During the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall, 1000 giant dominoes were set up between Brandenburg Gate and Potsdamer Plaza, the partition that once separated East and West Berlin, then knocked down to commemorate the fall of the wall and the end of the Cold War.  

The fall of dominoes is often a chilling metaphor for the consequences of setting in motion events that cannot be foreseen or controlled, events that are greater than expected.  

In today's complex world, it is nearly impossible to predict all the factors and intersects that will impact an event.  

Prognosticators often see what they want to see and are capable of seeing, just like any special interest group which does not bother with anything outside their interests.

For example, military strategists deal in strategies pertaining to military defense and war, and not economics.     

The dominoes for waging war aside from the human cost is the economic cost, but few strategists have the knowledge or skills to understand the dominoes outside their specialty and know all the dominoes that will be in play.  

Many think winning is everything, the end justifies the means and have thought of every contingency which might be true in their tiny little sphere and domino, but not true for all other spheres and dominoes. 

When playing chess, one does not play one move and expect to win after that one move.  

It is a progression of moves, attacks, counter attacks and defensive strategies.  

In other words, defensive and offensive plays and strategies.

And it changes as each player makes their move.  

If you think in terms of winning statically and not strategies dynamically, you would lose, especially if you are not thinking a few strategic steps ahead of your opponent.  

What is even more challenging is that in life there are even more players, moving pieces and dominoes and the probabilities of plays are much greater than a two player chess match.  

In it all, what is often lost is the acknowledgement of the Lord, who watches over the plays and who actually owns the board and its pieces; and the knowledge that the Holy Spirit is with us as the Witness to every event, everybody and everything.