Common sense can be learned from experience or the teaching we receive from those we trust. (Cindy Hess Kasper, author) We sometimes lament the apparent lack of common sense in society today. The more “far out” behaviors become, the more widely they seem to be...
GOD OF HOPE
Month: March 2017
March 21, 2017
He (God) is the still point of the turning world. (T. S. Eliot, 20th century British poet) The physical world is constantly in motion—the planets, the stars, even the earth on which we walk. The universe is in a fixed, pre-determined cycle of movement that is beyond...
#90 – Toyota: Getting Better and Better and Better
“Sometimes I wonder how it happened,” Dick Landgraff, a Ford Taurus engineer, was quoted saying to Mary Walton in her book Car. “Did Toyoda—the guy who runs the company’s name is Toyoda—did he suddenly have an idea one day? Did it bubble up from the bottom?...
March 20, 2017
I want to do to you what spring does with the cherry trees. (Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet-diplomat and Nobel Prize author) Spring arrives in the Northern Hemisphere today. After a long, hard winter, it is welcome. Perhaps Neruda was referring to the Japanese Cherry...
March 19, 2017
The Vision of the ideal guards monotony of work from becoming monotony of life. (Brooke Westcott, Anglican Bishop and theologian) You may find your work boring because of its repetitiveness—watching products flow through an assembly line and adding your little part...
March 18, 2017
"When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” (from Alice in Wonderland) Humpty Dumpty sounds like a 21st century person. Dictionary definitions don’t seem to mean much anymore. We...
March 17, 2017
If I have any worth, it is to live my life for God so as to teach these peoples; even though some of them still look down on me. (St. Patrick, 5th century missionary) Today is St. Patrick’s Day, and the Irish will celebrate the “Apostle of Ireland.” Some have said...
March 16, 2017
We are defined by our choices, not our circumstances. By the choices we make and the choices we don’t make. By our action or our inaction. (King Abdullah of Jordan) Many of us try to explain away some of our troubles by blaming them on the circumstances. If people...
#89 – The New SC400
Toshihiro Okada was the chief engineer for the new SC400 coupe. He was a sports car enthusiast who owned a Porsche. There were several directions to consider with the new coupe. One option was to go with a two-door version of the LS400. The second was to create...
March 15, 2017
You don't earn loyalty in a day. You earn loyalty day-by-day. (Jeffrey H. Gitomer, author and business trainer) Gitomer was commenting on the “Ides of March,” the day in which Caesar was assassinated in Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar. He had been warned of that...
March 14, 2017
The value of an object is based on how much is paid for it. (Barry C. Black, chaplain of the U.S. Senate) Antiques Roadshow is a popular TV program where experts place a value on people’s prized possessions. Many are surprised at the high prices some of their...
#88 – The ES300
In an article headlined, “Crowded Market Befuddles Buyers,” Melinda Grenier Guiles of the Wall Street Journal wrote, “The product proliferation—and rising prices—render the term ‘luxury car’ almost meaningless.” Adding more confusion, Mazda was rumored to be...