In a Wall Street Journal editorial, Andy Kessler complains that our younger generations are looking so hard for purpose in their work, that they sometimes overlook the actual work that needs done. His article reminded me of an old adage, “You are so heavenly minded, that you are no earthly good.” Personally, I believe that God does have a purpose ...
Senator Bernie Sanders recently proposed to change the workweek from 40 hours a week to 32 hours. In this series, we’re exploring biblical considerations pertinent to this issue. Our first consideration is defining work. The Oxford Dictionary defines work as “activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.” The Hebrew word for work, ...
Columnist David Brooks has written in the past on the difference between resume virtues and eulogy virtues. Resume virtues are the jobs and career accomplishments you’ve held in your lifetime. Eulogy virtues, however, are your character traits. Brooks concluded that eulogy virtues have longer term value than resume virtues. This became clearer to me at a recent funeral I attended. ...
If you had known me when I was working construction during college, you would have experienced a very different person. At that stage in my life, my language was filthy, I drank heavily, I was a thief, and women were not treated respectfully. In my early 30s, when God finally captured my heart, I had to begin killing off my ...
Years ago, when I was in banking, a CEO named Sam was a customer who was brash, demanding, arrogant, and selfish. Every negotiation ended with him winning and me losing. Years later, when I left banking to start a consulting practice, Sam wanted to meet with me. Reluctantly, I met with Sam. It felt like I was talking to a ...
In my youth, a popular TV show was “Leave it to Beaver.” One of the characters was Eddie Haskell. Eddie would do and say what was necessary to please any adults in the moment, but the minute they left he became the conniving Eddie Haskell who did as little as possible to get by. Colossians 3:22 says, “Slaves, obey your ...
For most of this year, there have been almost double the number of jobs that need filled compared to the people needing a job. An untapped pool of possible talent however is the disabled. According to the Department of Labor, in October, the overall unemployment rate was 3.3%, but for the disabled, it was 8.2%. As the incidence of ...
Kathy and I recently witnessed a performance on shepherding by a shepherd from Ireland. He highlighted three qualities about sheep that I found instructive. The final quality is that sheep are humbly obedient. We watched as this shepherd used his staff to simply point in a direction. The sheep would gather and begin moving in the direction in which ...
Valentine’s Day has historically been the 2nd busiest day of the year for restaurants after Mother’s Day. This year will be challenging for restaurant owners due to Covid and staffing issues. To make matters worse, when staffing is limited, that’s the most likely time for restaurant workers to receive complaints. A local fast-food restaurant near me has proactively addressed this ...
My wife, Kathy, recently shared with a group of friends that she was named “The Best Waitress in Kansas City” in 1985 by a local magazine. Kathy was quick to say, “There were many waitresses far better than me, but I was fortunate to learn who I was serving.” Her award came about because a busboy informed Kathy that she ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
