The year was 1968. In a lab in Maplewood Minnesota a scientist named Spencer Silver was working on inventing a strong adhesive to be used in the booming aerospace industry. One of Silver’s first tries was a whopping failure. Spencer had made a mistake in his calculations and not only was the adhesive not as strong as he had hoped, it was actually very weak. It would stick but then detach with very little effort. Realizing he had made a mistake somewhere along the line he went back to the drawing board.
The year was 1974. In the same lab in Maplewood Minnesota another scientist working along side Silver had a problem. Not a big problem, and not even a work-related problem. It was personal, church related. Art Fry led singing at his local church congregation and he was trying to come up with a solution to mark the pages in his song book. Remembering his colleague’s invention from 6 years before he tested it out on a small piece of yellow scrap paper. Eureka! It held his place in the book and could be removed easily without leaving any residue.
When Fry discovered how the adhesive could be used he approached management with it. They weren’t really that interested. After all, what are you going to do with a sticky little yellow pieced of paper? Finally they were convinced and in 1977, three years after Fry’s idea and nine years after Silver’s mistake 3M launched a test run of what they called “Press’n Peels” And what they feared happened. The public didn’t know what they were supposed to do with them and the product flopped. Press’n Peel was pulled from the shelves.
The year was 1979. 3M decided to rebrand Press’n Peel’s, instead calling them “Post-it Notes” They gave out the sticky pieces of paper for free to businesses in Boise, Idaho and waited to see what would happen. Over 90% of the businesses that were given free samples ordered more. And the rest as they say, is history. Today over 50 billion post it notes are sold in over 100 countries every year. They are made in every color, but the signature yellow is the most popular. And it all started with a mistake.
To err is human as they say. And we’re all human, which means we all err, or make mistakes. Sometimes big mistakes, sometimes small mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes are truly unintentional and sometimes, well, we choose bad and we just mess up. The question is, what do we do with those mistakes and bad decisions? Do we dwell on them and let them dictate our happiness and future, or do we learn from them deal with them and maybe even use them to make something better?
Trust me, you and I aren’t alone in the bad decision and mistake department, we are in good company. If you go through the Bible, you will see that time and again people made mistakes, they failed, and just messed up. Abraham, Moses, King David, Elijah, Peter, Paul, Mark and the list goes on and on. We’re humans and we often mess things up. But the great thing about God is, He is the God of second chances. And third, fourth, fifth and endless do-overs.
If there is one thing that you can be sure of it’s this; if you are His, your failure isn’t fatal. Look at what Peter did in his hours of weakness and bad decisions. The night Jesus was arrested Peter was a walking billboard of mistakes. It started during the last supper when Peter claimed to Jesus:
“But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.”
(Matthew 26:35)
Big words that he won’t be able to fulfill. Then, when they move to the garden and the soldiers come to arrest Jesus Peter goes violent. He literally takes out a sword and slices off the ear of a temple servant drawing a rebuke from Jesus:
“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.
(Matthew 26:52)
Guess what Peter does then?
“Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.”
(Matthew 26:56)
ALL of them deserted Him, Peter included. The same guy who a couple hours before said he would never disown Jesus. But Peter’s night of bad decisions doesn’t stop there. He follows along from a distance to see what’s going to happen to Jesus. And when Jesus is dragged before the High Priest and Peter is recognized in the courtyard and what does he do?
“Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said. But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. Then he went out to the gateway, where another girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.” He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!” After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away.” Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”
(Matthew 26:69-74)
Three times he claims he doesn’t even know Jesus. If anyone’s faults were fatal it would be Peter’s. But Jesus wasn’t done with Peter, not by a long shot. Over breakfast by the sea after Jesus’ resurrection he would show Peter He’s the God of the do-over by telling Peter to go and feed His sheep. (John 21:17) And Peter would go on to be one of the greatest of the Apostles.
Take a lesson from Peter and all the greats in the bible and remember, your mistakes and bad decisions and my mistakes and bad decisions aren’t final or fatal. Maybe we should write that down on a Post-it Note and stick it somewhere we can always see it. God’s not done with you by a long shot.
“If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness…”
(Psalm 130:3-4)