Teamworks

This week at our Spot On The Lake blog, we announced that our little real estate team was ranked #5 out of 555 teams in the Keller Williams SE Region.  In case you don't follow us there, my partner is my son, Michael.  I started the company 18 years ago, and Michael has been with me for 8 years now.  Before he joined, I spoke to some of my best friends about the pros and cons of working with your son.  Some issued warnings that it can be difficult and can negatively affect the father/son relationship.   I decided it was worth the risk.  I cannot imagine having a more conscientious, dedicated, productive and ethical partner to work with.  Looking in from the outside, people might see a father taking care of his son and leading him along the way. There might have been a little of that in the beginning, but now I see Michael as a trusted partner that I can talk to about the toughest client situations.   I can always count on him to prescribe the most high-minded responses for the best possible outcome.  Last night, I got to sit beside him as he cheered on his oldest son, Evan, in Evan's final basketball game of the season.  It wasn't Evan's best game.  His team lost, and I got to watch my son be a great father to his son.  I'm glad we get to work together.

When Studies Collide

Anthropology is the study of mankind (or humankind to be politically correct).  Theology is the study of the nature of God and religious belief.  Charles Darwin was a nineteenth century, English anthropologist known for his theory of evolution. Another not so well-known Charles, Charles Spurgeon, also practiced in England at that same time.  He was a well-known theologist, to those who follow that kind of stuff.  This week in our small group, we talked about how anthropology and theology either collide or overlap.  I was hoping to find a Youtube video of Darwin and Spurgeon duking it out behind their lecterns, but apparently Youtube deleted all their 19th century videos.  Here's the best our group could come up with:  If anthropology is the study of man, and theology is the study of God, we can just study Jesus, since we believe He is fully both.   If the idea interests you, I did find this video featuring Dr. Mark Cortez from Wheaton College talking about how the study of man and the study of God relate to some current-day issues.

More Joy

There has been a lot of pain in our world dealing with the pandemic, racial injustice, and political violence, just to name a few topics.  This week in my Spot On The Lake real estate post, in an effort to improve my state of mind, I wrote about the pure joy of being on Lake Hartwell with my family.  I also stumbled on this new music from Lauren Daigle today.  Her words speak directly to our times.  "Whatever comes my way.  I'm safe. You cover me.  I'm under Your wings."  I want to do more than just hear those words.  I want to believe them and meditate on them.  As you watch Lauren sing, you can see and hear that she believes every word of what she is singing.  I love that about her.  Make a concerted effort to put some joy in your life today, and give thanks to the true source of all of it.

One Nation Under God

I watched with horror and sadness as Americans attacked our Capital in an attempt to use violence to force their agenda on government officials.   I was further disturbed that some of the signage indicated that the terrorists thought of themselves as Christians.   The media has labeled these people Christian Nationalists, but I don't believe the people use that term to describe themselves.   There are lots of definitions, but the general description of the Christian Nationalist is someone who believes that since their country was founded on Christian principles, that Christians should therefore have a position above any other religions and that the government should enforce that.  This couldn't be further from the truth.  While I do believe that Jesus is God, and I am commanded to lead others to Him, forcing the way I think on a political system has no part in Christianity or in a democracy.  Nothing could be further from Jesus's teaching than what happened on that day when terrorists attacked our Capitol.  For a more in-depth review of these ideas, check out this article by Paul Miller.  (no relation as far as I know)