I read a book Mastering Life Before It’s Too Late by Robert J Morgan that was recommended by a member of my church’s financial counseling ministry. I’m on that team too. I actually needed to write a bio for the class I am leading now. After I read the bio I wrote, I thought everyone will be disappointed to learn I’m just me.
One of the biggest financial decisions I made this year was to give up my Astros season tickets. I have been a huge Astros fan since my wife convinced me to get over John McMullen shafting Nolan Ryan. We have season tickets for a stretch from the 05 playoffs until little d came along. We got them again from the 15 playoffs until now. Baseball is by far my favorite sport and I really enjoyed the experience of playoff games. But I finally realized season tickets are no longer for me and ditched them. I have not missed an Astros playoff game at Minute Maid park yet, but that time is probably coming next fall.
Almost every time you enter a foreign country, they ask you “Business or pleasure?” I prefer to say pleasure of course, but every so often I have to say business. Even though I am an American and assume I can go anywhere, I always wonder if I will get pulled aside to be asked a bunch of questions about business or have to pay a tax or something weird.
Sometimes when I thought about season tickets, the question “Business or pleasure?” came to mind. I go to game for pleasure, but I have occasionally been on business outing that just so happed to have had a business angle. I know many companies give tickets to clients to help support business. I even took clients on my extra ticket some. I think we may have even made money selling tickets I did not use in 16 or 17 or both.
The best “business” use of the tickets was when I took people from the church. I got the chance to talk to some people that were having big influences over my life and improve my walk with Christ along the way.
Mostly I just got to use the tickets to spend time with my friend. This was always great but buying 83 games of tickets for a handful of games is not good business. In the future, we will probably still go to some games, but maybe we can play golf again like we used to before Big D came along.
The first big point in this book was about the phrase “Be About Your Father’s Business”. This follows from the first words recorded from Jesus when His parents found Him in the temple. Christ both started by telling us He was the Son of God and that doing the will of God is of utmost importance in our lives, even if it means ditching our parents.
The key aspect of this phrase is to either incorporate the things you do into serving God or cut them out. While my anger at the Astros had a lot to do with my ditching the tickets, a little had to do with the gaps I ran into trying to be a good steward and utilizing the tickets for God’s glory. Selling them for pennies on the dollar weekday after weekday was not doing either.
In sports, one of the terms associated with success is creating a muscle memory of right actions. As a pitcher, if you can have the same arm action every time to the point your arm remembers how to do it on its own, then success is much more likely. As a Christian seeking to limit life’s actions to those that Glorify God and help others, we too can create a “muscle memory” but doing the right things consistently to the point that the become natural. If we capture our thoughts and ask ourselves “What would God have me do now?” then we can begin to make new habits, new routines, and focus on the opportunities before us.
The book has 10 patterns and 26 chapters that pour out Biblical, God breathed truths for our everyday lives as if the hose came loose from an open hydrant. I will not be able to pontificate as clearly about the 25 rules in the last book I wrote about, but I am going to try. Hopefully, they provide a little help to those who read them.