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SubscriptionsSites I Read
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| I've been trying to get my hands on this book for quite some time, but it's out of print. I finally found a copy though. It arrived this afternoon, and as soon as it arrived I began reading and didn't stop save for a couple bathroom breaks. It's a story of a businessman who knew his calling was in business - and he gave 51% ownership and with that 51% of the profits, to God. After some time, he gave the other 49% to God as well and became "just" an employee. During this course, he was provided for, but not without much work on his own part. He offers an interesting perspective, one that I as someone who am interested in Kingdom-based businesses (nearly identical model) and serving ministries, was looking for to confirm some things.
I heard about the book and was fascinated, but honestly, when I saw a dollar amount as to sales I wasn't as impressed - then I used an inflation calculator to bring the 1969 dollars to 2006 dollars and it made more sense. We're still not talking millions upon millions in profit, but it's very sizable, and it was all invested into the kingdom. Mr. Tam himself used his businesses as a platform for evangelism. The number I've heard is that averaged across the years, he led three people to Christ each day, simply by living. He was not a perfect man. He mentions many times he messed things up, but he always admitted it and went on with life.
These quotes are from the book, which was published in the late sixties. It's old writing, but still valid. I really enjoyed this book because to be quite honest, most of the time my mind isn't capable of processing thought from many books. The CS Lewis stuff, Tolkien stuff, all of it is so terribly complex (and me so short-term forgetful and easily distracted) that I can't read it. In terms of not being a textbook or technical publication, this could well be the most intelligently-written piece of writing I've been able to get through, so I'm believing there will be more after it.
I'd like to share a few of the quotes that hit me, and I wrote them down.
"But I do not understand why so many Christians read a Bible abounding in promises to make them something beyond themselves and yet settle for a spiritual vitality so mediocre as to seem virtually nonexistent. Consequently, the Christian who beomes demonstrably involved with God is looked upon as the rare exception far above the established rule. On the contrary, it is my conviction God intended the full, rewarding life to be every person's birthright."
"Pardon me if I seem to transgress theological grounds in saying this, but I suspect God purposely made it difficult for the intellectual mind to accept the Bible as His inspired book. The crossing of the Red Sea, the experiences of Jonah, the miracles of the New Testament - all of these have a disciplinary effect upon the quest for faith, compelling us to come to God in humble, childlike wonder, recognizing that He is God and that nothing is impossible for Him."
(below) These next two are specifically for me. Alot of the time I'm guilty of expecting God to micromanage me. I'll have to work on that - this quote brought that one to light earlier this afternoon, I had never even considered it that way.
"No, God has equipped us to think for ourselves, to make decisions, to exert initiative. You can't expect God to do your thinking for you. What you can do is yield your mind, your body, your strength to Him and ask Him to guide your thoughts and your actions. God did not create you as a puppet but as an intelligent, resourceful human being."
"Always remember, though, that whereas God often offers to work with us, His usual pattern is to work through us. He inspires our minds, guides our hands, directs our feet. His promise is: I will instruct you and teach you in the way you shall go. I will guide you with my eye. He instructs us and guides us, but the doing and the going is left to us."
Also to me. I too often get caught up in the logistics of my serving and forget to even give mention to Whom I'm serving.
"The Christian who claims he's too busy serving God to look after his family is, in my opinion, too busy serving God. Not really, of course, because somehow in his well-intentioned service for the Lord he has permitted his life to get out of balance."
On evangelism today:
"Jesus said to His disciples, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Now what is more important to a fisherman than anything else? Bait! He may have the latest rod and reel, a strong line, a bobber that looks as though it just fell through the rainbow, but he must have bait. This is what puzzles me so much about Christians who hesitate to use promotional principles in witnessing. I don't say we should walk around wearing a sandwich board-though if God tells you to do it, you'd better obey Him!-but I do feel we should use legitimate means to let hungry hearts know there is someone holding the pole, eager to help them find the peace and joy only Christ can give."
"Now, it is my last intention to criticize the organized Church. I've been an active churchman for years and expect to remain one until I die. But too often people think of church as a relationship apart from life. It's something you do on Sunday, but it scarecely relates to what you do the remainder of the week. This is why lay witness is so important. You and I touch men in the crossroads. We see them as they are, and they see us as we are, sleeves rolled up, hard at it, no pretense. No Sunday front. And this is where the gospel is the most relevant."
Closing thoughts
"God owns my business, and God owns me. I have every confidence that He will take good care of His property."
All quotes are from "God Owns My Business" by Stanley Tam, as told to Ken Anderson. Published by Word Books. Copyright 1969. LOC Catalog #69-18864.
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| I'm going to grad school.
That single sentence excites me. But it didn't happen overnight.
And the road has somewhat parallelled another in my life - my desire to become a pilot. Regardless of what some family members believe, I did not decide to start flight training simply because of the fact that my grandfathers on both sides were career Air Force, or because the only grandfather I have always wanted to finish his pilot's certificate but did not. All those things laid a strong foundation in my life for aviation, but I didn't undertake it for the sake of completing something that had not been previously in my family. I didn't do it because my friend had, though Nathan's influence in parts of my life are there (I say, who better to have as a "role model" of sorts). I did it because dang it, I wanted to fly. I love every minute I'm in the air. It was not an easy journey, there were a fair deal of challenges that had to be overcome. And most of them were mental, in my own mind. I didn't think I was ready to solo when I did. I didn't think I was very good at landing (which I later found out what I was considering crap landings were textbook-style for that type of plane). There were a lot of things I thought or didn't think, and many of them were not necessarily correct. It took elements of trust, skill, hard work, and probably even some luck to end up where I did. And that's the story for everyone that I've talked to. I enjoyed my college years, but they didn't necessarily stretch me anything like getting in an airplane did. I had to work harder for that piece of plastic (which finally came a few days ago, so I no longer have to carry my temp. certificate) than I did my college diploma - at least in my mind. Maybe four years of college didn't feel as intense because I did all my training within six months.
But now that I'm there, I can't stop. (well, on the pilot stuff I am for now, it will be a while before I can afford going instrument rated, though I plan to. I'm talking about life in general though) I want to keep learning, I can't stop. I spent a few days of free time and did very well on my technician class amateur radio license, and I'll probably upgrade, though my electronics theory will have to become much stronger. As geeky as I am, if you can believe it, I'm not that good on electrical theory. But beyond those little things, I want my master's. Just for me. Maybe I'll use it for my "job", maybe I won't. It's going to be hard work, a couple years of it. It's going to be fairly expensive from a monetary standpoint. But it's just like my pilot's certificate: yeah, that wasn't really practical (a master's certainly could be) (and it wasn't as expensive as grad school, that's for sure) but I know that I can do it. I know I'm going to learn. I know I'm going to get better at what it is I do (whatever that is :)) I've given this a lot of thought, and I've now gone from approaching a yellow light to waiting on a red, revving my engine with the clutch held in just waiting for a hint of green.
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| I've just been hanging around lately. We went candlepin bowling last night, which was fun. My score was terrible, but that's to be expected. From what I've been told, even the pros can't score much better than a couple hundred. I'm going to include a couple photos from my spring break trip that are already on here to show you this odd sport.
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| Boston has been great. Sunday morning found us at the world-famous 'MIT Flea' - so much stuff, and so cheap! I found all kinds of things I'd been looking for for a while. Nearly all of it came back with me. Now I do have to figure out how to get 100lbs of 2u rackmount servers back to Missouri, probably just end up shipping them. I didn't find the top item on my search list, an Apple Newton, but I have a business card for one of the vendors that said he had several and forgot to bring them. I'll call him today.
I'm also going to call a few universities today and check into some graduate options. Might as well, since I'm here already.
Last night I attended a lecture by a Harvard School of Business professor on entreprenuership. It was quite interesting and very educational. He spoke at a group called CEO Boston (Christian Entreprenuers Organization) that is held by Park Street Church here in town. Park Street is a pretty cool place, they're a very old congregational church. But they do a tremendous amount of missions work, which I think is great. I /do/ wonder though why they're sending people all over the world when there's several million people within twenty miles that need God just as much, but they do have an Alpha program and a bit of community outreach.
Anyway, everything has been great. And I still have quite a bit of time here. Give me a call if you're curious for more, I'm really not doing much except tinkering with stuff.
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