Reno is West of L.A.

Two-letter postal abbreviations don’t have periods after the letters, so when I titled today’s Monday Morning Memo, “Reno is West of L.A.” I was not using L.A. as the postal abbreviation for Louisiana.

Carson City – the capitol of Nevada – is likewise west of Los Angeles, as are 5 other state capitols. Juneau, Honolulu, Sacramento, Salem, and Olympia are the capitols of Alaska, Hawaii, California, Oregon, and Washington. West, west, west, west, and west of L.A.

Google it. Or Bing it. Or Yahoo it. However you like to do it.

Reno is located at 119°49′ West.

Los Angeles is 118°14′ West.

Reno is 86 miles west of Los Angeles.

The coordinates of a city give you its precise location, just like the chapter and verse numbers of books in the Bible.

Psalm 119:49 – the Reno Psalm – says,

“Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope.”

Reno was founded by Charles William Fuller, who built a bridge across the Truckee river so that settlers would not lose hope.

Psalm 118:14 – the L.A. Psalm – says,

“The LORD is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.”

Los Angeles was named “The Angels” in 1769 by Father Juan Crespi, a Franciscan priest who celebrated in his journal the discovery of a “beautiful river from the northwest.” A source of water that saved his thirsty band of travelers.

You will remember that I mentioned Louisiana in my opening sentence.

New Orleans is at 90°07′ West.

Psalm 90:7 – the New Orleans Psalm – says,

“We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation.”

The French Quarter of New Orleans is 90.°06′ West.

Psalm 90:6 – the French Quarter Psalm –says,

“In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered.”

Does the longitude and/or latitude of a city unlock a secret message from God to that city?

No. Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous. Have you lost your mind?

But let’s pretend that it does.

The latitude for my hometown of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma – which, prior to 1907 was “Indian Territory” – is 36.°06′ N.

Psalm 36:6 – the Broken Arrow Psalm – says,

“Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.”

We create imaginary worlds when we pretend, but even imaginary worlds have to have rules. This truth is known to every author of Science Fiction, to every author of Fantasy, and to every 6-year-old.

We must now make up some additional rules because some of the Psalms don’t have enough verses to match the coordinates of certain cities. As an example: Chicago is at latitude 41°52′ North, and its longitude is 87°39′ West.

We’ll begin with longitude: Uh-oh, Psalm 87 doesn’t have a 39th verse.

Now let’s take a look at latitude: Uh-oh, Psalm 41 doesn’t have a 52nd verse.

But Genesis 41 does!

Genesis 41:52 – the Birth Verse of Chicago – says,

“The second son he named Ephraim and said, ‘It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.’”

Chicago was incorporated in 1837, but it blossomed in an amazing second birth after the fire of 1871. Read it for yourself.

I went with “birth verse” because Genesis means “beginning.” And Chicago’s birth verse is actually about a second birth! How cool is that!

Admit it. You are a little bit curious to know the Psalm of your city, right? And if your city doesn’t have a Psalm, you’d still be curious for the Birth Verse of your city, the Proverb for your city, or the Prophecy for your city. Am I right?

It might sound like I’m trying to convince you to believe in this silliness about the intersection of city coordinates and Bible verses, but I promise I am not. My only goal is to demonstrate how easy it is to select facts that support your premise.

And now you know everything you need to know about conspiracy theories, propaganda, social media, and the nightly news.

And advertising, of course.

Roy H. Williams

Sean Lemson has encountered a wide variety of leaders – good, bad, and toxic – over the course of his career, including stints at PayPal, Cisco, and Nike. According to Sean, toxic leaders are a special breed of “bad” because they are capable, often without realizing it, of chasing off the best employees and slowly killing their companies. On this week’s episode, deputy reporter Maxwell Rotbart asks Sean Lemson about the most common toxic leadership archetypes: how to spot them, how to avoid becoming one of them, and how to immunize a business against their poisonous effects. Is there any podcast more interesting and informative than MondayMorningRadio.com? Nay, good citizen, there is not.