“A young man applied for a job as a farmhand. When the old farmer asked for his qualifications, he replied with confidence “I can sleep when the wind blows.” The statement puzzled the farmer, but he liked the young man nevertheless and hired him. A few days later, the old farmer and his wife were rudely awakened in the night by a violent storm. They quickly began to check things… Read More
Being “On Time”
I hate being early. Whether that is to pick someone up from the airport or to arrive at a party, I do not enjoy the attention that being early brings or the time I feel it “wastes.” I also hate being late. Being late adds a serious amount of stress in the journey to my destination and greatly increases my chances of receiving a ticket for a traffic violation. It… Read More
Why Take the Risk?
In one way or another, I believe we all strive for comfort even if that is as simple as getting out of the heat and humidity on a hot summer day into a climate controlled house or office. Generally, we seek to avoid pain and discomfort. Sometimes we will go to great effort to avoid an experience that we believe will be painful. Recently, I have been asking myself if… Read More
The Tale of the Wooden Bowl
A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year-old grandson. The old man’s hands trembled, his eyesight blurred, and his step faltered. During the nightly family dinner together, the elderly grandfather’s shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he tried to grasp the glass, milk spilled onto the tablecloth. The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the… Read More
There are New Sheets on My Bed
I was forced to make a decision about new sheets when I noticed that my old sheets were so worn that they threatened to disintegrate in multiple places at any moment. While putting the brand new, crisp percale sheets on my bed, I wondered why in the world I had waited so long to make a decision about making this purchase. No time? Too much work involved? Just not on… Read More
Doing What’s Right, for the Right Reasons
Many of you know that Master’s has an Advisory Board. We meet together several times throughout the year. During a recent Advisory Board meeting, Pastor Bill Park, one of our Board Members, led us in a devotional and then gave us the following challenge: Life is choices; choices have consequences; make the right choices. I’ve been thinking about Pastor Bill’s challenge as it relates to how we choose to do… Read More
The Worry War
Do you worry? I guess that may be a silly question because worry is part of life to some degree or another. A better question may be: What are the thoughts, circumstances, events, etc. that set the “worry wheels” in motion for you? We have all experienced the effects of worry, and we could come up with a laundry list of its negative ramifications in our lives. What is most… Read More
Be Ordinary
A client recently gave me the book Ordinary. It was a timely gift that has spawned some interesting conversations with family and friends. One of the main talking points of the book is that in our society no one wants to be ordinary. We perceive that ordinary is mundane and boring. We are led to believe that we are somehow giving in to mediocrity if we settle for the ordinary. As… Read More
Let’s Not Be Human
Every quarter, J.P Morgan Asset Management releases a small flip book called “Guide to the Markets.” It has 70 pages of colored charts that show statistics on the economy, U.S. and foreign stocks, U.S. and foreign bonds and asset allocation. The “Guide” is my go-to resource for information on what is happening in the various sectors of the market. One of my favorite charts in the guide shows various investment… Read More
Blessed?
I often find myself using the word blessed. I suspect that we might use this word too casually. We are blessed when we get a pay raise. We are blessed when we have a series of warm pleasant days. We are blessed when a new healthy baby arrives in our family. We are blessed when we see our children making responsible decisions and then those decisions lead to preferred outcomes. … Read More
