Investing for the future

Most of you reading this have a 401K or, at the very least, have heard of a 401K.  All of us want to be able to put money aside in the right places, have it grow over time, and then realize the benefits of wise investing.  As someone who, as my brother so eloquently puts it, is “on the back 9 right now,” I understand and appreciate how important investing for the future is.

If you are not aware already, I am HUGE fan of the University of Alabama!  Our head football coach, Nick Saban, has said that you can spend time, or you can invest time.  There is a big difference!  As someone who spends a great deal of time around kids, I have realized that being around children is very much the same.  We can spend time around kids and be someone they look up to and even admire.  We can invest time in kids and be an instrument that is used to change their lives!

Investing money requires a leap of faith…so does investing in kids.   I know it’s hard…because, after all, I have a life and goals and dreams and a job and obligations…I am busy.  But, if you read that last sentence, “I” may be the problem!!  Kids are smart, and they can see through a lot, especially when those adults around them phone it in.  Investing in kids takes time, and you may see your fortune drop in value at times.  Bu it is an investment over time and these investments will pay off over the long haul.  Showing kids who God is beats telling them every time. 

Build those relationships…get to know those kids.  Cheer with them and cry with them.   Celebrate with them and console them.  When the things of this earth pass away, these treasures will be with you !!! 

nothin common about it!!!

Maybe I am just an old guy who is living in the past, but most of the stuff going on today is just bugging me.   Now, I had hoped to avoid a lot of political stuff here, and I am trying, but when common sense (which is anything but common these days) is suspended, it goes beyond politics.   It has been suggested that compulsory education…compulsory means “have to”…should be extended past age 16 up to age 18, at the very least.  There are even those who believe it should extend to college…that is right; there are those who feel that every person should go to college…even if he or she doesn’t want to.   Now, before you label me a college hater, I am all for anyone going to college who wants to…as long as he or she has the desire and the means to attend…but it is foolish to believe that everyone can or should go to college.  I firmly believe…and stay with me here…that our society is based on the equality of opportunity and NOT the equality of outcome.  College is not for everyone and was never designed to be that way!  Our society is…or was…based on the idea of personal responsibility and personal initiative…that is, if I want it bad enough, I will work to get it.  It is not based on some warped reasoning that if someone has it, he or she took it from me, and I should get it simple because someone else has it.  Success is not a “zero-sum” game…for someone to get it; another does not have to lose it.  Back to this education thing, I will go on record as saying that college is not for everyone.  I will even go further and say that high school is not for everyone either!   While understanding that society is better as a whole if the citizens are educated, it is not better off it citizens who have neither the desire nor the ability are required to be in school…I did not say educated because there is a difference…this does not serve the society well, and it serves those students who desire to learn and be in school less.  School should be reserved for those that desire to be there!  Remember…the only way to treat everyone equally is to make them equally miserable!!

A Good Lesson Learned

I know it seems weird, but I still learn lessons every now and then.  I learned a valuable one today.  My son came home today with one of those notes...you know those notes...the ones that tell you stuff you don't want to hear.  He had some work due that was late being turned in, and he had been called down in class a couple of times.  I knew that it was my obligation as the father to "nip this in the bud" right now.  I needed to explain to him in no uncertain terms that this was unacceptable behavior; that he was going to be punished; and that this had better not happen ever again.  As I got ready to drop the hammer, it occurred to me that I was really messing up.  I was judging him on his actions while I judged myself by my intentions.  I let myself skate when I "forgot" something or messed something up, but I was not treating him the same way.  Now, I am still gonna discipline him because I am entrusted with his upbringing, but I am going to temper it just a little.  He's a good kid who messed up, and I need to remember that.

First blog

Wow, this is new...a place to write and create with few boundaries.  I think about a lot of stuff as I go thru the day.  Man, life is good!  I see the trees and and the bushes start to bud, and it reminds me of God.  Then it makes me mad because people belive there is no God.   Like everything we had just ...bang...happened by pure accident...accidently fell together in a certain order and pattern  that made it work.  Watching the sunrise and seeing the puples and the red and the yellows, but it just happend by accident...no plan or reason.  or, watching a bunch of girls or boys play soccer...I know very little about soccer...but to watch them play is a reminder of God...He wants us to play in his kingdom,  More later as I get used to this stuff