An article by Small Business Trends claims, “a bit more than half of all startups actually survives to their fourth year.” With this staggering statistic, it is no wonder that the initial years of a start up business can feel like a drought financially, emotionally and spiritually. A season of financial drought can mask the fruit that is growing in […]

In a recent article on Superperformance.com, Internet Marketer, Anna Johnson said, “while it may be tempting to ‘do what everyone else is doing’ I suggest holding back and focusing, instead, on developing a unique and better solution.” 1 Samuel 8:19-20 says, “But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us.  Then we will be […]

As a teenager, I worked summers on my uncle’s farm. Some land my uncle farmed was owned by others. They shared the profits 50/50 after direct expenses like fertilizer and seed. With that context, I found Joseph’s profit-sharing arrangement in Genesis 47:24 as peculiar. Joseph said to the sharecropping tenants, “But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it […]

In the kids movie “Up,” there’s a dog named Dug. Throughout the movie, Dug gets distracted by squirrels. He drops whatever he’s doing to yell, “Squirrel,” then turns back to his task. A friend of mine jokingly accused both my wife and I of being squirrel hunters like Dug. Our friend knows we can both get distracted by new ideas […]

During lunch with our now deceased friend, Cliff, Kathy and I learned about Cliff’s service on a Navy destroyer during World War II when a Kamikaze pilot hit and sunk the ship. Half of the crew died that day. Cliff watched helplessly as two sharks devoured his friend, while he desperately tried to pull him to safety. Cliff carried that […]

Years ago, I worked in an office building with multiple organizations near each other. Ours became a tight-knit community with friendships, barbeques and other fun events throughout the year. Then, Jane was hired to work at one of the organizations. Jane began sharing with me negative comments she claimed others in the building had said about me, causing my relationships […]

Mary was new within the audit department, but she made it clear that she believed she should be in charge. Our boss had served faithfully for years in running the department, but Mary was determined to force him out. Mary began a very aggressive smear campaign against our boss. She spread multiple lies, and even had the gall to call […]

For a while in high school, none of my friends had the same lunch hour as I did. Not wanting to sit alone, I joined a table of guys known as the Valley View Vandals. Soon I realized, any time there was trouble, these guys were either starting the trouble, or they quickly ran to join in! I soon realized […]

In 1980, the Kansas City firefighters went on strike. It was a very contentious strike that led to several suspicious fires that some believed were set by firefighters. One evening my neighbor and I drove by the scene of a nearby fire in a newly built nursing home. With few firefighters to help, my neighbor and I joined many others […]

Years ago, I introduced Dennis to Craig, a business owner who was looking for funding. Since I didn’t know Craig well, I warned Dennis to carefully vet this opportunity. At the first meeting Dennis told Craig, “I’m willing to consider investing in your business, but I hate liars. If you ever lie, we are done that instant.” A month later […]