June 10, 2013 You don’t get better by treating the symptoms; you need to find the cause. I make no claims to being a health-care professional, but that statement applies to more than physiological issues. In most categories of life, addressing the “what” preoccupies most people; they never seem …
Category Archives: Weekly Post
Full Time
June 3, 2013 “It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.” (Oscar Wilde) We’re living in a functional paradox: we’ve never had more books available – hardcover, paperback, e-book – than today… and, there is an alarming level of illiteracy …
Honoring the Brave
May 27, 2013 Memorial Day is a missed opportunity. Thank God for a day focused on the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives in battle, to protect the United States of America. They didn ’t die for real estate; they died for the …
American Jackpots
May 20, 2013 We have a winner! People in Zephyrhills, Florida are on the lookout this morning for a person trying to suppress a smile. A Publix supermarket there sold a Powerball ticket that is now worth $ 590.5 million (if taken over time; most winners elect to receive …
Ambassador of a Better Way
May 13, 2013 We should have seen it coming. “President Barack Obama called Jason Collins on Monday to express his gratitude after the NBA player publicly announced that he is gay, two sources familiar with the call told The Huffington Post. A White House official confirmed the call, saying that the …
In the Face of Doubt
May 6, 2013 He was the greatest man ever born. If that was a grand-prize game show question – on a Christian network – you would come up with “the answer”… and you would be wrong. “Jesus!” you say. Good guess… but, wrong. “Says who!” you ask. “Says Jesus,” …
Put More Away
April 29, 2013 You're not putting enough away for tomorrow. While our leaders in Washington are trying to get the air traffic controllers back in the towers and the airline flights back in the air, the long term issues go begging. Debt? Not to worry. The President, to George …
It’s really His
April 22, 2013 It’s a tough time to be rich in America. Radical Islamic Terrorists (RIT) get softer treatment – in political circles, and in the national press – than those treacherous Rich People (RP). RITs can always point back at the Crusades (11th-13th Centuries) as justification for their actions. RPs …
Tax Day
April 15, 2013 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24). That line, from the King James Version of the Bible, was published in 1611. James – son of Mary, Queen of Scots – started his reign as James VI, …
The Other Side of Death
April 8, 2013 "I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear." – Roger Ebert, Life Itself. “Roger Ebert was explicit about his lack of religious commitment. In his 2011 memoir Life Itself, he comes clean: …
Place your bets
April 1, 2013 It’s time to place your bets. I don’t spend any time at race tracks, but there’s a moment when the speculation and conversation are past, and the serious gambler has to step up to the window and declare the winner… before the race begins. Last Sunday, …
Easter this Sunday
March 25, 2013 This thing is going to hell in a handbasket. No one knows who first used that “alliterative locution” (thanks Wikipedia) to describe a situation headed for disaster or without effort or in great haste. Sometimes, you can see a train wreck coming (think: Sequester). Other times, …
Ability and Availability
March 18, 2013 "God doesn’t want your ability; He wants your availability." You’ve heard that before, haven’t you? Most contemporary Christians would probably fall for the straight-faced suggestion that somewhere in Solomon’s Proverbs – or, in Paul’s Epistles – that phrase is found. And they would be… wrong. Not …
Ambassadors
March 11, 2013 There’s an intriguing relationship between risk and life; they rise and fall, together. Most people live with the desire to reduce their risk experience. That seems rational… until you find out the price of risk avoidance: you cannot have rewards unless you accept the risks. There …
Top Ten iPhone Apps
March 4, 2013 So, what do you want to be when you grow up? Every generation has answered the question based on very sketchy data. My claim: little boys (my personal experience pool) have stayed pretty consistent: policeman, fireman or athlete. The available options aren’t very apparent when you’re under-10; the …
The Upcoming Summer Season
February 25, 2013 I missed the Oscars. My flight from Orange County to Chicago overlaid the whole extravaganza – from the red carpet to awarding of the last statuette. I confess to being a cultural curmudgeon when it comes to watching Hollywood stand in a circle and applaud themselves, while the world stands …
Desiring to Advance
February 18, 2013 Don’t look now, but your friends might be on the move. They might not be as famous as Eduardo Saverin, but their plans may be shaping up to follow his lead. Saverin made the headlines a few months ago, in the midst of the flurry of …
A Day Celebrating Love
February 11, 2013 They don’t know what they’re talking about. If you could quantify the use of the word love in advertising this week, your meter would red-line by Thursday. Valentine’s Day is the next retail surge, picking up the pace at the cash register after the post-Christmas sales tsunami. …
Upon Whose Shoulders
February 4, 2013 Nanos gigantum humeris insidentes. If your Latin is a little impaired, that’s “dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants.” It was originally attributed to Bernard of Chartres in the 12th Century, but it was quoted by Isaac Newton in a letter, and has been often used in metaphor …
Pro Bowl
January 28. 2013 Pro Bowl LXXIII; Super Bowl XLVII. That's the difference between 73 and 47 years; one of those is “long in tooth;” the other is probably still in its prime. The first Super Bowl was played on January 15, 1967, and its origin was part of the …
Life beyond the Messenger
January 21, 2013 “I have a dream…” If your default historical horizon is biblical, your scanner presents Joseph as “The Dreamer” whose life became the basis for more verses in Genesis than Abraham, Isaac or his father, Jacob. If your data base is more cultural, the pop-up screen in …
An Ongoing Awards Ceremony
January 14, 2013 And the winner is… America is an ongoing awards ceremony. Some say that we’re a nation of immigrants. That sounds like a great equalizer, but that’s a narrow view. Truth is, we’re really a nation of winners and losers. In the last couple of …
Relational Capital
January 7, 2013 Everyone is back. Though the day of the week varies every year, the week surrounding the day is pretty quiet, ‘most everywhere. Christmas Week; New Years Week; though they constitute the end of Q4 and the calendar year, the majority of workplace people are on holiday, even if …
SIPs
December 31, 2012 Andy Grove, co-founder of Intel, described a Strategic Inflection Point (SIP) as "an event that changes the way we think and act." It is a particular time when a business decides it needs to make important changes in order to stay competitive. Grove says that these moments tend …
Merry Christmas
December 24, 2012 You may not read this before the commemoration. The annual reenactments of the Christmas Story have become cultural; they no longer belong to the religious insiders. Norman Rockwell has joined Matthew and Luke as the purveyors of the image. Ask anyone for the Cliff Notes version, …
Year End
December 17, 2012 If these Monday missives benefit you, read on. If they do not, hit “unsubscribe” now. Next Monday is Christmas Eve; my Point of View next week will be a Christmas message. Today, it’s a family conversation. Imagine we’re in the kitchen, getting ready for Christmas and year-end. We …
The Winner
December 10, 2012 Some times, some things just don’t seem right. We have an internal clock that is culturally set to move into holiday mode during Thanksgiving week. Whatever your religious affiliations, “Peace on Earth and Goodwill to Men” seems like a reasonable proposition, and folks tend to smile – and, …
Another Day at Work
December 3, 2012 Let’s get this straight: you did build that. It’s been a month since the elections, so we’ve moved on from politics, but we never move on from philosophy. In politics, it’s always about candidates; in philosophy, it’s always about ideas. Candidates come and go, but ideas have a …
LifeMastery
November 26, 2012 Written any good books lately? That’s not the typical question; more likely, we ask, “Read any good books lately?” For most people, they would come up speechless on both queries; today, few read… and fewer write. Yet, in the gift-giving free-for-all that surrounds the …
Sharing Faith
November 19, 2102 It sure felt good to be “normal” for a change. Many of my Sundays are spent on planes, not in pews. When not flying, I’m often speaking (so my pastor friends can fly!). Yesterday, I was just Bob, in my spot in the auditorium, in the proximity of friends and …