Faith ain’t easy

How do you get from “I think” to “I believe” to “I know”?  (For my Texas friends… from “I reckon” to “I’m fixin” to “I done did it”?)  I’m talking about really big goals, like running a marathon or defeating a life-threatening disease.  For an achievement so huge, it takes a tremendous physical effort and…

Moments that matter

My first volunteer experience was forced upon me.  OK, maybe “forced” is too strong a word, but I didn’t exactly volunteer to volunteer.  I was 10 years old and my brother Jeff was 11.  Our mom was a psychiatric nurse at Extendicare, an assisted living facility in southern Indiana.  My brother and I were off…

It ain’t about you

“It ain’t about you!!” is an often exaggerated tagline from Dr. Phil, but when you really think about it…it’s good advice.  The world is a better place when we consider others before ourselves.  My personal perspective got an adjustment last night, and it came in the form of a speech by a young man named…

Know risk, know reward

I just got the sobering Social Security Statement that shows my lifetime history of work and how much I made each year; kind of like “This is Your Life” through a financial lens.  A couple of very interesting data points jumped out at me… First, I made only $413 in the first year of my…

The $5000 chicken nugget

My teenage son was NOT hungry.  That should have been our first warning sign.  He complained about an upset stomach and the usual remedies did not help.  Within an hour he was doubled over in pain and we could not figure out why.  My wife Carol asked him again, “Are you SURE you didn’t eat something strange…