Motivated By Purpose

Making money for the sake of making money is something I don’t do naturally. Growing up well provided for has made me hunger for things beyond the material: having meaningful relationships, enjoying art and music, and striving for spiritual significance. So much so, I actually dislike making money for money’s sake.

But we need money. We need to learn how to steward the resources that we have been given and grow more.

In The Parable of the Bags of Gold, we see the importance of doubling the resources that have been given to us. But to what end?

Making money for money’s sake does not motivate me.

So, as a Christian, am I doomed?

No, I am not. I have a passion – to minister to hurting and burnt out ministers, to help the poor and needy, to bring the message of hope to those with no hope. So, I can center my activities for doubling bags of gold around my passion for ministry.

I can make this my money-making slogan:

"I make money in order to fund ministries I care about. The more I make, the more I can fund." - The Bearded Ultraman

Now that will keep me motivated!

What about you? What motivates you to make money?

"Toodeepism" - New Insight Into Procrastination

For a long time now, I have been using the excuse of being too busy to justify my last minute dash to prep for deadlines.

I haven't been that busy this week, so being too busy no longer qualifies as an excuse for my last-minute-ness.

This week's last-minute dashes for deadlines (for 3 events) are helping me to realize that my so-called procrastination is more about trying to go deep than being lazy or fearful. No doubt, there is some fear affecting the speed of my prep, but there is this other thing -- wanting to go much deeper with my materials than time would allow.

It's the same process as when I am late for appointments. When I am doing something (e.g. writing this post), I want to do as good a job as time will allow -- or so I delude myself into thinking. More often than not, I want to read up on this and that and go much deeper than time will allow for the project.

I think I will call this phenomenon: toodeepism.

Do you have any thoughts or insights from your own experience related toodeepism?

About This Blog

I couldn't figure out a good title for my new blog. So I thought I'd christen it after my profile pic -- a photo of a shamelessly re-dressed Ultraman-As-Santa in the display window of a small bicycle-and-everything store on the outskirts of Tokyo.

But worse things than this have taken place in our world. For instance, the horrendous earthquakes and tsunamis in recent Japan.

So, in honor of the land where anime was born, I am calling my new blog, the Bearded Ultraman.

This blog will have all kinds of stuff. It's my throw-every-thought-into-the-box safe place.

Before I end this entry, let me just assert again that I sincerely feel that Ultraman should never have become stuck behind a shop window dressed as Saint Nick.

I mean, just click on the video below and watch in awe. You'll understand what I mean.



Oh, and, um, you can find my profile here.