poor or rich?
For the last several years, home prices have plummeted in different countries around the world. Russian billionaire Yuri Milner (who made much of his money investing in Groupon and Facebook), however, recently paid the highest price on record for any family home. Milner plopped down $100 million for a 25,500 square foot home in California’s Silicon Valley. The home boasts…
a destructive god
There are two essential spiritual truths that we ignore at our peril. The first is that a variety of “gods” seek our allegiance. The second is that we take on the qualities of the gods we worship. Jesus described money as one of these alternative gods, and the secular world is now telling us how worshiping this god affects us.…
money matters
I was looking at my bank account recently. The dismal amount led me to think about how I could grow my money. You know, as someone in my mid-30s, I ought to have a healthy sum stashed away for rainy days, right? The next thought that came to my mind was: Hmm . . . maybe I should cut back…
no other god
In his fascinating book, Modes of Faith, Theodore Ziolkowski reviews the lives of 19th-century European writers who had lost faith in God. What Ziolkowski finds is this: While these authors had dismissed the God of the Bible, another ‘god’ had soon taken His place.
Ziolkowski found five “gods” to be most attractive to these men and their readers. Art was raised…
life and submission
Jesus taught us to lay down our lives for others. At its most costly moments, I believe this submission of our wills happens in four progressive stages.
The first stage is recognition. We are presented with a need or a person for whom a decision of submission must be made.
The second stage is deliberation. There will be a cost…
living light
When Dee Williams decided to downsize she sold her 3-bedroom house and moved into an 84-square foot “tiny house.” This transition liberated her from a monthly mortgage payment. She now owns her home—which cost a fraction of the price—and pays just hardly anything each month in heating costs. Before moving in, Dee purged many of her possessions. Old photos, love…
security
The 21st century is turning out to be frighteningly unpredictable. As technology scampers ahead at breakneck speed, companies that were toasted yesterday are today simply toast. The Blackberry has given way to the iPhone, "brick and mortar" bookshops have been pushed aside by amazon.com, and MySpace has been supplanted by Facebook (which is being challenged by Google+). Few businesses can…
the wealthy poor
My close friends Rob and Christi Gebhart and their three young children spent 6 weeks at my home in Uganda this past year. Christi blogged that she and Rob were most moved by the poignant observations their sons made of the Ugandan people.
“Early on,” Christi wrote, “Tyler observed how strange it was that the people with so little could…
what do you worship?
"Whether it’s a supernatural being . . . science, money, wisdom, information, ritual, power or love,” says social commentator Hugh Mackay, “most of us assign the status of god to something in our lives.” The truth is: Modern, secular people still worship something even if they’ve abandoned belief in God.
The first chapter of Romans describes this human religious impulse…
betrayed
If you were to name your newborn son, which of these three names would you choose: James, John, or Judas? You might select James or John, but—undoubtedly—you wouldn’t name your son Judas. You might name your dog Max or Buddy, but not Judas. Even a dog deserves a respectable name!
Judas means praise, but it has become an icon of…
money and happiness
How much money does one need to be happy? According to a study from Princeton University, it’s $75,000 (US dollars) a year. The study claims that the lower a person’s annual income falls below that benchmark, the unhappier he or she will be.
At a recent trip to a rural district in Thailand, however, I saw a lady peddling snacks…
taking root
A few years ago, I wrote about three street kids—Saddam, Moses, and Charles. At the time, I had helped lead them to a Christian home for children who had no other place to live. I thought the boys would be elated to leave their life of extreme suffering behind. But after only one month in his new environment, Saddam called…
radical generosity
I never cease to be amazed at the people Jesus put forward as role models. He said children were role models for trust (Mark 10:15); He presented a “sinful woman” as a role model for love (Luke 7:47); He no doubt scandalized His Jewish friends when He suggested a pagan soldier was a role model for faith (Luke 7:1-9). So…
well-aged wisdom
Yam Fot Pau and his wife overcame poverty by pouring their lives into building a successful business, only to see it go bankrupt in 1992. He said at the time, “My philosophy on money is simple: It is important, but it depends on how you get it. . . . I’ve never been afraid of hard work.”
Older people can…
is it worth it?
Lou Gehrig may not have died from Lou Gehrig’s disease. The Hall of Fame pro baseball player is the namesake for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a debilitating neurological disease that slowly paralyzes its victims and ultimately leads to death. New research reveals that Gehrig may not have had ALS, but exhibited similar symptoms due to blows to his head.
Gehrig…
