Two times in the Gospels the disciples are caught asking who will be great in the Kingdom. It’s not a bad question. In fact, asking questions about ambition is something I encourage younger people to be serious about for how we define greatness sets the course for our lives. What does interest me most is the differences in the two times – three years apart – it is asked in the Gospel of Luke. The first is in the early days of the ministry where the words tell us the disciples are having a debate among themselves. It’s not an argument. It’s almost a good-natured competition. They are going at each other about greatness…

I have a couple of quirks – or so I am told.  I never read ahead of time about places I am going to visit.  I don’t do travel guides or look for the best places to eat or even the history of the country.  But when I return home I will buy several books about a country or a city to learn more about what I saw and even what I did not.  Then there is this.  I have never fished in my life but I have read eight books on fly fishing.  Even though I think it is the most elegant sport of all and I love hearing…

I believe there has been a good deal of misinformation floating around for years about the idea of ministering to donors. I am not arguing with the overall concept of caring for people – just with a couple of assumptions about what ministry is to donors. First it assumes donors (especially major ones) need a particular kind of attention due to their circumstances. Those donors are typically described as being isolated, lonely, spiritually dry, weighed down with family problems that include shaky marriages, troubled kids and misplaced priorities. There are more, but these seem to be the most common. I have heard these circumstances described in generous detail in fundraising…

In the last 10 years the term “exit strategy” has become common and typically means how a private equity investor or founding entrepreneur plans to sell their investment in a company they created. Ideally, they leave with a considerable profit, but everyone is told well in advance that one way or the other they will be leaving at a defined point. The advantages are obvious in that from the start all of the other investors and owners can prepare for their leaving. The transfer of risk and reward is orderly and well thought out. All the players are prepared for the change. As I’ve been driving on all sorts of…

Earlier this summer I was hurrying to a meeting with our chief of police and was pulled over and given a ticket for going too fast through a reduced speed zone. Yes, I did think about mentioning why I was speeding but thought better of it. So I found myself this week in a defensive driving class making sure the citation didn’t affect my insurance or driving record. Even though there is the option of taking the class online, I am glad I chose the live version. Things have changed since the last time I did defensive driving. It is now done by an instructor who works for “Comedy Guys…

Part of the appeal of Rod Dreher’s book, The Benedict Option, is his invitation to a time before the modern world conspired to eliminate the continuity of more tight-knit communities with shared beliefs. Instead, what we have today is what Zygmunt Bauman calls “liquid modernity” to describe a way of life in which change is so rapid that no social institutions have time to solidify. The most successful people nowadays are flexible and rootless; they can live anywhere and believe anything. The ancient ways are irrelevant. I thought about that this week while preparing to teach on Psalm 78: “I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter…

I hear a growing amount of conversations about where people are in the various stages of their lives. It’s good to have a general framework – especially when wrestling with something that otherwise would be either a surprise or make you think you are alone. Some stages are predictable, natural and shared by many. Erik Erikson identified eight stages of life beginning with our earliest being whether or not to trust or mistrust and our last being the choice to develop wisdom. Shakespeare described the seven ages of man from childhood to mere oblivion. I especially like a sampling of “Dominant Questions in the Decades of Our Lives” by Gordon MacDonald:…

One of the more useful powers granted to foundations is that of convening. It’s not forcing people to show up or collaborate but inviting people to a useful exchange of ideas and stories, such as the conversation we are hosting tomorrow with Michael Wear, author of Reclaiming Hope. Preparing to talk with Michael started me thinking about who I would like to invite to future conversations to share of the stories and experiences that have shaped us. If you examine the trunk of a tree when it has been cut down, it is the rings that tell the story of its life – the years of growth and struggle. The times…

Someone once wrote that freedom has an expiration date, and this may prove true. A little more than 200 years passed between the time Moses delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt to the time the Israelites had to choose between trusting God or returning to slavery by giving up their unique form of government. Their leader, Samuel, was an old man, and both of his choices for successors were corrupt. His sons had “turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice,” and the people were rightfully concerned about leadership once Samuel was gone. They knew they didn’t want his sons, but what was their option? With little thought they demanded a king. It’s not wrong to desire…

After my father died we were sorting through his papers and found a stock certificate for 100 worthless shares. They were all that was left of what had once been his retirement plan. He had worked for the company for years when he was young and had such confidence in the leadership that he put virtually everything he had in the stock. All his plans for retirement were based on his belief in that single corporation. For a time it was well-placed trust and the value soared. Then the leadership changed, the value evaporated, and Dad was left with a future that was nothing like what he had planned. I vaguely remember that…