In the late summer of 2011, I flew from London to Istanbul (Turkey) for a European Federation of Energy Traders (EFET) Board meeting. The meeting started Wednesday night and finished Friday with enough time to catch a return flight to London that afternoon. My mother was in a Houston hospital, and I …
Active verses Passive
In his second letter to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul wrote: “For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” (3:10, NRSV) Paul was addressing the issue of idleness within this Greek community. He defended his decision to work and not burden …
Thanks
This past week, I joined a Zoom meeting with employees of a private institution where I serve on the Board. We were discussing some financial policy changes. Being on the Board is like walking a tightrope; I must balance support for the institution while providing oversight. As a former manager of …
Karl Barth on Vocation (Part IV)
In my first three blogs on Karl Barth’s theology of vocation found in Church Dogmatics: The Doctrine of Creation III.4 (Freedom in Limitation, Chapter XII, Section 56, T&T Clark International, G. W. Bromiley & T. F. Torrance, Editors, 1960, pages 565–647), Barth commented on the process …
Karl Barth on Vocation (Part III)
In my second blog on Karl Barth’s theology of vocation, I wrote about Barth’s second (historical situation), third (internal limitations), and fourth vocation criterion (sphere of operations). He continues this vocation section in Church Dogmatics: The Doctrine of Creation III.4 (Freedom in …
Karl Barth on Vocation (Part II)
In my first blog on Karl Barth’s theology of vocation, I wrote about Barth’s criterion of an individual’s responsibility to the commands of God, the caller. Humans are becoming even as they are perishing. Barth continues in Church Dogmatics: The Doctrine of Creation III.4 (Freedom in Limitation, …
Karl Barth on Vocation (I)
I am a big fan of Dr. Karl Barth (1886–1968), a Swiss Calvinist theologian and former professor at Basel University but am equally frustrated by his writings. He broke with liberal theology and introduced dialectical theology (also called crisis or neo-orthodox theology) which stressed the …
Winners and Losers
I was working in Houston during the presidency of George W. Bush. I bought and sold foreign oil from the North Sea, West Africa, and South America. My trading position was short which meant that I needed to buy more oil, either physical or from the financial markets, to get balanced. Crude oil …
The Blue Zones
Upon returning home in early October after traveling three months around western United States and Canada, I knew I needed to change. I gained ten pounds and the reasons for the added weight were clear: I exercised less due to a knee injury and my eating habits were not healthy, both in volume and …
Holiday Job
My first job after turning sixteen was at Fuedo’s, a south Texas family grocer. I worked there part-time during high school as a sacker, checker, and assistant manager. The pay was just above minimum wage yet provided spending money for my teenage years. The experience also taught me life skills in …