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January 3 - February 11, 2021
If you find yourself saying, “Thank God it’s Friday,” or feeling depressed on Sunday nights, you might be better off finding something else to do.
The important choice when you love what you do for work is whether you’re going to be a peak performer or a workaholic.
Blessed are the balanced.
In EPHESIANS 1:15 (PH) it says "Live life with a due sense of responsibility, not as those who do not know the meaning of life but as those who do."
Pat and I have both learned that your actions are more powerful than your words, even though we do not hide that we are followers of Jesus.
Sometimes what you DO matters.
Most women want to take on their husband as their missionary work and change him. Just as Pat has learned to back off work sometimes to court Linda and focus on the kids, Linda has learned to let the Lord change Pat while her job is to love and support him. Great learnings here for everyone.
Our world today is increasingly busy. It appears that men and women in the rat race, the dot-com craze, the home-versus-business trap, and those just struggling to keep up are crying out for some way to manage the increasing busyness and craziness of our times.
Growing up in a typical Asian family I once was so stressed out even showed a tendency of bipolar disorder. Managing life need some good wisdom, don't think "you got this" all the time, growth can never be there if you think you have it all together.
Satan doesn’t need to deceive us; he just needs to keep us busy. All that busyness, of course, can lead to an ineffective witness, career struggles, family strife, divorce, and ultimate failure in one’s personal and professional life.
Important question: "WHAT AM I BUSY FOR?"
While you might crave the glamour of the lives of some who are on the front pages of tabloids and business journals, would you really want the family chaos that most have received in the course of the achievement?
As we’ve labored through a significant portion of our time on earth, what are we seeking? The next rung of the ladder toward career success? The next material acquisition that declares success to our friends and neighborhood? The acceptance letter for our children at the top-name school? Some other form of worldly recognition?
As I analyzed myself, I, too, confronted the question of whether I was investing my life in the right things. Was I out for success or significance? Should I consider a dramatic restructuring of my life as Buford had done?
God wanted to use me in my position at Intel, together with what I had learned as a juggler of time and priorities, to influence others for his kingdom.
The book you are now reading isn’t about stepping out of the work world. No, it’s about being a successful Christian and having a fulfilled life and healthy family while being in the working world.
God doesn’t intend for us to delay a desire for significance or for “doing ministry” until after we retire; he calls us to be heads of our families and to be ministry leaders while we are still in the workplace.
As a born-again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, my faith is at the foundation of who I am, what I stand for, what I dream of accomplishing, and what I desire to become as a man. My faith is an inextricable element of my personality and my life’s experiences.
Looking back, I would compare my life then to those coin bins that sit at the doorways of some diners and restaurants. You drop a coin in the top and it goes spiraling slowly downward. While the coin might “think” the ride is wonderful, thrilling, and fun, the end point is absolute and final; gravity makes sure it lands in the hole at the bottom 100 percent of the time.
Time to stop acting like an ostrich.
Given my farming background, I was comfortable working hard and sleeping only five hours a night during the week. (Admittedly, I continue this kind of intense schedule to this day.)
As I was working and going to school and spending most every free moment in study, God had—in another of those divine coincidences—provided the perfect roommate.
As the years have matured me, relationships are far more important than my self-imposed goals or deadlines.
Over and over through Scripture we see God’s plan being different from our paths. His ways are not our ways.
At precisely three months of marriage, that remaining portion of her single ovary and her tattered reproductive organs conceived our first child. When she went to see her doctor, they both cried. The doctor said, “I can’t believe it since I know what you look like inside!” Remembering the barren womb of Elizabeth and her husband, Zechariah, the parents of John the Baptist, we named our first child Elizabeth. Just as God had blessed Elizabeth and Zechariah with a miraculous pregnancy, so he had blessed us with a pregnancy that even Linda’s doctor considered a miracle.
In retrospect I realize that I was a bit too maniacal about it. I certainly could have taken a bit more time for Linda along the way; more focus on our relationship would have been good for both of us. That is now my advice to others.
Imagine being the CTO of a company with leaders at its helm like Gordon Moore, Andy Grove, and Robert Noyce—legends in the industry. While they were the primary technical drivers of the company for many years, I was the first person ever to have received the title of CTO. I remember calling my mom up to inform her that it would be announced the following week that I was being promoted to be Intel’s first-ever CTO. Mom replied, “That’s great, honey. Now what’s a CTO?”
I highlighted this just for fun... :)
You’ll see a bit later in my personal mission statement that I put down as a goal to “become an elder in my local congregation.”
When our minister preached a sermon on what biblical eldership was all about and the need for men to take roles of leadership in their families and their churches, I was pierced to the heart.
If you hadn’t guessed yet, I’m a busy guy. Furthermore, I enjoy being active, busy, and getting things done. Busyness and challenges get my adrenaline going. When I die, I want to be used up for God, having given everything I can to do my best for his kingdom. I never want to retire. In fact, I would challenge anyone to show where God suggests that people should retire. Passages like Philippians 3:14, 1 Corinthians 9:24–26, and Galatians 2:2 create a picture of a marathon runner going the whole distance and running hard to the finish line—graduation to the heavenly kingdom at the end of one’s
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【腓3:14】[新標點]向著標竿直跑，要得 神在基督耶穌裏從上面召我來得的獎賞。
[ASV]I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
【林前9:24】[新標點]豈不知在場上賽跑的都跑，但得獎賞的只有一人？你們也當這樣跑，好叫你們得著獎賞。
[ASV]Know ye not that they that run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? Even so run; that ye may attain.
【林前9:25】[新標點]凡較力爭勝的，諸事都有節制，他們不過是要得能壞的冠冕；我們卻是要得不能壞的冠冕。
[ASV]And every man that striveth in the games exerciseth self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
【林前9:26】[新標點]所以，我奔跑不像無定向的；我鬥拳不像打空氣的。
[ASV]I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so fight I, as not beating the air:
【加2:2】[新標點]我是奉啟示上去的，把我在外邦人中所傳的福音對弟兄們陳說；卻是背地裏對那有名望之人說的，惟恐我現在，或是從前，徒然奔跑。
[ASV]And I went up by revelation; and I laid before them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles but privately before them who were of repute, lest by any means I should be running, or had run, in vain.
CHAPTER 1 QUESTIONS Note: My own responses to these questions can be found near the end of this book. 1. Many people would argue that the Internet is evil. What do you believe about it and other technologies that have been used in questionable manners?
Everything can be "evil" when we lost track of God. It's not the technology itself that becomes poisonous to society, is the heart of how to make use of it.
【耶17:9】[新標點]人心比萬物都詭詐，壞到極處，誰能識透呢？
[ASV]The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?
【箴19:21】[新標點]人心多有計謀；惟有耶和華的籌算才能立定。
[ASV]There are many devices in a man’s heart; But the counsel of Jehovah, that shall stand.
【箴19:27】[新標點]我兒，不可聽了教訓而又偏離知識的言語。
[ASV]Cease, my son, to hear instruction Only to err from the words of knowledge.
2. Chester Carlson, the founder of Xerox, attributed his sustenance during difficult times to the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu spiritual text. Do you think that being spiritual is important, whether you are a Christian, Hindu, or Muslim?
YES it is very important to believe something is greater than ourselves. An opening heart assures you to see things in a different way and becomes a blessing to the people that surround you. It helps you to develop a sense of constant thinking.
3. In your time with God, do you ask him for help with your work or profession? Does God provide ideas, witty inventions, or specific help in the workplace? Do you have some ways to know how to ...
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4. Maybe you feel like you are working as hard as you can just to keep pace; you aren’t a type-A overachiever and regularly need more sleep than Pat does. How do you achieve balance in life even...
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5. How do you know if you are in the right profession? Could a struggle with balance occur because y...
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So what’s the point? While most of us will spend considerable energy planning in other areas, far too few of us have seriously considered and planned our most critical assets and the most limited resource we have: our gifts and our time.
Through some reading, I stumbled onto the idea of writing a personal mission statement. Now that might sound easy, but for me and most everyone I’ve talked to, it’s quite a difficult task. It requires arduous self-reflection and prayer. You need to think deeply about who you are, who you want to be, and what you want to accomplish with your life.
This isn’t a picture of who I am but of what I believe God has created me to become.
would also challenge you that you must, as I had to, go through a period of soul-searching in developing your personal mission statement. This is hard work, and you wouldn’t be giving the task justice by trying to get it finished over a single weekend or week.
Your goal should be a document that lasts ten or twenty years, and at the end of that period still has you striving to be better.
As you move through the periods of early adulthood, family and child rearing, and into empty nesting and early grandparenthood, and then finally retirement or post-career years, each of these transitions probably defines a good point in time to think again carefully about your personal mission statement.
A few other comments as you consider drafting your own personal mission statement: After you have a draft you like, ask your spouse to read it. Ask if this is the kind of person he or she thought they married and hopes you will become. While I firmly believe these are personal goals, you need to know if where you want to go with your life and where your spouse wants you to go are reasonably well aligned. If you find they are not, this exercise may be a great way to identify some long-term areas of conflict with your spouse that you haven’t recognized before. If they are aligned, this is a good
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You might find that input from other individuals close to you will help you get a different perspective on yourself. Maybe some of those goals you think you want to pursue really don’t match the character that other people see in you.
Mission: A simple, short statement. If you were going to have your epitaph written tomorrow, what would you want it to say? If you can answer that, that’s a good place to start. If not, it’s time to start some serious self-examination.
Values: For me, these are the statements I want people to think of immediately when asked, “What’s Pat like?”
Goals: Get specific enough that you can regularly measure your progress against these goals.
As we know, the future never really gets here. Thus, we need to set goals and priorities and then live by them. While God doesn’t need us to write a mission statement for us to make ourselves available for ministry, as humans we are far too willing to dismiss his quiet voice in our lives.
Your goals might be radically different from mine. They might include buying a home, getting out of debt, going into the ministry, starting your own business, finding a Christian spouse, choosing and completing a degree, starting a new church, going on short- or long-term missions, adopting a child, achieving specific financial or family goals, and so on. Let your mind wander some, brainstorm more, and when you’re done, your mission statement should be something that makes your passions swell.
After your mission statement is finished, come back and read it every month or two, or at least once per quarter year. Ask yourself if you’ve been making progress toward those values and goals.
On most occasions when I read mine, I see an area I should be doing more, or I’ll reflect on some actions or incidents where I failed to execute according to my values. I’ll often decide on some addit...
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Once a year, formally grade your progress toward your goals. I keep a spreadsheet in which I specifically grade each year how I did against each of the twenty-one goals noted above.
You do not want to be living randomly from day to day, but with purpose for the rest of your life. A focused life has great power.
I recommend you do a detailed time study for yourself to see where you spend your time. Make an estimate of how many hours each week you take for the major activities of your life: work, school, rest, entertainment, hobbies, spouse, children, commuting, church, God, friends, and so on.
Finally, with the summary in hand, make the difficult assessments about how you are using your time. Ask yourself: • Any surprises? Areas where I just couldn’t imagine I was wasting—er, uh, um, spending—so much of my time? • Is this where I want my time to go? • Am I putting as much time as I’d like into the areas I want as the priorities in my life? • How much time am I really spending with my spouse? Children? Friends? • Did I realize how much time I was spending at work? • If I wanted to spend more time on XYZ or ABC, in what areas would I consciously choose to spend less time?
A detailed time study can reveal hidden diamonds in your day. Do you really need to sleep that long or are you being just a bit lazy? If you wanted to, could you crawl out of bed a bit earlier on weekends and get in more physical exercise or time with your children?
With far too many individuals that I’ve counseled and conferred with over the years who’ve taken the step of doing a personal time study, they were spending time not based on conscious priority but largely on events happening to them, habit, or inertia.
