“God gives a man riches, property and wealth so that he lacks nothing that his heart desires, yet God does not enable him to enjoy the fruit of his labor.  Instead, someone else enjoys it!” Ecclesiastes 6:2 My first reaction to the “Giving Pledge” by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates was mixed. On the one hand I was encouraged to see so many who had spent their lives accumulating wealth  power and influence making pledges to give the majority of their assets to philanthropy in their lifetime. I don’t know if it was a reaction to the wild media response or the sheer flamboyance of the venture that…

When I was young people would say to me "It must be difficult growing up in the shadow of your father." Yes it was. It was not until years later that I understood there is a difference between the "shade" of a father and the shadow. While there were struggles that were painful to us both about my being "Jr. ” the advantages gradually eclipsed the difficulties ” and today I am grateful for the shade of wisdom my father provided. Years ago I asked him to reflect on giving. While he had practiced giving all his life” I had never seen anything in writing. On one of our several…