Category: Book Reviews

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Killing Productivity Without Ever Raising A Finger Or An Eyebrow…

Yes, bucket-filling is an extraordinary powerful leadership strategy.

Of course, there is a flip side. There always is!

Right now, the majority of us don’t give or receive (I’m only concerned with giving praise & encouragement now) anywhere near the amount of praise that we should. As a result, we’re much less productive and in many cases, completely disengaged in our jobs. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the number-one reason people leave their jobs is because they “do not feel appreciated.”

But the problem doesn’t stop there. There’s more.

One study of health care workers found that when employees were working for a boss they disliked, they had significantly higher blood pressure. According to the British scientist George Fieldman, this boss-induced hypertension could increase the risk of coronary heart disease by 17% and the risks of stroke by 33%.

“There was both a statistical and clinically significant elevation during the time people had the boss they didn’t like,” says Fieldman, a psychologist and psychotherapist. “People who work with bosses they really hated constantly for years would probably be quite vulnerable to heart disease because of the elevation of blood pressure in the long-term.”

Where productivity is concerned it would be better for organizations if people who are overtly negative stayed home. When they do show up for work, they are counterproductive. We all know these types of people. They walk around the office or job site with glazed looks or move from cubicle to cubicle stirring up trouble with whining, complaining, and even paranoia. Sound familiar?

Our estimates suggest that there are more than 22 million workers – in the U.S. alone – who are extremely negative or “actively disengaged,” and this data was a decade prior covid. Imagine now!

This rampant negativity is not only disheartening, it’s expensive. It cost the U.S. economy between $250 and $300 billion every year in lost productivity alone. When you add workplace injury, illness, turnover, absences, and fraud, the cost could surpass $1 trillion per year, or nearly 10% of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). These costs are not specific to the United States; they exist to varying degrees in every country, industry, and organization we have studied.

And our figures are conservative. To estimate costs accurately, we only accounted for the direct impact that “actively disengaged” employees have at work. We quantified the productivity – or the lack thereof – occurring in each person’s own workspace. In analyzing the data, we had to assume that disengaged employees simply sat in his or her cubicle and didn’t wreak havoc elsewhere – an unlikely assumption, of course. Most disengaged employees do plenty of things each day that bring others down with their own sinking ship.

NEXT UP: You ever personally caught yourself in a downward spiral of anger, or an addiction, and there was absolutely nothing you could do to stop the free-fall?

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Positivity, Negativity, and Productivity

From Ch. Two of How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work & Life

Most of us will never endure the kind of psychological torture that the American prisoner of war suffered during the Korean War. Yet we all experience positive and negative interactions every day that influence how we feel and behave. Just because these interactions are commonplace and often undramatic doesn’t mean that they do not matter. They do. While most of our negative experiences will not kill us, they can slowly but surely erode our well-being and productivity. Fortunately, positive experiences or “bucket filling” can even be more powerful.

Bucket Filling in Organizations

Although bucket filling goes far beyond the concepts of “recognition” and “praise,” these are two critical components for creating positive emotions in organizations. In fact, we surveyed more than 4 million employees worldwide on this topic. Our latest analysis which includes more than 10,000 business units and more than 30 industries, has found that individuals who receive regular recognition and praise:

  1. increase their individual productivity
  2. increase engagement among their colleagues
  3. are more likely to stay with their organization
  4. receive higher loyalty and satisfaction scores from customers
  5. have better safety records and fewer accidents on the job

To put this into perspective, think about the greatest recognition you have ever received in the workplace. Chances are, it caused you to feel better about your organization and, in turn, become more productive. Great recognition and praise can immediately transform a workplace. And just one person can infuse positive emotions into an entire group by filling buckets more frequently. Studies show that organizational leaders who share positive emotions have work groups with a more positive mood enhanced job satisfaction, greater engagement, and improved group performance.

One CEO we know, Ken, claims that the bucket filling is his “secret weapon” as a leader. He has developed very targeted ways to increase positive emotions in the large organization that he runs. In Ken’s frequent travels around the globe, he always stops by his company’s local offices. And he doesn’t visit to “spy” on his employees or just to meet with upper management. Instead, his primary intent is to energize the people in each workplace.

Before arriving, Ken recalls successes and achievements he has heard over the past few months involving people in that office. As soon as he arrives, Ken casually visits with these individuals and congratulates them. He may offer kudos to an employee who recently got married or had a child or praise someone who gave a great presentation. His favorite line is: “I’ve been hearing a lot of good talk behind your back.”

The most enjoyable part of spreading positivity for Ken is to “watch the energy move through the network” once he sets it in motion. He realized that he could light up an entire workplace with a few brief – but very energizing – conversations.

“I discovered that bucket filling is an extraordinarily powerful leadership strategy,” Ken says. As a result of this approach, thousands looked to him for motivation and guidance.

NEXT UP: Killing Productivity

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A Life Lived Well: Intro to “How Full Is Your Bucket?”

Positive Strategies For Work & Life, written by Tom Rath

In the early 1950s my grandfather Don Clifton was teaching psychology at the University of Nebraska when he noticed a major problem: The field of psychology was based almost entirely on the study of what is wrong with people.

Strictly merlin’s speculations: And as previously cited in the prior post Negativity Kills, Don’s review of one specific case study by Dr. Wm E Mayer of the 1000 N Korean American POW’s altered the entire focus of his career and life. And I maintain that we as His ambassadors, if we would answer His spiritual call affirmatively, between our years of 15-23 yrs of age when accompanied with His transformation & empowerment, and with the necessary discipline, encouragement & mentoring, as Gallup proved 50 years later with their boatloads of data, that His kingdom legacies would abound, perhaps not so well known here on earth, but during those reunions & impromptu meet & greets in heaven, the journey dots will finally be connected…. And our glorification with Him will be recognized & eternally enjoyed. Remember, Jesus is always invitational & it is never too late to begin, except AFTER the trumpet call!

Don began to wonder if it wouldn’t be more important to study what is right with people.

So, over the past five decades, Don and his colleagues conducted millions of interviews missing on the positive instead of the negative.

Early in his research Don discovered that our lives are shaped by our interactions with others. Whether we have a long conversation with a friend or simply place an order at a restaurant, every interaction makes a difference. The results of our encounters are rarely neutral; they are almost always positive or negative. And although we take these interactions for granted, they accumulate and profoundly affect our lives.

During the course of Don’s work in the 1990’s a new field of study emerged: Positive Psychology, which focuses on what is right with people. Today many of the world’s leading scientists study the effects of positive emotions.

In 2002, Don’s pioneering work was recognized by the American Psychological Association, which cited him as Grandfather of Positive Psychology and the Father of Strengths Psychology. That same year, Don learned that an aggressive and terminal cancer had spread throughout his body. Knowing his time was limited, he spent his final months doing what he did best and what people who knew him well, would have expected: helping others focus on the positive.

Although Don had written already written several books including the best seller, Now Discover Your Strengths, he asked me to join him in writing one last book – one based on a theory he created in the 1960s. People had been asking Don to write this book for decades as a result of the theory’s popularity. Over the past forty years, more than 5000 organizations and one million people have applied this theory. And people always passed it along to friends, colleagues, and loved ones.

Based on a simple metaphor of a “dipper” and a “bucket,” Don’s theory carried profound implications and simplified his life’s work for others. So in his final months, Don and I worked night and day to assemble the most compelling differences he had gathered over half a century of work. Although Don was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation, we continued to work on this book whenever he had the energy – which was the majority of the time.

We sat in his study for hours, reviewing the research, statistics, and stories, we thought you would find compelling. As Don’s health deteriorated, I read sections to him and took notes on his feedback. He reviewed every section wanting each story and insight to resonate with you.

For my part, I was honored to be Don’s partner in creating this book. He was my mentor, teacher, role model, and friend. We were exceptionally close, and I cherished the time we had together. I was always motivated and inspired by his vision. And Don knew that I had been touched deeply by his theory throughout my life. As we will describe in Chapter Four, applying Don’s Theory of the Dipper and the Bucket energized and probably save me in my own battles with cancer.

In hindsight, I think this project also gave Don additional energy in the final stages of his fight with cancer. He had spent his life trying to make the world a better place one person at a time and he understood that completing this book would make a difference. We finished our first draft of this book just weeks before his death in September of 2003.

Over the 79 years of Don’s life, he touched millions of individuals through his books, teaching, and the global business he built. Don reached so many people as a result of his unwavering belief in helping individuals and organizations focus on what is right. (merlin: Can we do any less?)

As you read this book, we hope that you will discover the power of bucket filling in your own life.

Tom Rath

NEXT UP:

5 Steps For Creating The Art in Our Life With God

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North Korea’s “Ultimate Weapon”

Pg 21 From How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies For Work & Life. Continued from Tuesday’s post. If you’ve not read that, begin there first.

Mayer reported that the North Koreans’ objective was to “deny men the emotional support that comes from interpersonal relationships.” To do this, the captors use four primary tactics:

  1. Informing
  2. self-criticism
  3. breaking loyalty to leadership and country
  4. withholding all positive emotional support

To encourage informing, the North Koreans gave prisoners rewards such as cigarettes when they snitched on one another. But neither the offender nor the soldier reporting the violation was punished – the captors encouraged this practice for a different reason. Their intent was to break relationships and turn the men against each other. The captors understood that the soldiers could actually harm each other if they were encouraged to dip from their comrades’ buckets every day.

To promote self-criticism the captors gathered groups of 10 or 12 soldiers and employed what Mayer described as “a corruption of group psychotherapy.” In these sessions each man was required to stand up in front of the group and confess all the bad things he had done as well as all the good things he could have done but failed to do.

The most important part of this tactic was that the soldiers were not “confessing” to the North Koreans, but to their own peers. By subtly eroding the caring, trust, respect, and social acceptance among the American soldiers, the North Koreans created an environment which buckets of goodwill were constantly and ruthlessly drained.

The third major tactic that the captors employed was breaking loyalty to leadership and country. The primary way they did this was by slowly and relentlessly undermining a soldier’s allegiance to his superiors.

The consequences were ghastly. In one case, a Colonel instructed one of his men not to drink the water from a rice paddy field but because he knew the organisms in the water might kill him. The soldier looked at his Colonel and remarked, “Buddy you ain’t no colonel anymore; you’re just a lousy prisoner like me. You take care of yourself and I’ll take care of me.”  The soldier died of dysentery a few days later.

In another case, 40 men stood by as three of their extremely ill fellow soldiers were thrown out of their mud hut by a comrade and left to die in the elements. Why did their fellow soldiers do nothing to help them? Because it “wasn’t their job.” The relationships had been broken; the soldiers simply didn’t care about each other anymore.

But the 4th tactic of withholding all positive emotional support while inundating soldiers with negative emotions was perhaps bucket dipping in its purest and most malicious form. If a soldier received a support letter from home, the captors withheld it. All negative letters however – such as those telling of a relative and was going to remarry – were delivered to soldiers immediately.

The captors would even deliver overdue bills from collection agencies back home – within less than two weeks of the original postmark. The effects were devastating: the soldiers had nothing to live for and lost basic belief in themselves and their loved ones, not to mention God and country. Mayer said that the North Koreans had put the American soldiers “into a kind of emotional and psychological isolation, the likes of which we have never seen.”

Studying Positivity

Moved by this story of psychological torture and deprivation – and perhaps inspired by the hope that these soldiers had not suffered or died in vain – Don Clifton and his colleagues studied decided to study the flip side of this horrific equation. They wondered: If people can be literally destroyed by unrelenting negative reinforcement, can they be uplifted and inspired to greater degree by similar levels of positivity? In essence, they asked:

Can positivity have an even stronger impact than negativity?

Their research to answer this question inspired the Theory of the Dipper and the Bucket. The theory is based on the following principles:

  1. Everyone has an invisible bucket. We are at our best when our buckets are over flowing – and at our worst when they are empty.
  • Everyone also has an invisible dipper. In each interaction, we can use our dipper either to fill or to dip from others buckets.
  • Whenever we choose to fill others’ buckets, we in turn fill our own.

The Theory of the Dipper and the Bucket has been investigated, applied, and embraced by millions around the world over the past half century. People who have heard this theory found it to be inspiring and easily applicable in their everyday lives. Most importantly it is a theory you can put to work to make your life better – right now.

In the pages that follow, you will find:

  1. a simple language to use and share with others
  2. a summary of research discoveries that are applicable in your daily life  
  3. true dipper and bucket stories
  4. ways to eliminate negativity from your workplace and life
  5. five proven strategies for increasing positive emotions

NEXT UP:

Ch Two: Positivity, Negativity, and Productivity

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Ch ONE : NEGATIVITY KILLS!

From Tom Rath’s “How Full Is Your Bucket?”

merlin: Make sure you understand the pivotal importance of this first paragraph for not only the life altering influence for Don CLifton, Ph.D., but also for his grandson Tom Rath, Gallup, and millions of others benefiting from his initial research in the 50’s at the University of Nebraska.

When we started writing this book, the first question I asked my grandfather was: “Why did you begin studying what is right with people?” Don answered my question without a moment’s hesitation – his review of one specific case study had altered the entire focus of his career and life. And this study was about as far as possible from a positive or inspiring story:

Following the Korean War, Major (Dr.) William E Mayer, who later became the US Army chief psychiatrist, studied 1000 American prisoners of war who had been detained in a North Korean camp. He was particularly interested in examining one of the most extreme and perversely effective cases of psychological warfare on record – one that had a devastating impact on its subjects.

American soldiers had been detained in camps that were not considered especially cruel or unusual by conventional standards. The captive soldiers had adequate food, water, and shelter. They weren’t subjected to common physical torture tactics of the times such as having bamboo shoots driven under their fingernails. In fact, fewer cases of physical abuse were reported in the North Korean POW camps that in prison camps from any other major military conflict throughout history.

Why, then, did so many American soldiers die in these camps? They weren’t hemmed in with barbed wire. Armed guards did not surround the camps. Yet no soldier ever tried to escape. Furthermore, these men regularly broke rank and turned against each other, sometimes forming close relationships with their N Korean captors.

When the survivors were released to a Red Cross group in Japan, they were given the chance to phone loved ones to let them know they were alive. Very few bothered to make the call.

Upon returning home, the soldiers maintained no friendships or relationships with each other. Mayer described each man as being in a mental “solitary confinement cell…  without any steel or concrete.

Mayer had discovered a new disease in the POW camps – a disease of extreme hopelessness. It was not uncommon for a soldier to wander into his hut and look despairingly about, deciding there was no use in trying to participate in his own survival. He would go into a corner alone, sit down, pull a blanket over his head. And he would be dead within two days.

The soldiers actually call it “give up-it is.” The doctors labored it labeled it “marasmus,” meaning, in Mayer’s words, “a lack of resistance, a passivity.” If the soldiers had been hit, spat upon, or slapped, they would have become angry. Their anger would have given them the motivation to survive. But in the absence of motivation, they simply died, even though there was no medical justification for their deaths.

Despite relatively minimal physical torture, “marasmus” raised the overall death rate in the North Korean POW camps to incredible 38% – the highest POW death rate in the US military history. Even more astounding was that half of these soldiers died simply because they ‘d given up. They had completely surrendered both mentally and physically.

How could this have happened the answers were found in the extreme mental tactics that the North Korean captors used. They employed what Mayer described as the “ultimate weapon” of war.

To Be Continued:

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Is Being of “Sacred Service” Really My Premier Aspiration?

My Utmost For His Highest Nov 9

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ… Colossians 1:24

Do I fully understand that my only assignment as a Christian worker is to be a sacred “go-between.”  We must be absolutely so closely identified with our Lord and the reality of His redemption, that Christ can continually transmit His creative relationships through us.

I am not merely referring to the superficial strength of one individual’s personality being superimposed on another, but the strategic presence of Christ coming through every subconscious aspect of my life. Do I understand when I live-out the invitational historical facts of the life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ as they are conveyed in the New Testament, that my words/witness are made sacred? Therefore, as God uses my testimony as His ambassador, connected to the basis of His redemption, He creates foundations for future holiness / righteousness linkages with those who listen, which may have otherwise, never have been created.

However, if we were to simply preach the effects of redemption in human lives, rather than the revealed divine truth regarding Jesus Himself, the end result is not new birth in those who listen. Instead, the result is a refined religious lifestyle (perhaps, a culture of legalism?), and the Spirit of God cannot witness to it because such preaching is in direct opposition to His. Therefore, we must make sure that we are living in such harmony with God that as we proclaim His truth, He can create in others those redemptive qualities which He alone can impart, such as justification, the pathway to sanctification.

BOTTOM LINE:

When we applaud mere man by saying, “What a wonderful personality, what a fascinating person, or, what wonderful insight,” then what opportunity does the gospel of God have through all of that? It cannot get through, because the attraction is for the messenger, and not the message. If a person attracts through his personality, that becomes his appeal. If, however, he is identified with and motivated by, the Lord Himself; then the appeal becomes what Jesus Christ can do. Our danger is to glory in men, yet Jesus says we are to lift up only Him (see John 12:32).

NEXT UP:

How To Differentiate Your Voice and God’s Voice.

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How to Talk WITH God, & Not TO God / Pray Effectively.

By Illustrated Theology

Have you ever felt that prayer makes no difference at all?

merlin: Again, as prior if technology works, you may either read the script, or scroll down for the YouTube version at the bottom. Your choice. As always, your comments are appreciated, and everything posted, is first & foremost, to myself, so don’t cob an attitude as time is short and THE night is coming!

I need to be honest even though I’ve been a Christian practically my whole life, it was only recently that I began to feel a true desire to pray intensely. For a long time, I lived without understanding the real power of prayer. I believe that what determined the course of events were our choices. And that free will was at the center of my worldview.

And that weakened my prayer life. I prayed little for conversions because I believe that this decision was individual, something that depended only on the person. My prayer would have no power to convince anyone. At most, my words could. I prayed little for deliverance for my sins because I thought that abandoning them was only a matter of willpower. And in general, I prayed little for anything because deep down I believe that God was not going to keep interfering in the world since he himself had given us free will.

Later when I entered a Calvinist seminary, my view changed radically. I began to believe in the absolute sovereignty of God who rules over everything and everyone. But then another problem came. If God is already determined everything, why should I pray? My mind would say, “It makes no difference. After all, those predestined from eternity will be saved regardless of my prayers. God is sovereign and everything bad that will happen or cease to happen in my life is already determined by His plan and all I have to do is accept it.”

And again, I kept drifting away from prayer. Maybe you can relate to what happened to me. If you lean too far to one side, only free will, or to the other, only absolute sovereignty, prayer life can equally become an empty ritual, cold, lifeless.

As a pastor, I’ve counseled many people who feel guilty for not having motivation to pray. In our conversations, I quickly realized that one of the biggest reasons for this is the lack of faith that prayer really makes a difference in their problems. The result, prayer becomes dry, lifeless, done only out of habit. Many times, it also becomes repetitive. We repeat the same words like a scratched record, without reflecting on what we are saying.

And finally, prayer comes to be seen as a tiresome obligation lived out like a boring task, instead of a privilege. Because of these problems that I and many other Christians have faced, in the next few minutes, I will show you in the light of God’s Word that prayer is indeed extremely important and powerful in its effects. So, stay with me until the end of this video so that your way of seeing the importance of prayer, will never be the same again.

Exodus 33:11 states, “And the Lord spoke unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend.” Notice that Moses did not speak to God. He spoke with God. It was a real conversation, open, full of sincerity. At one point, he poured out his heart about the burden of leading Israel and God responded with a promise. “My presence shall go with thee and I will give thee, rest.” Moses then went further and said, “I beseech thee, show me thy glory,” and God answered, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee.

See, this was not a cold distant conversation. It was friendship. It was closeness. There was an exchange of thoughts and then comes that shocking moment in the episode of the golden calf. The people made an idol and God announced that He would destroy Israel and start all over again with Moses. Imagine that! He could have become the new Abraham, but instead of accepting, Moses interceded.

He reminded God of his character, of his promises, and even said, “Why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people whom thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?” And then we read something astonishing! “And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”

Here it’s important to explain that the Bible is not saying God is unstable. What the text shows, is that he chose, to relate, to listen, to give room for intercession. He wanted to involve Moses in what was happening. The destruction that was about to take place did not happen because of Moses’ intercession.

Another similar episode happens with Abraham interceding for Sodom. God reveals that He will destroy the city because of its wickedness, but Abraham full of courage, begins a sort of negotiation. He asks, “Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Per venture there are 50 righteous within the city, wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the 50 righteous that are therein,” and God answers, “If I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake.” Abraham does not stop there. He keeps reducing the number 45, 40, 30, 20 until he reaches ten. And each time God confirms, “I will not destroy it, down to “for ten sake.”

This scene is powerful because it shows that God opens himself to dialog. He does not rebuke Abraham for daring, but involves him in his plan. Once again, we see that prayer is not an empty monologue. It is the Creator allowing a human being to take part in his actions in the world.

These two examples, although very interesting, raise two questions in our minds. First, God does not talk to us in this way today. In many moments, prayer feels more like talking to ourselves. Second, we are not on the same level as these supermen of God in the Bible. All this is true but it is important to say that even though we no longer have this possibility of conversing with God as with a friend, face to face, we still have the incredible privilege of perceiving that He answers us through His Providence. He organizes events in creation all the time so that His will is fulfilled and more.

In Christ, we receive something even greater, in whom we have boldness and access, with confidence by the faith of Him. In other words, we do not need to be spiritual giants to talk with God. Any Christian sustained by faith can draw near to Him, freely open their heart, and be certain that he is being heard.

And this is where everything changes. From the examples of Moses and Abraham and many other men in the Bible, we realize that prayer is not about pushing buttons on a divine machine expecting automatic answers. Prayer is real conversation with the living God. Sometimes He says yes, sometimes no, sometimes wait, but he always responds as a friend who is present.

Unfortunately, many times we try to turn our interaction with God into a formula to obtain from Him the life we want. We try to live a good moral life. Add to that doing things in church, praying, reading the Bible, and avoiding sin. We mistakenly conclude that by doing all this perfectly, we will obtain God’s blessing. But God is not a formula, nor some kind of impersonal energy force. He is a relational being. God desires to know and be known. He thinks, feels, rejoices, grieves, loves, is angered by sin, and has compassion for our weakness. In his high priestly prayer, Jesus says to the Father, “And I have declared unto them Thy Name and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them and I in them.”

In other words, Christ’s desire was not merely that we would have rules or religious practices to get requests answered, but that we would experience the love of the Father. This shows that the Christian life is not about decoding some spiritual equation to receive blessings but diving into a relationship where the love of God is real, present, and transforming, and do you know what all this means? That our prayers can indeed change things, not because God does not know what to do, but because He has chosen to relate to us. He chose to act through the prayers of His people.

James 5:16 sums it up well, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Effective prayer is not reciting memorized words, nor fulfilling an obligation, because God has already decided everything. When you pray, something can change, something that was going to happen, may cease to happen. Something that was not going to happen, may begin to happen, all because you placed yourself before the living God, who hears, answers, and acts.

In Hebrews 4:16 we read, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” This verse is a key to understanding prayer. It does not say, let us come with fear or let us come only when we are perfect! It says with boldness! This is revolutionary. In the Old Testament, only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holys and even then, only once a year, after many rituals but now, because of Christ, every Christian can approach the throne of grace at any moment in any place. What was once the privilege of one man, is now the invitation for all of us and see what we find at this throne; not condemnation, not scorn, but abundant mercy and grace! That means when we pray, we are not standing before a grim judge waiting for our failure, but rather, before a loving Father ready to help us.

And more, the text promises help in time of need. This means that God does not answer late or out of season; He responds at the right time, at the exact moment we need. It may not be when we expect, but it is always when we need it. Prayer makes room for this divine aid that comes in just the right measure.

That’s why I want to challenge you. Don’t pray anymore as if fulfilling an obligation. Pray as one, who speaks with the present Father, as one who talks with a friend who cares, as one who participates in something real. From today on, every time you kneel or simply whisper, “Lord help me,” remember this. You are not talking to the walls. You are speaking to the Living God and He is listening. And, if He is listening, then prayer makes all the difference!

NEXT UP:

How To Let The Holy Spirit Lead

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Daisy and I Soon Found The Mayor’s House …… Part II

If you’ve not read Part I, I suggest do so prior to reading this.

… tucked under the spread of a huge banyan tree. The doors finally creaked open after a long pause following my loud knocking, and a charming, elderly Chinese lady who spoke fluent English with a British accent greeted us. “Good evening. Won’t you please come in,” she invited with polite formality. “My husband will be out soon to visit with you. Please be seated,” our host urged pointing us to several elaborately carved wooden chairs. I finally saw the mayor shuffling towards us through a darkened doorway. His wife immediately left her seat offering it to her husband and she scooted off. The mayor seemed ancient, his face a mass of wrinkles that nearly swallowed his eyes.

I could tell the mayor was very calculating by the questions he asked. Like his wife, he spoke fluent British English. Finally, the questioning came to the heart of our visit, as he directly inquired. “Why have you left America to come to Hong Kong? Why do you want to live in our village?”

I knew this was the crucial question because this was obviously a Buddhist village that practiced ancestral worship. The chances that they would allow a Western Christian Gweilo, a “foreign devil,” as Westerners are commonly called, to live among them seem very unlikely. But I also knew, I had to be totally honest about the call God had placed on our lives.

Taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling, I ventured, “We’re here because the living God directed us to come. We are here to tell Chinese people about his Son, Jesus Christ. Do you know who he is?”

The mayor looked at me for an uncomfortably long time. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking as he stared at me from expressionless eyes peering out of narrow slits. Finally, a slight smile began to break scattering the wrinkles on his face in different directions.

 To my complete surprise, he said, “Well, praise the Lord! I’ve been preparing for years that God would bring someone to this village with the gospel. What can I do to help you?”

By the end of our visit, the mayor and I had an agreement that would help renovate an older two-story house in the middle of the village. His daughter owned it and been used for storage over the previous 20 years. In exchange they would waive the standard two-month deposit along with the first month’s rent. They would also pay for all the materials we required make the property livable again. Before Daisy and I left the village, we prayed together with the mayor that God would use us to bring glory to His name and that His love would be revealed in the village.

Work on our new project began the next day as we rushed to beat the two-week deadline of vacating the company apartment. Working late into the evening hours and on weekends, Daisy and I replaced 40 broken window panes, and removed piles of trash. We scrubbed and painted the inside of the two-story building from top to bottom. By the time I completed the last two weeks of employment, we were ready to move our few belongings out of the company apartment and into our miracle house.

Needless to say, our arrival attracted the attention of the entire village. Being the only white Westerners who ever lived in this village, I was very aware that nearly every move I made was being scrutinized, especially by the old grandmas who lived in the houses surrounding ours on all four sides. How I treated my children and my wife was carefully watched, and I felt the pressure to be on my very best behavior for the sake of representing Jesus well.

This is the second two-post revealing Wendell & Daisy’s intimate dependence on God to provide. I trust you can recall similar instances on your own journey. Count your Blessings. Be honest with your own current situation & do intercede for others you know whom are similarly struggling.

NEXT UP: An thought-provoking discourse on How To Talk “WITH” God and Not “TO” God, a 10 minute YouTube following the written script. Plan accordingly.

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GO NOW From the Innermost Parts of the Heart to the Uttermost Parts of the World

This is the second two-post revealing Wendell & Daisy’s intimate dependence on God to provide. I trust you can recall similar instances on your own journey. Count your Blessings. Be honest with your own current situation & do intercede for others you know whom are similarly struggling.

Chapter 20 Evidence of Things Not Seen Part 1.

So don’t worry about these things, saying, “What will we eat? What will we drink” What will we wear?” These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your Heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6:31-34 (NLT)

In January 1988, having worked as an art director at the import and export company for over a year, Daisy and I determined that we really had to move on. The call of God on our lives was stronger now than ever. We recognized that God had brought us this far by faith. If we were going to continue with Him on this journey, we needed to keep going by faith. The challenge of deliberately cutting from the source of finances we were now so dependent upon, was once again the battle we would have to fight. However, I didn’t want to go through that agonizing process the way I had experienced it when I left the job teaching at the college.

“Daisy, we need to know for sure if God called us a full-time service or not. If God really called us here to serve him, then the only way I know how to do this is to trust him 100 percent to take care of us and provide for our needs. I just can’t do what God has put in my heart and keep working at this job at the same time.”

Daisy agreed, and so, together, we made the choice to take another step of faith. We determined I would leave my place of employment deliberately and not tell anyone about it except God alone. No hinting by requesting prayers for our finances in newsletters to our friends, family, and church back in the states. Likewise, no telling our friends and other missionaries, or even Daisy’s family in Hong Kong that I was leaving my job. This would be between ourselves and God alone. “This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust Him.” Psalm 9:2

Without deliberating further, I gave notice that I was leaving my job. This time the response from my boss was different from when I left my teaching job over a year ago.

“I want you to hire a new art director and be out of your office and the company apartment in two weeks,” I was told matter-of-factly.

I’d almost forgotten that we were living free in the company apartment and that sudden realization brought a wave of alarm I tried hard not to show. “No problem, we’ll be gone,” I replied with a faint coolness.

My mind, however screamed, Big problem! Big big problem! Just like that, I had once again taken my family on a wild plug for the edge of a cliff with no hope of a safe landing, except that God would intervene.

Word quickly spread among my office staff. “Do you know where you’re going to live?” asked Cheung, the first artist I had hired a year ago. “If you’re looking for a good place, I know some vacant apartments available in a little village where I live near the China border.” Checking himself, he said, “But I don’t know if they’ll even allow a Westerner to live there. It’s privately owned, traditional old-style Chinese village that has belonged to the Hui family for many generations. But I suppose I can find out for sure if you want me to.”

Since we had no other options for housing, on such notice, this seemed like a good idea as any. “Well, sure, why not let’s see what happens.” I replied hopefully.

When Chang arrived at the office the next day, he reported he’d already arranged for Daisy and me to meet the village mayor the following evening. The mayor wanted to interview with us before determining if permission for outsiders to live among them would be granted

Leaving our children in the care of Daisy’s mother we arrived at the village the following evening after a 35-minute train ride from our home in Mong Kok. It was a dark as we found our way to the entrance that passed through a 12-foot-thick section of an ancient fortification wall that surrounded the village for many generations. Within that gate was an altar in front of an idol of a Buddhist deity where the smoke of incense rose from the glowing tips of several just set behind a few oranges, a bowl of rice and a cup of tea. This was to honor and entreat protection from the village god and family ancestors.

TO BE CONTINUED

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Why Smart Young Americans Are Falling for Communism

And Why It Looks So Different This Time.

By Kay Rubacek, an award-winning filmmaker, author, and podcast host. After being detained in a Chinese prison for advocating for human rights, she has dedicated her work to promoting human value and facing communist regimes in their modern forms. Her forthcoming book is “Staying Human in the Age of AI.” She has also contributed to The Epoch Times since 2010. Note: All underlined words are links to documentation. This is one of my most important posts ever! Don’t miss merlin’s last paragraph BOTTOM LINE Parting Shot Over the Bow….

“They’re the smartest, most connected, and most educated generation in human history, yet also the most despairing.

They can learn quantum physics on YouTube, yet can’t afford rent. They can text anyone, anywhere, anytime, yet say they’ve never felt more alone. They’re anxious, medicated, and exhausted by a world that feels out of control: climate, economy, identity, you name it.

So when someone like mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, the smiling socialist from Queens, New York, talks about free groceries, free buses, and free childcare, it doesn’t sound radical. It sounds like an offer of rescue.

Older generations were shocked and appalled by his sudden rise in popularity. Many shook their heads and asked: “How could they fall for communism again?” But they forget what it’s like to be young and searching for purpose, especially in a new digital world that’s lost its sense of meaning.

Communism Doesn’t Look Like It Used To

My grandparents fled communism twice: first from Russia, then from China. My parents-in-law fled the same ideology in Czechoslovakia.

The communism they escaped was visible: soldiers, propaganda, murder, and fear. Physical control.

Today’s version looks like compassion. It wears a smile. It speaks the language of equity and inclusion.

It doesn’t promise to seize your farm; it promises to cancel your debt.

It doesn’t call for revolution; it calls for “fairness.”

That’s what makes it more dangerous because it doesn’t look dangerous at all.

And it’s spreading through a culture where many no longer even know what the word socialism means.

What Socialism Is and What It Isn’t

“Socialism” once meant something concrete: collective or state ownership of production to enforce equality.

“Communism” was the endgame. A world without private ownership, where the state fades because everyone lives as one in peace and harmony. A “heaven on earth” created by those who want to “play God”.

But over time, those meanings dissolved and:

  • Schools stopped teaching what socialism actually was.
  • Language softened to the point where “democratic socialism” sounds harmless.
  • History blurred to the point where younger Americans associate socialism with fairness, not famine.

So now, “socialism” means virtually anything from free college to condemning government or capitalist corruption, to just being nice. And when words lose meaning, people they get confused. They lose vigilance. They stop standing up. And they stop asking hard questions.

That’s how every “new experiment” in socialism began: with good intentions and moral confusion.

Most people don’t even realize that China, the world’s largest communist state, calls itself a “democratic socialist system.” It’s run by the Chinese Communist Party, a one-party surveillance regime, and the world’s worst human rights abuser, and yet it uses the same vocabulary of fairness and equality that American socialists now repeat.

If we’re using the same word to describe both China’s dictatorship and New York’s proposed rent freeze, free buses, and free childcare for all, maybe the confusion isn’t accidental.

The DSA: An Ideology, Not a Party

Zohran Mamdani, isn’t just a Democrat, he’s part of the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA. The distinction is important whether you live in New York or not.

The DSA describes its mission this way:

“We are democratic socialists because we reject an authoritarian state and favor democracy—in both politics and the economy. We believe that working people should run both the economy and society democratically to meet human needs, not to make profits for a few.” ~ Democratic Socialists of America

That may sound reasonable at first glance. But read it closely. It isn’t a policy platform, it’s a moral creed.

The DSA isn’t structured like a traditional U.S. political party that trades in compromise, data, and incremental progress. It’s an ideological movement, guided by belief, not evidence. It’s not designed to include a broad coalition of differing views or negotiate competing interests the way a traditional party does. It’s designed to reshape culture itself over the long term, to shift moral language, redefine values, and make its worldview feel like common sense rather than political choice.

It’s driven more by faith than by reason. It is based on the belief that if people like them ran the system, they could fix it. That is idealism disguised as governance. And that’s why it resonates with the young.

In a world of despair, it tells the youth they can be the saviors.

That’s a powerful message, yet a dangerous one. It’s a message designed to indoctrinate, not to educate.

The Long March Through the Institutions

In the 1960s, a German activist named Rudi Dutschke coined the phrase “the long march through the institutions.”

He meant that socialism could win over nations by slowly reshaping culture—schools, media, art, faith, and language—until people stopped noticing the change.

Leftist intellectuals like Herbert Marcuse, a German-born Marxist thinker and “the Father of the New Left” helped teach and apply that strategy to America’s institutions, describing it as “working against the established institutions while working in them”.

Same goal. Different method.

And it worked.

Over decades, socialism has rebranded as empathy. Now, many Americans who would never dream of calling themselves communists proudly call themselves “democratic socialists.”

They don’t realize it’s the same ideological seed just planted in softer soil.

This Is More Than a Social Trend

In their youth, our older generations sought belonging—to find their place in society that they were coming to understand.

This generation of youth is different. They are seeking reasons to live at all.

They’re living through an existential crisis:

  • Youth suicide rates have never been higher.
  • In Canada, the government has received requests for assisted suicide from children as young as twelve, and they’re considering offering it to them.

When life feels that empty, ideology is a replacement for meaning, for purpose. It isn’t just politics, it’s salvation.

Socialism offers that: a moral framework, a simple villain (the rich, the system), and a promise of redemption through equality.

It says: Your pain isn’t your fault. The system did this to you. And if we rebuild the system, you’ll finally be free.

That’s more secular gospel than a political message. And it works when it is filling a void that used to be filled by faith, family, mental freedom, and purpose.

Why the Old Warnings Don’t Work

Telling a 20-year-old that communism killed 100 million people won’t reach them when they already feel like life isn’t worth living.

Milton Friedman, economist and Nobel laureate prepared us that we would have to play our part for each future generation:

“The battle for freedom must be won over and over again. The socialists in all parties… must once again be persuaded or defeated if we are to remain free men.”

He was right. But persuasion isn’t just about logic. It’s about meaning. We can’t out-argue socialism with data or intellect. We have to out-inspire it by showing that freedom, responsibility, and creativity give life deeper purpose than any government plan ever could.

Going Forward

Freedom alone isn’t enough anymore, especially for the youth. It has to mean something. And that meaning begins with the one thing socialism always promises but never truly delivers: human connection.

When people feel unseen, ideology is seductive.

Mamdani’s smile isn’t powerful because it’s political, it’s powerful because it’s human. It makes people feel seen.

That’s the same hunger that algorithms exploit, that politics manipulates, and that too many of us forget to feed in our daily lives.

The real answer isn’t more politics or a new ideology. It’s relearning how to be human again—a handshake, a hug, a conversation that isn’t scored for likes or for outrage.

It’s building community by choice, not by coercion. Growing compassion without collectivism. Seeking truth and honesty without manipulation or indoctrination.

We already have algorithms pretending to be our friends. We don’t need politics to become another substitute for human connection.

And we certainly don’t need more social experiments to prove another inevitable socialist failure. We need to move on after learning from a century of failed attempts.

Young people aren’t crazy for wanting a better world. They’re desperate for a reason to care but they’re looking for it in all the wrong places. If we want to help them, we have to start where politics can’t go: with real human warmth. Because the only thing stronger than ideology is still the human heart which is as immeasurable as it is powerful. And which has seen man through the darkest of times and has never let us down.

merlin’s BOTTOM LINE: Parting Shot Over the Bow….

Listen, the above from Kay is well & good, and needs to be said, but beware, it is not enough! And I well understand, how the human heart by itself is so easily deceived. (Jeremiah 17:9) “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” I too was deceived and lulled complacently for decades, but once I surrendered to the gospel of Jesus Christ, to His compelling & enlightening path, being personally & intimately called (and not merely by algorithms either), both convicted & forgiven of my sin, then transformed & empowered, such that we are instantly justified, continually sanctified, eventually GLORIFIED INTO HIS PRESENCE! All absolutely & infinitely beyond any earthly political or church culture kingdom comparison! And now, as His Ambassadors, we must speak His truth! And dare I say, collectively or individually in our sheltered community enclaves, we’re often failing miserably. I know, for too long I’ve been a hypocrite, merely culturally engaged, like the Pharisees legalistically checking boxes! But, once Christ’s love is in our Hearts & Minds, confirmed by our living in obedience to Him, everything will change in our communities and the world.

Lest We Forget in memory of JFK’s inaugural address with a twist, “Ask not what your country can do for you–ask rather, whom God would have you love in His kingdom today!”

And that my friend, is light years beyond an Irrational Act of Generosity!

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