Statistics

Here are two statistics that I find interesting.

First, the Harvard Business Review (as well as many other business publications) are writing and speaking about the coming worker shortage of more than 10 million in 2010.

Second, according to CDC figures, since Roe v. Wade, there have been 12,600,000 abortions performed against children who would have been 25 years or older in 2010 thereby making them a viable part of the economy.

I wonder why no one says anything about how we have been destroying our own future. We put our own guns to our own heads and brought our own curses upon our own economy. May God help us!

I have included the full text of a recent HBR letter as well as the CDC stats.

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Dear Colleague,

Thanks in large part to the aging of the workforce, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a shortfall of 10 million workers in the United States in 2010. The problem is even worse in Western Europe. Companies have focused so much on downsizing to contain costs that they've largely neglected this looming threat to their competitiveness: a severe shortage of talented workers.

• How will you and your organization cope with the changing demographics of the workforce?
• What are the implications for your hiring and retention efforts?
• How can you retool your retirement and other programs to help you cope with this “age wave?”
• What are the opportunities presented by this demographic trend?

In this 90-minute interactive presentation, the authors of the recent Harvard Business Review article, "It’s Time to Retire Retirement," will offer recommendations for gaining the loyalty of older workers, creating a more flexible approach to retirement that allows people to continue contributing well into their 60s and 70s, and other strategies for preparing for the inevitable aging of the workforce.
This program is delivered direct to your office—no travel time.

The live audio is delivered direct to your office over the telephone to provide clear, reliable sound quality. The program is interactive and you will be able to ask questions of the presenters.

Bring your entire team for one, low site price and begin the critical discussion of how your organization will cope with this impending situation.

Sincerely,



Eric J. McNulty
Managing Director, Conferences
Harvard Business School Publishing

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Year CDC

1973-----615, 831
1974-----763,476
1975-----854,853
1976-----988,267
1977----1,079,430
1978----1,157,776
1979----1,251,921
1980----1,297,606
1981----1,300,760
1982----1,303,980
1983----1,268,987
1984----1,333,521
Total----12,600,577

The Mystery of Time 

Redeem the Time

I recently watched the movie Paycheck. It is a film that is a puzzle of sorts, and the concept of time and the future are important to the plot. I was struck by to simple concepts put forth in the movie:

First, Ben Affleck says at one point that to show someone their future is to steal their future. If we know the future, then we have lost the future. I can almost accept the idea that the future must necessarily entail mystery otherwise it’s not the future. I’m not sure if I completely accept that yet though.

Second, a point of the movie is that if we know the future we are destined to bring the future about by virtue of our actions. For instance, if we see a war in the future we will necessarily attack our enemy in order to preempt their attack against us thereby fulfilling the prophesy. This view of humanity is interesting; however in the movie the hero is able to resist bringing the future into existence.

I am convinced of two things. God will not show us the literal future, but he gives us His word by which we can get a pretty good idea of the future. By understanding the principles in His word, we can gain an understanding of God’s reactions to different situations, sins, and righteousness. I think man wants to rip the future out of God’s hands and we area wickedly bent on controlling our destinies.

Jennifer and Joe Graber...the perfect couple 

Love and Marriage

I am to perform a wedding today at 4:30 pm. The young couple is hardly ready for marriage, but who among us was? I understood nothing about love. No one ever explained love to me. I saw it only as physical affection, petting really. I saw love as mere lustful touching. Truth be know, that is only the slightest germ from which love can grow.

I used to wonder why couples that had been married for so many years were not as rapt in their physical playfulness and puppy love insensible petting. I mourned for them the loss of their love and affection. It has only been as I have developed a true love for my wife that I begin to recognize that their affections have not withered but rather grown and matured. I love my wife not only for her physical benefits to me, no…not primarily for the physical benefits, but I love her for her devoting, her unwavering support, her fastidious loyalty to me.

These things run much deeper than the mere skin and bones of the physical. No other woman could ever possibly give me the things that my wife has…not now. Do I love her physically? God yes! But my love only started there. I now know what it means to not be able to live without her. Not because I crave her embrace or conjugation. Not because her curves so readily fit my hands. I can not fathom being without her support, her helpfulness, her devotion, her trustworthiness and her undying warmth for me. My wife’s goal seems to sacrifice herself to please me and fulfill me. This I cannot fathom: her fidelity to me the Ogre.

Destiny

I’ve been thinking along the subject from yesterday, and have a few words to add.

I wonder if my purpose for being whatever God has made me, professionally I mean, is primarily to learn to accept what he has chosen for me at that time. I wonder if in learning to accept and embrace what God has chosen for me that I actually learn and grow to a point where He will send me to the next point. Perhaps the faster I embrace and excel the faster I advance and move on.

This is an interesting contrast to those dreamers who are always looking toward the future and where the Lord really wants them. For we all know that God certainly doesn’t want us at this humble point that we are now at.

I think that each level is designed primarily to make us more humble and that as we are humbled we move to the next stage of learning and responsibility.

May I accept where God has put me.

I haven’t been that active on my blog as I’d have like to have been over this past 9 months or so. I usually hand write my most personal prose in a journal that I keep, and I have found it difficult to understand what is appropriate blogging material.

I feel like I need a cause to live for. Isn’t Christ and His cross my cause? It certainly doesn’t seem to be, or perhaps I just haven’t applied myself in the correct way toward that goal. Perhaps I just fight against everything the Lord wants me to pursue.

When I was a kid mowing our lawn, I would hate every moment of pushing that stupid mower back and forth on the lawn. The sweat would roll off my brow, down my chest and back. I felt stifled from the dust and clippings. It was a living hell. But, when I wanted to venture into the area that we didn’t mow, I could expend supernatural effort in making trails or even just mowing the unnecessary. It was as if the required was impossible, but nothing that was superfluous was too difficult. Is this still me today? God help me…I hope not.

The Truth

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)

I have been thinking the last couple of days about how do I know who I am. Can I look and search within myself? Jeremiah makes clear that the heart is (above all things) wicked and unknowable. Can I intellectualy examine my psyche? James says that we lie even to ourselves all the time. Can I ask others who I am? This is probably a bit better than the others; however no one can judge our hearts (including us). Where do we find the truth about who we are?

Only in Jesus Christ who is the truth can I find out who I am. While the non-Christian world scurries about looking for distraction after distraction so that they will never have to look at themselves in the mirror of the Word made flesh, we should be examining our lives in light of the Holy scripture. Aristotle said that the unexamined life is not worth living...how many people today will do virtually anything to remain unexamined?

So who am I? I am a sinner who has been covered (mercifully) by the blood of Jesus Christ. The only difference between me and the lying, cheating, murdering, homosexual, barbaric heathen is the blood of Christ covering my barbarism. Because He covered me (He loved me first), I bow humbly before Him as a servant before his king. I am far from the perfect servant. I am far from the perfect adopted child, but I am a child of His nonetheless.

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed [each other]. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. (Psalm 85:10-11)

Psalm 85 is a Messianic Psalm directly describing Christ. When we see the truth of ourselves through Christ, we see the mercy of God toward us. When we see the truth of our condition, we see the abject splendor of his righteousness.

Today was a bit theological, but the real point is the darkness that those who reject Christ are in.

Looking in the Mirror

Every person that God has me deal with in an intimate way eventually has me looking back at myself. Let me put this delicately...God has been showing me the following about myself through others:

1. I am a prideful, haughty, stiffnecked person.

2. I have a tendency to try to "be ahead" of anyone giving me instruction, exhortation, advice or direction. This is a pride manifestation.

3. I have a tendency to manipulate situations for try and make myself look good (in my own eyes).

4. I have need of more ambition.

Why is it that these are so easy to see in others and so easy for others to see in us...but we hide them from ourselves so well. I guess we believe the own lies of our heart because we (in our pride) feel that we are so smart that we should believe ourselves. I once heard a comedian say that he used to think that the brain was the most magnificent part of the body...then he realized what was telling him that!

So God shows us our weaknesses by bringing them forward for us to see in those around us.

The Present

I recently read a book by Dr. Spencer Johnson, MD, entitled The Present. The book is about a story of how an old man taught a young man (a boy at first) that the secret to happiness was to receive a particular present. The present could only be given by one's self, and unless it was embraced, one would live a life of anguish. The long and short of the story was that the "present" is the present. When we live in the past or the future, we are in anguish in the present. We long to leave the one moment that we never can.

Johnson's points are:

1. We need to learn from the past but not live in it.

2. We need to embrace the present. Focus on the task at hand. Don't allow yourself to be distracted.

3. We need to plan for the future. The more we plan for the future the more likely it will be better than the present and the less fear we will have of it.

4. All this must be wrapped up in a purpose for our life.

While the book is not a distinctively Christian book, it is certainly a description of a Christian life. The book has helped me profoundly (which may seem a bit overstated given the simply summary above...read the book). What is your purpose? Are you living in the past or the future? Are you despising the present?

Remember, God brought you to the present. "A man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." Would you despise the "present" God gave you?

The last week or so has found me thinking specifically about how God views our appearance. God apparantly held the appearance of His children in high regard in that he forbids them from piercings and other certain clothing types in Leviticus 19 and our Lord specifically tells us to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Martin Luther would have reasoned that if God tells us to not appear improper then He is also telling us to appear proper. This goes for how we act, how we look and how we care for ourselves. How can we be trusted with the great things of God when we do not strive for the proper in the base things of this world?

I've really been thinking more along the lines of how some of the great and well-known people of the world had certain signature things that made them unique. They took great care to create a certain image. I'm thinking of people like Churchill with his cigars, striped suits and specially made boller. I think of Lincoln and his hat (Here is a guy that is 6-8 inches taller than most everybody else who takes care to appear even taller and more intimidating.), and Barbara Bush with her string of pearls. I wonder why we Christians don't take the effort to cultivate a distinctive Christian image for ourselves? I need to mark my life both by how I live and by how I appear.

I believe that our appearance can tell a lot about who we are. I have a friend who says that inside he is a cowboy. He likes to where a cowboy hat and boots whenever he can. That tells me about who he is. It is distinctive and unique. What outward appearance of mine is me? When I where a sportcoat or suit with a vest and a tie. That is my inside on the outside. Who are you?

As a note to my readers:

I am working to improve the blog and add features. As a consequence there may be test posting occassionally. For that I apologize before hand.

In the beginning Joe created his blog page, and he saw that it was good.