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“Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever.”  – Psalm 37:27 

I recall sitting in the office of an executive with the Wall Street firm where I was once employed discussing the challenges of dealing with unethical or marginally ethical people within our industry.  (Every profession has them, by the way.)  The executive with whom I was meeting made a comment I will never forget.  Bad people never last, he assured me.  Eventually they go too far, step over the line, and get caught resulting in disciplinary action, firing, revoked licenses, law suits, or prosecution – and on rare occasions all the above.  I disagreed; for it seemed these clever shysters were ever present in my world placing an enormous burden on my staff and me to constantly monitor and police their activities – not the best use of our time and energy.  It’s just a fact of life, though, that from petty dishonesty to crime to terrorism to murderous dictatorships, evil is forever among us, and indeed has been throughout the history of mankind.

Someone once said that no matter how things may appear, there is no future in evil, only in good.  Pondering that has caused me to take heart; for discouraging as it is when it seems the bad guys win, when we consider that throughout history when evil actually is defeated – and it always is eventually, though not necessarily within our lifetimes – it is because in some way good has prevailed, thus validating that there is no future in evil, only in good.  Or as my old Wall Street executive friend assured me, bad people never last.

On Mount Sinai Moses received the same assurance from the Lord himself who said, “. . . for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

So we should take heart in doing good, for by doing so we are paving a path for the future; as there is no future in evil, only in good.  Or as the Psalmist affirms, “. . . do good; then you will dwell in the land forever.”

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalm 118:24 

I recall once asking my mother what it was like living through the war years, World War II that is.  My question was not about the war itself, but domestic life during those times with so many young men, mostly, away serving in the military, not to mention the rationing and sacrificing required by everyone to support the war effort, and the dreadful fear people must have felt with practically the entire world engaged in bloody conflict.  I’m a baby-boomer born after the war, yet not too long afterwards, but still close enough to have felt a connection to it, which raised my curiosity to ask my mom that question.

Her answer was surprisingly simple.  “We just lived every day one day at a time,” she said.  Over time I grew to understand what she meant in her brief response, that people still got up every day, sent the kids off to school, went to work, and tended to chores.  Kids came home in the afternoon, played with their friends, families shopped for groceries, socialized with neighbors, maintained their homes, planted gardens, and lived ordinary lives as much as possible despite the efforts and inherent tragedies of war – simply put, living every day one day at a time.

In his book Run with the Horses Eugene Peterson poses a question we must all consider during difficult circumstances:  “Will I focus my attention on what is wrong with the world and feel sorry for myself?  Or will I focus my energies on how I can live at my best in this place I find myself?”  Peterson goes on to point out that “it is always easier to complain about problems than to engage in careers of virtue.”  Thinking back on my mother’s seemingly flippant response that day, I think she was using it as a teaching moment in terms of what Peterson wrote.

Peterson later added this:  “There are two kinds of people: some look at life and complain of what is not there; others look at life and rejoice in what is there.”  The Psalmist expressed it even more beautifully, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it,” for every day is a day the Lord has made, and we can choose to either complain about it or rejoice in it.  Credit those courageous citizens back then living one day at a time and the impact they had on the outcome of the War.  May we be inspired by that great generation to do the same in our own difficult and chaotic times.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”  – Proverbs 27:17 

Since everyone these days, from politicians to prognosticators to preachers, seems to be talking about, and writing about, artificial intelligence (AI), I thought I might as well throw in my own two cents, which honestly has not changed in almost forty years, long before anyone even knew of such a thing as AI.  But it is a hot topic and rightfully so, for it is upon us, and it is revolutionary, which is both exciting and frightening.  I’ll begin by sharing something I had written ten years ago about the technology revolution.

“The CEO of my former corporate employer, a large Wall Street investment firm used to say,” I wrote back in 2015, “that ‘people will always be in need of the advice and counsel of a fellow human being.’  When he first said that it was exactly what everyone needed to hear, for it was in the late 1980’s just when the internet was gaining traction in revolutionizing all sorts of commerce, creating chaos and fear in almost every industry that the new electronic age would replace humans altogether.  The financial services industry being at the leading edge of that fear needed to hear our CEO’s inspiring reassurance more than ever, that human beings will always need other human beings.”

I still marvel at how prophetic my old boss was back then.  Yes, the coming of age of the internet was revolutionary and disruptive to the way we were accustomed to things being done, just as AI is today.  What did not change was the need for human interaction.  In fact, if anything that need – it seems to me – has increased rather than diminished.  An example is my current profession of Executive Coaching, a rapidly expanding profession I might add, yet one that did not even exist back then. Indeed, people seem to be seeking advice and counsel and interaction from and with fellow human beings more than ever.

“As iron sharpens iron,” the old Proverb reminds us, “so one man sharpens another.”  Indisputably, AI is capable of many things that can potentially advance mankind (also do it harm).  But if my experience over the past twenty years in Executive Coaching is any indication, I can’t imagine how AI can replace the need for one human being helping another, interacting with another, being face-to-face with another, or touching one another.  Can you?  So, for what it’s worth, that’s my two cents on AI.

“Ears that hear and eyes that see – the Lord has made them both.”  – Proverbs 20:12 

Several years ago while struggling to discern what to do next after leaving my thirty year corporate career it was suggested to me that my creativity had been suppressed from so many years of working in a large organization and in a highly regulated industry, causing me to become too linear in my thinking.  Hearing that message was a watershed moment for me, exactly what I needed to hear.  It’s as if the scales fell off my eyes, as scripture describes the Apostle Paul’s experience after encountering Christ on the road to Damascus.  For the first time perhaps since adolescence I had ears and eyes that began to hear and see life from the heart as well as the mind.  No longer confined by tunnel vision I began to see and hear in a new way, openly and relationally.  And I started to become something I never dreamed I could be – an artist.

In her inspiring book The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity Julia Cameron describes art as “not about thinking something up.  It is about the opposite – getting something down. . . If we are trying to think something up, we are straining to reach for something that’s just beyond our grasp, up there, in the stratosphere, where art lives on high . . . When we get something down, there is no strain.  We’re not doing; we’re getting. . . Instead of reaching for inventions, we are engaged in listening.”

For the longest time I believed artists to be those gifted individuals with the ability to paint, sculpt, compose music or write poetry.  But before putting brush to canvas, hands to clay, notes to tunes or poetry to paper, artists are first of all listeners and seers, with ears to hear and eyes to see.  They pay attention to life.

Having no ability to paint, sculpt, compose or write I never dreamed of myself as an artist – until that watershed moment.  That’s when I began to see and hear what is going on around me and in the world and discovered that I too have the ability to express and interpret what I see and hear, but in different ways – through the way I live, how I treat others, what I teach and model to my children and grandchildren, caring for and loving others.  That too is art, which makes me an artist. . . . And so are you.

“There are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” – Luke 13:30 

The season opener is fast approaching when my beloved alma mater Texas Longhorns will face last year’s national championship team, the Ohio State Buckeyes, forthcoming the end of this month.  I can already feel my competitive spirit rising, my heart beating a little faster, that renewed hope that this might be our year, our turn to be in first place, to finish as top dog.  And I love being top dog, don’t you?

Except, I’ve also always had a great heart for the underdog.  It is what I love so much about college football season, that on any given weekend there are inevitably upsets where the underdog team unexpectedly triumphs over a stronger rival.  We’re all like that I think, we love to cheer for the underdog, unless of course it is our team on the wrong end of the upset.  It’s the reason I have watched the movie Hoosiers dozens of times over the years since its release in 1986, the great story about a tiny farming town in Indiana whose high school basketball team defied all odds to win the state championship.

Which is more important, I sometimes wonder, top dog or underdog?  I’ve been observing my granddaughter’s school volleyball team the past few years rise from being rank beginners who were lucky to return a volley, much less win a game, to developing into a team to be reckoned with – from underdog to top dog.  Yet, they haven’t been top dog long enough to forget where they came from, maintaining some sense of humility – so far at least.

Jesus made a point of emphasizing to his disciples that “there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”  That is, you may become top dog, but beware that you are never too big to fail.  As for the underdogs, keep working hard, doing the right things, caring for your neighbors and community, loving God and each other, while maintaining a spirit of hope and a sense of humility.  Who knows, the day may come when you move up from underdog to top dog.  Just don’t forget where you came from, and how you got there.

Life is like that I think.  We may be underdog one day and top dog the next.  Which one really doesn’t matter, rather it’s our attitude towards it that determines our place in line.