Yes, that’s right. You heard me. Here are a few things about Polk I learned from reading Walking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson by David Reynolds:
He determined to serve one term.
He rarely took vacations.
He sought to address four main campaign promises and did!
He worked extremely hard.
(Waking Giant, p. 351-53 by David Reynolds)
From Peter Scazzero, “Lessons in Leadership and Differentiation” (Part 1); Feb. 20, 2013
Leaders have a number of key tasks if we are to operate out of high level of integrity. These include:
In what ways might you be doing an easy thing in your leadership today and not the best? Where are you not thinking things through but taking the easy way out by focusing on the short-term?
From one of my favorite, living authors:
Insightful and desperately needed commencement address.
Over the years, I’ve found that too many people put things in either/or categories when both/and is the correct one. Too many of us are confused and therefore lacking in courage. Senator Sasse understands both/and.
My thoughts on Will’s piece are here:
George Will’s piece may be animated by unsavory motivations, but there is much we evangelicals ought to hear. We hate when our leaders are poked in the eye, especially by those outside our camp, but Will’s highlighting of Graham’s pragmatism and naivete are important to hear.
Graham was no Elmer Gantry to be sure, but he was more human and therefore flawed than many Christians want to admit.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/02/billy-graham-legacy-neither-prophet-nor-theologian/
A good review of a book I know pretty well!
Esther Meek wrote a terrific book entitled, Learning to Know: The Philosophy of Knowledge for Ordinary People. In it, she describes how finding a reliable mechanic helped her better understand how we use certain clues to determine whether God as known in Jesus Christ is who He claimed.
More generally, how do we know what we know? It is an important branch of philosophy called epistemology. Too many people, including plenty of Christians, don’t think about how and why they think the way they do.
I read Meek’s book several years back. At the time, my experiences with mechanics was mixed. Some were okay while others had clearly taken advantage of me.
Enter Joe Ruiz. Joe’s shop is here in Austin. Two friends I implicitly trust told me how Joe kept their cars running. Many times, Joe told Gil or Mike that they did not need all the other “recommended” stuff other mechanics had tried to sell them.
My experience with Joe mimics what Gil and Mike have experienced. Our car (with 210,000 miles) recently lurched forward from a stop. I figured the transmission was going since it is the original one. I took it into Joe. Joe told me the catalytic converter may be responsible. He thoroughly checked out everything else including the transmission. All looked good. He recommended adding five gallons of high octane fuel which I did.
Our car is back running just fine. Joe charged $107 for all the work. I was dreading a large expense that would have been challenging on our budget.
Meek’s argument that we pick up clues to determine whether God is trustworthy is inspired by the great philosopher of science, Michael Polanyi. I highly recommend it!
And if you live in the Austin area, I know a great car mechanic!
….to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius….and a very stable genius at that!
“LET ANOTHER PRAISE YOU, AND NOT YOUR OWN MOUTH; A STRANGER, AND NOT YOUR OWN LIPS.” (Proverbs 27:2)
