Some Basic Rules of Personal Finance

Brenda and I have just finished TWO, not one but TWO, Timeshare presentations.  For our trouble we got 3 nights in a nice resort, plus $120 off tickets to the "Hatfields and McCoys" dinner musical- no really it was surprisingly good!

But, due to the recent hard-sell, I thought it might be of use to state some KEY personal financial rules to live by:

#1 NEVER buy anything quickly. DO NOT buy at the pitch, but only later--if at all.

I told the sales people, I wanted time to think, and they said "NO!" They claimed, "It wouldn't be fair to these folks who are deciding right now!"

"No", I said, it is unfair that ALL of us have to decide on the spur of the moment!"

Mine was NOT a popular response.

#2 Do NOT buy anything over the phone.  Why would you? You didn't need it BEFORE they called, why do you need it now?

"Send me the literature, I'll look it over and get back to you!"

These two simple rules will save you some real $$$$, but only if you follow them...a I will from now on!

My Body...My Autonomy! NOT Usually

Most pro-abortion/pro-choice advocates have some mantra like, "My Body, My Choice!"

I understand the sentiment, but that is NOT a universal truth.  My body is NOT free to do a LOT of things, and you all agree to these restrictions--especially restricting me:

• I cannot walk around nude,
• I cannot, and you cannot, expose certain parts of my/your body, even while otherwise dressed,
• Jay-walk,
• Use dangerous weapons in inappropriate places,
• Drive vehicles illegally,
• Commit prostitution...

That's probably a good place to stop! But we do NOT have the freedom to do with OUR bodies whatever we choose. But, in the issue of abortion, we make all sorts of exceptions. Our abortion rates are staggering, and yet we continue.

L^rd have mercy, Christ have mercy.

Leadership- Maybe a Lost Skill??

I just ran across this list of "9 Essential skills of leaders". Leadership seems in short supply, so I thought I would preserve them here:

Listening

Questioning

Giving feedback

Showing empathy

Providing structure

Assisting with goal-setting

Recognizing and pointing out strengths

Encouraging a solution-focused approach

Letting the other person arrive at his or her own solution.        

I see minimal leadership these days, with management taking the lead.  We manage resources, but we lead people. One sage said, "If you are leading but no one is following, you're really just taking a walk!"  I am sure that there is leadership going on somewhere. I think our church congregation might have some leadership going, and I am not wanting to be critical.  We lead from the front, and by example, and leadership involves putting those we are leading first.

So how's your leadership going?

Finally, a trade book!

I know that authors can be pretty obnoxious at times. I have a pastor friend who has written a book and he identifies himself now as author/pastor. He has my sympathies, as I see the attraction.

I have been wanting to publish a trade book--a book for public consumption as opposed to a text or academic book--for many years now. I have a full manuscript of a book on teaching the Bible, and hope to submit it again in a few months. I started this task probably almost 15 years ago. The game has changed just in the last 10 years. The advent of self-publishing and the popularity of the www has made it such that publishers, as a rule, will not even accept book proposals from writers without an agent.

I think the chief reason this proposal got an advance was that the principle author is Walt Larimore, MD, who has already published 32 books!  Publishers trust proven authors--and for good reason. We also have an excellent agent who helped us a great deal.

I have been surprised and thrilled at how easy the writing has come on this first draft. But every experienced author will tell you that it is the RE-writing that makes writing.  I don't necessarily look forward to editing, but we are pretty far ahead of schedule.

Harvest House Publishing is a Christian publisher, which was easily my first choice. I see no point in publishing a book to make this short mortal life better but which neglects the eternal. We clearly share the Gospel in the early chapters and have many Scriptural references.

The tentative title is, “60 Ways to be Fit and Healthy after 50: Keys to a Healthful, Abundant, Forever Life”. Be sure to be on the look out for it and buy a copy for all your friends, even those not yet 50! It also makes good birthday, Christmas, bar mitzvah, anniversary, and wedding presents, and will likely make a dandy doorstop, or platform for a coffee cup!

Now let's get this thing done and on those shelves for sale!!

W.O.R.S.T. Jet-lag Ever!

Brenda and I had a GREAT trip to Japan last month. I'll write more about it later.  But now, I gotta whine a bit. This is the worst case of jet-lag that I can recall--and I have changed time-zones quite a few times in the last 68 years.

Where David, Rie, Nene, and Juno live is 14 hours ahead of us, which means they are 10 hours different in time (since the date-line doesn't matter). This is the 9th day we have been back, and last night, I went to sleep easily, but awoke around mid-night thereafter until about 0700 this AM. I was optimistic that I had it whipped Friday night when I slept pretty well all night. But last night corrected my optimism.

The full couple of nights I slept out of sheer fatigue.  The first few days, I felt terrible. Now I feel pretty good during the day and only had to take ONE nap since we got back. This too shall pass...just not quickly enough!

We, or at least I, take good sleep too much for granted. Several of my friends have sleep issues, but fortunately, except for jet-lag the last 10-12 years, I have typically gone to sleep easily, and slept 8-9 hours without problem.  As I have mentioned, we take SOOOO much for granted--until it is lost!

So, if you are having trouble sleeping, you have new-found sympathy!  If you sleep well, thank the L^rd G^d, and enjoy it! 

Blessings, and sleep well.

Life Review: My Frustration with Evangelicalism

I am wholly dedicated to the Gospel of Jesus the Christ. My wife and I have dedicated our lives to the cause of the Christ. But, as I have mentioned, I have the "gift" of prophecy, so the Church's foibles are especially noteworthy to me.

I have recently asked three different groups of US Christians to describe the average person who would identify as a Christian. They all gave some variation of "Lukewarm", and all agreed that word to be an accurate description.

"Why is that?", you might ask, as I do.

I am unsure, but as a prophet, I am surely unhappy with my/our status quo. I am unsure, but I do know the logic of that old quote, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." (Anonymous, NOT Albert Einstein).

So, what do we do differently?  I DON'T know. Maybe it's our fixation on assembling on Sunday for some songs, take a collection, say a prayer, give a sermon, go home and ignore all that. I am SURE we need to assemble, I am just not so sure about what to do then. I am a firm believer in Sunday School, because, if done properly, engages people in thinking about Scripture and naturally gives opportunity to ask questions and challenge views. I am not sure how often it does this, versus merely being another sermon with a smaller audience.

So, what to do?  Any suggestions on how 21st Century Christianity ought to handle the weekly meeting or discipleship in general?  Thanks.

Life Review: Old Age

I am 68.25 years of age, and old age seems to have really hit me in the last few months... ever since I hit 68.0. I recall turning 40, and when I did, I lost my hair and felt the effects of age. In mid-May I noticed that my muscles weren't like they used to be. My ability to do push-ups seems to be waning, and it is not so much the fatigue as the discomfort in my shoulders. I have long since given up on going to full extension in pull-ups, and gave up shoulder presses maybe 20 years back.

I ran a little over 30 mins this AM. Summer is NOT a good time for running and for many years now I have not run much in the summer. I find that my muscles are not as excited about running 10 miles as they used to be.  Mostly now I top-out at about 5 miles. I don't see much point these days in over-doing it on the running or weightlifting.

My memory is declining a bit also. I find that I may be able to recall the name of a student from 10 years back, but may not recall a friend's name who I saw two weeks back. I find that I walk into my shop, and try to recall why I went out there. Often it comes to me... but sometimes not.

My hair is gray, my hearing is failing, and my eyesight isn't what it used to be. Fortunately, I have decent blood pressure, cholesterol, and bone density. I feel pretty good for a man my age. I don't know how I am supposed to feel at this age, having never been this age before.

There are some pleasantries thought, too. We are beginning to enjoy retirement. We also enjoy the successes and independence of our children. We have taken that for granted, until the recent case of the 30+ young man who had to be ordered out of his parent's home by a judge!

I guess I might as well focus on enjoying old age... it is a privilege denied to many!  Scripture tells us that gray hair is the crown of old age (Prov 16;31, 20:29).  Mine is shaped somewhat like a crown, so maybe that is fitting.

Thank you L^rd for old age!

Life Review: Grad School

It was a HUGE transition from the conservative, disciplined US Navy active duty to the liberal, loosy-goosey world of Higher Ed!  But, my 2.5 years at James Madison, while on active duty, and the 3.5 years of Doctoral studies were some good years.

I was totally LOST in doing my Masters at JMU. I always wanted to be a Biologist, but was frustrated (Thank you L^rd) and unable to do an MS in that field. I was running a lot, so I thought a Masters in Physical Ed. is better than NO Masters, so that is what I did, driving 60 miles each way to night school to earn the degree.  Sad to say, I don't think I learned much except in a couple of Higher Ed. classes taught by Dr. Jesse Liles.

The Ed.D. program at U GA was extremely useful, but still wasn't optimal. At UGA I met Future Dr. Jesse DeMello, and furture Dr. Susan Vickery who agreed to do a weekly Bible Study during our years together. I met a bunch more future Profs including Dr. Phil Sparling, Dr. Mindy Stafford, Dr. Chet Ray, Dr. Dave Hill of Quebec, and a bunch of other super people. My mentor was a famous Exercise Physiologist, Kirk Cureton, whose father was one of the founders of our field.

The time went by quickly and our son Daniel was born during our "destitute years" at UGA. I really don't recall it being especially stressful, even though I was only making $6k per year from my assistant-ship and about $400 per month from VA benefits.

The studies weren't too hard and though most folks found statistics daunting, having taken differential equations and Calc I, II, and III as an undergrad, made stats seem pretty easy. I worked hard at learning lab skills, and unfortunately our lab didn't do very much research during my 4-years total at UGA.

Though our program wasn't very strong during my time there, it got a lot stronger later. I used the weaknesses I perceived to help me contribute to a strong Ph.D. program at U of AL.

Those were some great years in Athens, learning a lot, making a BUNCH of great friends like Terry and Lowell, and Chuck, and my classmates.  Thanks be to G^d for His provision for me, my family and my education!