. Remember there is a company of 'fallers'. And then learn the lessons on the way down, and if God permits, on the way up. And perhaps, just perhaps, God, the God of second chances,will once again allow that joy to come back in again. but when it returns, hopefully we would have changed for him to use us in even greater ways.

Lamentations 3
1 I am the man who has seen affliction
by the rod of his wrath.

2 He has driven me away and made me walk
in darkness rather than light;

3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me
again and again, all day long.

4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old
and has broken my bones.

5 He has besieged me and surrounded me
with bitterness and hardship.

6 He has made me dwell in darkness
like those long dead.

7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape;
he has weighed me down with chains.

8 Even when I call out or cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer.

9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone;
he has made my paths crooked.


19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.

20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.

21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."


Second chances are Undeserved,Unexpected and Unlimited. If God wills, I hope to blog soon about my reflections on the 'God of second chances'.