Mercy or Grace

I have heard (and read) that "Mercy is when you don't get what you deserve.  Grace is when you get what you don't deserve."  Even this logical twist of words makes the term Grace difficult to understand completely.  Theologians have wrestled with the meaning of Grace (and the issue of "Works" also). 

On Sunday we had a guest pastor speak (Rev. Stearns) who described John Wesley's (and Methodism) three types of Grace - Prevenient Grace, Justifying Grace, and Sanctifying Grace.

Prevenient Grace is "...the divine love that surrounds all humanity and precedes any and all of our conscious impulses."  Rev. Stearns simplified this with his childhood memory of looking a the picture of Jesus attentively knocking at our door awaiting our response.   I remembered a similar picture from the book I read in 2009 "Ten Prayers God always says Yes to" by Antony DeStefano -  The Light of the World (By William Homan Hunt).  A copy now hangs in Susan's office - the Christmas gift of 2009.

The door has no knob and can be opened only by the person inside.  There stands Christ knocking (Rev. 3:20) holding the light of the world (John 8:12).

I said, I would bet my mortgage that the picture Rev. Stearns referred was this same picture.  I asked the family if Rev. Stearns had shown the picture on the big screen in the Contemporary Service and if it was the Hunt picture above.  He had ---  it wasn't.

I guess I now need Mercy  :)

Birthday Cards

Happy Birthday to Susan.  Jenna wins the best birthday card award from Susan.   Here's the message:
               

                                                   WOW !     You got a card!

                                               A real  honest-to-goodness card!

                                         Not an e-mail.          Not a text message.

                                            But a true Birthday Card just for you!


Then inside the card:

                                                         WOW!       No   Way!

                                                           It has an inside too!

                                                          This just gets  better
                                                                                    and  better!


I guess my e-card from Blue Mountain just didn't cut the mustard this year.  The old fashion birthday card is still the stalwart of birthday enjoyment.

Dark Suit and Tie

I just returned from the 37th annual awards luncheon for University of Cincinnati Economics Center.  A guest of W.U., it was a downtown at the Westin and a room of over 400 business people, educators, and even school kids.  It was pleasing to see that the Indian Hill Elementary team won the 10 week Traders in Training stock market contest.  They start with $100K and the IHES team netted over $105K.  The two students "rang the opening luncheon bell".   In addition Indian Hill High School economics teacher (John Slonim) won the Economics Teacher of the Year.

I arrived early so while standing next to the escalator, I counted the number of brown, tan, or grey suits arriving.  Less than 20 out of the 400 suits.  Clearly my grey hound's-tooth jacket with no tie was the outlier :)

More Market Media Mania

The Dow hit a record high yesterday - 14,282.30 and naturally the press went wild and today it continues.  It's like the high school days of hearing about that wild party occurring (unsupervised) at the kid's house where the parents are gone.  The Fed's unbridled $85 Billion per month purchase of bonds is the equivalent of the older brother buying unlimited booze for the party.

I have the luxury of keeping financial journals of my investment patterns since October 7th 2004 (now on my 22nd 100 page volume).

Before the last crash, I began to get nervous about the market in October 2006.  I was convinced I should exit the market based on a chart showing the NAHB Housing Market Index superimposed on the S&P500 lagged for 12 months (a 79% correlation). If that correlation was correct the market was going to crash.  Yet it took another year ( the DJIA increased 2,307 points or 19.4% up)  of the "party" before the "police" (Fed/Treasury) showed up and the "hang overs" set in ( the great recession).

So how long will this "party" continue?  Another year and 19.4% like 2006?  That would be another 2,771 points  up to a DJIA of 17,053 sometime in March 2014.

Literally off My, My, My, My, office wall chart!

Is, Was and Will be

A.M. asked me if I had noticed more use of the irritating phrase "It is what it is".  Where exactly did this phrase come from and what does it really mean?  Well the urban dictionary states that it is often used in business - with various interpretations (from PG to R).  But clearly it is frequently used in interviews with sports players and coaches to abbreviate the conversation- see USA Today article.

A.M. said the phrase had even morphed into "It was what it was".  Now that is really redundant and (in my opinion) meaningless.  The tense of "was" usually means that history can't be changed (unless the politicians do it). Even "is" becomes the past immediately so technically after uttering the first "is" it becomes a "was".

A.M. nodded and concluded with this phase ----- "It is what it will be"  :)

Mentors

As I was talking to M.E. about meeting with Paul in his career networking/job search, M.E. provided some great wisdom on choosing a job.  He said that more important than the field, the industry, the company and specific position, the people you will work with and ultimately your superiors will be the most important factor in your career success. 

Wow - As I look back on my career, his observation was "spot on".  My mentors and career saviors (B.W.; A.C.; J. R.) and peers (P.G.; G.M. et al) and the guys that worked for me (K.M.; S.W.; G.P.; T.D.; S.W. J.M.; J.D.; et al) were critical to my career success at Accenture.  It was the people that were the defining ingredients.  Granted Accenture with it's business practices, culture, and growth rate was important - but eliminate the mentors and the high quality of professionalism in the people (and there were some bad apples inside Accenture) and you sacrifice time and money in your career development.

Trying to discover during a few interviews whether the people side of the organization will work should be a new recruits objective.  Is there a match in personality, in ethics, in management style and most importantly in tolerance for teaching, forgiving and mentoring you as an individual, is critical to your selection process.

I was blessed to have been connected to the best people during my career.

Tried or Carried

B.W. has been an defining person in my life.  He interviewed me on the campus of Miami University in 1976 and patiently did not throw me out of the room (for wasting his time) when I told him I was not interested in full time employment at Arthur Andersen but was looking for a summer job.

His crafting of the first internship program for the Administrative Services division of Arthur Andersen in Cincinnati included me and two other students.  That internship started me on the path of a 25 year career culminating into the prestigious public company - Accenture. 

When we celebrated B.W.'s retirement, he gave one of the most heart filling, and motivating speeches to the Cincinnati Office that I can remember.  I was lucky to work for him, with him and still see him monthly at our alumni partner lunch gatherings.

This month, only B.W. and I were available so the alumni partner lunch discussion was full of wisdom and memories.  When we entered into the discussion about gun control and the right to bear arms, I mentioned to B.W. a recent YouTube video I had been sent.  It was a woman testifying about why she favored laws that allow conceal and carry of firearms - I highly recommend viewing it.

B.W. popped off a one liner affirmation -  "When faced with the split second decision on whether to use a gun in self defense, just remember would you rather be tried by 12 or carried by 6?"