Normally we think about an epiphany being a sudden rush of insight. Of course sometimes they are. But others are more the result of a long and silent process that has been working away internally. It’s not an eruption or a blinding flash but pieces of a puzzle coming together. I was in a dark theater watching a performance of “Over the River and Through the Woods.” It is a play by Joe De Pietro, and a friend John Kelly played the lead character. De Pietro scripts the poignant story of an immigrant Italian family in New York whose grandson Nick has made a decision to move away – far away…

  There are two kinds of fools in the world. One is the Biblical fool who is best described as a person with no self-control. He is "a larger child" governed by the impulse of the passing moment and with no ability to rule his tongue emotions pleasures or thoughts. He is stupid and self-conceited and with no ability to see himself as he is ” he rushes to his own destruction hardly thinking at all about what awaits him. Grady Wilson was a childhood friend of Billy Graham and for 30 years he was perhaps his closest associate and confidant. He was also the one person who could let…

  There are two kinds of fools in the world. One is the Biblical fool who is best described as a person with no self-control. He is "a larger child" governed by the impulse of the passing moment and with no ability to rule his tongue emotions pleasures or thoughts. He is stupid and self-conceited and with no ability to see himself as he is ” he rushes to his own destruction hardly thinking at all about what awaits him. Grady Wilson was a childhood friend of Billy Graham and for 30 years he was perhaps his closest associate and confidant. He was also the one person who could let…

Steve Martin is known most widely for his early work in absurd comedy but he has also evolved into a serious art collector playwright and fine writer. In his memoir, “Born Standing Up” he recounts the death of his father. Growing up in Waco, Texas, Steve remembers his feelings toward his father as “mostly ones of hatred” as his father was cold and stern. He was critical of Steve’s career. and their relationship was awkward at best: “In his early 80s my father’s health declined further and he became bedridden. There must be an instinct about when the end is near as we all found ourselves gathered at my parents’home in…

Steve Martin is known most widely for his early work in absurd comedy but he has also evolved into a serious art collector playwright and fine writer. In his memoir, “Born Standing Up” he recounts the death of his father. Growing up in Waco, Texas, Steve remembers his feelings toward his father as “mostly ones of hatred” as his father was cold and stern. He was critical of Steve’s career. and their relationship was awkward at best: “In his early 80s my father’s health declined further and he became bedridden. There must be an instinct about when the end is near as we all found ourselves gathered at my parents’home in…

Studies and predictions about the transfer of wealth from parents to their children started popping up around the turn of the century. In their 1999 study, “The Millionaires and the Millennium: New Estimates of the Forthcoming Wealth Transfer and the Prospects for a Golden Age of Philanthropy,” Paul Schervish and John Havens at the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College had financial planners scurrying to prepare investment plans to accommodate an estimated $41 trillion that would be passed over 50 years. For the next several years, investment firms rolled out products that would absorb the wave of assets. I heard about “pre-mortem” consultants hired by children to negotiate…

Michael Gerson mentioned on Facebook this week that he is re-reading Graham Greene’s “The Power and The Glory.” It’s the story of a failed priest on the run from the police. He is friendless, homeless and searching for some sense of purpose in his life. Hiding from his calling and decisions he has made in the past he is ironically incapable of not being a priest and ministering to people – even at the risk of his life. Tormented by his own sense of guilt he spends the whole of the novel both in flight and in pursuit. It is so much like the life of Jonah. I don’t know if…

  Last month the latest report by the Johnson Center on Millennial Giving (http://www.nextgendonors.org/) was released and is both interesting and helpful. However while there are clearly significant differences in the generations ” I think it is a mistake to assume that generational differences are the most important or determinative in describing donors. There are too many other factors.  While the book was written for development professionals ” the insights are invaluable in helping gain a better understanding of your own giving as a donor and how to be more effective in your own unique style.  Doing Good Makes Sense. Communitarians give because it makes good sense to do so.…