Faith Venture

Pursuit of Wealth or Living a Real Life

May 17, 2024

Nassim Nicholas Taleb—The fact that people in countries with cold weather tend to be harder working, richer, less relaxed, less amicable, less tolerant of idleness, more (over) organized and more harried than those in hotter climates should make us wonder whether wealth is mere indemnification, and motivation is just overcompensation for not having a real life.

Jesus—…but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.

The pursuit of wealth or worrying about wealth of which we may not have enough puts us on an endless treadmill running to nowhere.

It is not too late no matter the season to “have a real life” or to be “fruitful.”

Pause and breathe
Take slow walks
Be kind
Practice generosity
Serve others graciously
Teach someone life skills

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Virtue

May 16, 2024

I’ve been thinking on a concept almost unheard of today—virtue.

Virtue is what I do when no one is looking.

Virtue is when the income number I show the tax collector is greater than the income number I would show my neighbor.

Virtue is when I follow through on what I say I will do.

Virtue is when I am kind to someone for no apparent reason.

Virtue is when I help someone who cannot repay.

Virtue is when I shine the light on someone else rather than hogging the spotlight.

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Being Ordinary

May 15, 2024

Each of us is exceptional in some way. People amaze me with their unique capabilities and knowledge when I talk with them.

We live in a society that emphasizes being extraordinary. Parents push their kids (or hope their kids) are gifted. That they will meet society’s definitions of success—wealth, power, position.

I have no idea why they put up that sign. But I thought of people like Thoreau who were exceptional in their being unexceptional.

Do truly gifted people have the best lives? Do the richest people or those at the top echelon of the business hierarchy have the happiest lives?

Be who you are. And be comfortable in your skin.

Pursue what interests you—whether hobby or profession.
Serve others generously.
Devise a lifestyle of health and vigor.
Pray often.
Be kind.

Be extraordinary in your ordinaryness.

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Mindset

May 14, 2024

Professor Carol Dweck of Stanford published groundbreaking research about how we see life—what we believe—in Mindset: The New Psychology of Success in 2007. She says, “It’s not always the people who start out the smartest who end up the smartest.”

By what you believe, I don’t mean whether or not you believe in Jesus or God or Spirit. It’s sort of what you believe about yourself. Dweck discovered that some people believe in constantly growing. That their are opportunities in the world to be discovered. That I believe that I can be as healthy and fit as nature allows. It’s called a growth mindset.

We all know people, I pray you are not one who believed that things were always bad, they were going to turn out bad, that there was little hope on earth. There is a negative mindset.

You can change and adapt your mindset. It may be almost natural, something you learned early to adapt to life. It may be something you’ve grown into.

You can adopt a mindset open to new experiences. You can be open to hearing or feeling the urges that come from God. You can be open to following the ways of Jesus and living in the spirit.

I sometimes sit with my arms crossed because it stretches my shoulders and feels good. But mostly we sit with our arms crossed and maybe our legs crossed as a sort of defensive posture of not wanting to hear what someone else is saying. Try sitting “open.” Upright, Hands open. Eyes open. Let the words of text or from the speaker soak in open to perhaps learning something or at least understanding someone else.

You may find yourself growing emotionally and spiritually.

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Slow Down, You Move Too Fast

May 13, 2024

You’ve got to make the morning last. (Apologies to Paul Simon from when he was feelin’ groovy)

My handwriting in cursive degenerates to a scrawl as I hasten to capture all the ideas tumbling through my mind.

Then I remember my engineering drawing classes where they taught “lettering.” Slow down. Form the letters. The idea train will slow down as if for entry to the station.

Sometimes I review notes being unable to read them. Not a good thing.

Slowing ourselves brings our awareness into the scene. We have time to think before writing or talking. We have time to notice the other. And only the other. Time to focus on the task. And only the task.

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Healthy Faith

May 10, 2024

I picked up these thoughts from Arthur C. Brooks, who wrote Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier with Oprah Winfrey. He is a devout Catholic and is a friend of the Dalai Lama. After his recent visit, he jotted some notes from their conversation. He says it better than I could.Try living these, not as a checklist but incorporated as a fundamental way of life. Maybe I’ll write these on a PostIt note and put it on my desk as a reminder when I begin my day.

Healthy faith builds on seven truths:

All people are our family;
Life demands gratitude;
Love repays love;
We are made for empathy;
Love is action, not a feeling;
That action is compassion.
Life’s purpose is to uplift and unite others.

Become a teacher of love. Your classroom is every interaction. Teach through action.

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Beware YouTubers

May 9, 2024

A woman broadcasts nutrition “information” on YouTube. She lifted part of a study that claims oatmeal is harmful to your health that mainstream media reported.

Many published research papers show the many benefits of eating oatmeal—it has fiber of which most Americans eat way too little; it appears to help regulate glucose; it helps decrease one type of cholesterol (I am a sample of one there).

We do that with theology, too, don’t we? You know who you are. You who lifted one verse from the Bible or other spiritual work and constructed a theology around it. The end of the earth, the role of women, the superiority of certain races.

Discernment—perceive, understand, and judge things correctly. Maybe it means reading an entire paragraph, or the entire passage, or letter, or book. After finding context and checking translations, perhaps we lay people can achieve a partial understanding of the breadth and depth of God.

So many learned and intelligent men have written lengthy systematic theologies beginning with the Bible. And they all differ. What hubris do you have thinking you can know it all?

Humility is the beginning of understanding.

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On the Treadmill of Expectations

May 8, 2024

I’ve been a tech geek for a long time. From having electronics components strewn around the house and working toward a Ham Radio license while in high school to building up my own computers in the 90s. Occasionally, I interview someone from a company introducing new software for manufacturing and pause to consider how far technology has come.

But for the most part, I acquire a new iPhone and instantly wish I had more functions rather than enjoying the advances. In my mind I keep raising the bar of expectations. Rather than admiring and enjoying the awe of the magic in my hand, I wish for more.

Our spiritual life can be like that. We ignore the things that God has put into our lives—the people, opportunities, smell of spring flowers, beauty of sunsets. We could pause just admiring the awe of miracles all around us rather than grumbling about some perceived slight.

Let us jump off the treadmill of more and enjoy what God has placed before us.

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Are You a Planner or a Doer?

May 7, 2024

Arnold Schwarzenegger forged a career from body builder to actor to “governator” of California. Preaching fitness for everyone has been a consistent concern throughout his life.

Writing this week in his daily newsletter Pump Club, he discusses how so many of us plan to do things but then never get around to actually doing.

In more than 50 years of my fitness crusade, I cannot count how many times I’ve heard people say they are planning on starting to train or planning on starting a diet. It is always a plan to start on Monday, or the first of the month, or next year. It is never a plan to start now. I see it in the comments of the Pump Club app, in the replies to our daily emails here, and I even hear it from people in the gym. Always planning. Everybody who plans has good intentions, but let’s be honest about what it really is. Planning means you’re not taking action. You’re choosing to avoid getting started. Doing takes effort. Choosing to work on yourself is hard. You know it will be uncomfortable. Changing the status quo is never easy. So you plan. You research. You spin your wheels until you say you wish you could be healthy. And then you start all over, planning and wishing. You wait and wait.

This sounds so familiar. The change you wish may be to lose weight. Or maybe start getting physically fit. Or maybe spiritually fit—I will start studying the Bible Monday or I will have a prayer and meditation session every early morning some day.

Back to Arnold:

I spoke to the annual convention of thoracic surgeons last month. When I sat down to talk to some of my cardiologist friends for coffee after my fireside chat, it was clear most people wait until the choice is made for them — or until it’s too late to make any choices at all.

Will it take a crisis of soul to divert us from the easy path to a life of intentional spiritual practices? Don’t wait for next Monday. Begin today. Right now.

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Time for a Change?

May 6, 2024

The Christian life, the spiritual life is all about change.

I was that sort of person. Now, I am becoming this sort of person. Maybe gradually or maybe suddenly. Maybe I learn a little every day. Maybe something is revealed to me a little at a time. Maybe an event happens opening my eyes to what I’ve been and what I could be.

A preacher used to turn to his right and motion a direction and then turn to his left and motion a direction. That’s repentance, he said, I was going that way, and now I’m going this way.

I’m writing this at 6am on a Monday morning. I have a busy week this week and will be meeting many people—both in person and over the Web.

What will I learn from these encounters? Will I see or hear something that nudges me a bit along the way? Something that opens my eyes just a little? Or a lot?

If I am open to God’s presence for another week, what will happen?

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