Five on Friday: Finding Time, Losing Our Religion, and the Business of Black America
Issue VIII
Every Friday I send an email with five pieces of content. These are things I’ve found insightful, inspiring… or just interesting.
If you want to receive Monday’s Disciple Notes email but not this one, simply unsubscribe below.
Here are five things from my week I thought were worth passing on.
Today at a Glance
Quote: Doing things right
Tweet: Losing our religion
Article: Second-order thinking
Podcast: The business of Black America
Bonus: Casket Empty Timelines
One Quote
“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”
– John Wooden
I’ve heard another version of this: “If you don’t find time to do it right, you’ll have to find time to fix it later.”
This is an important lesson in life. I saw it play out recently with a painter I hired. As he was finishing the job he hurried to clean his tools, not realizing he was splattering red paint onto the beige exterior of our home. He ended up having to repaint the entire wall to fix the mess he made, all because he rushed trying to save 5-10 minutes.
One Tweet
I recently tweeted along similar lines.
In this tweet Mr. Keller gets to the core issue: If you’ve lost your faith, what did it actually rest on? People of faith should acknowledge we face many unknowns and disappointments. By nature, faith doesn’t give us all the answers. People and institutions let us down. But those should not be what our faith is based on.
For a fuller exploration, check out this excellent follow up thread.
One Article
Second-Order Thinking: What Smart People Use to Outperform - Farnam Street
As our world moves ever faster, we are being bombarded with more and more information (read, propaganda). The ability to think well is no longer admirable—it’s essential.
If you can’t think beyond first-order, you will be exploited by those who can.
The article above does a great job contrasting first and second-order thinking. It also gives practical ways to think better.
One Podcast
Rachael Ferguson on Politics, Religion, and Business in Black America - Sonnie’s Corner
I enjoyed this wide-ranging conversation about minimal government, the Constitution, the role of the Black church in culture, the history of Christian faith among African Americans, and the role of economic progress in liberating Black communities. There’s even a discussion on what “cursing” and “blasphemy” mean.
Rachael Ferguson is co-author of the soon to be released “Black Liberation Through the Marketplace: Hope, Heartbreak, and the Promise of America”.
One Bonus
Hands down one of the best Bible study resources I’ve come across is the CASKET EMPTY timeline charts. They provide an amazing timeline that captures the important themes, people, and events of the Bible.
Just as important, they give you a way to remember and share those details with others.
Timelines for both the Old Testament and the New Testament are available at their website.
Personal Note
March has been full of moves! We started the month by moving my mom from San Diego to Las Vegas. A week later we moved my daughter and her family to Yuma, AZ.
I’m getting old you guys, it took my lower back 2 full weeks to recover! 😂
Thanks for reading and if you like Five on Friday, please share it with others who might enjoy it too.
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