More David Allen

In the mail: Making It All Work, this is the sequel to GTD.

Celebrating Discipline

My church men's group will commence a new study built around Richard J. Foster's Celebration of Discipline, first published in 1978. It has been about that long since I read it. I have to ask what I would be like now, 30 years later, had I applied the disciplines Foster describes to my life.

But that was then, and this is now.

On page 5 of the edition I'm reading, Foster writes of "will worship," the worship of the will. He quotes from Col. 2:20-23, the KJV, which reads:

Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.[My bold].

My mind went straight to David Allen! If I can just get my life arranged in a certain way; just force myself to do the weekly survey; manage my tickler file; sort through that in-box and make the decisions that must be made: then life will calm down, and I will be happy (that is, blessed). It's "will-worship!" Plainly!

So, here we go with the Disciplines. One word of caution from Foster that I would note: "to know the mechanics does not mean we are practicing the Disciplines."

It would be fine for my kith and kin to pray that in 2009 the Spiritual Disciplines would become for me, as Foster writes, "an inward and spiritual reality . . . the inner attitude of the heart [that] is far more crucial than the mechanics for coming into the reality of the spiritual life."

Walter's Family at Christmas

We were in Austin for Christmas, and this photo was taken in the sanctuary at West Lake Hills PC just after the Christmas Eve Children's Service. Pictured are Walter, Morgan and their children, Felicity and Nautica, Morgan's parents, Mike and Mickey, Carol, Mary and Yours Truly. (Macon's family was under the weather and not able to attend.)

An Atheist Looks at Christian Missionaries in Africa

Surprising. Not in his findings, but in his honesty. (Thanks to Macon for emailing this link.)

Tell Me Again Why People Don't Like Laywers?

Rick's account of his Mary's dealing with outrageous conduct by a lawyer. It makes me too angry to even begin to appreciate the irony of the "Holiday" card.

Dalrymple on the State of the English Character

And it's not good.

Beets

Richer than spinach in iron and other minerals. The greens are helpful in cases of anemia, tuberculosis, constipation, poor appetite, obesity, tumors, gout, pimples and helpful in the elimination of irritating drug poisons. Beets are one of the best foods to relieve constipation and they are also good for obesity. Mmmm!!

No Place for Schadenfreude

In Saturday's WSJ, the lead article is "The World of Madoff and His Clients." Adjacent to it is an article about Burt Ross, a former stockbroker, commercial real estate operator, former mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., husband and father. Mr. Ross is one year younger than I, has lived in the same house for 33 years where he raised his family, and lost his $5 million savings to Madoff. The article shows him to be a thoroughly decent man, someone whose sense of decency led him to submit to interviews by the WSJ that must have been painful and embarrassing for him but nevertheless provide an important lesson for the rest of us. I hope you can read the entire article, but here are some important or poignant excerpts:

Mr. Ross says he remembers being puzzled about how Mr. Madoff was able to show positive returns, even in months when the stocks Mr. Madoff's fund owned were down. . . . He pushed such thoughts aside, "I thought, 'Who am I to question?'" Mr. Ross says. "This guy has a formula involving computerized trading . . It's like Coke. We're not supposed to know the formula."

* * *

[Mr. Ross] says he cried when his 24-year-old daughter offered him reassuring words. On Thursday, he explained to his 22-year-old son, who had just completed his last college exam, that much of his inheritance was gone, and his son also comforted him.

* * *

Mr. Ross's wife, Joan, says she had always been nervous about whether their money was safe with Mr. Madoff. "We would revisit the issue from time to time," she recalls. "He was concerned about growth. When the market looked shaky, my concern was to preserve what we have until things settled down." She urged him to consider a safe alternative, such as Treasurys.

This morning, my readings were in 1 Timothy. There were rich men in the church in Ephesus, where Timothy was ministering. Paul writes this to Timothy at the end of the fifth chapter:

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

I Wish

Abby to FSU

We last posted on Abby Carr in February. The Herald today reports that Abby Carr has committed to play soccer at FSU.

FSU is one of the top six or eight schools in women's soccer in the country. I'm glad she will be in-state, because we may have more opportunities to see her play.

"The Madoff Inheritance"

This opinion column in today's WSJ by Daniel Henninger is well worth a read.

Also, take a look at the video interview of Henninger.

PC to Apple

My Christmas present from Carol will be a MacBook White. On the very day we ordered it, my HP Laptop died. Goodbye, then, to all that. (Except when I'm at the office.)

I will soon become a real nuisance to Mary Ann, Macon, Walter, and Mary, as I enter this brave new world. (Not that I am not already a nuisance, especially to the children. But that's called "rough justice.")

Maybe a Little Too Smug

In my post yesterday about Bernie Madoff I said that investors should have known better. This morning a Jewish friend of mine told me about her 80 year old aunt who had everything she had with Madoff and had lost everything. The aunt has no other financial resources and lives in a retirement home. Others in my friend's wide network of family and friends, largely middle class, Jewish people, had lost very substantial sums. I had in mind the Mort Zuckermans of the world, who had lost money with Madoff, not aged widows. Time to recalibrate.

But May a Christian be Cranky?

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

-Ephesians 1:1-3.

Oops.

Christmas as Peace, Hope, and Love

From a "Christmas" Card that a vendor sent us here at the firm:

Rejoice in the spirit of Christmas which is Peace

Rejoice in the miracle of Christmas which is Hope

Rejoice in the heart of Christmas which is Love

I suppose I am to give the vendor a pass because he actually used the word "Christmas." But I don't. I would have preferred he use "Holiday" or "Season" rather than attempt to define Christmas in such saccharine terms.

The vendor sent me a nice tape measure. I'm thinking of sending it back to him. Am I just being cranky?

"Trust but Verify"

This quote is attributed to Ronald Reagan, and the context of his statement was foreign policy. But it can be applied in many contexts, and the latest notorious circumstance where the parties failed to exercise such discipline involves the investment manager Bernard L. Madoff. The context, of course, was the investment of one's money. What characterizes this scandal appears to be not only the scale of the fraud. What distinctly characterizes it is that that the people whom Madoff defrauded were those who, one would think, should have known better.

It reminds me of a scuba diving class that Walter and I attended when he was in Scouts and both of us were getting certified. It was the final classroom meeting before we went out on our culminating dive off of Islamarada. The instructors were first rate, and the handout that night was a chart that listed all of the things that could go wrong on a dive and kill you. I put up my hand and asked the main instructor how often beginners like us would find ourselves in such deadly situations.

She said very rarely. Most of the people who were killed, she said, were experienced divers who knew better than to make the mistakes described on the chart. She said that experienced divers often felt they could bend the rules and get away with it. Inexperienced, but well trained divers, she said, were usually very attentive to the rules. Furthermore, they would be on the dive and remind us.

What I think happened to the Medoff investors, people who knew the rules, was that they thought both Medoff and themselves were exceptional people, exceptional in their experience, in their intelligence, and in their social and professional standings. The red-flags of consistent investment performance above the norms, year after year, as if they and they alone lived in some alternate universe, were not for them. Those red flags were for the rest of us.

There is a Despair poster (I can't recall the name of it) that presents a sort of truth (something I call a "Despair-truth") which suggests that some people make huge mistakes as a lesson to the rest of us. So it is with those who are simply too smart, too fine, and too successful to be bothered with verification.

May God Forgive Us.

We are pre-occupied by a foul-mouthed governor and by failed corporate/labor syndicates that build cars no one much wants. And this is happening. (Thanks to Glenn Reynolds for spotting this.)

As the Beltway Gathers the Means

Economic control is not merely control of a sector of human life that can be separated from the rest; it is the control of the means for all our ends. And whoever has sole control of the means also determines which ends are to be served, which values are to be rated higher and which lower - in short, what men should believe and strive for.

-Friedrich Hayek, as quoted in Hilton Kramer and Roger Kimball's column "Notes and Comments" under the subheading Freedom Imperilled in the December issue of The New Criterion.

That column also quotes from an article entitled The Loss of Individual Liberty in last month's Forbes. The Forbes article chronicles the ongoing nationalization of our economic life during the Bush Administration, what is happening at this moment, and what we can expect during Obama's reign.

But the ultimate economic truth is reflected in Psalms 50:10, and I take comfort in it:

[F]or every animal of the forest is mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.

Sen. Bill Nelson on the Big 3 Bail-Out Issue

I send Bill Nelson, one of our Florida US Senators, emails about various issues. He is a Democrat, well-meaning and I have never read of any corrupt aspect of his service.

As readers have noticed from my posts, I'm ready to let the Big 3 go into Chapter 11. Sen. Nelson disagrees. Here is his response to my email:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the proposed bailout of the auto industry .

In my judgment, the Big Three automakers have arrived at this point through their own poor management. The fact that so many American manufacturing jobs are at risk is the only reason these companies deserve any taxpayer assistance. In order to avoid digging ourselves into a deeper economic hole, we must take action. But we cannot simply have another bailout. Any assistance from the government must come in the form of a loan with significant strings attached to force these companies to restructure the way they do business.

First, we must insist that the Big Three increase their average fuel economy to 50 miles per gallon by 2020. Automakers must also increase production of flex-fuel, electric, and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Foreign car companies have been building fuel-efficient cars for years, and now in this era of volatile gas prices, the American manufacturers find themselves at a disadvantage.

We also must ensure that no taxpayer money goes to reward the people who got us in this situation in the first place. Shareholders in these companies should not receive dividends until the companies return to financial health. We must place limits on executive compensation and eliminate golden parachutes. Finally, we must insist that these companies replace their senior management. We need new leadership and fresh ideas to get us out of this mess.

I appreciate the time you've taken to contact me about this important issue. I am committed to keeping America on the leading edge of manufacturing and technological innovation. Please do not hesitate to share your views with me in the future.

Intervention by Congress, then, is the answer, and not the market-place. What a sorry pass we have come to in this country when the national political system chooses the winners and losers among US corporations.

One of the remarkably naive statements Sen. Nelson makes is "Shareholders in these companies should not receive dividends until the companies return to financial health." Only healthy companies pay dividends. They do not pay dividends unless there are earnings and profits. That is dictated by the market and by law. If the companies went in to Chapter 11, we can be assured that shareholders will be treated appropriately. The appropriate treatment will probably be that, when the smoke clears, the present shareholders will own little or nothing of the emerging companies, and they certainly will not receive dividends in the meanwhile.

More on Tebow from SI

Here.