For the past two weeks, my wife and I have been traveling by car through America’s heartland. We drove north from Austin to Dallas, then turned northeast through Arkansas, western Tennessee, and Kentucky. The terrain was verdant rolling farmland separated by a few metropolitan cities. Spring rains …
Meditation
I am poor at prayer. My mind wanders during prayer and I catch myself going off subject. I try to stick to more ritualistic prayer patterns such as ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication). I praise the Trinity (Creator, Jesus Christ the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit), confess my …
Responsibility
I grew up in a family of six: two parents and four children. By the time my mother was 30 years old, she had given birth to four children—a daunting responsibility. My parents showered love on us but also maintained a strict household. We were punished when we violated their rules, but justice was …
Forgiving
This past week, two public figures died: one British and one American. One was publicly mourned and the other mainly scorned. Both were wealthy, at least for the majority of their lives. One chose public service while the other chose financial services. Whatever paths they decided to follow during …
Walking Costs
When I finished my undergraduate engineering degree, I had little money, but it did not matter as I was used to having little money. I owned an old car, clothes, and some household items in my small apartment. I accepted a job offer and my future employer paid to move my personal items from Denver …
Choosing
I meet for an hour each Wednesday evening with a dozen or so primarily retired men who all attended an Emmaus walk at some point in their lives. The walk to Emmaus is an experience of Christian spiritual renewal and formation that begins with a three-day short course in Christianity. My Emmaus …
Authenticity
During the Texas freeze last month, close friends lost their electricity, so we invited them to stay in our home. We were fortunate to have both power and water throughout that extremely cold week. We have known this couple for over twenty years, and they live nearby. We traveled internationally …
Vaccination
February 3rd and 25th will always be special days in my life. These are the days my wife and I received our first and second Covid-19 vaccine injections. We signed up to work two 4-hour shifts at a vaccination center and if there were enough vaccines available, we would be given our injections at …
Mutual Fund Investing
My favorite MBA class was a finance elective on investments. We studied equities, fixed income, and other types of financial investments. I learned terms like alpha (𝛂 – a performance measure of excess returns over a benchmark index), beta (𝛃 – a measure of systematic risk of a security or portfolio …
Jungle Doctor
I have been to Africa a number of times, both for business and pleasure. It was business that first took me to this large continent where I met with national energy companies in Algeria and Nigeria. These trips were strictly professional travel and I just visited hotels and corporate offices. I only …