Father John R.W. Stott

This week I have longed for something about which to opine that did not involve Democrats, Republicans, bond ratings or arcane arguments about the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

As I write, I find that the addage "be careful what you pray for" is true.

At 815 AM local time in London this past Wednesday, Rev. John R.W. Stott passed away.

If you are not familiar with him, Father Stott was a Biblical scholar in the truest sense of the word. He loved the Bible, passionately loved it. He loved it because he loved Christ, and had a profound sense of precious value of salvation by grace through faith in Christ.

Father Stott knew he had nothing to bring to the table, that it was all God.

As a result, he was compelled to lovingly write, speak, teach, tell others about his Truest Friend.

In 1974 at the International Congress on World Evangelization, John Stott substantially framed the document now known as the Lausanne Covenant, a call to the Church and a framework for proclaiming the Gospel - in a true, unapologetically Biblical, and ECUMENICAL context.

That is why I so loved him. John Stott could embrace the denominational differerences within the church, not decry them, but see them as part and parcel of the way God works.

He could do this because he knew what the essentials of the Gospel were - things that were predicate to, warp and woof of, the Good News. He could and did give sway on the lesser points.

John R.W. Stott was - to the surprise of many on this side of the pond - an ordained, faithful Anglican priest - not a hardshell Baptist or a Pentacostal. Yet, a Baptist or Pentacostal reading his works would find much to love.

To a Calvinist and closet Anglican like myself - he was and is permission to love God's word, desire for others to know Him, and find encouragement and sheer joy at Scripture filled, prayerbook worship.

His commentaries on various books of the Bible, especially his work on the Acts of the Apostles, served to encourage me when my own fallen nature has shown not to be fully submitted to the love of Christ.

Part of me is hugely grieved at the loss of this giant of a man.

The rest of me says - "Thanks for all you did for me Father Stott. See you soon."

Electric and Gas Deregulation

Okay.

I am actually saying something nice about Obama, and no it is not a sign of the apocalypse.

The Obama administration has apparently gotten it right on pushing, or at least not getting in the way of, deregulation of electricity and gas delivery.

I for one, see opportunity here, and am so grateful to the President, that I may just show up at the groundbreaking for the Barack H. Obama Presidential Library in 2013.

Multiple Income Streams - Part Deux

This week, for a miriad (that means "alot") of reasons, I implemented a plan to develop three new businesses.

No, I have not quit my core business, as I still have much opportunity to create value there. I concluded, coming out of the recession, that I have to take responsibility for my own outcomes, trusting God for wisdom, but using what He has given me.

So, we are launching two businesses somewhat related to what we do in our law firm, and another related to new technologies/telecom/energy delivery.

None of the three are purely original, but each one was an idea someone who cared about me shared.

My job is to share the value of these ideas with the people who need them - some to help carry them further, and others to benefit from them - - -

And pay for them.

All We are Saaayyyinng is Give Wealth a Chance

‎"I would rather have 10,000 rich men handing out jobs than one (guy) at the top talking about "shovel ready" projects." ~ James Patrick Riley

Someone passed the quote above to me earlier. I posted it on Facebook and a liberal friend of mine - What? I used to be a liberal, so why can't I have liberal friends.

Anyway - this friend pointed out that a term for which I made a parenthetical replacement may have been disrespectful.

Without the term, Riley's statement remains valid. Even the President had to admit - much as Roosevelt's Treasury chief in 1938 - that the shovel ready projects were not so shovel ready.

So, what's the alternative? The billionaires, millionaires, and mass affluents that the President wants to pay their fair share?

Well, maybe he would have a point if those guys kept their money hoarded. 


But they don't.

They buy things. They invest. They start companies.

All of those things mean that women and men have to be hired to get the jobs done.

So, to paraphrase John Lennon.

Let's "give wealth a chance."

Dog Poop - The Real "Mother of Invention"

If you read one of my earlier posts, you know that my daughter's Rottweiler-Yorkshire Terrier mix, Medusa, ate a small screw Thursday night while I was changing a belt on our vacuum cleaner.

It had a blunt tip, so we weren't completely worried about damage from eating the screw.

Nonetheless, I was tasked with searching the backyard - a supply of dog-poop bags in hand. The objective was to palpate the bags of poop in search of a hard object.

Sounds like reading an Obama campaign position paper. But I digress.

As I have clinically dianosed ADD, I used the time searching for the Holy Grail of Dog Excrement to let my mind loose and see if anything creative occured.

It did.

I'd had a particularly irritating week. Between the challenges of making rain - which usually is great fun - and the process of delegating things that are not my Unique Ability(tm), I was feeling pretty stressed.

Then an idea came.

That idea was followed by another.

Then a goal came to mind, and from there a process.

After my sweep of the yard - several bags of poop - no screw - I texted my friend Erik.

Erik is another entrepreneur. If bad company is the ruin of good character, Erik is the kind of guy an entrepreneur wants to be sure to run with.

I gave him a date in mind for a rather grand goal.

That led to more texts with the goal fleshed-out.

Erik, as I knew he would, said he would guide me.

Invention had arrived.

And its mother is Dog Poop.

No - That is not how to join a metal band

Thursday night, I replaced a belt on our Obama January 2009 Vacuum.
Okay, it's a Eureka "The Boss."
Fully functional, both really suck, when you think about it. But I digress.
I laid the three screws you take off to get to the belt, and laid them on the hearth of our fireplace.
My daughter's dog, who I refer to as Medusa, noticed the screws, and ate one.
May start referring to her as Metallica.

Value Creation and Multiple Income Streams

Each year, I do an exercise called a "One Year Planner."
It has ten objectives I want to achieve to make progress in important areas of my life.
The "OYP" I laid out in May included an objective of developing new income streams.
Why?
Dan Sullivan is co-founder, with his terrific wife - Babs Smith - of The Strategic Coach in Toronto, ON. Dan points out that if one is an entrepreneur who happens to be a CPA, the creative possibilities are much greater than being hemmed-in by the reverse.
In our law firm, we have had several ideas for related businesses, for which we have identifiable demand, that are not professionally legal in nature, and could create value for clients and their other advisors with Unique Processes(tm). Maybe it is time to act on those.
Recently, I have been exposed to ideas that MDs, CPAs, pharmacists, and educators have leveraged into various multiple income streams.
The point is, this is still an economically free society. God made us in His image, and He is creative.
The possibilities are pretty much endless.