Vol.1 No. 20 |  Aug 15, 2006  

    

This week

“The Bible teaches that Christians are totally different from anyone else.” -  
Peter Jeffery, Evangelicals Then and Now (Buy Now)

 

 

Finance

Tuition Goes Up Again – But a Private University Isn’t Always Out of Reach!

I’m a big fan of www.bankrate.com. It’s a fantastic website that lists all sorts of financial information, especially the rate for any type of loan you might consider. Because the cost of tuition is rising so rapidly (up over 7% last year), last year, bankrate.com started listing the most expensive and the least expensive private colleges in the nation (the listing was for the 2005-2006 school year – this year’s list should be out in a few months).

According to bankrate.com, the most expensive private college is Sarah Lawrence, in Bronxville, NY. I had never heard of the school, so it’s not one I would be eager to research. But in case you’re interested, the annual tuition (not including room, board, and books) is $32,000 per year! Ouch!

After Sarah Lawrence, the list becomes more recognizable, but not much. The second most expensive?  Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Coming in #3 is Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. And #4 is George Washington University in DC.

The good news, though, is that there are plenty of private schools, including many Christian private schools, that will cost anywhere from $5,000 (or maybe even a little less) to $10,000 year.

If you think public colleges are a better deal, don’t be so sure. Some are cheaper if you’re a resident of that particular state. But that’s not always true. Many in-state schools are more expensive than some of the private universities. And most of the private schools will be much smaller and offer small class sizes. So the attention and, thus, the education you get are often far better.

If you’re child is headed to school in the next few years, don’t shy away from private schools just because of money. You might miss an excellent opportunity.

– Steve Kroening
     
 

 

Health

If This Is Your Largest Source of Calories – It Could Spell Serious Trouble

A few weeks ago, Wisdom’s Edge told you that soft drinks are a major cause of high blood pressure. But did you know that soft drinks are a lot worse than that?

They also contribute to osteoporosis, kidney stones, insomnia, attention deficit disorder, and, of course, tooth decay and obesity.

Why are soft drinks such a problem? It’s simple. The nutritional content of soft drinks is almost zero and yet they are the number one source of calories in the U.S. (according to the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey).

A typical 32 oz. sugar-laden soda has about 400 calories. Considering we need to consume about 1,600-2,400 calories per day, one big drink will give you about one-fourth to one-sixth of your calorie needs. And you get absolutely no nutritional value in return. And many people will drink two or three of these per day.

So you can see that Americans are getting the majority of their calories from a “food” that has no nutrition.

But if soft drinks were simply a nutrition-free drink, that would be bad enough. They also are loaded with high-fructose modified corn syrup.

The problem with this corn syrup is that your body metabolizes it differently than plain sugar. Your body burns sugar, but it doesn’t burn high-fructose corn syrup very efficiently. So your liver converts it to fat, triglycerides, and cholesterol instead.

If you want to avoid a bunch of health problems, simply avoid soft drinks. Drink plenty of filtered water (in moderation), fruit juices, and herbal tea, sweetened with honey, raw cane sugar, or Stevia.

– Rhett Bergeron, MD
     
 
   

Family & Relationships

How You Respond to Your Husband Affects How You Grow Spiritually

My children must grow weary of hearing me say, “Your greatest temptation to sin is when someone first sins against you. But THEIR sin never justifies YOUR sin.”

This is as true for spouses as it is for siblings. Fighting your mate’s irresponsibility with irresponsibility of your own is like pouring gasoline on a fire; it just makes things that much more explosive, that much worse. The Bible recommends a more subversive approach: let love conquer evil; let responsibility shame irresponsibility.

It’s a spiritual fact that kindness kills wickedness far more effectively than nagging, complaining, or disrespect. Remember, God won us with grace when we were his rebellious enemies. He doesn’t ask anything of you that he hasn’t already done himself. And this same God says that we are responsible to love, even in the face of another’s irresponsibility.

Peter wrote, “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” (1 Peter 3:9)

Did you catch that? We’re called to respond to evil with blessing. It’s not human nature to be sinned against and think, “How can I bless this person who just hurt me?” But such a spiritually powerful practice yields very effective results. Regardless of how anyone else acts, we’re still accountable before God for our response….

The Bible is amazingly relevant and practical for married people! It’s not a “pie in the sky” kind of book that pretends no one will ever hurt us or sin against us. On the contrary, it promises us that we will be hurt and wronged and then gives very specific and practical advice to help us respond appropriately. We bless those who hurt us. We feed those who make themselves our enemies. And over time, such a practice usually succeeds far more in prompting redemptive change than does arguing, complaining, gossiping, or threatening divorce.

In the ugliness of trying situations, the beauty of responsibility shines brighter than ever….

When I respond according to God’s plan, even if the person who sinned against me doesn’t change, I’ll change. It’s a victory either way. When I respond out of spite, repaying evil for evil, two things usually happen, both negative: the situation gets worse; and I become more bitter, more resentful, and less like Christ. The brilliance of Christianity is that God can grow you in an unhealthy marriage as well as in a healthy marriage. He can shape you in prosperity or need, in comfort or stress, in intimacy or loneliness. And intimacy with him is the most precious reward any of us can every know or experience.

Just as we build our muscles little by little, lifting a bit more weight every other day, so the beauty of responsibility evolves gradually, built up by the tiny, seemingly insignificant decisions we make week by week.

– Gary Thomas

(Excerpted from Sacred Influence: What a Man Needs From His Wife to Be the Husband She Wants, by Gary Thomas, Zondervan, 2006)
     
 

 

Parenting & Education

When Your Kids Say “I Can’t,” Tell Them About the Mule

One of my biggest frustrations as a parent is to hear one of my children say, “I can’t” when I’ve asked them to do something. They inevitably come up with some excuse for not being able to carry out the task: “It’s too heavy,” “It’s too hard,” or “It takes too long” are common excuses.

So I’ve looked long and hard for a way to teach them to overcome these obstacles (or any obstacle, for that matter) and get the work done. Then I found an article by motivational speaker Roger Reece, called “Go Around the Mule.”

In the article, Reece compares obstacles to mules. He says, “Mules have three key characteristics:

“(1) They will completely stop your progress. They seem to wait until you’re moving full steam ahead, and then step out in front of you to block the path to your goal.

“(2) They’re stubborn.  When you attempt coax them to move, they ignore you.  When you try to move them out of the way, they plant their feet and refuse to budge.

“(3) They don’t go away.  They seem determined to keep you from achieving your goals.

“When a mule steps out in front of you to block the achievement of your goal, you essentially have four options:

“(1) Abandon your goal.  You can rationalize that the goal isn’t really important, or you can simply give up and feel defeated.  This is a common response to mules, especially for people who are in the early stages of working toward a goal.  Hopefully, you’re committed to achieving your goals and have the determination to overcome any obstacle.

“(2) Wait for the mule to go away.  This will generally lead you back to option one, because if the obstacle is truly a mule, it won’t go away. Goals, properly set, include milestones and are time-sensitive. The longer you remain in a stalled condition waiting for a mule to move, the more milestones you’ll miss, and eventually you’ll be forced to admit failure.

“(3) Move the mule out of the way.  This will also generally lead you back to option one, because if it’s really a mule, you won’t be able to move it.  One of the most common pitfalls in attempting to achieve a goal is getting de-focused.  Trying to move a mule is a totally frustrating experience, and you’ll dissipate your energy in the process.  If you want to succeed, you’ve got to keep your eye on the goal and not on the mule.  Remember, your objective is to achieve your goal; not to move the mule.

“(4) Go around the mule.  This is easier said than done, because it’s the mule’s nature to completely block the path to your goal. Keeping your eye on your goal, you simply concede that the mule is truly a mule and will not be moved. Therefore, you find another path to the goal.”

While this truth isn’t always applicable (there are times when a mule must be moved), it usually is true for the simple excuses most kids find to get out of work. So the next time your children tell you they can’t do something, ask them if they’ve got a mule in the way. They’ll look at you kind of funny until you explain it. But from then on, anytime you hear “I can’t” you can ask, “Why, got a mule in the way?” They’ll know what you mean and that they need to get to work.

– Steve Kroening
     
 

 

Success

Only Two Roads for Success, Part 2

In the last issue of Wisdom’s Edge, I wrote about the two roads for success. Either we contribute to someone’s income, or else we help reduce their expenses. At the same time, I alluded to the spiritual side of success, and it seems appropriate to spend a little more time on this theme.

You cannot read the Bible without getting the idea of what God means by success. For Him, success is the way you go about our daily activities, and the way you bring both God and your fellow man into the things that you do. This is the command Jesus gave us, to love God and our fellow man.

There are a couple of passages in the Bible, however, that keep us focused on success from God’s standpoint.

The first is the story of Job. From the human standpoint, every sign of success was stripped from him. I wonder how Job would have responded to the power of positive thinking? I think we can tell. You see, the circumstances of life that were ordained for him did not meet with the worldly standard of success. That came much later, after many painful experiences.

Job’s success, however, is in the way he viewed God through his ordeal. Would he curse God? This was the test that Job was put through. Would you or I curse God because everything we hold dear is stripped from us? I have a good friend who became a Christian when his first child was killed in an accident. His wife became a Christian when their second child was killed in an accident. Then, while they were missionaries in Thailand, she was killed in a boating accident on the river Kwai. Did my friend curse God? Not that I ever heard. And God did restore to him a new wife and three more children.

The Psalmist in Psalm 73 also questions life. The visible signs of success seem to elude those who are righteous. The world seems to have its act together and they have the material blessings and carry the worldly stamp of success.

But the Psalmist recognizes that in the end success is not measured in worldly things. Success, at the end of the day, depends on how God views you. And He is more interested in your holiness than He is in your success. Not that He doesn’t want success, but it is not on the top of the list.

So if you are helping people in the right way yet success eludes you, don’t think that God is not on your side. He is doing whatever is necessary to improve the way you live, not by material means in the first instance, but by having you learn the way of right living.

And that should be the only success you are interested in.

– Ian Hodge
     
 

 
 

Wisdom From History

This Leader Discovered the Worth of “Yes-Men” the Hard Way

If Alexander could conquer provinces from Greece to India, Julius Caesar from Judea to Stonehenge and Atilla the Hun from Mongolia to ancient France, then Napoleon could surely conquer Europe….

“The reading of history very soon made me feel that I was capable of achieving as much as the men who are placed in the highest ranks of our annals,” he wrote. “What seemed to present difficulty to others, to me appeared to be simple.”

But his faith in his own brilliance was too unwavering. And his commitment to a set direction was too absolute.

Napoleon rarely listened to the advice of ministers and generals when they contradicted him.

I have never wished to be anyone's man, he said. I am my own minister. . . . It is I who conduct affairs. Probity, discretion, and action are all that I demand of a man.

Indeed, he had to whittle down the importance of anyone near him who might even partially usurp his position, one observer noted. The smallest mishap, the slightest negligence, sent him into a fury.

From the outset of his reign, he reduced his ministers to the levels of clerks, said historian Hippolyte Taine. Any sign of independence annoyed him. Toward the end, the only people he tolerated near him were people who were virtually his slaves.

With no humility or moderating influence to anchor him, he determined to conquer Russia, ignoring the warnings of several advisers.

He not only attacked, but did so knowing his troops would be deep within Russia through the dead of winter. Setting out with half a million soldiers, he returned to France with 10,000.

Having refused to cut his losses, he'd allowed his soldiers to be drawn farther and farther into the Russian heartland. Czar Alexander's soldiers staged guerrilla attacks and adopted a slash-and-burn defense, destroying crops and shelter - anything the French troops could use to survive.

Napoleon met his final defeat at Waterloo in 1815. 

– Peronet Despeignes

(Quoted from “Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte,” Investor’s Business Daily, February 27, 1998)
     
     
 

 

Word for the Wise

How to Avoid the “Rottenness” of Real Failure

"I will make them like split-open figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness."  Jeremiah 29:17

Rottenness – You forgot about that fruit in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator.  It was pushed way to the back so you didn't see that it was getting soft.  You didn't notice when the mold started growing.  But one day, when you pulled the drawer out a little more than usual, there is was.  Gray-green, mushy, disgusting.  One look was enough.  Right into the garbage.  What was once appealing had become revolting.

The Hebrew word sho'ar is used only one time in the Old Testament.  But one exposure to the picture in this word is more than enough.  It's about figs that are so rotten than they can't be used for anything at all.  Not even compost.  Just throw them in the garbage.  Yuck!  Worthless.  Figs like this are not just disagreeable.  They are horrid.  Get rid of them, right now.  They stink!

God says that He will make Israel just like these sho'ar figs.  Spoiled.  Rotten.  Useless.  Why will He take what was once the apple of His eye and turn it into garbage?  Why would He let something that was once so appealing and enjoyable become nothing but putrid waste?  Ah, that's the story of disobedience.  Israel, the nation established by God to be a royal priesthood and a holy example to all other nations, taxed God's patience to the limit.  Time and time again these people heard the word of the Lord and went their own way.  Finally, they were of no use to Him.  Putrid.  Rotten.  All because they refused to obey.

A fruit rots because it can't breathe.  Once it is picked, it continues to try to breathe but when it no longer is processing oxygen, it begins to ferment, chemically changing its living tissue into sugar.  That's when it's subject to the attack of microbiological agents.  They speed up the process of destruction. 

Just like a "holy" nation.  Once we are removed from the vine (didn't Jesus say something about this?), we continue to try to live normally, but the rotting process has already begun.  When we are deprived of the Word, we soon find that the microbes within us are busy at work fermenting what was once delightful, turning it into waste.  The moral is simple:  get disconnected, begin to rot.  Stay disconnected, become waste.  All that cold storage does is slow down the inevitable.  Life is designed to work only when the fruit is connected.

Are you sho'ar figs today, or are you abiding, connected to the vine?

– Skip Moen

(Ed. Note: Skip Moen, PhD, is the president of At God’s Table and the author of Words to Lead By.)
     
 

 
 

The Time Shaver

Big Mistakes in Business Waste Massive Amounts of Time and Money – Here’s How to Do It Right the First Time

Starting a new business? Trying to grow a business? After either starting or growing businesses for almost 15 years, the best TimeShaver I can share with you comes from Proverbs 15:22.

Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established.

Did you notice there is a promise for plans “going awry” without proper counsel? Plans “going awry” is not TimeShaver friendly. I’m painfully reminded of this fact more often than my pride would like to admit.

How do we help establish our plans? We need counselors, a multitude of counselors. Did you catch that word “multitude”? There has been no easier time in history to access the ideas and advice of so many qualified and experienced professionals.

But be careful! Although so much information can be obtained for free, remember, your time cannot be replaced. It is not wise to try and become an expert in everything. Do not be afraid to pay for good counsel. A recent business loss cost me 10 times more than the cost of the legal counsel that would have prevented the loss. How much time did that mistake waste?

If you do not know any counselors, advisors, consultants, or gurus in your field, call on the Counselor of counselors. Not only does he know the best counselors to put in your path, His rates are reasonable, He is always available, and He never gives bad advice.

– Dale Gramith (TheTimeShaver@adelphia.net)


   

 Resources

 

Sacred Influence: What a Man Needs From His Wife to Be the Husband She Wants, by Gary Thomas (Buy Now)

Evangelicals Then and Now, Peter Jeffery, Evangelical Press (Buy Now)

 

   

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