Jack Heald

People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Luke 18:15-17

In this passage, Jesus says that we cannot enter “the Kingdom of God” unless with receive it like a little child. A lot of people think that when Jesus says “the Kingdom of God”, he is referring to the place that believers end up after they die, but that is a mistake. A kingdom is, by definition, the place ruled by a King. The Kingdom of God is therefore the place that is under the rule of God. Or to put it more succinctly: everything everywhere. That means that the danger for us is this: if we do not become like little children, we will be right smack in the middle of God’s Kingdom, and yet not be part of it.

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One of the behaviors I am working on with my clients to is to train them to take a Goal/Strategy/Tactic approach to running their businesses. A Goal is the end state of whatever you are trying to achieve. A Strategy defines how you will accomplish that goal, and a Tactic is a specific step you will take to execute that strategy. For most of my clients, the goals are clearly defined, but the strategies are not, and for those who have good strategies, few have clearly defined tactics. Without clear goals, strategies and tactics, it is much harder to achieve what you want to achieve. Hard work is no substitute for clearly defined goals, strategies and tactics.

With that introduction, I turn to Brett Steenbarger who (once again) points us to a way to assess the mood of the market daily. One of my continuing failures as a trader has been not recognizing the mood of the market, and trading contrary to the mood. It is a continual struggle for me to find the “sweet spot” between “looking at too much data” and “not looking at enough data”, and in that struggle I often lose sight of what the market is trying to tell me. Dr. Brett helps to point the way towards recognizing the data that matters and the data that doesn’t.

Now that I have identified that particular weakness of mine, I need a plan to overcome it. My goal is to execute trades that are consistent with the market’s sentiment. If I am satisfied with that goal, (and I am), then my next job is to refine my strategies for identifying the market sentiment. With appropriate strategies, then and only then am I ready to define my tactics for executing those strategies.

I know the GST approach doesn’t work for everyone, but for those – like me – who need an ordered approach to accomplishing anything, it is a worthwhile model for to follow.

I came to the Xian Calendar fairly late. I was raised in a church that thought anything liturgical smacked of Roman Catholicism and since everyone knew that Roman Catholics were going to hell, we had nothing to do with liturgy. As a result, I had just about zero familiarity with Xian liturgies until I was 40. (By the way, – just to be clear – I no longer believe Roman Catholics are going to hell. Unless they are bankers. And that has nothing to do with being Catholic. But I digress.)

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Socialnomics: a blog about the economics of social media. Very cool
Make Use Of: Geeky cool like PC Mag was in the late 80s only very up-to-date.
ZeroHedge: The best financial news site in the multiverse, bar none. And that includes Bloomberg and WSJ.
Freshbooks: A free, online billing system for small business. I’ve been using the Time Tracking feature and love it.

I lost an old friend today. He had been in poor health – really  for as long as I knew him, so in some ways, today’s news was not a surprise. But it still hurts. He was younger than me. He lived with us in Texas for a year. He worked for me. He moved on with life, found a woman to love him, got married and died much too young.

“Mr. Metaphor”, I called him. Ken was a writer who never really found his audience or – perhaps – even his voice. But he was a master of metaphors. I’m gonna miss those metaphors.

He stuck with his faith in God and God’s grace long after most people would have said “screw it”.

We shared a lot of meals over the years. The kids will most likely never forget his Pumpkin Soup. Good God Almighty, that man could make a mess of a kitchen. I’ve never known another person who could dirty so many pots and pans in so little time.

I think he looked up to me, and I fell off the pedestal he put me on when I got divorced several years ago. That bothers me, but not near as much as it hurts to have lost him to death so young.

It seems some people never really get a break, never get over the hump. Ken started life behind the eight ball and never seemed to get out from that position. I was so happy for him when he found Lindsay; one of the most satisfying days of my life was the day I stood with him as he married her. (Strangely, that was also the time my own marriage was cracking apart.)

So for my friend Ken, I offer this traditional Irish blessing – from the heart.

May the road rise to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face

and the rains fall softly upon your fields

and – till we meet again – may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Ken & Lindsey at The Satisfied Frog in Carefree

Link to Ken’s blog.

This is really how it works.

Friday night, Caroline and I drove out to a beautiful house on the side of a mountain in the community of Gold Canyon, Arizona. The occasion was a house concert by one of our favorite bands, Gypsy Soul. The band holds a special place in our hearts because our very first date was a Gypsy Soul concert. Their songs seem to speak to our lives in a way few artists do, and we never miss an opportunity to hear them. Read the rest of this entry →

This is Logan Ryan Heald. He is the first born son of a first born son of a first born son of a first born son of a first born son… and it may go back farther than that.

Logan Heald @ 9 1/2 months

He’s also the first Heald baby in generations without blue eyes. Now THAT is an accomplishment!

Of course I adore him – he’s my first grandson. I’m hoping his dad is a better dad than I was. Maybe that is one of the blessings of being a grandparent – you get the chance to love the child with a lot more experience than you had the first time around. I’ve always thought it pretty funny that God gives the job of parenting to the people least qualified to do it, but that’s how it is.

I have nothing profound to share here, just enjoying this photo. Oh, there’s more here.

…literally everyone in the world would have access to safe, sterile, sanitary drinking water.

Here’s the link.

This guy has developed a hand-held water filter that filters out not only all bacteria but also all viruses. Amazing.

Here’s a couple of organizations that also provide wells for those who need water.

Life Outreach International

Charity Water (This is the one my daughter supports.)

This school year I am involved with teaching the yewts at our church during Sunday mornings. The older I get, the less I know that I know, but the few things I do know, I know that I know. Since I want to give these kids something they can hang onto, I am careful to only talk about what I know that I know. (Y’know?)

So the overriding theme of my lessons this year is “Karma vs. Grace”.

It is my contention that the entire world operates with a belief in karma. Not the academic kind of karma, (one of the kids in the class actually knew the official Hindu definition), but the generic kind of “you get what you give” kind of karma. We expect fairness, scream bloody murder when we don’t get it, hold our leaders and public officials to it, and want it applied to greedy industrialists. I am not different.

What I find most  troubling is that most Xians think that is how God operates. It is my contention that God is out of the karma business. I think he exited that business when Jesus pronounced “it is finished” from the cross. God doesn’t operate an accounting business where he is busy balancing the books. Rather, He is the head of a family, and He actively loves His children; their behavior has zero impact on His love for them. This is grace.

Grace is offensive to our sense of justice and our belief in fairness. Worst of all, grace means God has no taste. If grace really is God’s M.O., then it means we are loved by Him not because of what do, not in spite of what we do, but simply because we are loved by Him. There is not a thing we can do about it. What we can do is either enjoy the benefits of His love, or not enjoy them.

I believe in grace, 200 proof, undiluted, delivered full blast from the fire hose. I know for a fact it makes people uncomfortable. People do not want grace, they want karma. Most people want to live in a world where they are rewarded for their good deeds because most people believe they “do enough good” to balance the scales of karma in their favor. The idea that God no longer uses scales is even more offensive than the idea that they might not be doing enough good.

I’ve written extensively about this at my old blogspot blog which I eventually hope to transfer over here.