People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway. If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway. In the final…

There has been a recent flurry of articles by the World Bank, Nick Kristof in the New York Times, Andrew Mayeda in Benchmark and others about the progress in the elimination of extreme poverty in the world. Of course, there have been other articles, notably Jason Hickel writing in Al Jazeera that these reports have been intentionally distorted and based on faulty data. Whatever the case for the success or failure of poverty elimination, there is more to the story than the reduction of material poverty. When the only measure of success is the difference between a $1.25 and $1.95 daily income we have too narrow a focus on the…

The imaginative Bible teacher requires a particular sort of humility. Whereas the writer or the poet or artist can create with an almost totally free hand, the Bible teacher does not write the text. So, teaching comes with limitations that frustrate some and in their desire to be creative and not repeat what has been heard over and over again, they fall into the trap of distorting the text in ways never intended. They are fascinating but they mislead and instead of using imagination they create fictions. We know that Rembrandt, Picasso and Van Gogh all painted over their own masterpieces and produced two masterpieces on the same canvas. But…

Maybe that’s just the right place to introduce Kay this evening because she has been down many roads over the last several years. C.S. Lewis said that a young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere – Bibles laid open, millions of surprises…fine nets and stratagems. God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous.” It was one of those open books – actually a magazine – that disrupted Kay’s life as a wife, mother and co­founder of Saddleback Church. But it was just a few months after that she was diagnosed with the first of two bouts…

Artists require a special quality of humility. Not the kind that denies their gift but that which is often surprised when the ideas, images, words and melodies first come to mind. Because, in the end, they do not create out of nothing. The best are those who know how much of their work is listening and then following the thread to see where it leads. When asked where his inspiration comes from Andrew replied, “The biggest thing is this: by the discipline of paying attention.” But there is something else. I read this in an interview by Sarah Geil with Andrew in the studio while he was recording his new…

Book Review: The Opposite of Spoiled by Ron Lieber. HarperCollins, 2015. 320pp.           We all have a voice in our head that talks about money. For some it’s the haunting voice in D.H. Lawrence’s story “The Rocking-Horse Winner”—the voice saying: “There must be more money! There must be more money!” The children hear it when the elaborate and splendid toys came at Christmas while their parents struggled unsuccessfully to maintain their expensive lifestyle. The voice was an inaudible but palpable anxiety about money and always needing more. The title of Lawrence’s story comes from the horse on which their young son, Paul, rocks madly while hearing…

My father told me years ago that understanding the base of a person’s logic makes a difference. For instance, if someone believes that two plus two equals five, then it is perfectly logical for them to believe that two plus three equals six. It’s not their logic that is wrong, but their starting point. I might say the same about Dan Pallotta’s book,Charity Case. The author’s logic makes sense but his basic assumptions are flawed.Charity Case is a valuable contribution in many ways but begins with a creed that is not only inaccurate but unnecessary and will alienate a constituency Pallotta will later need. The book begins with a few…

We’ve just witnessed the most heroic thing you will see this weekend because the biggest challenge in Mike’s life is leaving a podium. Wow. His fingerprints are actually – the nails – are still dug in here. I had forgotten about that purpose-driven, the Rick Warren column. Actually, having spent a couple days, few hours with you. I’m going to do not a purpose-driven life, but the chauffeured-driven life, which I think…I knew that one wouldn’t work. Wouldn’t work as well. First of all, it’s a great pleasure. Mike is one of my dear friends. Our relationship started when I would go to the Philadelphia Spectrum, where Mike was the…