October 4, 2026
Blessed Assurance
Blessed Assurance – Friendship
Ihave been blessed to have many friends over the course of my life. I have very few “close” friends – those are the chums from my youth, the ones with whom I grew. Common wisdom states that it gets harder to make and keep friends as we age. I have not found that to be true.
Blessed Assurance – Growing up
For all of us at some point in our lives we dreamed about being older. The older kids always had more freedom (at least that was my perception) and they were able to do so much more than I.
Blessed Assurance – Becoming
am in a season where many beginnings are happening.
Blessed Assurance – Underestimation
Ihave recently been involved in some car care issues and have had to have “estimates” performed for the work that needed to be accomplished. This is often a harrowing process on a car with 200,000+ miles on it. The estimates for one piece of the work led to estimates for the next broken or worn-out part.
Blessed Assurance – To the victor
In 1828, New York Senator William L. Marcy uttered a phrase that described what he saw going on with political cronyism and nepotism leading to a small number of people benefiting from this unhealthy and unethical behavior. He said, “to the victor belong the spoils”. In his day and ours, the victors of any contest do not only win that contest, but they gain even more from contract bonuses and endorsement deals worth more than the winnings from the actual event. Likewise, we see small numbers of people benefiting from preferential treatment in contracting and in some political appointments. Insider trading, backroom deals, lobbying, dark money payments to political candidates are all bets by the givers that if they are victorious then they will reap far more than they have sowed.
Blessed Assurance – Things that last
My father was a selftaught “handyman”.