The How and Why of Saying No to Your Boss

Daniel and the Limits of Obedience

“Learn to say ‘no’ to the good so you can say ‘yes’ to the best.” – John C. Maxwell In a recent post, I explained the debt a man owes to his employer. (If you weren’t paying attention then, you can read it here.) In that post I presented a general rule that employees should […]

Why Every Man Should Strive for Work He Loves

The Dignity and Sacredness of Work

“From the primal elements you brought forth the human race, and blessed us with memory, reason, and skill. You made us the rulers of creation…” – The Book of Common Prayer (Rite II, Eucharistic Prayer C) Here in the US we’ve just commemorated Labor Day which, despite its origins as a celebration of trade unionism, […]

Is The Matrix Making You Fat and Numb?

Learning to look past the surface

“When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.” – Proverbs 29:2 (ESV) In the movie The Matrix, there is a confrontation between Morpheus — the guide who helps Thomas Anderson become Neo — and Agent Smith, the nondescript enforcer of the meta-construct. Smith has taken Morpheus captive and […]

When You Marry a Mountain Girl, You Marry The Mountain

Part 2 of 2

“He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.” -Proverbs 18:22 (ESV) In part 1, we talked about the wisdom of getting to know your beloved before you say “I do.” That mountain in the title isn’t just the woman’s family. To help you in this process, here are […]

All Our Eggs in One Basket

Is the church in decline?

“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” -Mark Twain Perhaps you’ve heard or read a news item on the findings of a new report on religion in America published by the Pew Research Center. The link to America’s Changing Religious Landscape appears here. The main point reported is that the number of Americans […]

Man Proposes, God Disposes

Be careful what you wish for

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” -Proverbs 14:12 (ESV) What we wish we had and what the world actually contains are often two different things. As I have written previously here, ambition and restlessness — what some have called divine discontent — can […]

Subjective and Objective — Don’t Think of An Elephant

“Yeah, well, y’know that’s just, like, your opinion, man.” -The Big Lebowski We have entered a period in our history where we have elevated what our senses can perceive as facts, while we relegate abstract principles to the realm of opinions.  This is not healthy. No sane man would question the sensory data that demonstrate […]

The Root of the Poison Tree

“The increasing complexity and precariousness of our economic life have forced Government to take over many spheres of activity once left to choice or chance. Our intellectuals have surrendered first to the slave-philosophy of Hegel, then to Marx, finally to the linguistic analysts.” – C. S. Lewis from “Willing Slaves of the Welfare State” Last […]

Why Worldviews Matter

“The Christian and the Materialist hold different beliefs about the universe.  They can’t both be right.  The one who is wrong will act in a way which simply doesn’t fit the real universe.” — C. S. Lewis A sound worldview is an under-appreciated aspect of living a maximized life.  To be sure everyone has one […]