The puzzling paradox of generosity  Do you want to be happy? Well, who doesn’t? I mean what kind of scroogemeister goes around with the desire to be “humbug?” It’s puzzling isn’t it? All around us we are besieged with the messages of what makes us happy. Zoom, zoom—the car. Friends watching the game at the bar—“hey, we don’t want to leave.” The refreshing taste of a cold one. The newest ... read full post Why graduation ceremonies? I’m coming off two successive weekends of graduation ceremonies. My daughters Ashley and Jessica are now both part of the degreed community. Each ceremony was marked by the usual pomp and circumstance march, welcomes, keynote speakers, and graduation marches. But why the ceremony? I mean let’s face it, how many people want to sit through yet another graduation speech. As Garry Trudeau, of Far Side ... read full post The perilous and glorious persistent advance of the gospel I know that my two car garage sometimes affords me the quiet luxury of avoiding my neighbors, and worse still the closing of the garage door can be my signal that the day has ended. Yet it has not really. All around the world, there are other places where there is no garage door, no door even. Perhaps at best, it is a shack that will help keep out the rain and provide some shelter from a blistering sun. It is ... read full post Why Cheerios matter There they were. Cheerios—they were in a nice little container with a plastic lid. It was just enough for a couple of baby sized fistfuls or maybe little fingers still learning to pick up and find a mouth. I have to say that I was amazed because these Cheerios were at Chick-Fil-A. Now we are long past the toddler stage when Cheerios mattered. But I remember those days when a little tub of Cheerios was ... read full post Hands Up!—Your stuff or your money! In a tight economy, more and more donors find it hard to make some of the cash gifts they made before the recession. But some are thinking creatively. More than ever, they are turning to their stuff. The Fidelity Charitable Fund reported that last year gifts of alternative assets rose by 9%. For five years running, the National Christian Foundation has seen gifts of alternative assets—things like real ... read full post What Carter Posladek is teaching me about giving Carter Posladek. I suspect you are wondering what great mind I am referring to, or perhaps what great theological treatise am I digging into. Well, in truth, none—at least not yet. You see Carter Posladek is a student at Azusa Pacific University, which makes him all of 21 years old. But he wrote a paper called “How Wealthy Christians Should Give/Tithe.” There, he questions and challenges the ... read full post | 1 comments The sin of self storage You’ve seen the signs: Self Storage. They actually come in many sizes. Some are indoor and air conditioned. Some look like they were built in the pasture. Some have rather elaborate fences and security coded gates. Some are even making reality TV shows. My friend Ray Gary tells me that when he became CEO of iDonate.com that he started doing research on the self-storage industry. What he found was ... read full post | 5 comments Giving is not generosity Have you ever heard the phrase, “I gave at the office”? We laugh when we hear that statement, but sadly I’m afraid we’ve accepted the notion that giving equals generosity. The word “giving” is simply defined as “to transfer the possession of something.” Yes, we relinquish control. But let’s be honest: we can give lots of things. I can give my worn out ... read full post Turn your dust into gold: money back guarantee! Candy apple red. A 1967 Oldsmobile. A true classic, but it sat under a cover in his garage, rarely driven, but worth a lot of money. The cover, however, had dust on it. Craig wondered if he could turn that dust into gold. So he donated the car. The resulting sale of the car produced enough cash to help victims of sex trafficking get off the street—lives saved for all of eternity. These would be lives that ... read full post Food Network—Chopped generosity Who does that kind of thing? Who competes in a cookoff with 4 other chefs for a $10,000 prize, make it to the final round and then give away the prize? That’s exactly what Lance Nitahara did on Chopped. Chopped is a Food Network show where top level chefs are given a mystery basket of ingredients and must make a creative, tasty dish in a designated time period. Their work is judged by a panel of chefs. ... read full post | 2 comments |
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