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This article originally ran May 25, 2012 and was re-recorded January 30, 2017.

After three years in Asia, this was the first beached jellyfish I’d seen. But, before I explain how I rescued a beached jellyfish in Taiwan, allow me to tell of the cockroach who saved my life.

Normally, when a country-born Michiganian sees a cockroach on its back, the first inclination is to step on it. Call me cruel, but I’d prefer the gratification of knowing it just sat there on its back. Yes, I pulled wings off a fly when I was young. But, that’s because he bit me when I never did anything to him! All that’s in the past, now, and here I was looking at an Asian cockroach doing the cockroach dance.

When you think of it, cockroaches are quite useful creatures. Imagine how many corners would be so much dirtier if they didn’t clean up!  · · · →

Needless to say, I’m a concerned for our country. It’s not from the economy—the state of which dates back to the Clinton years when the laws were set that affected the housing crisis. No, it’s not which political party is in charge—sometimes I can’t tell the difference, but that’s true of nearly any country’s politics. And, no, it’s not Obamacare—though I still think the country asked for it in November 2008. I finished grieving over the nationalization of Romneycare by the time Obama took the oath of office.

No, I’m concerned about a potential stand-off between honest police and honest citizens.. and it’s all from a misunderstanding.

I was raised as a Michigan Militia Redneck. Yep, a bitter nut who “clung to guns and religion”. That was me. It was how dad raised me. Don’t get me wrong, all my life, dad respected police officers and soldiers and he even taught me to respect every City and State Trooper, even if a traffic cop was in the wrong.   · · · →

In “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, we learn the value of what he calls “first-who-then-what” in terms of vision for an organization. In his study of companies that broke through the glass ceiling of “averageness” to “greatness”, the team was developed first, before they found their final vision and direction.

Collin’s observation, admittedly, departs from conventional wisdom—that vision comes FIRST. So, where does vision fit in? It almost seems to have become an enemy of so-called “leadership” these days. But, it all made sense this evening as I sat at McDonald’s, smothering my double quarter-pounder with cheese in ketchup—another opus of American research that has defiled all street advice.

So, what brilliant discovery popped into my mind as the [metaphoric] tomato hit me on the head? Collin’s “first-who-the-what” observation came paired with another observation he made—the “Level Five Leader”. (He didn’t think of anything better to call it, if you couldn’t tell.)  · · · →

When we consider the Sovereignty of God, the idea that He is in full control through all Creation, we often view it in an overly-simple way that breeds confusion. One classic example is the apparent conflict between God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Free Will. There are many other examples that are similar to this, including daily leading of the Lord. Does God truly care which shirt you wear? Well, perhaps He does.. today, but maybe He won’t tomorrow. And what does it mean that He cares? Is He testing us by giving us useless orders just to see what we will do? He absolutely never does that, even though we may not yet see how His direction affects our lives and the lives of others. Everything He does and commands has an influence toward His purposes and God trains us by giving us smaller assignments that matter and, when we come into line with His heart, He gives us bigger assignments that matter..  · · · →