168 Hours

I have mentioned Arlin Sorensen in one of my earlier posts. I have a great deal of respect for him as he is a terrific mentor and an outstanding model as Christian business leader. He frequently reminds us that we each have 168 hrs. per week. We need to be very deliberate about how we spend them, because once they are gone, we can't get them back.

Several weeks ago he challenged me to begin Journaling . You may recall that was the challenge that also gave birth to this blog. At any rate, I am very much a "rookie" journaler (is that a word?). Here is my method. I have a devotional journal with pages just a bit smaller than a memo pad. Each night, just before bed, I quickly recount my day, from the time my knees hit the floor in the morning (for prayer), right up to that moment. I try to document those moment throughout the day where I felt the presence of God. It might have been just a thought in my mind. Or, perhaps a conversation with a friend. I jot them down. Now, this is the key part for me, when I come to the end of the page, I STOP! There are no two page entries.

Why? You tell me... Actually, I can think of several good reasons, but I'd be more interested in why you think that a person might want to limit their journal entries.

This has been a setup for what I really wanted to say. The more I become sensitive to those "168 hours" the more deliberate I become about investing them wisely. Here is an example. I used to meet regularly with two guys from work. We meet every Wednesday evening, for dinner, just prior to our mid-week church service. It wasn't really as small group meeting, as we has no agenda and no formal curriculum. It wasn't really an "accountability" partner thing as I believe that is a one-on-one deal, but there was certainly an aspect of that in our time together. What it really was, at least to me, it was authentic community. A couple of guys getting together on a regular basis, just to see what Jesus would do when we all showed up. For some reason, over time, various things started to disrupt our meeting. Finally they just stopped.

Today, Tom, one of those guys came by my office. After the usual small talk, he came right out and said that he missed those times together. He missed the presence of God that we felt when we were gathered together as Brothers in Christ. That, my friends was an "Ah Ha!" moment. That was not only worthy of an entry in my journal, but a special posting to this blog. THAT is WHY God gives us 168 hours per week to invest in other people. I had all I could do to contain myself as I said, "It would be my pleasure to meet with you again. You name the time and the place an I will be there." I can't think of a better way to invest 1/168th of my week!

BAR ROOM ECONOMICS - HOW THE TAX SYSTEM WORKS

It wasn't really my intention to make this a "Political Jokes" blog, but considering the season, it is kinda hard to resist some of these. Here is one that I really like...

Suppose that every day, ten people go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20." Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get their "fair share"?

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everyone's share, then the fifth and the sixth would each end up being paid to drink their beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each drinker's bill by roughly the same
amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay. And so:

The fifth person, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).

The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to
drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the drinkers began to
compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth. She pointed to the tenth man, "but he got $10!" "Yes, that's right," exclaimed the fifth. I only saved a dollar too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I did" "That's true!!" shouted the seventh. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks" "Wait a minute," yelled the first four in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor"

The nine drinkers surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they
might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible!