Living generously is really pretty simple. Sometimes we just need a few ideas to spur us on. Here are eleven suggestions: Write a thank you note to a teacher who most influenced you Offer to babysit for a young couple so they can have a date night Take your neighbor’s trash can in from the street Sell something you own …
We spend most of our lives waiting for our “when.” When I get that promotion. When I get that new house. When I get the kids in preschool.When I get the kids off to college.When I win the lottery. And so it goes.The idea is that whenever I reach my “when,” then I’ll be happy. But there is in fact a …
There are some rosy numbers out there for the giving world. In 2014, the last full year numbers are available, charitable giving to donor advised funds was $29 billion—which is nearly 6 percent of total giving. The Atlas for Giving predicted for 2015 that overall charitable giving might decrease by 3.2 percent for a total of $442 billion—still an apparently …
I’ll never forget the frantic phone call I received one year ago on December 31st. A donor had sold some assets during the year and had just figured out his tax consequences. He needed tax deductions, and he needed them now! The problem was that he’d started so late in the game that it was too late to donate any …
When you meet with most advisors, they encourage you to think of retirement. “Plan for the long term” is the adage. But what about seven generations? In Jeremiah 35, God asks Jeremiah to bring in the Recabite family and offer them wine to drink. (For context, this is a period of time when Jeremiah questions whether any are faithful.) However, …
Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Proverbs 11.25 (NIV) It’s a simple proverb: if you refresh others, you get refreshed too. What does it mean to refresh? Webster’s tells us that refresh means “to restore strength and animation; to freshen up; to restore or maintain by renewing supply.” Similar words are “revive, renovate, stimulate, replenish.” Other variations of the verse …
It’s a proverb. He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. (Proverbs 11.25) We were traveling across Kansas and needed a lunch break. Junction City and a Freddie’s Steakburger filled the bill. We ordered our lunch, and had a nice efficient break. Like most places of that type, they had a dining room attendant who picked up the baskets, napkins, …
Consider it. They were three friends. They were exiles living in a foreign land. Different people. Different culture. They lived under the rule and reign of a king who sought to conform them after himself. He even changed their name, and he issued an edict: all of his officials had to bow before a golden image he set up. Whoever …
On Thursday, July 14, 2016, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, bicycled to a rented 19-ton refrigerated truck. At 10:30pm, he drove the truck down the Promenade des Anglais, and plowed into a crowd, which was celebrating Bastille Day. He drove 1.1 miles and crushed people in his wake. The results: 84 people dead, 202 people injured with 25 still in critical condition. …
Having a grandchild is a magical thing. It’s mind-blowing to watch your children have kids and go through some of the same things you went through. But on top of that, there’s all of these wonderful stages you get to observe without being in the middle of the action. The sleeping baby. The hungry cry. The cuddle. And then soon, …
