The Musings of an Urban Christian

Four Points for the Next Generation

2012-01-29T05:59:00.000-05:00

For my visit to my friend Simon Hauger's new school earlier this month, the Sustainability Workshop down at the Navy Yard, I was expecting to get a tour, meet some students, and grab lunch. I was not expecting to give an impromptu talk to his eager beavers. But within minutes of arriving, Simon has informed me that I was to address his school before we headed out to lunch. Needless to say, I couldn't help but think about what to say, even as I was being toured around by one of Simon's star students and hearing about the projects she and her classmates were working on. (Did you know one of the student teams even downloaded, read, and incorporated my vacant land study in their presentation? There are people in my own firm who haven't looked at my vacant land study!)

Anyway, I pulled something together and the students seemed to enjoy it. Here's what I focused on:

1) Competition matters. Everywhere I was toured, student teams were prepping for some competition. And that's good, because it's a huge motivator. That's what makes capitalism so effective, as the old ad goes, because when businesses compete for your business, you win. I happen to think competition is good in the public sector, too, like President Obama's Race to the Top in education reform.

2) Innovation matters. Another fundamental aspect of capitalism is its disruptiveness. At some point, someone decided to stop making horses and buggies a little bit better than the next person, and decided to start making the engines needed to power cars. Of course, the invention of the car put the horse and buggy manufacturers out of business and cost a lot of jobs, but no one would say we are worse off as a result. Innovation is what is needed to power our economy, and I was heartened by the amount of innovative energy among these students.

3) Sustainability matters. Walmart, however vilified, finally got religion a few years back, when they realized that being green is good business, and is at the core of its business model, which is to wring inefficiency out of the system and thus drive down costs. I liked that many of the student projects focused on how to get rid of waste (example: the waste involved in a light blub giving off heat rather than just light) and do so in a way that turned a profit.

4) Policy matters. Being a nerdy economist, I mentioned the word "externalities" at the end of my 10-minute talk. But externalities are why policy matters, because the private sector doing its bidding doesn't always get to an efficient outcome for all, since sometimes regulations and policies and taxes and subsidies are needed to make sure that the public good is being preserved even as private gains are being extracted. Think open space preservation or pollution regulation or public education, things we are better off for as a society but which we would not have if we left things to the free markets to clear.

I concluded my talk by saluting the students for their moxie, and encouraged them to keep on exploring. I also asked them to keep working hard, because us old heads need their blood, sweat, toil, and tears to keep our economy going. If there are more of these great young kids out there, my hope for the future of this country is high.

Anatomy of a School Lunch

2012-01-28T05:46:00.003-05:00

In the spirit of documenting the minutiae of my life for my future edification, I present to you a breakdown of what goes into my kids' school lunches. Let's hope the future me isn't horrified by this list, either for dietary or financial purposes.

Drink. Bottled water, which we refill with Brita water and then replace every week. At $4 for a 24-pack, that works out to about 3 cents a day.

Entree. PB&J for Jada, turkey and cheese for Aaron. A loaf of bread is $1.50 for 24 slices, so that's about 12 cents per sandwich for the bread. PB&J can't be more than 10 cents per sandwich (figure $6 each for huge tubs of peanut butter and jelly, each lasting about 120 sandwiches). Turkey and cheese are both about $5 a pound, so if I'm putting about a half-ounce of each in each of Aaron's sandwich, that's about 30 cents total. Plus a light spread of mayo is about 3 cents each ($3 tub lasting about 100 sandwiches). So that's 22 cents each for Jada and 45 cents each for Aaron.

Fruit. Either half an apple or half a pair. A bag of apples is usually about $3 for 12, so let's call that 12 cents each.

Dairy. Gogurts (my kids and I call them "squeezy yogurts") I hold out until they're on sale and I have a coupon, so I can usually get them for $2 for 12, or about 16 cents each.

Snacks. Fruit cups or applesauces are usually $2 for 6, or about 33 cents each. A bag of chips is $6 for 32, or about 19 cents, or else a granola bar is about $2 for 10, or about 20 cents.

All told, it works out to about $1 to $1.25 per kid per meal, or about $10 to $12 per week for our family. Health-wise and money-wise, I can live with this. Thankfully, my kids are very predictable, and don't insist on a lot of variety, which makes buying and preparing much easier.

More Musings about Penn Alexander

2012-01-27T05:35:00.003-05:00

Some stray thoughts from the Penn Alexander post earlier this week:

1) In Philadelphia, good public school education is scarce but not that scarce. I’m sure the good people at Lea Elementary (where I will send Aaron if he doesn’t get a spot in Penn Alexander) are rolling their eyes or worse at comments about how the long line for kindergarten registration at Penn Alexander should show everyone that there should be more good places to send your kids to school. Lea isn’t utopia, but it’s a pretty darn good school, and a more than suitable alternative location for my family should there not be room at Penn Alexander. I am aware of many other really good neighborhood schools all throughout Philadelphia. Yes, there should be more. But amid the long line at Penn Alexander, and the media and social media frenzy surrounding it, it is a little insulting to insinuate that that school is the only good school in all of Philadelphia.

2) On the other hand, I am sympathetic to the families who paid as much as a $100,000 premium to locate within the Penn Alexander catchment with the expectation that part of what they paid for was the guarantee that their kids would get to go to Penn Alexander. The removal of the guarantee has, unsurprisingly, sent a chill in the real estate markets, and it has sent a similar chill in the minds of current residents, who weren’t expecting that all that their premium got them was the right to wait in line for 24 hours for the possibility of getting in. My boss correctly reminds me that when people buy a house in Haddonfield or Lower Merion, they are doing so because they know their kids will never be turned away from the good schools in those districts. Since my neighborhood can no longer say the same, that becomes problematic. Notice, though, that a guarantee is not without its downsides: places like Haddonfield and Lower Merion (I say “like” because I am making a generalization, and not making any specific statement about Haddonfield or Lower Merion, which I do not know much about) have to guard that guarantee by being very vigilant about adding density within their boundaries, since every new development comes with it the prospect that school-age children will follow, stretching the capacity of their pristine schools. I’m pretty sure most people in my neighborhood don’t want to be known as people who only want their own to be taken care of, and let’s pull up the drawbridge and prevent others from getting in too. But life is full of trade-offs: if you want to be welcoming, and you have a great public resource that is not shareable (vs. a park, in which lots of people can “consume” it without me not being able to consume it), then scarcity (and lines!) will follow.

3) Supply and demand tells us that when demand vastly outstrips supply, one of two things has to happen. One is that price goes up. Two is that supply goes up to match demand. In the case of Penn Alexander, tuition is free, but the “price” of getting in has gone up, in the form of waiting in line longer. If folks thing it is absurd to wait in line so long, then let’s all band together to help the School District increase supply. Parent groups have formed, and while they cannot possibly speak for every single motivated parent, I am appreciative of their leaders because I think that by and large they have done a good job of calling for transparency and accountability, mobilizing parents to take an interest at policy matters, and aggregating themselves so that the School District, the Mayor, and the Governor have to take notice. I suppose it’s a free country, so you have a right to complain about how sad it is that there are so few good schools in Philadelphia. But if you complain and don’t get involved and don’t get informed, then all you’re doing is complaining, you’re not actually helping move the system to a better and more equitable place. I realize school reform is hard and complex, and that by putting yourself out there as a champion you are going to make enemies with some formidable opponents. But when was anything worth doing ever easy to do?

4) I’m surprised that no one has seen the long line in the cold as a grand opportunity. A church could win major points by providing blankets, fire, and sustenance. Or, a business could garner incredible publicity by setting up tents and passing out refreshments. I appreciate the grassroots nature of parents helping parents, and neighbors taking pity on us as we shiver and wither, but there’s room for more. I wonder if this is reflective of our neighborhood’s inherent opposition to advertising and to top-down solutions.

Cool School

2012-01-25T05:02:00.001-05:00

I had the pleasure of visiting my friend Simon Hauger down at the Navy Yard yesterday. He has started a new school, the Sustainability Workshop, and he is supervising 30 really bright students as they make preparations to compete in real competitions with real ideas using real-world skills. In the real world, of course, we compete, present, solve problems, and work in teams, all skills that are hugely important in the knowledge economy, and none of which get much time or instruction in a typical classroom setting. I salute Sustainability Workshop's attempt to turn education on its head, and prepare its students for success in the process.

Waiting for Superlong

2012-01-24T05:55:00.008-05:00

Well, the long-anticipated "waiting outside in the cold to register my child for kindergarten" has come and gone. Lots to share. I've chunked it up as follows:

Context.
Penn Alexander is a really good school, right in the heart of University City in West Philadelphia, not far from the Penn campus. When Penn agreed to invest in this school, boundaries were drawn that demarcated who could attend the school. Not surprisingly, given the dearth of good public school options, once the school began to be known for quality administration and faculty, demand for residential locations within the boundaries soared, driving up real estate prices and creating a glut of school age kids in the area. While kindergarten was always first-come, first-served, those on the waiting list could previously comfort themselves with the reality that their child would be assured a spot starting in first grade. But about a year ago, overcrowding in the school caused the school to announce it could no longer officially guarantee a spot in any grades. Hence, the value of a kindergarten spot soared: once you're in, you're in, but if you're out, you may be out for several grades. As a result, the lines have started to form before the first day of registration earlier and earlier in the past two years.

Getting in line.
This year, the official start of the line was about 8:30am Sunday morning, some 24 1/2 hours before the official 9:00am Monday morning registration. But, unofficially, the lines started form many hours before then, as multiple parents hovered nearby on foot and in cars, waiting for someone to plant their flag as the first in line. Sure enough, once someone did (our friends across the street from our house), the emails, texts, and calls started circulating furiously. The kids and I were settling into morning service at church at 10:30am, not knowing that Amy (who was home sick) had texted and called me several times. The first one I had a chance to see, at 10:31am, said "As of 10 there are about 40 ppl lined up at pas." My heart sank. There went my preconceived plan to head out there at about 7:00pm that night. Amy bravely volunteered to get herself out there and hold down the fort until we returned from morning service. She got there around 11:00am and claimed the 63rd spot, bundling herself up and trying to block out her sniffles and general achiness.

Preparation.
With temps expected to be below freezing, I had laid out my clothes the night before: a pair of boots, three pairs of socks, thermals, flannel pants, wind pants, cargo pants, three long-sleeve shirts, a wool hoodie, a fleece pullover, my heaviest coat, two pairs of gloves, and two ski masks. I also packed up my sleeping bag, crank lantern, reading materials, crossword puzzles, two sandwiches, fruit, granola bars, M&Ms, gum, a bottled water, folding chair, umbrella, and Aaron's registration materials.

Shifts.
I brought the kids to Amy around 1:00pm to relieve her. She had already made friends with the parents to her left and right, so though she was shivering she was in good spirits. She asked if I needed her to do another shift and I replied, "Likely." She left behind two blankets and a yoga mat, all of which were to come in hand by the end of the waiting. By 3:00pm, my toes were tingling, and I called Amy to ask her to do 4:00pm to 6:30pm. The next hour I passed the time by thinking about how I would spend the time inside and what additional layers I would put on.

Back inside, back outside.
4:00pm arrived, and so did Amy and the kids. I set her up in our chair and then took the kids back home. Walking home, I could feel the circulation returning to my toes. When we got home, I set the kids up in front of the computer to watch Pink Panther and then proceeded to pee, run on the treadmill (to Minority Report, fast-forwarded, in case you're wondering), and take a hot shower. The kids and I ate a long and hearty dinner, cooked by Amy while I had been waiting in line that afternoon, and then I started to layer on again. I added a heavier pair of socks, a scarf, and a sweater to my mix, and took the kids out to relieve Amy again. We got back in line at 6:30pm, by which time the line had swelled into the 70's. I braced myself for a long night and morning ahead.

Sleeping outside.
The wind had died down, taking a little bit of the bite out of the cold. By 10:00pm, folks were fading, and the chatter diminished considerably. Tents were pitched, sleeping bags unfurled, and heating devices set to full tilt. I laid the yoga mat and blanket on the brick sidewalk, got inside the sleeping bag, and listened to tunes. (I had long since given up reading or doing crossword puzzles, as my brain was now turning to mush.) Mercifully, the rain held off until about 5:00am, but still I slept fitfully, between being on a hard surface, hearing cars whizzing by just feet from my head, and it being below freezing.

Morning.
I probably got about four hours of fitful sleep in all, before staying up for good around 5:00am. My cell phone had died, and I knew I would need it for registration, so I ran home to plug it in and to pee, as well as to wake up Amy and get her to call her dad. (In case you're wondering, the good people at CVS across the street were letting us use the restrooms there, which I had done at around 11:00pm the night before, but didn't want to use theirs more than once.) I scurried back into line and waited out the last couple of hours. Since Amy was leaving for work early in the morning, Amy's dad drove in to take care of the kids and get them off to school. They finally opened the building at 7:00am and we filed in and claimed our official number. I got #65, two more than my unofficial line number, because there were two sets of twins represented in line. I scurried home to drop off all my belongings and grab my phone before scurrying back to the school. All the parents spent the rest of the morning filling out forms and, after 9:00am, waiting for our number to be called so we could submit our paperwork. I finally got out of there around 11:30am, trudged home, biked while watching the football games from the night before, showered, ate, and then worked a half-day from home before picking up the kids.

What's next.
So the big question is: is #65 enough to get Aaron a spot? My guess is that we will not get a spot right away, but that by the time the school year starts, we will have moved up from wait list to in. For context, I got either the last spot or the second-to-last spot two years ago with Jada, with #53. Last year, they ended up getting to #77, between increasing class size, cracking down on illegal addresses, and some kids dropping out because their parents had chosen to put them into different schools. As for this year, we'll just have to wait and see.

Community in action.
Cold weather aside, it was really quite pleasant to get to know our neighbors and fellow school parents. Some we knew but some we were embarrassed to have not yet made their acquaintance, given how close we all live to one another. Some of us had past war stories to share, and in general people were quite civil. Despite the high stakes involved, people were courteous about holding spots in line, but no one tried to abuse that courtesy. Speaking of community in action, some parents from last year, remembering their ordeal, came by with cookies, coffee, and hand warmers, while a generous person living in the apartments right across the street from where we were all splayed out bought pizza for all 70+ of us, right at 9:00pm when the evening chill was starting to get to us and our stomachs were grumbling. I was buoyed time and again by the many acts of decency, graciousness, and generosity in the midst of physical discomfort and competition for scarce resources. What a neighborhood we live in, that can have so much racial, ethnic, and socio-economic diversity, and yet that can come around the shared value for education and for staying warm in the cold?

Popularity vs. liability.
The school, and by extension the district and Penn, have an ambivalent reaction to these growing lines. On the other hand, it is a very real pat on the back, as the local paper's headline suggested: "A school so good they line up to get in." On the other hand, they are careful to say they don't sanction the lining up. Which is true: lining up like this is fed by us nervous parents and fanned by a story-hungry media. But it's the school that takes the blame for such a crazy ritual, and it's the school that's going to get in trouble - rightly or wrongly - if a parent should suffer serious injury exposing himself or herself to the elements for so long.

Fairness vs. personal advantage.
While I understand the complaints of those who marvel at the spectacle of 70+ parents lining up for 24+ hours in the dead of winter, I don't harbor any ill will toward the school because of the way registration has morphed into such an affair. The fact of the matter is that kindergarten space is a scarce resource, so the two best ways to dole it out are to line up for it or to do it by lottery. (No one has yet dare suggest that the slots are auctioned off to the highest bidders, although that would just be juicy to discuss.) Given how often school lotteries seem to be gamed in this town (i.e. the well-connected seem to always find themselves with a spot), I tend to think that lining up is the least inequitable of the approaches. It does significantly disadvantage those who do not have multiple adults to help out; most parents had spouses and/or grandparents with whom to tag in and out to avoid staying out in the cold for too long, but some had to go it alone, and even more heartbreaking, some could not find help to watch their kid so had to have them out there with them. On the flip side, you can't say the school isn't giving parents an early start on demonstrating that they will be involved in their kids' education. (Btw, many have asked me about the "no sibling preference" rule, but while it disadvantages me, it is a fair rule, as it further spreads out the scarce resource instead of concentrating it with the "have's." Call me a rube, but "fairness" to me does not always equal "in my favor.")

So there you have it. I'm sure other parents share some of these experiences and takes, and I'm sure there is a lot else to say and think. But that's where I'm coming from. Let's hope it ends up with a spot in the school for Aaron.

Lazy Linking, 66th in an Occasional Series

2012-01-23T05:51:00.000-05:00

What I liked lately on the Internets:

66.1. It's getting harder and harder to be an introvert in the New Economy. [Hat tip: kottke.org.]

66.2. Gas prices that are too low cause all sorts of problems - geopolitical, environmental, resource allocation - and Business Week thinks Iran is a good role model for the US to follow to fix that.

66.3. Is Google, the search king, whose name is now a verb, quietly getting out of the business? [Hat tip: Marginal Revolution.]

66.4. I don't know anything about this Paula Deen, but her recent appearance on the Today Show shows me she's an evil genius. [Hat tip: The Consumerist.]

66.5. The three deadliest words in the world: "it's a girl." As an adoptive father of an abandoned baby girl, I find this so very sad. [Hat tip: kottke.org.]

66.6. The reason why our emails are so easily misread is that we're too self-absorbed to think our recipients could "hear" our words any differently from how we intended to "say" them. [Hat tip: Marginal Revolution.]

66.7. Is private sector experience relevant to being President of the United States? If the experience is as a consultant, Megan McArdle is not so sure it translates well. Ergo, neither Mitt Romney nor I would make a good POTUS.

66.8. On SOPA, Greg Mankiw says the details may be wrong but the principle is right - intellectual property warrants stringent federal protection.

66.9. More than you wanted to know about the possible origins of AIDS.

66.10. Does an app that provides walking directions that avoid high-crime areas represent a triumph of the pedestrian-centric urban perspective or a modern-day form of redlining that keeps blighted areas blighted? Discuss.

Step Back, Step Forward

2012-01-22T05:46:00.001-05:00

I was just getting into my clip-on step-counter two years ago when I broke it. Thankfully, my in-laws bought me a nice watch for Christmas with a built-in step-counter. I love turning it on in the morning and then seeing how many steps I got to at the end of the evening. (Here's my first week's worth of stepping: 15,544; 15,575; 11,322; 11,886; 11,914; 17,330; 19,644.) We only get one body, so let's keep it moving.

Happy Birthday, Mom

2012-01-20T05:10:00.001-05:00

Happy birthday today to my mom, who has taught me so much over the years.

The Lesson of Leviticus: Love the Law, for the Lord is Life

2012-01-18T05:39:00.001-05:00

In my morning Bible reading time, I find myself in that most scintillating Old Testament book, Leviticus. I admit there are passages there that are a little dry: the instructions regarding skin infections in Chapter 13 come to mind. Nevertheless, studying this book never ceases to surprise me with profound insight and practical counsel.

Christians, or religious people in general, are often accused of simply being rule-followers, which is perceived as restricting and leading to self-righteousness. But the nature of the laws set forth in Leviticus point to far better reasons from God and outcomes for man. Reading this book, you get that God cares about our bodily purity and the sanctity of our relationships with one another. He instructs His people to leave the corners of their fields and the fallen fruit of their vineyards, so that the poor among them will have provision. In the famous verse, Leviticus 19:18, which Jesus quoted when telling the rich young ruler how to obtain eternal life - "you shall love your neighbor as yourself" - that exhortation is contrasted with taking vengeance and bearing a grudge, indicating the high value God places on reconciliation and forgiveness. Later in the same chapter, there is a far less famous use of that phrase, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself," and there its context is taking care of the non-natives among them, since God's people were also once foreigners in a new land.

In other words, far from sucking the life out of our lives, God's commands, even the ones in Leviticus, are meant to be life-giving. For life which deemphasizes harmony among men, charity towards those in need, and fairness for strangers in your midst, that is not as rich or right a life. You read it first in the book of Leviticus.

The Kingdom of God is Like a Potluck

2012-01-17T05:50:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, a number of my church friends gathered together to celebrate a birthday. It was a good time, made even funner by the quantity, quality, and variety of foods provided by the host and by many of the guests. Such is often the case with good parties, and it seems a particular strong suit of our congregation.

It occurs to me that this party, and parties like it, are a powerful metaphor for Christian community in general. As we socialized, we took pleasure in partaking of many different kinds of foods: Brie, Pakistani-style rice, pastries from Chinatown, and even fried chicken and pizza. We delighted in offering our best, and in complimenting others for letting us share in their best. And there was particular joy in discovering new dishes and new combinations of flavors, and in talking about their cultural context and familial significance.

The Kingdom of God, in other words, is like a potluck. The differences, accentuated, draw us together, rather than divide us. And the joy is both in the giving of our best and in the receiving of others' best. What a nice treat to have a taste of it together as a church family, and to think that that is just a faint foretaste of a greater and eternal party to come.

What the Suh

2012-01-16T05:49:00.000-05:00

My son Aaron's tantrums are well documented on my Huang Kid Khronicles blog. He's made considerable progress in this area, though he still has his moments. It's taken all Amy and I have, but when the sirens go on, we rein in our inner boiling and do our best to starve the fire by not feeding the boy any attention in response. If we do communicate with him on this issue, it is to calmly say things like "we don't use tantrums," the thought being that it is our job to teach the boy that you don't get what you want by making a stink.

Except that in reality, being a little bit of a bad boy is often a prerequisite to greatness. I had to do a double take this morning when, while feverishly racing through yesterday's playoff football games, I thought I saw Ndamukong Suh making a guest appearance during CBS's pregame show. Suh has developed a bit of a reputation around the league, his biggest infraction being his stomping of a downed opponent during a Thanksgiving Day game. I didn't actually watch the pregame shoe but can guess that he was penitent and cooperative, while his co-hosts alternated between being gracious, tiptoeing around his past trangressions, and tactfully addressing those issues head-on.

My point is not to chastise or salute CBS for giving Suh the air time, or to explore their motives for doing so. It's just to say that, in our modern society, we may think we want good boys and girls, but we actually reward hotheadedness. And I'm not talking about how we fawn over Hollywood's bad boys, although that is an example. It seems, whether in sports, politics, or business, we want our heroes to have a little edge. As Puritanical our national upbringings, we in this country give wide berth to the fallen, the flawed, and the tempestuous.

What's a dad to do with a defiant child? Of course, I'm going to play it straight. But if we don't quite work all the tantrums out of Aaron's system, I hope that at least he can use them productively, so many successful people in this country have.

A Historic Neighborhood

2012-01-14T05:56:00.000-05:00

One of my clients at work operates the Civil War 150 Road Show, which is a very cool portable exhibit showcasing the Civil War from Pennsylvania’s perspective. The traveling exhibit makes over 20 stops a year and will run from 2011 to 2015. When it stopped in Philadelphia last year, at Franklin Square over the Fourth of July weekend, I took my kids and we reveled in the artifacts and displays.

It turns out that my neighborhood has a very strong Civil War connection. Satterlee Hospital, located around present-day Clark Park, was the Union’s second largest hospital, and opened on June 9, 1862, almost 150 years ago; it treated over 60,000 soldiers and had a remarkably low fatality rate, given the unsanitary conditions of the time. Also, a number of Civil War soldiers are buried at Woodland Cemetery

To say my neighborhood is historic is an understatement. I was fascinated by this write-up by the University City Historical Society about the neighborhood’s history and evolution. Did you know, for example, that Clark Park was once used as a reservoir? That explains the “bowl” that you find there today, a one block by one block depression in the middle of the park. (The next time you take an epic sled run down one of the slopes, put out of your head that that bowl area was also once used as a dump.) I was particularly tickled by references to iconic architectural styles represented by certain buildings that exist to this day (like the 4200 block of Spruce Street and the 200 block of South 42nd Street), and by the connection between transportation infrastructure and real estate development (ferries made possible the construction of large mansions for rich Philadelphians seeking to escape Center City’s oppressiveness, and then trolley lines led to the construction of homes for the working class).

I knew, when I first came out to Philadelphia for undergraduate studies in 1991, that I was coming to a city steeped in history. Who knew back then, though, that the neighborhood where I would settle and raise a family would be so rich in such things?

Councilman Oh

2012-01-13T05:33:00.001-05:00

"Councilman Oh, it's good to see you." Man, I've been waiting eight years to say that.

I stopped by David Oh's new office in City Hall yesterday to catch up with him. You may have seen in the paper that he's been given chair of a new Global Opportunities committee. That's a really good fit for David's interests and assets.

I appreciated David's humility as I asked him about his first few days on the job. Philly, you've got a good public servant here, and I for one am looking forward to seeing him do good stuff here in the city, and to helping out where I can.

It is Better to Give Than to Get

2012-01-12T05:25:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week was my first board meeting with Spruce Hill Community Association. I’ve already made the connection between this group and my church before, but I’d like to draw another similarity. At one point in the meeting, we were talking about membership, and I asked, “What do people perceive they are getting out of being a member?” I meant it both in terms of tangibles (a free T-shirt, discounts on special events) and intangibles (warm fuzzies, camaraderie). We proceeded to have a spirited discussion on the subject, and I’d like to continue the stream of thought in this post. As I reviewed our membership brochure, it occurred to me that the benefits of membership are similar to what the benefits of membership in a church should be.

When you are considering joining a professional group or a trade association, your goal is to see if the value you can get out of the affiliation exceeds the cost of membership. That value may come in the form of credentialing, discounted conference registration fees, and networking opportunities, and if you think this particular organization can get you more value through those things than what it costs to join, you join. Conversely, if you don’t think this particular organization is of that much value to you, you don’t join.

What doesn’t “count” as much in your calculations is what general good that group does for you. If it lobbies Congress or sets policy or writes position papers or defends the reputation of your group, you get the benefits of all of those things whether or not you pay your dues. So those general goods that groups provide aren’t the reason for joining, since you can be a free rider and get them regardless of your membership status. Why you join goes back to whether the group gets you more value, in the form of things that only members can access, like preferred status at meetings or members-only publications and gatherings, than what you pay in dues.

But community associations are not quite like this. Sure, there may be specific gains that accrue only to members, whether it is being on a members-only mailing list for special publications or simply having the satisfaction of saying that you are a dues-paying member of your neighborhood association. But good community association sell you on the benefits of membership by inviting you to give, not to get. Our brochure isn’t emblazoned with snazzy marketing messages like, “Join now and get a free mug!” or “Pay two years of dues and you’ll get a free pass to our next gala!” Rather, it lists all of the good stuff we are doing, and invites you to join so you can get involved in those things as well, whether they are education advocacy or zoning issues or block clean-ups or special events.

For a variety of reasons, we have become a far less communal people. People come and go, the housing crunch leads to high turnover and pervasive blight, and crime keeps us on our guard against strangers. As a result, the neighborhood feel that many of us remember from our childhoods is far weaker today, and busier schedules make it harder to care or to take the first step in doing something about something you care about. Community associations offer a salve, by organizing people around topics of interest, and providing easy on-ramps for getting involved and making a difference.

It may seem strange to pay for the opportunity to give, rather than expecting to get. But it’s what good community associations, and churches for that matter, are about. And I think we’d all be better off, our neighborhoods and our souls, if we took these opportunities to get involved and to give.

What Do You Remember

2012-01-11T05:16:00.001-05:00

Looking back on an entire childhood's worth of memories, I find it a little strange that a disproportionate number of those recollections are of times I was sick, or times I was being transported from one activity to another. After all, I wasn't sick that often, and time in the car en route to baseball practice or piano was far exceeded by time spent in baseball practice and piano. Why is it that these memories, which may represent less than two percent of my childhood by time, may represent well more of my childhood memories?

Maybe someone can chime in with an eloquent explanation. As for me, I conjecture that being sick represented fond memories of my mom taking care of me (propping up my pillow when I had a sore throat, or making me soup when my braces hurt), while short car trips represented reflective "in between" moments with both of my parents (eating snacks while going from school to piano lessons, pounding my mitt in anticipation while my dad took me to baseball). Whatever the reason, you have to agree that these types of moments are disproportionately memorable for kids, right?

I say this because I am making some of my own memories this week on the parental side. Though my kids are usually indestructible, Aaron threw up one evening this week after complaining about his tummy at dinner, so while he looked and felt good the next morning, I decided to keep him home from school to play it safe (and also as a courtesy to his classmates, in case he was still infectious). Aaron quietly reveled in the positive attention Amy and I gave him as we cleaned him and his bed up, and was pleased as punch to be able to stay home from school and watch TV.

This week was also the start of Jada's ballet class, which is the first weekday extra-curricular activity for either of our kids, and which necessitated all sorts of running back and forth to get her from school, get her to ballet, get back to school to get Aaron, get him home for dinner, and then head back out to ballet to pick up Jada. All the hustle and bustle seemed to draw Jada, sleepily, closer to me: she sidled up to me on the bus ride to the studio, held my hand a little tighter as we headed down a new street and into a new building, and was affectionate with me as she changed and snacked when I returned to pick her up.

Who knows what, out of all we've put our kids through, they'll remember about their childhoods when they're all grown up. But my money is on moments like this week.

Lazy Linking, 65th in an Occasional Series

2012-01-09T05:09:00.001-05:00

What I liked lately on the Internets:

65.1. A double shot from Fortune Magazine - (1) I like how Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is pushing women's rights around the world as a matter of economic growth. (2) Not sure why skipping the checkout line by paying with your mobile phone isn't more mainstream.

65.2. The free parking we viscerally insist on is actually quite expensive. So says Donald Shoup, the topic's guru. [Hat tip: kottke.org.]

65.3. Leave it to those resourceful (and somewhat odd) Japanese to create a car seat that will scan your butt to protect your vehicle from theft.

65.4. How do doctors, who know more about health care than we do, take care of themselves? When it comes to facing death, they choose less treatment, not more.

65.5. For my last link of this post, I give you the entire 2011 year-end issue from Business Week. From good, concise writing to clever infographics, it was just a really good summation of the year and a really fun read from cover to cover.

The Spectacle of Football

2012-01-07T05:52:00.001-05:00

Like many Americans, I am chomping at the bit for the NFL postseason. (Unlike most Americans, I will be whizzing through the games at 30 minutes per the next morning while riding my exercise bicycle, but that's neither here nor there.) At a point in my life in which I have very little discretionary time, watching pro football is a tiny sliver of guilty pleasure that I thoroughly enjoy. (I lament only that we don't have cable so that I'm stuck with whatever the network stations are airing as well as that the season is only five months long.)

Ah, but I am starting to feel a little guilty for watching. No, not because I'm not allowed this little indulgence. But because it all feels very much like "Christians vs. lions in the Roman Colosseum." Because I am in a hurry, my thumb is quick to hit fast-forward (yes, I tape games on VHS tapes using my trusty ol' VCR). Dead time between plays, commercials, even extra points, field goals, kickoffs, and punts get the fast-forward treatment. I've also trained my finger to hit fast-forward when a player is shown hobbling or down, because I know that oftentimes that too means a longer than usual delay between plays, followed by a commercial break.

Whizzing forward until play resumes means I don't have much time to dwell on how sad this is. Grown men in the prime of their lives, unusually physically gifted, undergoing the equivalent of a head-on car crash with little more than plastic padding to protect themselves. Over a handful of times each game, multiplied by 16 games per week and 16 weeks per season, serious injuries are sustained, on the order of concussions, broken or fractured bones, and torn muscles and ligaments. Watching at home, we are fed a steady diet of the following images: replays of just how the gruesome injury occurred, followed by a close-up of the player grimacing in pain and/or being helped up by his team's trainer. Even worse, if the player is slow to get up, the networks cut to a commercial break, where we can be bombarded with advertisements for cars, fast food, beer, and potato chips. What a country!

It's a free country, and football players are compensated handsomely for their high-risk professions. My indictment isn't necessarily of the players, the networks, or the advertisers. I'm just pointing out that it is kind of sad what this spectacle called watching football has become. I'm not so sure the last days of the Roman Empire were much different, even though they happened so long ago. They may not have had a fast-forward button like I do, but they likely showed the same lack of concern for the wounded that I do when I gloss over a serious injury in order to hasten the arrival of the next play.

Need to Go Easy on the J

2012-01-05T05:30:00.003-05:00

No, I am not into marijuana. The "J" I am referring to is the "judging" half of the "judging vs. perceiving (P)" split. J's like things buttoned up, while P's like to keep things loose. Think of social plans: J's want them to be set, while P's want to keep options open.'

As with all Myers-Briggs splits, neither is inherently better or worse than the other, but people do tend to lean one way or the other. And, in Myers-Briggs parlance, I am a hard J, something on the order of 90/10. People often compliment me for getting stuff done, but may not know the driving force behind that isn't competence or smarts as much as it is an almost maniacal need to be done with something and not have it hanging out there.

Of course, in life it is impossible to be "done." Work projects come faster than they can be completed, relationships require ongoing cultivation, kids are ever evolving, and the world's problems have a nasty habit of just hanging around. For hard J's, our J-ness can become a source of anxiety, frustration, and despondency.

"Stop and smell the roses" is such a trite screed, and yet there is some truth to it. Better still is a mindset that remembers that God is in control, and that His timing and resolution are perfect: things will eventually resolve on His watch, and they will do so at the perfect moment. Indeed, to be a hard J and chafe in light of so much that is up in the air is to commit a grievous sin, of doubting in God's goodness, sovereignty, and timing.

If you are more on the P side, I hope you won't just dismiss my rantings this morning with a "loosen up, buddy" (even though I do need to hear that), because these are important soul matters and I am wrestling with them. If you are a fellow J, I hope you will be similarly exhorted, as I am exhorting myself. And whether J or P, let's go to the truest source of peace, which is a God who is running things, and who will eventually make all things right that are not right.

2011 Car Usage

2012-01-04T05:23:00.002-05:00

This is the third year I have tracked car usage, so I think it's safe to say this has become a habit. As has the nerdy tracking and graphing of it in Microsoft Excel. (You can check out 2010 here and 2009 here.)

As before, the Philly totals represent, in order, number of trips, number of legs represented in those trips (i.e. going to and from my in-laws, making one stop to get gas, counts as three legs), and number of legs in which I was driven (rather than driving). The other city totals represent, in order, number of times I was in that location, number of days I was in that location, number of trips, number of legs represented in those trips, and number of legs in which I was driven.

Philadelphia 92/223/21
Harrisburg 4/4/0/0/0
Kentucky 1/2/1/4/0
New York City 2/2/0/0/0
Ocean City 1/7/4/9/0
Pittsburgh 1/2/0/0/2
St. Thomas 2/10/4/11/33
San Diego 1/3/0/0/5
San Jose 3/21/19/46/18
Washington DC 1/1/0/0/4

Yet again, I was able to average far fewer than one leg per day, thanks to our urban setting and the many everyday locations I can get to without a car. Here's hoping that that delays when we need to purchase a new car, and that it makes a difference for the environment.

Huang Family Newsletter, December 2011

2012-01-03T05:22:00.002-05:00

Amy is hitting her groove at her new job: although the work is hard and the hours are long, she is enjoying it and is good at it. Lee juggled many projects at work, spoke at a conference in Pittsburgh, and preached a sermon at his church. The kids enjoyed holiday light shows downtown, their ballet and basketball classes at the Y, and many thoughtful Christmas presents from friends and family. Lee's dad was diagnosed with lung cancer but was able to have it successfully operated on and is now on the way to recovering. Lee took the kids to California between Christmas and New Year, where they saw Lee's parents in San Jose and also made road trips to see friends and family in Los Angeles, Merced, and Gilroy.

This is the Last Year I Can Say I'm 39 and Not Be Lying

2012-01-02T05:57:00.001-05:00

It's my 39th birthday today. I feel young and old. Young because hopefully I have more than half my life ahead of me, because I feel good, and because I have a lovely wife and two beautiful kids to keep me going. Old because more and more famous people I read about, past and present, are or were younger than me. Did you know that Malcolm X and Martin Luther King both died at 39? George Gershwin and Roberto Clemente only made it to age 38, while John Lennon and Edgar Allan Poe made it to 40. All these accomplished far more than I ever will, even if live twice as long as they do.

For us ambitious sorts, growing old is a matter of making peace with what you can and cannot do. I can no longer read about something cool that someone has accomplished and think, "If I apply myself, I can attain to that by the time I get to be their age," because in more and more cases, these people are younger than me! It's enough to make you feel over the hill.

I am being overly dramatic and melancholy for effect. I am not feeling down about myself. But nor am I glamorizing the aging process, or putting on false airs of humility about being able to be at peace with who I am. I still struggle with drivenness and discontentment, with wishing I could accomplish more and beating myself up that I have not accomplished more. Turning 39 is a natural marking point to look forward and back. I like who I am, who I've been, and who I'll have time to become. But I wrestle daily with my demons, as I'm sure do many like me who are in my stage of life.

Back from Cali

2012-01-01T05:59:00.001-05:00

We're back from a week all over California. I've back-posted our dispatches from each day at our Huang Kids blog. Enjoy!

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T05:47:00.000-05:00

2011 Resolutions, 10 of 10

2011-12-30T05:39:00.001-05:00

A year ago, I blogged about ten resolutions for 2011, and posted the entry on the bulletin board behind my desk so I could stare at it all year long. It’s now time to grade myself on how I did. Next is . . .

10. Work – ten quality reports.

I’ll let my clients be the final arbiters of whether my reports were quality, but here are some I did in 2011 that I am proud of:

Economic Impact of ACHIEVEability

Economic Impact of Proposed Ecusta Rail-to-Trail

Competitiveness in Philadelphia Tax Policy

Import Tax Policy Analysis for the US Virgin Islands

Annual Disparity Study for the City of Philadelphia

Analysis of the Home Lending, Business Lending, and Branch Patterns of Authorized Depositories for the City of Philadelphia

Economic Impact of Mt. Airy USA

Economic Impact of Historic Preservation Activities in Pennsylvania

Economic Impact of Temple University and Temple University Health System

Economic Impact of University of Pennsylvania and University of Pennsylvania Health System

These were all fun to work on, in terms of intellectual stimulation, relevance of the issues, and working relationship with the clients. I feel very fortunate to have a job that I like on all of those fronts. I’ll give myself a solid B.

Resolution for 2012: same as 2011.

2011 Resolutions, 9 of 10

2011-12-30T05:01:00.001-05:00

A year ago, I blogged about ten resolutions for 2011, and posted the entry on the bulletin board behind my desk so I could stare at it all year long. It’s now time to grade myself on how I did. Next is . . .

9. Spiritual – 100 Bible memory verses, one extra hour per week of praying.

Some good, some bad. Bible memory verses have been a great addition to my morning times with God. I actually made a list of 120 verses to memorize, and did about two a week, so am up to about 100, and will start over once I get to the end. As for praying, not so good. Forget one extra hour per week of praying: I don’t think I did this even once in 2011. That’s not good. Too busy to pray? It should be too busy not to pray. I’m calling this a D.

Resolution for 2012: same as 2011.

2011 Resolutions, 8 of 10

2011-12-29T05:57:00.001-05:00

A year ago, I blogged about ten resolutions for 2011, and posted the entry on the bulletin board behind my desk so I could stare at it all year long. It’s now time to grade myself on how I did. Next is . . .

8. Self – three hours per week of uninterrupted me time, three personal day getaways.

I’m pretty good about taking care of myself, so while I may have fallen short in these goals, I feel like I did OK in self-management. I certainly didn’t carve out three hours per week of uninterrupted me time; probably closer to an hour or less on any given week, with maybe a handful of exceptions. And I never did get a personal day getaway, although travel served as a not so bad stand-in, between train rides or flights allowing uninterrupted time to read, journal, or listen to tunes. Let’s call this a C.

Resolution for 2012: same as 2011.

2011 Resolutions, 7 of 10

2011-12-29T05:33:00.002-05:00

A year ago, I blogged about ten resolutions for 2011, and posted the entry on the bulletin board behind my desk so I could stare at it all year long. It’s now time to grade myself on how I did. Next is . . .

7. Mind – read 50 books.

Ah, reading: my mini-escape most evenings from the noise and crowdedness of my life. Some of the books I read this year were re-reads, and some were short, but some were quick long and/or dense, so getting to 50 was an honest accomplishment. If I wasn’t so addicted to random sports and a capella videos on YouTube, I could’ve read even more, and probably would’ve been more informed and rested for it. Let’s call this a solid B. By the way, if you’re interested in what I read, I'll put the full list at the bottom of this post, plus my scores from 1 to 5 (1 being awful and 5 being transcendent).

Resolution for 2012: same as 2011.

***

* denotes that I had read it prior to this year

1. Best and the Brightest – Halberstam 3
2. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness Of Crowds – Mackay 1
3. Brief History of Time - Hawking 3
4. Democracy in America – Tocqueville 3
5. Kingdom Works – Campolo * 3
6. American Beliefs – Mcelroy 4
7. Good to Great – Collins * 5
8. Nurture Assumption - Harris 4
9. Unpoverty - Lutz 3
10. Set Your Compass True - Bergstrom 3
11. National Bank of Dad - Owen 4
12. Peace Jam - Suvanjieff 2
13. My American Journey - Powell 3
14. Birth of the Modern - Johnson 3
15. The Card - O'keeffe/Thompson 3
16. Pittsburgh Cocaine Seven - Skirboll 4
17. Six Good Innings - Kreider 2
18. Our Greatest Gift - Nouwen 3
19. Ninety Feet from Fame - Robbins 3
20. Planet of the Umps - Kaiser 3
21. Batting Stance Guy - Ryness 2
22. The Soul of Baseball - Posnanski 3
23. Three Nights in August - Bissinger 4
24. Modern Times - Johnson 3
25. God Behaving Badly - Lamb 4
26. Pleasures of God - Piper * 5
27. The Extra 2% - Keri 2
28. The Coke Machine - Blanding 4
29. Policy and Choice - Congdon 2
30. Breaks of the Game - Halberstam 3
31. One Good Turn - Rybczynski 3
32. Character Is Destiny - McCain 3
33. Class - Fussell 4
34. Age of Turbulence - Greenspan 3
35. Atlas of Languages – Comrie * 3
36. Power to the People - Ingraham 2
37. Yellow - Wu * 4
38. Total Chaos - Chang 3
39. Blind Side - Lewis 3
40. Through Gates of Splendor - Elliot 3
41. Number Crunchers - Ayres 3
42. Math and the Mona Lisa - Atalay 2
43. American Nerd - Nugent 2
44. Hidden Order - Friedman 3
45. Passion and Purity - Elliott 3
46. Art of the Handwritten Note - Shepherd 3
47. Revolution in a Bottle - Szaky 4
48. More Sex is Safer Sex - Landsburg 3
49. Pursuit of God in the Company of Friends - Lamb 3
50. Driving Like Crazy - O'Rourke 1
51. Human Accomplishment - Murray 4
52. Rise and Fall of the Great Powers - Kennedy 3

2011 Resolutions, 6 of 10

2011-12-28T05:42:00.001-05:00

A year ago, I blogged about ten resolutions for 2011, and posted the entry on the bulletin board behind my desk so I could stare at it all year long. It’s now time to grade myself on how I did. Next is . . .

6. Marriage – at least one date night per month.

Again here the record is mixed. We probably only did dates every other month, but they included some quality times out, including dining at a fancy restaurant on the marina in St. Thomas and socializing the night away at a gala for our kids’ former school. Our busy work schedule reduced the quantity of time we had together but forged our partnership in getting it all done. So while we may not have put enough time or even effort into our marriage this past year, it is stronger than ever. From a pure performance standpoint, let’s call this a middling C.

Resolution for 2012: same as 2011.

2011 Resolutions, 5 of 10

2011-12-28T05:11:00.002-05:00

A year ago, I blogged about ten resolutions for 2011, and posted the entry on the bulletin board behind my desk so I could stare at it all year long. It’s now time to grade myself on how I did. Next is . . .

5. Kids – 15 minutes of reading per day, learn a little Mandarin with them.

Here my record is mixed. Longer work days meant bedtime reading got curtailed more often than it didn’t. Joining the Y represented another touch point for quality time. Jada got into Mandarin late in the year, so it was fun to learn phrases with her. Let’s call this a middling C.

Resolution for 2012: same as 2011.

2011 Resolutions, 4 of 10

2011-12-27T05:33:00.001-05:00

A year ago, I blogged about ten resolutions for 2011, and posted the entry on the bulletin board behind my desk so I could stare at it all year long. It’s now time to grade myself on how I did. Next is . . .

4. House – rain barrel, compost pile, dining room table, patio furniture.

No rain barrel, working on the compost pile, got the dining room table, and no patio furniture. Well, one-and-a-half out of four is something, I guess. The big surprise was powering through a major kitchen renovation. Our contractor did a fantastic job, and tightened up a bunch of other stuff around the house. So I’m pretty happy with what we did with our house in 2011, so I’m giving myself a solid B.

Resolution for 2012: finish the dining room, and start on the guest room and the master bedroom.

2011 Resolutions, 3 of 10

2011-12-27T05:19:00.001-05:00

A year ago, I blogged about ten resolutions for 2011, and posted the entry on the bulletin board behind my desk so I could stare at it all year long. It’s now time to grade myself on how I did. Next is . . .

3. Friends and family – shrink the time between contacts (varies by person).

I don’t feel so good about my performance on this resolution. By and large, I was less in touch with my family members and closest friends. Far from shrinking the time between contacts, the time lengthened, as we all got busier. It is a small consolation that my intentions were still there, and that I did make efforts where I could to touch base. But here I give myself a D.

Resolution for 2012: same as 2011.

2011 Resolutions, 2 of 10

2011-12-26T05:17:00.002-05:00

A year ago, I blogged about ten resolutions for 2011, and posted the entry on the bulletin board behind my desk so I could stare at it all year long. It’s now time to grade myself on how I did. Next is . . .

2. Civic – join one or two more boards.

I continue to serve as an elder, Personnel Team chair, and Nominating Committee vice chair at Woodland Presbyterian Church, although I term out of all three roles at the end of 2012. I continue to serve as a board member and Executive Committee member at The Enterprise Center, switching from Secretary to Treasurer; this board I will also term out of in 2012. I served on the Committee to Elect David Oh for City Council at Large this year, as I did in 2003 and 2007, and this year we were able to get him elected. I picked up a board seat at Spruce Hill Community Association, where I will serve for two years, and have been asked to sit on the Alumni Leadership Council at my grad school, the Fels Institute of Government. And though my schedule is full and I have turned down a few opportunities, I am still open and looking for maybe one or two serving opportunities, if there are synergies with my current interests and roles. For all this, I’m giving myself a solid B.

Resolution for 2012: same as 2011.

2011 Resolutions, 1 of 10

2011-12-26T05:03:00.004-05:00

A year ago, I blogged about ten resolutions for 2011, and posted the entry on the bulletin board behind my desk so I could stare at it all year long. It’s now time to grade myself on how I did. Starting with . . .

1. Body – run 500 miles, bike 1,000 miles, 10,000 push-ups, 20,000 sit-ups.

These numbers are now somewhat meaningless because once our family joined the Y in August, I started mixing up my old routine and added lifting and swimming to the repertoire. So the final count for 2011 goes like this (1/1/11-12/1/11): ran 414 miles, biked 867 miles, did 7,775 push-ups, did 15,650 sit-ups, did 35 upper body workouts, did 19 ab workouts, and swam 5.9 miles. I’m loving the Y for expanding my exercise options, and feeling good about myself as a result, so I’m giving myself a solid B.

Resolution for 2012: run 500 miles, bike 1,500 miles, swim 30 miles, 150 upper body workouts, 150 lower body workouts.

Eco-Friendly Holiday Greetings from the Huangs

2011-12-24T05:51:00.000-05:00

Lazy Linking, 64th in an Occasional Series (Special Friday Edition)

2011-12-23T05:39:00.000-05:00

What I liked lately on the Internets:

64.1. Marriage leads to happiness; kids and money, not so much. "Children are the best thing in a parent’s life, but only because they tend to get rid of every source of joy we had before they came along," while "Money makes a big difference when it moves you out of poverty and into the middle class, he explained, but it makes very little difference after that." [Hat tip: bakadesuyo.com.]

64.2. Spreadsheets, meet Pixar.

64.3. A lot of folks talk a big talk about healthier and yummier school food, but doing it at scale is proving to be a challenge. [Hat tip: Marginal Revolution.]

64.4. Driverless cars will redefine the way we "consume" travel. [Hat tip: Marginal Revolution.]

64.5. Building houses in Haiti is bad for Haitians in the long run. There's a better way.

Why We Need Fewer Jobs in Order to Make More Jobs

2011-12-22T05:21:00.006-05:00

I tread lightly here because I realize that a) we are in a time of high, long, and painful unemployment, and b) I am of the privileged class, by dint of having parents who helped me get a college education, so I am more cushioned against today's economic vagaries. But I want to pick up on a thought from earlier this month, in my semi-annual letter to Congress, about the importance of not being afraid to let capitalism run its disruptive course, even at the loss of some jobs.

This post at Marginal Revolution, entitled “India and the Promise of Productivity,” makes the same point. In response to a commenter who warned that big retail displaces more jobs than it creates, Alex Tabarrok replies that winnowing down the number of jobs in industries like retail and agriculture is exactly what India needs in order to make the sort of economic progress required to live hundreds of millions of people out of crippling poverty and into a comfortable middle class life.

It is popular to blame the capitalist pigs, the industrialists, China, or the machines for the vast loss of jobs in sectors such as farming and manufacturing, especially at a time when unemployment is high and the middle class is being hollowed out. But this misses the great gains we have all enjoyed as we trade back-breaking labor in the fields and the factories for affordable and ubiquitous goods. I doubt any of us would trade down to our equivalent lives from 100 years ago, when health care, sanitation, technology, and consumer goods were vastly inferior.

To be sure, still up for grabs is making sure that we have equitable access to opportunity, that we are merciful to those who are most vulnerable, and that we make sure all children are prepared for future productivity. But it seems backward-looking and unhelpful to put a halo around a former time, in which we had to use lots of labor to produce the simplest things, and think that is somehow better than what we have now. Instead, let's focus our effort on preparing our children for a globally demanding and knowledge based economy, and on instructing them on where issues of justice and equity fit into such a system.

School Pride

2011-12-21T05:46:00.000-05:00

I have been asked to be one of 75 Alumni Leadership Council members at my grad school alma mater, the Fels Institute of Government, and earlier this week we had a kickoff dinner to talk about how the Council will be used to capitalize on our upcoming 75th anniversary to elevate the school from a publicity and fundraising standpoint. Though I am busy beyond belief, I am happy to serve in this way, whether to help the school get the praise and influence it’s due or to dial for dollars.

Look, I realize we have all become jaded and cynical about government at all levels. But a common theme from our dinner conversation earlier this week was the belief that the American people are pragmatic and are looking for pragmatism from their public sector leaders. If this is the case, and perhaps naively I believe it is, then Fels is well positioned to be a force for good. For at least the next three years, which is my term on the Council, I will be doing what I can to make it so.

Lazy Linking, 63rd in an Occasional Series

2011-12-19T05:47:00.001-05:00

What I liked lately on the Internets:

63.1. Loved that Tebow was singing "Lord I Lift Your Name on High" as he ran on to the field to lead his team to an overtime victory last week against the Bears. (The ditty comes in at about the 4:30 mark of this video.)

63.2. Carlton Banks, trailblazer for the stylings of Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade.

63.3. Great news for those of us who were hoping to get their toddler one of those huge robot machines from Matrix III.

63.4. I think that, against all odds, soaps will make a comeback.

63.5. Lamenting how cheap and gross our food habits have become in this country? Blame Prohibition.

Letters to Congress: Innovation

2011-12-17T05:06:00.000-05:00

Here is my semi-annual letter to my nationally elected officials, this time on the topic of innovation.

***

Dear Sir:

In the eyes of many of your constituents, capitalism is not only on trial but has been found guilty. And yet I argue that it remains the most powerful tool we have for solving many of today's biggest challenges. And so I urge you not to take the steps necessary, while guiding capitalist forces, to not squelch them, and in doing so to squelch the innovative spirit that has made our country so great and so prosperous.

The numbers are sobering: we are creating 100,000 fewer start-ups per year now versus the period from 1985 to 2005. The possible suspects are many - slack demand, soaring health care costs, plummeting housing prices to use as collateral - and I do not mean to suggest that the public sector holds all the levers. However, at the very least the government should strive to do no harm, and to not fear the disruptive nature of capitalism.

With great progress comes the loss of many jobs and even of entire industries, which I realize is hard to swallow at a time of high unemployment, and hard to bear when you are judged by the job numbers of the jurisdiction you represent. But churn is an essential part of our great American economic story. We want entrepreneurs out there disrupting old ways of doing things and offering new things in new ways. For from that destruction comes great advances, with gains for all.

A completely free market is no solution. Government has a role to play. But in playing that role, let it consider how it can stimulate and not discourage the risk-taking, innovation, and even disruption that is characteristic of our nation. Please be mindful to encourage and not discourage entrepreneurship. It is part of what has made us great as a country, and I hope it will be part of what keeps us great.

Thinking about Protesting

2011-12-16T05:08:00.006-05:00

Even before Time Magazine anointed "The Protestor" as person of the year for 2011, I had been baking on a post about my feelings about protesting. Nevertheless, what I write is less than half-baked, so apologies if it reads in a confusing or offensive manner.

It seems to me that one can make an ever so subtle differentiation between two levels of protesting. To use a sports analogy, there is protesting to get on the field, and there is protesting to level the field. The first is about living in a political democracy and a free market, where you enjoy government-protected liberties to believe what you want and do what you want. The second is about living in a society that has equality of opportunity and equality of access.

Let me preface the rest of my remarks by saying that both are important, and protesting when either are not in place is a noble and necessary act. I am profoundly thankful for those who have gone ahead of me, at great risk and sometimes cost to themselves personally, to make possible what I have. I am not unaware or dismissive of this.

It seems to me that the Arab Spring has been largely about the first kind of protesting: no longer satisfied with life within a stultifying dictatorship, protestors long for economic, political, and social freedom. The removal of longstanding dictators obviously does not immediately create a level playing field, so it remains to be seen what protests of the second kind will look like as the exhilaration of freedom gives way to the harsh realities of structural inequities.

It seems to me that Occupy Wall Street has been largely about the second kind of protesting: the 1 percent are perceived to control a disproportionate amount of resources and power, and the 99 percent are clamoring for a more equitable arrangement within which to live, work, and play. Here too there is a connection between the two kinds of protests: the fact that Occupy protestors have been allowed to protest and have their voice be heard nationally is a testament to the freedoms secured by our Founding Fathers and defended ever since, that we are a government "of the people" and a society guaranteed basic freedoms.

Personally, I am heavily biased towards the first type of protest and away from the second type of protest. I am, after all, the son of Taiwanese immigrants. My parents are of the generation that fights for a free and democratic Taiwan, so I know the importance of wanting to be on the field, and of raising my voice to secure that right. My parents are also of the traditional of putting their heads down and overcoming adversity through sheer work ethic: the typical Taiwanese response to an unlevel playing field is to hustle all the more to overcome any inherent disadvantages.

Of course this is a common attitude of any immigrant, who is willing to endure great obstacles: language barriers, social exclusion, distance from mother country and its familiar anchors. Verily, not only do many immigrants endure these obstacles, but they choose into them, for the very reason that the first kind of protest has already been victorious in this country: they are willing to endure the unlevel playing field because they are grateful to be on the field at all, and have chosen it over whatever was the situation in their nation of origin.

I scarcely know what this means in terms of when and for what to raise my voice about, and what to teach my kids. I do not fall in line with everything being voiced by protestors from the Middle East to Greece to Wall Street to Oakland. But I salute their gumption and validate their right.

Five Trips in One

2011-12-14T05:20:00.000-05:00

Just got back from an overnight business trip to Pittsburgh, home of many fond memories for me. Though I was only gone for one night, the trip packed in five separate blogworthy segments, which I will cover in turn below.

1. How Many Modes Does it Take to Get from Door to Door
Monday morning starts off just like it always does, at least this time of the year. Pray, bike to NFL games, shower, get kids breakfast, and walk them to school. From there, I go mode-wild. Bus to Wawa to get cash, trolley to train station, Regional Rail to airport, US Airways to Pittsburgh, and taxi to Hampton Inn.

2. How to Do Pittsburgh in Three Free Hours
The plane ride to Pittsburgh was far shorter than I thought, and since I took the first possible flight while still being able to drop off the kids at school, I get to the hotel before noon. My first meeting isn't until later that afternoon, so I shed my suit, throw on my running gear, and head out for a brisk four-mile run through downtown, to Point State Park, across one bridge to North Side right to the doorstep of PNC Park, and back across another bridge back to downtown. Need I state that street running is a great way to see a city? Back at the hotel, I shower, eat the lunch I packed for the plane (again, it's a really short flight!), and then head across the street from the hotel to the Heinz History Center, which is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. Even at a brisk pace, I barely cover all six (!) floors of exhibits in my remaining two hours, leaving just enough time to buy an official Terrible Towel for my friend who is a huge Steelers fan.

3. Vibing with the Young Pittsburgheans
My colleague at 10,000 Friends graciously offered to assemble a bunch of like-minded young guns for my time in town, so I could talk to the group about relevant studies we've done in Philly that might be applicable in Pittsburgh. Though I had much to share, I also had much to learn, and was glad that the group was talkative, thoughtful, and passionate. It bodes well for Pittsburgh that such a group exists and is hard at work. I'm buying stock in the city right quick.

4. A Mini-Vacation
I walk past the hotel and towards the Strip District, which has an Italian Market feel to it. I have something specific in mind, which is the original Primanti Brothers. My cab driver on the ride in from the airport suggested I get my sandwich with a fried egg, so I comply. I bring that bad boy home, check work and personal email at the business center in the hotel lobby, and then pound the sandwich (and free chocolate chip cookies, compliments of the hotel) in my room while watching ESPN, working on a Ken Ken puzzle, and reviewing my notes for my presentation. Compared with my usual fire drill of rushing out of Center City, picking up the kids, dragging them home, and getting them through dinner and bedtime, this is positively decadent. I luxuriate in the quietness of my hotel room, putting my nose in a business magazine and reading uninterruptedly for over an hour, before falling happily asleep at the wee hour of 9 pm. Eight hours later, I arise, without kids to deal with, and pray and pack before hitting the hotel gym and then the complimentary hotel breakfast. I return to my room, brush my teeth, pack up, and head out to the convention center, lamenting that my mini-vacation was so short but glad for the opportunity to have at least had that sliver of time to myself.

5. Smart Growth is Smart Business
A fantastic 11th annual Smart Growth conference put on by Sustainable Pittsburgh. I am honored to have been asked to speak on our firm's work on vacant land. The honor increases as I share the speaker's table with Henry Cisneros, former HUD secretary under President Clinton. He keynoted the event and got us off to a rip-roaring start, and the quality and insights of the speakers just kept going from there. My block was shared with Kathleen McGinty, former DEP secretary under Governor Rendell, and Liz Hersh of the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania, who is one of our clients. The fact that our Q&A was replete with thoughtful questions about land use policy at the end of a very long day of content tells you committed the audience members are to these issues and to their city. Again, I am bullish on the 'Burgh. I'm glad for the time I've had to vibe with this group, and to contribute my parts, but now I have to run off to catch a flight home, so I can be home just in time to kiss my sleepy kids while they're already in bed.

Sermon Transcript

2011-12-12T05:24:00.003-05:00

Here is the transcript from the sermon I preached yesterday at Woodland Presbyterian Church.

***

I Have Nothing to Offer You But My Shameful Sin: Jesus Meets a Woman of Ill Repute and a Well-Respected Religious Leader, and You’ll Never Guess Which One He Justifies
Luke 7:36-50

The holiday season, which is supposed to fill us with good cheer, has for many of us become a season of stress. And there may not be any greater stress than the stress of having company over. When that company is unexpected, that stress can be further amplified.

Consider the following scenario. (Amy, I assure you that this is a hypothetical situation and not a real one.) Husband comes home and announces to wife, “I’ve invited my friend over for Christmas dinner tomorrow night.” Wife hits the roof, or maybe hits the husband. Calmly says, through gritted teeth, “That’s great, dear, but next time would you give me more advance notice?”

Where is the stress coming from? Well, for many of us, the stress could be from one of two places. One is, we’re having company over, and now I have to get the house in order on short notice. Two is, we’re having company over, and I have to give our guest an orientation on my Uncle Larry, and what topics you are absolutely not to broach with him, and/or I have to give Uncle Larry an orientation about would you please be on your best behavior and not go on your tirade about whatever it is that Uncle Larry gets worked up about.

I see some people nodding their heads with a whole range of facial expressions. So we understand this dynamic. When we have company over, we want desperately to clean up our act, whether it is our house or our crazy family members, so that we don’t embarrass ourselves in front of company.

This holiday season, as we consider the birth of Jesus, I want you to consider to what extent you act this way with God. When God comes over to our house, so to speak, how are we with him? Do we hurriedly throw our junk in the closet and shut the door, puff up our pillows, and muzzle our crazy Uncle Larry?

Covering up our ugliness is, of course, as old as we are. Adam and Eve, after committing the original sin, covered themselves up before God returned. Flash forward to the present, and even in a room that contains many people who claim to be Christians, and who therefore have confessed at least once, if not over and over again, that we are sinners deserving of judgment before a righteous God, even here, there is a lot of cover-up. I know that I am a sinner, I know you are a sinner, you know I am a sinner. And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we’d have to admit that we do a lot of covering up before God and before one another. It is as if we know God is coming over, and in response we hide the ugliness, contain the craziness, and present a more polished, more put-together version of ourselves upon His arrival.

Folks, it’s time, individually, as a church body, and as a generation, to put our covering up ways aside. There is a better way. God insists on, invites us to, urges us towards a better way.

Guilt and condemnation are funny things. I think we fear condemnation more than guilt. We are so afraid of condemnation that we will do anything to escape its blazing glare of scrutiny. If the sins of our flesh, our eyes, our minds, and our heart were to be laid bare, we feel we could not bear the searing heat of judgment. And so, we cover up. We are not real with ourselves, we are not real with each other, and we are not real with our Maker. Like Adam and Eve, we have done wrong, fatally wrong. And, like Adam and Eve, we hear God coming, and we cover up.

Here’s the thing about covering up for fear of condemnation. Covering up does not address our guilt. We are no less guilty for covering up, and we feel no less guilty for covering up. Condemnation may burn us up. But guilt weighs us down. And, by trying to avoid condemnation by covering up, we remove neither our condemnation nor our guilt.

Sadly, those of us who are good at covering up are further, and not closer, to how our Maker would want us to be. Sometimes, we have put ourselves so far away as a result of our covering up that we need to be shocked back to a better way of dealing with our condemnation and guilt. Thankfully and mercifully God provides that shock, in the form of a delicious real-life parable, which we find in the seventh chapter of the gospel according to Luke.

If you don't know the story, a respected religious leader invites Jesus over to dinner. The undercurrent is likely that this man, Simon, is skeptical if not downright dismissive of the man from Nazareth. He doesn't even offer him the customary foot-washing for guests. And yet he knows the Nazarene is highly regarded among the people. Perhaps Simon will win some points within the religious community for playing host. At the very least, Simon knows how to play the role of the upstanding religious man, and surely that counts for something with Jesus, and for sure with his righteous peers.

Somehow, a woman whose reputation precedes her makes her way to Jesus, perfume jar in hand. Crying, she brazenly lets her tears fall on Jesus' feet, then washes those same feet with her tears, her perfume, and her long, flowing hair. Forget inappropriate: this is bordering on erotic.

Simon is probably instinctively offended, but perhaps a little smug: here is inconclusive proof that the man from Nazareth who is the flavor of the moment is nothing but an irreverent, uneducated, and unsophisticated hack. In that day, as in our day, we are known by the company we keep, and on that score, Simon is way ahead of this alleged miracle man.

Jesus knows what is Simon’s heart. He knows the self-righteousness, the smugness over being able to pull off such a well-respected and dignified life. Jesus knows, most of all, that these cover-ups have created a deadly barrier around his heart from receiving the mercy and love of God that he needs. And so Jesus does something shocking. He sets up this real-life parable, in which the contrast between the well-regarded religious leader and the scandalous and inappropriate woman could not be more stark, and He makes it clear who is justified in his eyes.

Jesus proceeds to tell Simon a story about two people whose debts are cancelled. The one with the larger debt is more grateful, and in the same way, the woman loves much because she has been forgiven much. But, ominously, Jesus continues, he who has been forgiven little, loves little. Then he tells the woman, in front of Simon and all of his guests, that she is forgiven, that her faith has saved her, and that she can go in peace.

The woman had nothing to offer Jesus but her shameful sin. Simon, on the other hand, did everything right in the eyes of the world, from the standpoint of religion and respectability. And yet, in his own home, he hears Jesus honor the scandalous woman instead. That day, the upstanding religious leader is taught a lesson. His indignation is condemned. The outcasted sinner woman is honored. She made an inappropriate and brazen display of remorse, and yet she is the one who is approved.

What about us? Do we understand that we have been forgiven much? Do we invite Jesus into our figurative homes by washing His feet with our shameful sin? Or do we stand off to the side with our arms crossed, confident in our upstanding reputation and disdainful of others whose sins are more public and scandalous?

Let’s talk about another public and scandalous sin. When the Penn State sex abuse scandal broke last month, sportswriters, columnists, and talking heads tripped over themselves to speak angry words of condemnation against the leadership of Penn State. To be sure, anger and condemnation are appropriate responses to the sexual abuse of children, and to the systematic ways in which top leadership chose not to resolve the situation openly and decisively. We should be enraged at the thought of children being hurt in this way, and at the thought of leaders falling short in this way.

But let us also be sober about our own guilt. I think there are generally two reactions to these kinds of public and scandalous sins. One reaction is to allay our own guilt by pouring condemnation on others we think are worse than us. We may realize that we have sinned and fallen short, whatever that means to us; but we can feel better about ourselves when we single out others out there who are worse than us. Piling on the condemnation removes us further from having to deal with the possibility of our own condemnation.

Another reaction is for public and scandalous sins to remind us of our own sinfulness, and to sober us to the consequences of our sinfulness. Our sins may not be as public or scandalous, but we are reminded that the withering heat applied to those at the center of the Penn State scandal is nothing compared to the ultimate judgment exercised by the Ultimate Judge.

We are reminded of the cry of the psalmist in Psalm 130: “If you, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” We are brought to our knees by the terrifying realization that the answer to that question is “no one, not even us.” Try as we might, we are ruinously, hopelessly marred by the existence of sin and the consequences of sin in our own hearts and in the world around us.

But then we can experience what the scandalous woman experienced in her encounter with Jesus. Deserving condemnation, instead we get mercy. Burdened with guilt, instead we are redeemed. “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” But then the psalmist continues: “But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is lovingkindness, and with Him is abundant redemption. And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.”

Simon, the respected religious leader, folded his arms in indignation and condemnation, trusting in his own good deeds. He was rebuked. The scandalous woman hoped against hope that Jesus represented a different way of addressing the great weight of her guilt. She had nothing to offer Jesus but her shameful sin. And Jesus blessed her for it.

Some of you know that I campaigned for David Oh, who ran for City Councilman at Large here in Philadelphia. Last month, in his third try, he won. It was a moment of jubilation for us campaigners, especially those of us who labored with and for him not only this year but in 2003 and 2007 as well.

Having secured victory, finally, I could not help but think back to the very beginning. David officially announced his candidacy, the first time he ran, on February 3, 2003. He held his press conference, not in an ornate board room, not inside or in front of an important municipal building, and not in any iconic Philadelphia location. He made his announcement in a cemetery. Yes, it is a historic cemetery, outside of a church known as the “Church of Patriots,” which serves as the final resting place for a number of Revolutionary War heroes. But it is also the burial place for David’s cousin, In-Ho Oh.

In-Ho, a student at Penn, left his apartment on the evening of April 25, 1958, to mail a letter. He was met by a gang of teenagers, who tried to mug him. When the muggers found he had no money, they began to beat him. (This was not long after the Korean War.) In-Ho tried to call for help, but before anyone could arrive to help him, he died. He was 26 years old.

The assailants were captured, and In-Ho’s family in Korea and his uncle in Philadelphia, David’s father, were informed of the murder. This is the letter that In-Ho’s family wrote to officials in the US. It was signed by In-Ho’s two parents, two brothers, five sisters, two uncles and aunts, and nine cousins:

“We, the parents of In Ho Oh, on behalf of our whole family, deeply appreciate the expressions of sympathy you have extended to us at this time. In Ho had almost finished the preparation needed for the achievement of his ambition, which was to serve his people and nation as a Christian statesman....

When we heard of his death, we could not believe the news was true but now we find that it is an undeniable fact that In Ho has been killed by a gang of. . . boys whose souls were not saved and in whom human nature is paralyzed. We are sad now, not only because of In Ho's unachieved future, but also because of the unsaved souls and paralyzed human nature of the murderers.

... It is our hope that we may somehow be instrumental in the salvation of the souls, and in giving life to the human nature of the murderers. Our family has met together and we have decided to petition that the most generous treatment possible within the laws of your government be given to those who committed this criminal action.....

In order to give evidence of our sincere hope contained in this petition our whole family has decided to save money to start a fund to be used for the religious, educational, vocational and social guidance of the boys when they are released. . .

About the burial of the physical body of him who has been sacrificed; we hope that you could spare a piece of land in your country and bury it there, for your land, too, is homeland for Christians. .. We hope in this way to make his tomb a monument which will call attention of people to this cause. We think this is a way to give life to the dead, and to the murderers, and to keep you and us closer in Christian love and fellowship.

We are not familiar with your customs and you may find something hard to understand in what we are trying to say and do. Please interpret our hope and idea with Christian spirit and in the light of democratic principles. We have dared to express our hope with a spirit received from the Gospel of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who died for our sins.

May God bless you, your people, and particularly the boys who killed our son and kinsman.”

David pointed out in his remarks, when he announced his candidacy for City Council at Large the first time he ran in 2003, that his cousin In-Ho’s tombstone simply reads, “To turn sorrow into Christian purpose.” If we feel we have nothing to offer God but our shameful sin, we are not far from being redeemed by God, and being used by God for a great purpose. The murder of a 26-year-old Korean student, the uncontrollable and guilt-ridden tears of a scandalous woman, even the scandal at Penn State, and even our own shameful sin, God can and will turn all of these sorrows into Christian purpose.

Conversely, if we do not feel the sorrow of our shameful sin, if we are trying to distance ourselves from our own condemnation by heaping condemnation on others, we are on shaky ground and we ought to carefully examine ourselves. This holiday season, God is coming over, and however neat or messy our physical houses are, they cannot hide if our hearts are not right. However public or scandalous our sins are, or however well we play the role of respected religious leader, all of us have sinned and fallen short.

The good news this season is that God did in fact come over, in the form of a helpless baby. That baby that was born in a horse trough to two teenagers on the run. That baby would one day confront a religious man and a scandalous woman and side with the woman. That baby would one day be crucified on a cross to provide a decisive solution to our problem of condemnation and guilt.

What then shall we do? For the sake of our own souls, for the sake of our church, and for the sake of our witness to the world around us, I urge us to not respond to our fear of condemnation and guilt by covering up, but by offering God our shameful sin, so He can turn our sorrow into Christian purpose.

We will be freer people if we give up trying to throw our ugliness into the closet before God comes over, and if we instead accept that our Savior justifies those who have nothing to offer Him but shameful sin. He was made sorrowful for a great Christian purpose; He bore the condemnation and guilt due us from our shameful sin.

We will be stronger as a congregation if we are more forthright with our flaws, both individual and corporate. It is no coincidence that revival in churches is preceded by repentance. Always. For God cannot fill a vessel that is full of itself. That vessel must first be emptied, of self-righteousness and a self-focused approach to covering up. Then he can really use us, in spite of and even through our shameful sin. Then he can turn the sorrow we have inflicted upon ourselves into Christian purpose. Only when we are emptied in this way can He fill our hearts and our pews.

And, finally, we will have a more profound impact on the culture around us if we counteract the popular conception of Christians as self-righteous and judgmental, and present to them a Savior who justifies those who have nothing to offer but their shameful sin. In doing so, we do not dilute the existence and pollution of sin. Far from it. It is the realization that sin has irretrievably corrupted us, such that our best efforts to cover up fail to address the very real heat of condemnation and the very real weight of guilt, in our own lives and in the society we are a part of; it is that realization that drives us to our knees and to a Savior who is greater even than our sin and the weight of that sin on our lives.

Many of us were here when we dealt in this church with the fall-out of a prominent incident of sexual misconduct several years ago. Families were scarred, leaders were removed, congregants were hurt, membership dwindled, and morale sank. In many ways, we are still wounded, many years later, from this episode of shameful sin.

Some of my closest childhood friends are pastors, and, perhaps as a form of therapy for me, I shared with them all the gory details of our shameful sin and of the fall-out from it, all throughout that season of our church. Believe it or not, they responded with what you might describe as envy. They envied the situation our church was in.

You see, the communities they serve are similarly racked with sexual sin, deception, and woundedness. And yet the prevailing tone of their congregational life was one of a well-respected country club. People were good at covering up, and my pastor friends lamented this for the very real barrier it represented for God to be fully present among His people.

My pastor friends would contrast that with our church, for which there could not be any pretense that we had it all together. They would tell me that, for reaching a lost world, a congregation of put-together Christians who were good at covering up their sin was no match for a congregation of wounded Christians who could offer Jesus nothing but their shameful sin.

I acknowledge that we may not want to lead with this fact about our church’s recent past – “hey, come to Woodland Church, we just had to deal with a really prominent episode of sexual misconduct!” But I assure you that, far from scaring people away, our honesty about our sin and our woundedness, and our faithfulness and humility in the midst of it, is a far more compelling message than you might imagine, for a world that is cynical and hardened towards Christianity but that is hungering all the more for a remedy for their condemnation and guilt.

The prophet Isaiah lamented, many centuries before the birth of Jesus, that all our righteousness is as filthy garments before God, that our cities had become a wilderness, and that there was no one who called on His name. And yet, the prophet held out hope that God was still a God who is for His people, a God who is the potter to our clay, who would yet mold us into something beautiful even after we had torn ourselves and each other apart.

The Christmas story is the answer to the prophet’s plea, the confirmation that God is indeed a God who justifies those who have nothing to offer but shameful sin, who we need not cover up in front of, but who, in coming tearfully and humbly before in the shame of our sin, can and will deal effectively with our condemnation and guilt, can and will fill us with the blessing of revival after we have emptied ourselves before Him, can and will use us to draw those around us who are also weighed down with condemnation and guilt and who have still not found a satisfying way out.

The lesson of Jesus’ encounter with the well-respected religious leader and the woman of ill repute is that He comes to forgive and justify those who have nothing to offer Him but their shameful sin. It is my prayer that we too will encounter this Jesus this season, and share Him with those around us, that our shameful sin and their shameful sin, and the sorrow they have brought upon us all, will be turned by our God into a great Christian purpose. Amen.

Fearless Predictions for 2012

2011-12-10T05:28:00.001-05:00

Here's a recap of my nine fearless predictions for 2011, as posted in December 2010:

1. An athlete is going to die in the middle of a televised sporting event. And it won’t be football.

An ominous first correct prediction, as an Olympic luger died in April.

2. Bearish on: Canada, China, France, Japan. Bullish on: Indonesia, Poland, Singapore, Turkey.

Canada -8% China -17% France -17% Japan -14% Indonesia +2% Poland -14% Singapore -13% Turkey -17%. Again, what do I know.

3. It all comes to a head in North Korea.

And by “a head,” I guess I meant, “Kim Jong-Il will start turning the keys to the empire to his Eric Clapton-loving youngest son.”

4. Jeb Bush and David Petraeus get serious 2012 buzz. Looking ahead: Rubio-Christie in 2016.

Alas, there wasn’t enough buzz to go around, what with there being so much interesting to write about the travails of Bachmann, Cain, Perry, and Gingrich.

5. LeBron James will not be wearing a Miami Heat uniform by the end of the year.

Well, had the lockout gone a few more weeks, this would have been spot on.

6. New price point for genetic testing: $99.

I nailed this one. In fact, 23andme.com will go even lower, as they have a $15 off coupon for the holidays.

7. Plastic surgery “jumps the shark,” and we coin a new phrase for it to account for its utter banality in Hollywood.

Sadly, plastic surgery has become so banal that it doesn’t even warrant a new phrase.

8. Fox unceremoniously drops “The Simpsons,” which ends up on another, cable station and is transformed into an edgier, not-for-kids, not-as-funny shell of its former self.

I seem to recall there was a money dispute and that it got resolved. I still think this is going to happen.

9. Toyota suffers another operational setback: exploding Prius batteries. Combined with their sagging potency as showy markers of green cred, we see a glut of Priuses on the used car market.

Toyota’s biggest blow this year, of course, was the earthquake/tsunami/meltdown, which largely explains its fall to #3 behind GM and Volkswagen in global auto sales for the first half of 2011.

10. Whichever company buys Netflix is now the king of personal entertainment for the year.

No buy-out but plenty of buzz, although almost all of it was negative, on account of ill-advised tinkerings with pricing and structure.

Hey, that wasn’t a bad run of predictions. I’m going to semi-retire on top. Here are four crazy thoughts about 2012.

1. Lady Gaga really goes off the reservation, to the point that the Michael Jackson parallels will seem eerie: a brilliant and transcendent performer marred by plastic surgery to the point of non-recognition, inexcusably inappropriate behavior with children, and eventually an early death due in part to the physically demanding nature of the lifestyle.

2. We start to see the seeds of a breakup of China into several separate nations, a la USSR in the 20th century, as the Communist Party proves unable to hold together an increasingly dynamic, vocal, and restive populace. (And here we were worried that China's economy would overtake ours in a couple of decades!)

3. Younger people are unemployed and need money at unprecedented levels. Older people are sick and need health care at unprecedented levels. A solution that starts to become more acceptable, to the point of major legislation being passed: paying for organ donation.

4. Obama limps to victory in November as the R’s continually implode throughout the year. Cynicism is at an all-time high. No one is happy and no one wins, least of all political commentators and late-night comedians who now have no more fodder for their shows.

What Am I Working On

2011-12-09T05:50:00.001-05:00

As has become my custom every three months, here's what I'm working on now at work. I won't repeat anything from last time that I happen to still be working on, and for confidentiality's sake I have to blur some of the details for some of these studies.

* Estimating the economic and fiscal impact of a major health system.

* Estimating the economic and fiscal impact of several proposals by a local government to either cut spending or raise taxes to plug a budget gap.

* Evaluating the fairness and competitiveness of a local government's current distribution of tax burden.

* Conducting and analyzing surveys at a major tourism destination.

* Conducting an environmental scan for a local undergraduate business school.

* Estimating the economic and fiscal impact of a tax increase being proposed by a local municipality on the industry that is being taxed.

* Estimating the economic and fiscal impact of a proposed hotel development.

* Estimating the economic and fiscal impact of a proposed student housing development.

* Estimating the economic and fiscal impact of a proposed retail development.

* Estimating the economic and fiscal impacts of a group of community development corporations.

* Estimating the economic and fiscal impact of a regional arts organization.

* Estimating the economic and fiscal impact of a proposed expansion of a manufacturing company.

El Problemo

2011-12-06T05:14:00.001-05:00

Since rush hour traffic is so bad in downtown Philadelphia, I try to avoid taking the bus home. If I get out before 5:30p, and one of the two buses that goes to my neighborhood happens to come by right in front of my office right as I leave the building, then I'll hop on; even with bad traffic, the bus can go three miles in less than 30 minutes, so that I'm not late for picking up the kids. But if all of those things aren't there, I hoof it two blocks to the subway station, zip five minutes through downtown and under a river, and emerge in my neighborhood to walk the last half-mile to the kids' school.

(I take a similar approach on the way into work: if the bus isn't coming right by, I'll walk a little extra to catch the subway. I reckon that even if the bus is coming right by, the subway is faster, so if I'm hopping on the bus it's because I'm lazy and not because I'm in a hurry.)

Alas, three times in the past three weeks the subway, usually reliable, has failed me. One morning two weeks ago, I had to go into the office early for a meeting. I knew something was suspicious as I got closer to the subway stop when, at such an early hour, people were pouring out of the stairwell. I soon learned that someone had jumped in front of a moving subway car earlier that morning, and so they had shut down the whole line. I ended up on one of scores of emergency buses that shuttled people in lieu of the subway. So much for making my meeting on time.

Last week, I again had a meeting first thing in the morning, and this time I was on the subway when problems arose. The subway ground to a halt under the river between 30th and 22nd. The conductor announced he had to check on something, and several minutes later, updated us that the train was experiencing motor problems. We crawled, at probably three miles an hour, to the next stop, stopping several times for several minutes on the way. Right before we finally arrived at the next stop to get off, a passenger in my car started freaking out, and had to be calmed down by all of the people at that side of the car. I'm not sure what would have happened had we not arrived at the stop finally and opened the doors.

Yesterday, the problems were on the way home. I was already cutting it close in terms of getting the kids on time, so when the subway again slowed to a halt, I started checking my watch madly and calculating how fast I would have to sprint the half-mile from stop to school. Of course, to make things even funner, I was carrying three huge tins of cookies which I had bought in Chinatown and left at work to bring home to give to the kids' teachers. All told, we were delayed underground for ten minutes, which meant I would need to run at breakneck speed just to come close to closing time at school. The last of the three pauses on this trip was the most painful of them all, as we were just a half-block from my stop. Finally, we arrived, and I burst out of the subway car, through the turnstile, and down the street. What a sight I must have been, in full suit, work bag and three big red plastic bags full of cookie tins flying all over the place. I arrived at school, swooped the kids up in the administrative office, and then bent over completely gassed.

My life today resembles a great game of keeping the trains running on time. So it throws me off when the literal trains aren't running on time. Never a dull moment, I suppose.

Lazy Linking, 62nd in an Occasional Series

2011-12-05T05:18:00.003-05:00

What I liked lately on the Internets:

62.1. It turns out money can buy you happiness . . . when you spend it on others. [Hat tip: Barking up the Wrong Tree.

62.2. Remember this Christmas season that for all our progress in modern society, the best toys for kids remain the old standbys - stick, box, string, cardboard tube, and dirt. [Hat tip: kottke.org.]

62.3. What's more astounding - that South Korean authorities routinely sweep the streets to crack down on kids studying after 10pm, or that South Korean kids are studying after 10pm?

62.4. Sorry, Jared - Subway is fast food, too. [Hat tip: the Consumerist.]

62.5. "The firm will also need considerable legal advice to navigate these uncharted waters of immigration law." When the firm in question is a floating incubator off the coast of Silicon Valley, then, yeah, I'd say they'll need considerable legal advice. [Hat tip: Marginal Revolution.]

Successful Launch Party

2011-12-03T05:45:00.001-05:00

Wow. I was so impressed on so many levels upon attending a showcase of young entrepreneurs at The Enterprise Center earlier this week. See video below.

Billed as a "launch party," the place was buzzing with people, energy, and the flash bulbs of the paparazzi. The main event hall was ringed with the exhibits of the young entrepreneurs, who had already survived a school year of in-school instruction and were now in their third month of incubating at The Enterprise Center. Business concepts included custom-designed T-shirts, hair accessories, and landscaping, but always with a clever twist. The displays were thoughtfully presented, the pitches confident, and the materials compelling.

The program has come a long way since my days running it, and it showed most of all in the caliber of the participants. I was a pretty impressive young lad back in the day, and I don't think I could have pulled off networking with professionals, running a table full of products and concepts I created, and managing the intricacies of my very own little venture. So hats off to the youngsters, and to The Enterprise Center. (Next time, I'll bring my spending money!)

Sermonizing Again

2011-12-02T05:05:00.001-05:00

If you are in the area next Sunday, December 11, I will be preaching at the 10:30 am morning service at Woodland Presbyterian Church at 42nd and Pine Streets. The title of my sermon will be "I Have Nothing to Offer You But My Shameful Sin: Jesus Meets a Woman of Ill Repute and a Well-Respected Religious Leader, and You’ll Never Guess Which One He Justifies." I will be preaching out of Luke 7:36-50. I've blogged about this before but will be adding a few wrinkles to my message. People of all faith perspectives are welcome to come check us out.

Huang Family Newsletter, November 2011

2011-12-01T05:33:00.005-05:00

Amy left her job in the Philadelphia prisons and took a psych nurse practitioner job at Bravo Health, where she toggles between two offices and sees all kinds of patients. Lee helped get David Oh voted in as Philadelphia's first Asian-American City Councilperson, joined the board of his neighborhood association, and had speaking gigs in Harrisburg and New York City. The kids are chugging along with school and with classes at the Y (basketball for Aaron, ballet and tap for Jada). We enjoyed Thanksgiving at Amy's parents' house.

The Progressive Case for Tackling Public Sector Pensions

2011-11-30T05:55:00.001-05:00

Three cheers to Gina Raimondo, Rhode Island's treasurer, for not only getting the tiny state's pension costs under control, but being motivated to do so to preserve important public services. Consider this excerpt from Time Magazine's article on her:

"'I still believe in the power of government to make lives better, and I believe that if someone is willing to take a stand, other people will follow,' she says. 'Those diplomas on my wall would not be there without the GI Bill that educated my father, without the public library, without the RIPTA bus.' In other words, the progressive case for tackling bankrupt public-sector pensions rests on the idea that government has obligations to the future as well as to the past. That may sound obvious, but it is a theory that crosses a major Democratic fault line. The stewards of past obligations - namely the unions representing public-school teachers and other government employees - have been the backbone and sinew of the party for a generation. The unions are among the biggest donors, and their members pound the pavement at election time. They have no interest in giving up the fruits of their loyalty."

Quite ballsy of the rookie Democratic politician to do the right thing rather than kowtow to the power players within her party. But she's absolutely right: if we don't get our spending in order, we run the risk of defaulting on the ability to provide the essential services we will need in the future.

Deficit reduction at any level has morphed into a charged moral issue and an ideological litmus test. But kudos to Raimondo for boiling it down to its essential choice: do we rein in our spending, or do we create burdens now that hinder our ability to provide for the future? Which would we rather save our money for: yesterday's obligations or tomorrow's needed public services?

Diverse Discussion

2011-11-29T05:16:00.000-05:00

I first learned how to lead spiritual discussions while in college, where I had the opportunity to run Bible studies in the dorms for three years. While there might have a wide range of familiarity with the Scriptures, the perspectives tended to be fairly homogenous, since the participants were drawn from the same pool of young, relatively well-off Ivy Leaguers.

It wasn't until I got involved in my church here in West Philadelphia that I've enjoyed the privilege of leading a more diverse group in spiritual discussion. Earlier this month was the last of six weeks that I taught Sunday School at church, finishing up a 12-week DVD-based discussion called "The Reason for God," in which Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, talks about difficult questions with a group of non-believers.

Dr. Keller and the DVD participants were pretty cerebral, as well, as were our congregants. Fielding questions like "why does God send good people to hell" and "how can a good God allow suffering and evil" tend to move the discussion in those directions.

And yet, because of the mish-mosh of Sunday School attendees, rather than in spite of it, we ended up having a really wide range and a really meaningful depth of discussions. In our group included the marginalized and the powerful, the well-educated and the less educated, people in their 20's and people in their 80's, whites/Asians/blacks/Latinos, and so on.

Even with all of this diversity, people did a good job of listening to one another and staying on topic, by and large. The topics each week were so accessible that practically everyone contributed, and no one felt they had nothing to share or were too afraid to share.

Alas, the DVD series came to an end, so I'm taking a break from leading Sunday School until at least the first of the new year. One participant came up to me afterwards and said we should keep on talking about these things. I do hope that congregants will continue to wrestle and share and listen and help. And I'm now racking my brains as to what we can cover in 2012 that will also lend itself to such a diverse group being able to track together and carry on such a lively discussion.

Lazy Linking, 61st in an Occasional Series

2011-11-28T05:22:00.000-05:00

What I liked lately on the Internets:

61.1. Why law schools should pay students to quit.

61.2. While I'm for spending cuts and tax increases, and not just spending cuts, I'd like there to be far more spending cuts than tax increases, and here's why - "Raising taxes is not like earning more income; it’s more like visiting the ATM." Speaking of which, Keith Hennessey describes how Congressional Republicans now agree with my position, and what that means for political messaging.

61.3. The dessert version of turducken. [Hat tip: Marginal Revolution.]

61.4. David Brooks again shines a light on why our current political dysfunction is so problematic.

61.5. I don't begrudge Big Pharma making beaucoup bucks on their drugs in the same way I don't begrudge athletes making huge salaries - in both cases, the big winners represent a tiny sliver of all the initial entrants. Speaking of which, Adam Ozimek discusses why we shouldn't penalize the highest fliers among us.

61.6. Original sketches from the creator of many of Macintosh's icons. [Hat tip: kottke.org.]

61.7. Whether you believe in man-made climate change or not, remember that the best way to help the poorest among us who are affected by extreme weather is to help them become richer.

61.8. Subsidies for alternative energy to wean us off fossil fuels - good idea or boondoggle. Discuss. The Economist did.

61.9. Proof that love truly exists - your partner isn't the optimal amalgam of your preferences, but rather something entirely different and better.

61.10. Liu Bolin has disappeared again. But now we can see how he does it!

Composterized

2011-11-27T05:46:00.001-05:00

I was first introducted to composting in fourth grade. A rep from a farm our class was going to visit told us how a student the previous year was able to pack his lunch without generating trash. The student's mom had used a container that he brought back home, and packed a fruit salad inside a cantaloupe skin. The skin could then be thrown into the compost pile at the farm. Everyone was impressed, even if we couldn't quite figure out what the big deal was.

Some three decades later, I have finally taken the lesson to heart. But I'm doing it the cheap and lazy way, so I'm asking for your help to correct me if I'm doing something wrong. I bought two new garbage cans so that I could commandeer our old garbage cans. I drilled holes in them for ventilation, laid down some plastic wrap underneath them, and then filled them about a quarter-full with some dry leaves I had gathered the weekend before. Every time I wash the dishes now, I throw fruit and vegetable clippings into a bin, and wash my dishes over this bin, take the bin outside and dump the food waste and the grey water into the garbage can, and then shake some more leaves on top.

I say "cheap and lazy" because there are obviously better ways to do this: I could secure the area with chicken wire, or buy a composting barrel, or stir more often, or put the garbage cans on the ground rather than on plastic tarp on my backyard deck a few feet from the door from the kitchen. But my time is scarce, I'm a cheap bastard, and I don't need the soil until spring. So I have time on my side. I'm just not sure if the compost will "take" (i.e. will convert to soil), or if the trash can will attract vermin or insects. I sure hope not; it makes me feel good to think that I'm converting what I used to let go down the kitchen sink drain into soil that I would otherwise have to pay money for next spring. But I welcome your feedback on how to do this better, if you have any thoughts.

70,000 Hits

2011-11-26T05:48:00.000-05:00

We celebrate another milestone here at Musings: 20,000 hits as of May 2009, 30,000 hits as of February 2010, 40,000 hits as of November 2010, 50,000 hits as of March 2011, 60,000 hits as of July 2011, and now 70,000 hits as of November 2011 since I put a counter on the site in February 2005 (which was two years after I had launched this blog in February 2003). (Counts do not include views from other sites, like Facebook and Linkedin, where my posts also go.) Thanks for visiting, and I hope you'll continue to stay engaged.

Turkey Talk

2011-11-24T05:31:00.000-05:00

Of my many pet peeves, this one is relevant for today: people wishing you a "Happy Turkey Day!" I'm not sure why, but I have less of a problem with the commercialization of Christmas or the bunnification of Easter than with the turkefication of Thanksgiving. Part of it is that pounding the turkey and then either watching grown men in colorful uniforms beat each others' brains up on TV (i.e. football) or gearing up for crazed bargain-hunting (i.e. Black Friday) seems so stereotypically American in the worst sense that I am hoping against hope for different traditions that don't indicate a fat and happy empire on the decline.

Part of it is that by substituting in the word "turkey" we are substituting out the word "thanksgiving." And, in our cynical and spoiled times, I think it's all the more important to get back to a posture of thankfulness. I'm not even going as deep as being thankful to God, although obviously I believe that is important. I'm just talking about being thankful and expressing thanksgiving. If we would only take the time to consider the totality of our lives, we would be astounded at how good we have it.

For all our complaints about the economy, about injustice, and about the big and small problems in our lives, there is likely far more to say in the positive. We owe it to thank many people for their generosity and kindness. We are living in a time of unprecedented wealth, comfort, and medical and technological advancement. And, those of us who believe in God believe in a good and powerful and omniscient source of all of this goodness, and that in itself is reason for giving thanks.

So, yeah, enjoy the turkey today. But give thanks for it, and for everything else, good and bad, that your life consists of. We'll soon reach our fill of turkey and football and shopping. But we won't soon run out of things to be thankful for.

The Economics of God and Giving

2011-11-23T05:09:00.000-05:00

Not long ago, our church's "Stewardship Sunday" would feature an announcement by someone in our Finance Committee encouraging congregants to make a pledge for the coming year, so we could budget accordingly. Having a sense of how much we're going to receive in offerings is helpful for being good stewards of our money, but it occurred to us elders a few years back that stewardship is primarily a spiritual issue and not a financial one, so we asked to take on the announcement. This year was my turn to give the announcement, and I read from 2 Corinthians 8:1-5, making three points along the way:

1 Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, 2 that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.

Surely our congregation can relate to affliction and deep poverty.

3 For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, 4 begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints,

Wow. Giving, giving more, and begging to give still more. All so that they might have the privilege of participating in the support of the saints. Would that we have such an attitude when we give.

5 and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.

Aha, so there it is. We give ourselves first to God and to each other. And that was my challenge to our congregation, to do just that.

I closed by reading a couple of nearby verses:

8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.

9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.

It is a strange faith we practice, that we are made rich through Someone's poverty, and that when we give we end up with more and not less. Such is the economics of God and giving.

Lazy Linking, 60th in an Occasional Series

2011-11-21T05:07:00.007-05:00

What I liked lately on the Internets:

60.1. Why relocalizing food production is bad for the environment.

60.2. Hat tip to many for steering me to this delicious post on the economics of the McRib sandwich.

60.3. Navajo Nation is floating bonds, monetizing natural resources, and catalyzing mixed-use development.

60.4. The face of modern slavery. So sad on so many levels.

60.5. There is a correlation between household income and fast food consumption. Just not the correlation you're assuming.

A New York Minute

2011-11-19T05:33:00.001-05:00

Huzzah for Philadelphia and huzzah for public transit, that I can do the following in between the time I drop off my kids at school in the morning and the time I pick them up from school in the evening:

* Take a bus to the train station and a train to New York City
* Check in at a housing finance conference and listen to a couple of speakers
* Participate in a 90-minute panel discussion
* Network over lunch
* Have three meetings in three different locations around Manhattan
* Grab the train back to Philly and the bus back to my neighborhood

Yup, that was my Friday. Let the weekend begin.

Pass Intercepted

2011-11-17T05:22:00.000-05:00

Ugh. Earlier this week, somehow, even though I always jam my Transpass deep into my back pocket, it crept up the pocket, out of the pocket, and onto the street, somewhere between my home and my subway stop. I retraced my steps in their entirety, even returning to the two drop-off locations of my kids, and even though I needed to catch a train to Harrisburg for a speaking engagement. But to no avail. I am pass-less for the remainder of the month.

I have tried to convince myself that perhaps the Transpass was found by someone who needed it more than me. But I am still grumpy. There are no full work weeks from here to the end of the month (and hence weekly Transpasses aren't worth me buying), so I have bought a wad of tokens to get me through, and will count down the days until I am with Transpass again, with all of the freedom and free riding that comes with it.

Community Association

2011-11-16T05:09:00.001-05:00

Last night, I was voted onto the Spruce Hill Community Association board at their annual meeting. I am delighted to serve in this capacity. Everyone should serve on a neighborhood association board at some point in their life.

This one is particularly rewarding for me, because the people in my neighborhood are really good-hearted. Plus, collectively they make for a huge step up in my intel on issues of importance to me, like upcoming real estate developments, neighborhood events, and of course the status of our schools. That last topic took up the bulk of the 90-minute meeting, between a Q&A with the principal of Lea Elementary and a presentation by a neighborhood mom who has banded together other neighborhood parents to engage Penn Alexander, Penn, and the School District concerning enrollment issues at Penn Alexander.

Heck, I even got two nice grey SHCA T's (one for me, and one for Amy) for five bucks, as well as a free stack of brown bags for recycling leaves. And I enjoyed a pleasant walk home with two other board members, both of whom have kids at Penn Alexander who are friends with Jada. The whole thing felt very similar to my experiences with and affinity for my church: a quirky and diverse mix of good-hearted neighborhood people who are engaged in meaningful issues and trying to do good stuff in the community. Sign me up for more of that, indeed.

It's Official: David Oh Takes the Final City Council Seat

2011-11-16T05:01:00.000-05:00

The extra counting is over, and it is official. David Oh will be sworn in as a City Councilman at Large in January. I am honored to have campaigned for him, and am looking forward to seeing him in action and hopefully working with him. Philadelphia, your days just got a little brighter.

Ever the Contrarian

2011-11-13T05:30:00.001-05:00

Let's see: I've already outed myself as Christian, capitalist, and Republican at a time when and in a place where Christians are accused of being intolerant, capitalists are accused of being greedy, and Republicans are accused of being uncaring. I'm on record for saying property taxes should be higher, as should gas prices. Heck, I've even said my utilities bills are too low.

So what more could I possibly say to convince you that I am certifiably insane? Well, for starters:

1) I think the Electoral College is the best way to elect a president. Folks, we're a representative democracy, not a democracy. And, if you don't like that there are swing states versus irrelevant states, consider the alternative of a popular vote, which would be that candidates would only spend their time in dense urban areas, completely neglecting the sparse rural areas that make up the vast majority of our land. Urbane urbanites might say "good!" but my point is that a popular vote leads to distortive campaigning behavior just like the Electoral College does.

2) I think the BCS is the best way to determine a national champion. You might convince me that a four-team playoff is a good alternative, except that the scheduling logistics might be challenging, and I know we've given up on calling the players "student athletes," but two bowl games during finals, both potentially involving long road trips, seems a bit much. The BCS takes a combination of humans and machines and spits out a 1 and a 2, and they play each other, which isn't half bad. The old system, or a playoff system, aren't as clean.

3) I don't think there's anything wrong with the intentional walk or the designated hitter. I'm as much of a baseball purist as anyone as young as me can be. But there's nothing wrong with pitching around the other team's stud when the game is on the line. Baseball is more of a team sport than most others for the very reason that, when the chips are down, you can't send your best hitter up at will, as he has a set spot in the lineup and he can only come up once every nine at-bats. And if the other team wants to put him on first, it's up to the guy after him. I fail to see why this is bad for the game. As for the DH, who doesn't like more hitting? And who doesn't like the wrinkles that result from AL teams playing in NL ballparks, and vice versa?

I have more, but I'll stop here.

Happy Veteran's Day

2011-11-11T05:09:00.000-05:00

War is evil. Corporate interests may play too much of a role. Maybe we shouldn't have invaded Iraq. It can all seem like such a waste - of resources and of human life.

Maybe you believe some of the statements above. Maybe some or all of them are patently obvious to you. Maybe to think otherwise is sheer lunacy. I don't know.

I do know that there are a lot of people out there who have served in war. We call them veterans. They have survived something unfathomably dangerous and difficult. Most have served with a greater purpose and courage and dignity than I will ever summon up in my entire life. Some bear scars - physical and/or mental - that utterly debilitate them. They all paid a steep price of some sort for the honor of serving their country.

All of them deserve our respect and admiration today.

Giving to Caring

2011-11-10T05:17:00.002-05:00

I am on the Host Committee for the Caring Center's 25th Anniversary Gala, to be held at World Cafe Live on Saturday, November 12, and am requesting your support of this great event and this great organization.

Both my kids went to Caring Center in West Philadelphia and benefited greatly from the good-hearted teachers, sound instruction, and other resources. At a time when schools and pre-schools are usually pretty homogenous, the Caring Center was incredibly diverse, by race and ethnicity, income level, and profession, which made for a really good experience for my kids and other kids as they made friends and played and learned together.

Early education has a great return on investment. If you are interested in finding out more about how you can support the Caring Center through this event, whether by writing a check, getting a ticket, buying an ad, or being a sponsor, please write me back with your contact information and I will have the Caring Center send you information and follow up with you. Thank you in advance for your support of the Caring Center and of early education.

Repent State

2011-11-10T05:01:00.000-05:00

There has been an outpouring of righteous indignation, in the media and in social settings I have been a part of, in response to the sexual abuse scandal at Penn State University, in which a long-time trusted assistant under revered football coach Joe Paterno was arrested for 40 counts of sexual abuse of young boys over a 15-year period. This indignation has tended to focus on the abusive acts, as well as on the ways in which Penn State leadership either did not act forcefully enough or did not act at all when confronted with their existence.

You may find it strange to know that I have not felt or expressed much of that indignation. It is obviously not because I don't believe these acts are abhorrent; I know far too many people in my life whose lives have been wrecked by sexual abuse to think that these are minor transgressions. It is also not because I am a Penn State football fan who wishes for this whole incident to go away so that I don't have to deal with the stain this is going to leave on Paterno's legacy or on the ability of the team to have future success.

Maybe it is different for different sins, and maybe I am oversimplifying things, but I think there are generally two reactions to these kinds of situations, both of which emerge from a realization of one's own flaws. The first is to allay one's own guilt by pouring condemnation on others worse than us. If we even have an inkling that there are consequences to our own bad behavior, we can be made to feel better that there are others out there who are worse than us. And, piling on the condemnation further removes us from dealing with the possibility of our own condemnation.

The other response is for outwardly wicked sins to remind us of our own sinfulness, and to sober us to its consequences. We are reminded that the withering heat applied to those at the center of the Penn State scandal is nothing compared to the ultimate judgment exercised by the Ultimate Judge. We are reminded of the cry of the psalmist in Psalm 130: "If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?" We are brought to our knees by the realization of all of our own sins, as well as all of the times we have been sinned against, as well as all of the sinfulness around us. And, try as we might, even by recommitting to good deeds and repenting of bad deeds and helping others walk right, we are ruinously marred by the existence of sin in our hearts and in our generation.

I'm not saying there is no role or no right for us to heap judgment on those who hurt children or on those who cover it up. These are despicable acts worthy of condemnation. But, let us tend to our own souls as well, and use this tragic set of events to see whether we are mindful of the darkness in our own hearts, sobered into confession and repentance by the searing heat of God's judgeful eye, and made all the more joyous at the reality of His mercy by the awareness of our dire need for it.

May God have mercy on those who have done wrong, on those who have been wronged, and on all of us who have done our share of wrong and of being wronged. I leave you with the remaining verses from Psalm 130, which follow after the one I quoted above:

If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is lovingkindness, and with Him is abundant redemption. And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Still Too Close to Call

2011-11-09T05:36:00.000-05:00

This feels familiar. In 2007, David Oh won by seven votes but then lost by 122 when the absentee ballots were counted. Yesterday, 96 percent of ballots had been counted and David was up by 140. So it's still too close to call.

There's nothing to do but wait and hope for now. Hopefully this will be made official soon. In the meantime, here are some personal highlights and lowlights from the last day of campaigning for David Oh in 2011:

* My daughter greeted me in the morning with “Happy David Oh Day!” Meanwhile, my son bounded downstairs and said, “I’m ready to vote for David Oh now.” (I assure you no four-year-olds voted for David Oh yesterday. I am not sure I can make that statement about other candidates.)

* Low turnout had the kids bummed about standing outside in the cold holding up “Vote for David Oh” signs. In the hour before school started, we must have seen a grand total of 12 voters. I guess the fanfare of going to door to door and passing out stuff was much more interesting to them than standing still not seeing anyone walk by.

At any rate, I'm proud of my kids for tolerating me exploiting their cuteness and their labor on behalf of my candidate. Let's hope that their efforts were not in vain.

Vote for David Oh Today

2011-11-08T05:01:00.000-05:00

Lazy Linking, 59th in an Occasional Series

2011-11-07T05:22:00.003-05:00

Stuff I liked lately on the Internets:

59.1. An elite marathoner trains just like I do, by running on city streets.

59.2. "I think a more diverse viewpoint needs to be raised. The problem is that in an introductory course, what the professor says is generally taken as fact." Seriously? Has this generation of college students lost the ability to think critically?

59.3. Siri = silly now, Google killer later?

59.4. "Freshman 0.5" just doesn't have the same ring to it, although it's truer than "Freshman 15."

59.5. Liu Bolin has disappeared again.

Following Jesus in a World Saturated by Social Media

2011-11-05T05:33:00.001-04:00

The image above is something a friend of mine sent to me a while back. It got an immediate chuckle from me, but also made me wonder what it is like to convince a young person in 2011 to follow Jesus. In a world in which fundamentalist Christianity is so often mocked and dismissed, when young people find it completely normal to constantly multi-task, have scores of extra-curricular activities, and "follow" hundreds of people, how does one make a compelling case for dropping everything and following an itinerant preacher who lived and died 2000 years ago?

My casual observations below have probably been recited countless times already in the blogosphere, so I realize I'm not breaking new ground here. But humor me, as I'm writing this as much for myself as others.

It seems to me that "the long obedience in the same direction" that Eugene Peterson talks about is still, in an attention deficit disordered world, what God calls us to, and still what many of us may desperately long for, our outward behavior notwithstanding. That is to say, pruning down from too many endeavors to just those that are meaningful is still a good word.

It also seems to me that the various media by which we send and receive information must be engaged in by followers of Jesus. Somewhere in between being captured by it and self-righteously boycotting it (and who doesn't know people who represent either extreme, or hasn't themselves represented either extreme?), there's a happy medium that acknowledges that media matters, that media is inherently neutral, that media can be negative (and therefore we should take caution), and that media can also be positive (and therefore we should try to use it in those ways).

Would Jesus tweet? Do you imagine him having more followers than anyone else, or do you imagine him speaking a condemning word against the whole exercise? Again, I think it's somewhere in between, although I will note that while he had his mass-audience moments, he was much more likely to trade in more intimate groupings. (Maybe he would "direct message" more often than tweet?)

Of course, there's more to social media than just the big three of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and youngsters are increasingly spending hours and hours interacting with each other on a whole host of apps and platforms. I'm not sure that Jesus would be completely ignorant or avoiding of such things, but I think he would probably lean on the side of seeking out fewer, deeper, more intimate contacts: less sermons on the mount, and more concentrating on 12 men. Without going overboard and incorrectly dismissing the whole industry, we should probably do something like that as well.

What's Luck Got to Do With It

2011-11-04T05:27:00.001-04:00

No, this is not a post about Stanford quarterback and poster boy Andrew Luck. It's about what luck has to do with success in life. As much as it pains me to say this, as I adore the Oakland A's, this Business Week article is right: more than statistical analysis, the A's succeeded earlier last decade because of a confluence of homegrown talent (notably young stud pitchers Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito) and then flopped later last decade because of a big bet on third baseman Eric Chavez (who ended up being plagued by one physical ailment after another). For all the A's front office did to stay one step ahead of its competitors by zigging when others zag (first by buying up undervalued players with atypical baseball bodies and high on-base percentage, and then, when that arbitrage opportunity vanished, by focusing on team defense), success and failure had to do with good timing and unforeseen injuries.

This New York Times article, co-written by Jim Collins, the author of one of my all-time favorite business books, "Good to Great," talks about the role of luck in business, and makes the case that luck's impact is asymmetrical: good luck can be helpful but bad luck can be disastrous. Hence, successful people manage luck by being sufficiently ready to capitalize on the upside of good luck and being sufficiently prepared to absorb the downside of bad luck.

"Luck" is somewhat of a bad word in Christian circles, as we are trained to believe that there is no such thing, since God is in control of all things. But if you slightly alter the meaning of the word to mean "things beyond our control," I think it is useful to consider how to deal with luck in life. And, in this regard, I think Collins' takeaway is on point. Because we believe God is certainly in control and we are certainly not, there is wisdom in being braced for "luck" to enter into our lives, whether good or bad. It is proper to be humble when good luck comes our way to not think ourselves too responsible for it, and when bad luck comes our way to not think ourselves somehow exempt from its consequences.

The Christian may have a different take on what "luck" means, and on what "success" means. But Collins' message has some use to us: who knows when we will find luck, but what we can do is prepare to make the most of the good kind and to absorb the impact of the bad kind. As for me, I'd be lost if luck was everything, capricious as it is; I feel more grounded knowing that "luck" is, like all other things, under the control of One who I know.

Vote for David Oh on November 8

2011-11-02T05:03:00.000-04:00

You've heard me pitch for David Oh in this space before, so I won't rehash his credentials or my admiration for him again; after all, this is his third time running, and I've participated in each of those campaigns. I just want to link you to an article that covers the recent allegations raised against him about his military service, in case you were wondering about that issue and why it's gotten so much press: "Hall Monitor Special: Who's Behind the Attacks on David Oh — and Why?"

If anything, this whole episode should strengthen our resolve to vote David in. Here is someone who actually wants to be a public servant, in the truest sense of the title. I think it's fair to say that the vast majority of Philadelphians, as tolerant as we are of an acceptable level of "playing politics," are now fed up with useless and baseless politicking, and are looking for some real leaders to work with them to get stuff done for Philadelphia. Let's make a big dent in that work by voting in David Oh on November 8.

Huang Family Newsletter, October 2011

2011-11-01T05:08:00.001-04:00

Another crazy month for the Huangs. Amy did all the heaving lifting on getting our kitchen renovation completed and getting ourselves resettled in there, all while working and choring at breakneck speed. Lee jammed trips to Washington DC and the U.S. Virgin Islands into an already crazy work schedule, while also juggling teaching Sunday School class, nominating new elders and deacons at church, fundraising for Aaron and Jada's old school, and campaigning for a friend of his who is running for City Council. We got Aaron baptized, and celebrated Jada's sixth Gotcha Day. The kids finished up soccer class at the Y, and will start basketball (Aaron) and ballet (Jada) early next month. We're letting our zoo membership lapse, so we dressed up for Boo at the Zoo (twice!), and had fun trick-or-treating around our neighborhood on Halloween.

For Halloween, I Dressed as a Republican

2011-11-01T05:00:00.000-04:00

The snow and a packed social calendar prevented me from canvassing for my friend David Oh this past weekend. So with our neighborhood's Halloween parade on the docket for yesterday afternoon, I strung two placards together and wore them like a sandwich board as we snaked through University City. Even though David and I are Republicans and University City is staunchly Democrat (Barack Obama took our ward by 97 percent to 2 for John McCain in 2008, with Libertarian candidate Bob Barr getting 1 percent), he is well-liked in these parts: a lot of people came up to me and said they were voting for him, that he was a decent fellow, and that they hoped he would win. It made me feel good. (I also liked that I was killing two birds with one stone.)

Lazy Linking, 58th in an Occasional Series

2011-10-31T05:23:00.004-04:00

Stuff I liked lately on the Internets:

58.1. Stop the presses - in Philadelphia, the protesters and police have both been polite.

58.2. Clever use of a vacant lot in downtown Philadelphia.

58.3. Really, really, really inappropriate Halloween costumes for kids.

58.4. How do you like your eggs - fried, scrambled, or cross-stitched?

58.5. He won two national championships, earned a Heisman Trophy, and brought his team back from 15 down with three minutes in his first NFL start, but his greatest achievement is to make something go viral that has to do with prayer . . . ladies and gentlemen, Tim Tebow! (Btw, Albert Pujols did a "Tebow" after the final out of the World Series. Here's a nice article about the faith of Tebow and Albert Pujols.)

Snow Stopper

2011-10-30T05:18:00.000-04:00

It took a freak weather event - snow accumulation in October - to secure me a nap on a Saturday afternoon, my first in several weeks. The combination of a busy social schedule and many things on my house to-do list meant I was forgoing that precious luxury many consecutive weekends, and my body was starting to feel it.

Yesterday was to be no different: after the kids' soccer practices, maybe a family dip in the pool, lunch at Mickey D's, some canvassing for my City Council candidate friend, and one last trip to the zoo before our membership expires. At that rate, we were looking at straight activities until dinner, after which bedtime (theirs) and bedtime (mine) were sure to follow.

But with the rain coming down in increasingly sleety versions, we decided to cut our Y time short, and headed straight home for baths and lunch after soccer practice. The kids retired upstairs for "room time" (translation: I don't care what you do, just be quiet) and then TV, and after a few errands around the house, I decided to head to my preferred nap spot (purple room couch) and was soon fast asleep.

Neither wild horses nor two increasingly boisterous kids could rouse me from my stupor. It wasn't a great nap - too uncomfortable, too much noise, not nearly long enough - but given the dry spell I've been on, I'll take it. After so much go go go, it was good to stop for a bit. Even if it took snow in October to do it.

Making Something out of Nothing in the City

2011-10-28T05:04:00.000-04:00

It was nice to see our vacant land report from last year get mentioned by Mayor Nutter in his press conference earlier this week about cracking down on owners of run-down properties. The analytics of our report were pretty complex but the narrative, and the public policy ramifications, are quite simple: vacant land imposes a steep cost on City government and on residents of the City. Although real estate markets are still on edge, there's still developers and homebuyers out there, so it makes sense for the City to do what it can to make it easier for dilapidated buildings to get converted into nice new homes. (Here's one example in Bella Vista, courtesy of Naked Philly.)

It has always been depressing for me, ever since I first arrived in Philadelphia 20 years ago, to see block after block and property after property of blight, abandonment, and emptiness. But the City is now replete with dynamic examples of turnaround. And all those vacant parcels that are left are assets in someone's eyes, who sees the possibility and is willing to make it reality. Kudos to the City for stepping up to make this happen more.

Green Mile

2011-10-26T05:50:00.000-04:00

I've said it before but I'll say it again: land use patterns that allow for easy non-car accessibility on common trips are far more impactful for the environment than other so-called "green" practices. That most Americans don't think twice about firing up a two-ton steel box, waiting for it to heat up, and then driving it all of five minutes to pick up a gallon of milk or drop off dry-cleaning is disastrous for our ecological balance, to say nothing of the economic and geo-political ramifications of our oil consumption.

This is one of the reasons I've grown quite fond of living where we live. Consider how much we access often that is within a mile of our house, or an easy 15-minute walk:

* My place of employment for 15 out of the 16 years I've had a job.
* Amy's place of employment for 5 out of the 14 years she's had a job.
* An Ivy League school where we've gotten a combined two undergrad and two grad degrees.
* Where Jada has gone to school 5 out of 6 years.
* Where Aaron has gone to school 3 out of 4 years.
* Where we have been going to church the last 15 years.
* Where we all exercise at the YMCA.
* And, of course, three subway stops and countless trolley and bus stops to get us to places further away than walking distance.

This list doesn't include the manifold retail, food, recreational, and other amenities we commonly access. Live, work, play, and worship, all without a car. That's why inner city Philadelphia, which you may instinctively associate with grime, is actually quite green.

These Two Junior Campaigners Say Vote for David Oh

2011-10-24T05:44:00.000-04:00

What's the secret to pitching a Republican candidate in a Democrat neighborhood? Bring my two cute kids along with me when I go door-to-door. Jada wasn't feeling well, so we only hit a small sliver of the coverage area David Oh's campaign office assigned to me; the rest will have to wait until next weekend. But even though our route was cut way short, the kids got into it, and their friends whose houses we visited were also intrigued about what we were doing with our Saturday afternoon.

So hopefully we'll have time and energy to complete our task next weekend. In the meantime, I urge you to vote for David Oh for City Council at Large on November 1. Aaron and Jada think you should, too.

I Would Rather Be Living in Philadelphia

2011-10-23T05:24:00.000-04:00

Comedian W.C. Fields once quipped that his tombstone would read "Here lies W.C. Fields / I would rather be living in Philadelphia." (Also said of his place of birth: "I once spent a year in Philadelphia, I think it was on a Sunday.") I called this to mind when, earlier this week, a few of my co-workers came into my office and, noticing how stressed out I looked, asked what was wrong. When I said that, in the midst of a lot of work-related deadlines, I would have to go to the U.S. Virgin Islands for three days for a business trip, they howled in mock empathy.

I was quick to say that I was looking forward to the trip, that the gigs we have down there are interesting and my business partner there a dear friend, and that, yes, I suppose it was foul of me to complain about a trip to St. Thomas. I even took an unfair dig at Scranton by saying that I was relieved because had I not been booked for my Virgin Islands trip, I would have been pressed into service as a fill-in speaker at a conference in Scranton.

But invariably I would end our conversations with, "Well, all else equal, I'd rather be in Philadelphia." Travel is fun for me. I like a lot of aspects of it, it usually means an interesting assignment or speaking engagement, and I am always the better for it. But, with two small kids and a working wife and many to-do's on the work, home, and other fronts, taking even three days (I flew out first thing in the morning on Tuesday and returned after midnight on Thursday) can blow up an already messy schedule, and can pile weariness on top of my current weariness.

It was a mixed blessing that, while I was in St. Thomas, I didn't even get to sniff a beach or go for a dip in the water. I sure could have used the relaxation, but on the other hand I wanted to minimize my time away from home and therefore maximize my work productivity while I was away. Yes, it has come to this: I flew all the way to the Caribbean and didn't take a single moment to chill.

At any rate, I'm certainly not complaining about getting to make this trip. But, I agree with W.C. Fields: I'd rather be living in Philadelphia.

Asian Sensation

2011-10-20T05:36:00.000-04:00

I am an upper-middle-class Asian American born in America, and many of my friends and family fit this description as well. You can find large concentrations of us in places like Southern California, Boston, and Manhattan, and especially a lot of them in Silicon Valley, where I used to live. You don't find many of us where I now live, which is inner city West Philadelphia.

And this poses a challenge for my kids and me. (My wife, who is Caucasian, faces her own challenges, namely that people can't get their heads wrapped around the fact that she is a white girl with an Asian last name. But that's a story for another time.) Namely, that because the vast majority of Asian looking people around here are much more connected to their countries of origin, and almost certainly likely to speak a non-English language at home, perhaps exclusively. My kids and I, in contrast, have a much weaker connection to our respective countries of origin, and English is by far our dominant language, the few words Jada knows in Mandarin barely outstripped by my own limited vocabulary. (Give me a couple of weeks using my rusty Taiwanese and it can be resurrected, but how many Taiwanese speakers are around here to get me there?)

So we find ourselves a little bit in the middle in terms of our identity. It's a strange sensation. Many Asians I have encountered around here wonder aloud why my kids can't and don't speak anything but English, and sometimes they're not very nice about this. Meanwhile, many non-Asians I have encountered are unable to make any distinction between us and other Asians whose lives couldn't be more different than ours. It's a far cry from places like California and Texas and Hawaii, where second and third and fourth generation Asians are prevalent and so there is a lot of latitude to be lots of different levels of separation from the Asian continent and culture and language.

I'm not necessarily complaining, although I likely get a higher share of racist and ignorant comments than my Silicon Valley counterparts from people who just have no category for an Asian looking person than a few prominent stereotypes from pop culture. It just makes things a little different for us. For two kids who will have to deal with the fact that they were adopted, this is just another flavor to swallow. The fact that I'm also Asian probably helps. And the fact that where we live is such a melting pot also probably helps. But the fact that there aren't a whole lot of Asians like us, and that there are a whole lot of Asians not like us, probably complicates things.

You're Invited to Sunday School (Especially if You're Not a Christian)

2011-10-19T05:03:00.000-04:00

With the departure of my dear friend and our interim pastor to the mission field, I have been asked to fill in on the remaining sessions of our Sunday School class called "The Reason for God." The class involves watching and discussing a DVD of a discussion between acclaimed New York City pastor Tim Keller and a bunch of non-Christians about faith and religion. I have participated since the inception of this class earlier this fall, and have enjoyed and have been encouraged and challenged by the discussion. Young Christians, old Christians, and non-Christians have taken turns sharing and probing about such things as whether Christianity is a myth, what we make of Christianity's claims to be the absolute way to God, and how we feel about all these rules.

Over the next few weeks, we'll be covering the following ground: (1) Why is there so much suffering in the world; how can a good God allow so much evil; (2) Why is there so much injustice in the world; how come so many Christians are hypocrites; and (3) How can God be loving and yet send people to hell. The class starts at 9:30a and runs for about 50 minutes, and is held in Kirk Hall, which you can get to by entering the Pine Street entrance of our church at 42nd and Pine Streets. You need not attend the morning worship service which takes place in our sanctuary starting at 10:30a.

As someone who did not grow up in the church, I have appreciated the comments by non-Christians in the DVD and in our discussion. I guess even though I have now been a Christian longer than I have not, I still consider myself somewhat of an outsider looking in. Or, perhaps more specifically, I inherently prefer to weigh arguments rather than just accept them without investigation. If you are like that, or if you are curious, or if you are seeking, you should come to the class. If anything, your presence will make me feel less nervous leading.

Church Family

2011-10-18T05:48:00.001-04:00

Alas, our interim pastor for the past two years is leaving to serve with his family in the Dominican Republic. This was his second stint at our church - during his first, he officiated my wedding and counseled me, and throughout his life he and his family have been a huge blessing to us - and he will be dearly missed.

On his last Sunday, I took care to take some photos and video, and was struck after looking at everything afterwards how much of a real family our church family is. You'll see that we're a pretty motley crew, and if you spend any amount of time with us you'll see we're not always sweet to one another. But isn't that how family is?

Above it all, there is love and warmth (and always a lot of food, it seems), and above that is a God who knit together a bunch of people I'm pretty sure wouldn't have been found on the same block together, let alone pouring our lives out to one another. Now that's what I call a church family.

Lazy Linking, 57th in an Occasional Series

2011-10-17T05:07:00.008-04:00

Stuff I liked on the Internets lately:

57.1. Darn those sinister Chinese for artificially devaluing their currency and increasing all Americans' well-being by making goods cheaper for us to buy. We really ought to stop this. Let's look righteous by calling out China for their transgression, slapping on protectionist measures that make things more expensive for all of us and that incite a trade war. Yeah, this is what counts as courage and rational thinking in Washington.

57.2. What is the real economic impact of sports? Not jobs created by the construction and operation of stadiums, you silly; rather, it's the happiness we derive from rooting for our teams and following the scores.

57.3. Four national transportation experts weigh in on whether to invest in more bicycle infrastructure.

57.4. What Guy Kawasaki learned from Steve Jobs. I am reminded of my favorite Jobs quote: "it's not their [customers'] job to know what they want."

57.5. Megan McArdle wonders about "The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants." Isn't it also that all women, including attractive ones, have many more viable career options now than 40 years ago?

57.6. Global warming, once so hot a topic. On a related note, Jon Huntsman's reward for being the only sensible adult in the Republican discussion is having zero buzz around his candidacy.

57.7. Do you ever doodle in spirals? So does this guy, only his turn into incredible pieces of art.

57.8. Cheese or font? Harder than you think. [Hat tip: kottke.org.]

57.9. Darn those wonky traders and their computerized algorithms, right? Oh wait, they actually help the market.

57.10. This article is a little too simplistic but no less true: it's time for men to grow up. [Hat tip: Desiring God.]

Room for Occupy

2011-10-16T05:26:00.001-04:00

It's popular in my circles to thumb a snobby nose at the "Occupy" crew. Get a job, take a shower, what do you want, why blame Wall Street, is this just an excuse to chill and play the bongos. You've heard all that, and maybe said or thought some of it. I know I have.

I'm certainly not justifying any behavior or seconding any positions here. Believe it or not, though, I do harbor some sympathy. Right or wrong, in this country people have a right to feel unhappy about the direction and rules of our country, and to want to express that unhappiness. There is a healthy sense of entitlement (and, I know that word is often used pejoratively, but here I mean it in a very positive sense, in that we are guaranteed certain rights) about feeling like every opinion counts, and about being able to voice that opinion and have that mean something.

In short, while you may reject the message and the media, if you are an American it should sadden you that the "Occupy" crew feels a very real feeling of disenfranchisement, that there is an anger or a sense of betrayal and no real channel or lever for change. One may argue that all it takes to get politically involved is a little effort, and that vilifying Wall Street and painting clever protest signs is just an easy cop-out way, and there is some validity to it. But a democracy ought to have easier on-ramps to participation, and if the common person feels these on-ramps are unavailable or closed off to them, there's probably some truth to that.

Let me assure that you that, despite the sense that "we the people" feel like we have less power than we should, we are still uniquely empowered in the world and even in our history. The rest of the world longs for the participatory democracy we take for granted. And, as much as we want to romanticize our founding fathers, power is much more distributed now than it was in our earliest days as a nation. Remember that way back when many blacks were enslaved, and that women only got a chance to vote in 1920. And it will come as no surprise that, despite how much money plays a role in our elections today, things were far less egalitarian in elections in the distant past.

Of course, just because we're better doesn't mean we're perfect. And so the "Occupy" crew laments at our very real imperfections. And I give them room to do so. And, in my own, different way, I lament too. Although even in the lament, I rejoice, for I live in a country that strives towards that perfection, or, to borrow a phrase from the first line of our founding document, I revel in the fact that we are a people about the desire "to form a more perfect union." What a country.

Stephen Covey Would Be Proud

2011-10-15T05:02:00.000-04:00

I'd rather not say how many projects I'm juggling now at work, because I want every one of my clients to think that they are my only focus. Which they are, during the time I am working for them; I'm not a multi-tasker as much as I am a serial single-tasker.

But I am in fact juggling a fair amount of work at work right now. For someone who is as organized and compartmentalized as I am, this can make for high stress levels. Stephen Covey would be proud of how I keep up. He is the author of the bestselling "The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People" and a bunch of offshoot books. One of his suggestions that I particularly liked was to look at your work in one-week increments, figure out for each project what was necessary to do that week, and make sure you made time to do that necessary thing, no matter what else came up.

So on Friday nights, after the kids are safely in bed, I do just that. It helps me to pace the week ahead so that I am neither needlessly scrambling (at the detriment of the quality of the work) nor hopelessly behind (at the detriment of deadlines clients have asked for work to be done by). And it brings a nice closure to the week just past, as once I have organized myself in this way I can let go and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

I'm not saying this is how it best works for others. But it seems to work for me. Now if I can just figure out a way to create an eighth day to get to everything that doesn't fit into the other seven days.

Life's a Grind

2011-10-14T05:26:00.000-04:00

I got some somewhat troubling news at my last dental appointment. After a cursory check of my X-rays, the hygenist, who I am used to discussing such matters as "how often do you floss" and "we have a little plaque on the bottom right that you should take better care of," said, "You have some bone loss in your jaw." It turns out that where my teeth are rooted, there's less bone mass around it than before. In other words, if I don't take good care of my gums, and even if I do, my teeth could start falling out in a few decades if not sooner.

The hygenist suggested I get a mouth guard for nighttime, because she saw my teeth were worn down and suspected that I grind my teeth at night when I sleep. This is entirely possible.

Alternatively or in addition, it could be that I grind my teeth a lot when I'm wide awake. Since that dental visit, I have been catching myself in stressful situations exerting a lot of pressure on my teeth. I find that I am often tensed up, teeth clenched, and am now wondering how often I do this and whether this has anything to do with what the hygenist saw.

I realize life is a grind for me right now: lots of work responsibilities, two small children to parent, church roles to fulfill, house projects to stay on top of, relationships to manage, bills to pay, and the list goes on. I often sigh aloud to God that I am worn out, although quick to add that I am happy about all of what my life is full with.

But there is a sense that it is not good that life is such a grind that I am literally grinding down my teeth. So even as I am not keeping an eye out on my jaw and teeth, I should be doing the same with my soul.

I Have "Nothing" to Do for the "Rest" of the Weekend

2011-10-13T05:12:00.004-04:00

After a string of really full weekends, this past weekend is what counts for a relatively lightly scheduled weekend:

Saturday
4a-5a Pray
5a-6a Exercise, check emails
6a-7a Grocery shopping
7a-8a Breakfast with kids
8a-9a Lowes run with kids
9a-10a Bring car to shop, take El to YMCA
10a-1p Soccer and swimming at YMCA
1p-2p Lunch with kids, boss brings over hand-me-downs
2p-6p Call friends, drop off stuff at secondhand store, hang up house numbers, Dryel suits, do laundry, put away laundry, vacuum, clean windows
6p-7p Dinner with kids
7p-8p Bedtime with kids
8p-9p Read, bedtime

Sunday
4a-5a Pray
5a-6a Exercise, check emails
6a-7a Go through mail, pay bills
7a-8a Breakfast with kids
8a-9a Haircuts for Aaron and me
9a-10a Come home, do baths, off to Sunday School
10a-12p Sunday School and then church
12p-1p Lunch with kids
1p-2p Some free time!
2p-6p Small group Bible study with couples from church
6p-7p Dinner with kids
7p-8p Bedtime with kids
8p-9p Read, bedtime

Despite all that, I didn't get to everything I wanted to do. I had on my to-do list to clean our air conditioner filters, call a bunch of other friends I hadn't talked to in awhile, bleed our radiators, sweep our sidewalk, and clean the Brita filter. To say nothing of that nagging paint job or that basement clean-up project I never seem to be able to get to.

This coming weekend, I am challenged to have something else to do: nothing. As a Christian, I believe in the importance of rest, and in particular God's command, which He practiced Himself, to rest. Rest, in other words, is something God gives us, and insists on us taking. Not to do so is to be disobedient. And not to do so is usually out of a lack of trust that that rest is good and necessary and allowable.

This coming weekend, I will have many things on my to-do list. But I have put "nothing" at the top. Hopefully, I will in fact do "nothing," so that I might claim the rest God has for me.

Life Together

2011-10-12T05:48:00.001-04:00

Modern realities keep us far from the practices of the earliest Christian communities as described in the New Testament. We can't and don't share possessions, meals, and time nearly as often as we could and should. We are hyper-individualists living in a hyper-individualist generation in a hyper-individualist nation.

And yet we are not devoid of the sweetness of community. One particularly nice manifestation of that is the couples small group we are part of through our church. Counted among our four couples are six and a half jobs, ten children, and far too little free time. But once a month, we gather to eat food, tell jokes, study the Bible, pray, wrestle with moral dilemmas and tough life decisions, and share a little bit of ourselves. And, because of our relative proximity to each other, we can also aspire to see each other, formally and informally, outside of the normal settings of church and small group.

It ain't "Acts 2," but it ain't half bad. In fact, it feels quite rich to be blessed thusly, with friends and co-journeyers to sharpen and encourage and challenge and feed me.

Aaron's Baptism

2011-10-11T05:20:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, we got around to doing something we'd been meaning to do for quite some time, which was to have Aaron baptized. I'll skip the hard-core theological aspects of this rite, except to say that I personally do believe in infant baptism although I do not begrudge those who believe that only those who can themselves profess faith should be baptized.

What I want to talk about is what baptizing Aaron means for me and my family. As Amy and I discussed with him the night before, infant baptism is not the child's choice, but the parent's or parents'. Many consider something like the profession of faith to be private and individual, something someone decides by one's self for one's self. But we believe that the profession of faith is public and communal, something parents decide for their children until they are old enough to decide for themselves.

Indeed, during Aaron's baptism ceremony, even though Aaron is old enough to understand and answer questions, there were no questions for him. Instead, the questions were to Amy and me (whether we were ready to commit to raising Aaron in the Christian faith) and to the congregation as a whole (whether they were willing to assist us in that task).

Just to be clear, while Jada professes to believe in Jesus, Aaron professes to not believe. And that's OK for now. There will be time for his own decisions to be made about his own life. For now, he is under our care, physical and spiritual, and this past weekend we stated publicly what we committed to privately some time ago, which is that we intend to do what we can to raise Aaron to follow Jesus.

Gotcha

2011-10-11T05:17:00.000-04:00

Six years ago yesterday, we culminated one journey (going to China to adopt a little baby girl) and started another (becoming parents). It's a bit overwhelming to think of all of the emotions that led up to and surrounded that day, and all that's transpired since. All we can live is the days to come, and we delight to have a front row seat as God grows our little one, and our love for her. Gotcha, Jada!

Lazy Linking, 56th in an Occasional Series

2011-10-10T05:26:00.003-04:00

Stuff I liked lately on the Internets:

56.1. Here is Part I and Part II of Steve Jobs unveiling the iPhone in 2007. I was mesmerized by this, as I realized how many things that we take for granted now were revolutionary back then. For example, listen for the audible gasp when he resizes an image with his fingers for the first time.

56.2. I thought it was telling on two fronts that Philadelphia's "Occupy Wall Street" protest took place in Dilworth Plaza outside City Hall. One, there is no iconic financial district in our city, unlike New York or San Francisco or Chicago or Boston. Two, it's clear that Dilworth Plaza is our Tahrir Square.

56.3. David Frum says the real story isn't that Sarah Palin is fading away but that the Republican Party somehow lacked the "antibodies" to keep someone with her "faults and failings" out in the first place.

56.4. Even though it's unpopular to say against anything bad about what Steve Jobs says, let alone his infamous 2005 Stanford commencement speech, Megan McArdle does so and I appreciate her uneasiness and honesty.

56.5. A passionate Italian with a penchant for shoes and the verb "love" is shaking things up at stodgy 3M. Yes, a tape dispenser can be sexy!

They're Not Your Dad

2011-10-09T05:08:00.000-04:00

Dads with kids Jada's age, are you starting to get this line: "So-and-so's dad lets her do such-and-such." When Jada pulls this with me, it irks me to no end. After all, she lives like a princess, so for her to complain rings hollow to me.

I've said something to that effect a couple of times with Jada. But usually, I go with something else. "Well, so-and-so's dad is not your dad. I'm your dad. So what I say, goes."

Thankfully, Jada hasn't gone into full-on teenager mode yet. This statement seems to matter to her, enough so that when Aaron says something about her teacher or some other important adult in his life, Jada is quick to say, "That's nice, but they're not your dad. Daddy's your dad so what he says, goes."

As much as kids have it in their nature to want to rebel, to be independent, to desire more than what their parents give, I think kids do really want boundaries and structure and rules. One can go overboard, of course, but by and large I sense that Jada is happier when I am firm about my position of authority. She knows I love her (which I do), and she believes I know what I'm doing (which I do more often than I don't, at least), so there is a comfort level when I am clear about what I think is right and not right.

There's a life lesson in there somewhere, but let me just leave it at that. For now, I'm just glad I rein in my desire to go bat crazy when Jada pulls that line on me, and glad also that she's not yet a teenager.

Body Blow

2011-10-08T05:31:00.001-04:00

I've been feeling good since my family joined the Y. Exercise will do that for you. Although some of what I mean by "feeling good" is that I am happy with my body. Which is not a bad thing and in fact is a good thing. But it can easily lead to a shallow sort of idolatry.

So it was fitting, if not funny, when my body image took a little bit of a blow this past weekend. I decided to break from my weekly routine and swim laps on Saturday morning, not checking ahead to see that the pool is unavailable during that time because it's when the swim team practices.

I thought the pool looked a little funny when I got there; something about the lane dividers didn't seem right. But I was about to jump in anyway when one of the workers looked me up and down and said, "Wait, you're not on the swim team, are you?" Two thoughts immediately came to mind. First, I should've checked the schedule, and now that I can't swim, what am I going to do or am I going to have to just head straight home.

Second, and more damaging to my ego, clearly from the way the guy looked at me and then said what he said, I don't have the sculpted body of a swim team member. Alas. I guess the moral of the story is that it's good to feel good about how you look, and I do, but it's also good to be put in your place every once in a while.

Prayer for Entrepreneurs

2011-10-07T05:40:00.002-04:00

I was asked to give the blessing at Passing the Torch, last night's fundraiser for The Enterprise Center. Here's what I prayed.

Dear God, we thank for all you've done to make this night and this place possible, and we thank you for all the people you've used to make this night and this place possible.

Lord, even as we celebrate tonight, we are sobered by the challenges we are faced with, challenges of an economic and social and community nature. Demand is down, resources seem lacking, unemployment is high, and the need is great.

So I ask your blessing on this audience and on this organization, O God, that you might provide what we need to do the important work you have given us to do. Help these entrepreneurs among us to be wise, honest, and productive. May their ventures create jobs, provide quality products and services, and anchor our neighborhoods.

Heavenly Father, as torches are passed, we honor the present generation for carrying the flame thus far, and ask you to be with the future generation as they carry it forward. And we trust that, day by day, season by season, generation after generation, You will make a way, even when it seems there is no way.

And so by Your grace and by faith, to You, O Lord, do we commit ourselves, our work, and tonight's festivities. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Religion Matters

2011-10-06T05:13:00.000-04:00

As a Bible-believing Christian living in the year 2011 in a big cosmopolitan city and a left-leaning neighborhood, the notion of Christianity being close-minded and arrogant is ever about me. In contrast, religious pluralism seems so much more friendly and copasetic. What could be wrong with letting everyone believe whatever they want? If you're wondering what this fundamentalist thinks, read on.

First of all, of course people are free to believe whatever they want. Certainly there have been dark and unfortunate episodes in Christian history when people did in fact have a certain religion forced upon them, upon penalty of death or excommunication. But that's not where most of us Bible believers are today.

What we really believe is that there really is one way to God. There are at least three alternatives to this, so let's talk about them. First is that there are no ways to God, which is pretty depressing, although completely consistent with any belief systems that don't believe in any God and that consider us humans simply animals that are born, live, die, and then returned to the ground. Second is that no one knows how to get to God, or that no one can know how to get to God, which has some level of presumptuousness to it. (I realize that some people don't believe this as much as that they themselves don't know how to get to God or if anyone can get to God, which is a much humbler posture.)

Third is this notion of religious pluralism, which says there are many ways to God. Although, unless I am mistaken, it goes a little farther in its inherent beliefs.

First, there is a sense that man is at the center of the universe, and it is his right to choose his own way. This may seem obvious to many, but it is likely only because we were raised in a modern-day Western culture that exalts the self above all else. Not everyone believes man is in control of his own destiny; in fact, in the world and in history, I would venture to say it is a minority opinion.

Second, and related to the first tenet, there is a sense that man is pretty much alright. I'm OK, you're OK, we're all OK, and it's those darned Christians preaching about sin and redemption and atonement that are putting the fizzy in the drink of life.

If you believe that man is at the center of the universe, and that we are all pretty much OK, then multiple ways to God are just fine and dandy. Because "ways to God" is no more important than, say, a hobby or an allegiance to a sports team: we all have different interests and preferences, but even if we are passionate about them, we don't need to intrude on those of others.

But what if man is not at the center of the universe? What if there is more to the universe than just our existence in it? And what if we are not in fact OK? What if we all have some very real need for atonement or heaven or nirvana or whatever you want to call it?

In fact, much of the world holds some belief like this. Whether it is Christianity or Judaism or Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism or any number of thousands of other world religions, most have some sense of something bigger than the self, and some sense that all is not necessarily alright with the world as it relates to our existence and our souls.

To believe so is in direct conflict with the very basic tenets of religious pluralism, which puts man at the center and seeks to deemphasize any divisive beliefs about higher beings or paths to eternal fulfillment. Even as it prides itself on respecting a diversity of beliefs, it doesn't in fact extend respect, because it asks each belief to be defanged of its fundamental principles.

Even if you say something like, "I respect your belief system, and your right to have that belief system, because that works for you, but it doesn't work for me," consider what is presupposed in such a statement. First, that man chooses what path will work. And, second, that my path necessarily doesn't work for you.

I recall being confronted by someone who knew I was the kind of Christian that wants to tell others to become Christian, who essentially said, "I can't stand how you Christians say there is only one way to God." Ah, but that statement came from a fundamental disagreement we had about the world. She didn't believe man wasn't at the center of the universe, and she didn't believe man wasn't basically alright. If instead you believe in a Higher Being, and in the need for some sort of atonement, and if in particular you believed in the Christian narrative about God and mankind and sin and judgment, then you are marvel that there is a way at all. Far from "one way to God" seeming arrogant and restrictive and bad news, it is welcoming and expansive and incredibly good news.

Indeed, it is no coincidence that the greatest Christian revivals in our history have been preceded by a great movement of conviction of depravity and lostness, and an intentional confessing and turning from sin. Even we who say we are Christians can easily fall into thinking that we are at the center of the universe, and that we are basically OK. And when that happens, it takes a posture of acknowledging your sinfulness and publicly expressing a desire to turn from it to make room for God to move as He desires to, to draw people to Himself and to redeem lost souls.

Alas, we Christians spend far too much time either boasting about our righteousness or engaging in sinful behavior ourselves, and far too little time being honest with God, ourselves, and others about our lost condition, and imploring God to save and change us. You may mark me as arrogant for making such a sweeping statement, but I really do think that most people's hearts have buried in them a deep longing for atonement. Whether that guilt is directed at self, others, or God, there is a sense that in fact all is not right. And, when we Christians act like the forgiven and reconciled people that we truly are, that ought to be a compelling witness to a world around us that may think it thinks that all is alright but deep down senses that atonement is in order and wonders if there is a way to attain to it.

I've thrown around a lot of terms that I realize in retrospect may have been lazily used and therefore potentially misinterpreted, so perhaps this post has offended some, confused others, and left still others totally unimpressed. But I hope I've made some point in all this dreck. Religion may be unpopular to hold fast to in such a secular and pluralist-seeking society, but it does matter what we think about God and man, and I challenge myself and others who believe what I believe to live out our take on it, for the sake of our souls and the souls of others around us.

Money 101

2011-10-05T05:34:00.001-04:00

I inherited my analytical bent from my dad, but both my parents gave me a firm rooting in money management. My mom took me to the bank, where I learned how to save quarters and keep a checkbook balanced. My dad sat me in front of the TV with a pencil and a pad so I could record the stock prices as the scrolled across the bottom of the screen during the afternoon business shows. This was, of course, before the Internet. Now what’s a dad to do in 2011 that would be like that?

Well, I’ve decided to ease my kids into money management. No, there’s no allowance, no checkbook-keeping, and no finding stock prices on Bloomberg or Yahoo! Finance. Instead, I’ve decided to start smaller.

First, if they put their shoes away every day the whole week, I give them two coins that they can put in the church offering. We used to just give them coins to put in the offering plate, but now I want them to own that act of generosity. And making sure they put their shoes away seems like an easy but meaningful act to commit to.

Second, with Jada I am killing two birds with one stone. So far, her weekly first grade homework has been easy, so she is done well before her Friday deadline (four pages’ worth are supposed to be done at a rate of one per day, and she is often done by Tuesday or Wednesday). So each week, I have downloaded additional reading and math worksheets online (two of each), and I tell her she will earn 50 cents for each completed sheet, for a total of up to two dollars a week. I don’t actually give her the money, but put it in a clear jar so she can see it add up.

The kicker is that when Christmas rolls around, she can buy whatever toy she wants with that money. (Her piggy bank is separate. That's for saving. The jar is for spending. That's right, we're doing fund accounting!) It is not likely she will know well enough to shop around for a good price, free spirit that she is. But it is possible that seeing that she has a certain amount of money and no more may cause her to learn how to make wise choices about how to maximize her happiness within the confines of a budget. (I also take away a penny every time she leaves the light on. Fiscal prudence and energy conservation, all in one lesson!)

If you’re wondering, I’m not a fan of allowances, because I never got one. And I’m not a fan of earning money for chores, because chores are supposed to be done regardless of remuneration. Maybe when the kids get older, I’ll open up the playbook and give them more money and more freedom, but I know for sure they’re not ready. But that doesn’t mean they’re not ready for some lessons on saving and spending and giving and receiving.

Losing It

2011-10-04T05:20:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was our church's retreat, this year a day affair rather than an overnighter in order to save money. It was a bit nippy in the woods, so the kids were dressed in long pants, long sleeves, sweatshirts, and hats. Of course, it only took Aaron half the day to lose his hat.

I'm not sure why, but his losing his hat caused me to practically lose it, in a figurative sense. I combed the six or seven different places on the retreat site that Aaron had been, in some cases more than twice, but all in vain. After each stop, I scolded Aaron at various volume levels.

I really do hate losing stuff. And I hate how sloppy and careless our kids are with stuff. But it was a really poor performance on my part, especially since my searching and my gruffness ate into time I should have been spending with them and with my church members.

The really lame thing is that I didn't really care about the hat itself - we have others, however misshapen, that he can get by with until we feel like buying another one - but the principle of losing something. And yet, if it was about principle, I should've realized the far more important principle at play. I did in fact lose something, far more precious, in the act of trying to find something relatively not precious. And that was quality time with my nuclear family and my church family.

Lazy Linking, 55th in an Occasional Series

2011-10-03T05:51:00.005-04:00

Stuff I liked lately on the Internets:

55.1. Call Jim Collins - Jim Skinner is a Level 5 leader.

55.2 Nice words about our mayor and our water department commissioner in this Time Magazine article about the importance of urban infrastructure.

55.3. A note to our Republican candidates: unlike you all, I actually care more about reducing the deficit (which has consequences for the nation's long-term viability) than about you signaling your loyalty to deficit reduction (which has consequences for your personal short-term electability).

55.4 Some painters are so talented that they can make masterpieces without even using brushes. I envy them even as I admire their work.

55.5 In exchange for helping fund public education in rural China, state-owned China National Tobacco gets to put messages on school gates like "Tobacco helps you become talented."

Friending

2011-10-02T05:47:00.000-04:00

I just finished Rich Lamb's "The Pursuit of God in the Company of Friends." Having come of age as a Christian leader under the tutelage of Rich's brother Dave, the stories in the book resonated with me as examples of Christian fellowship in action, replete with mission, honesty, laughter, and good Bible stories.

Each chapter of the book has good reflection questions, so naturally I spent a lot of time during my reading of the book thinking about friends and friendship. I have to admit a little dissonance with the majority of the anecdotes in the book that were of college settings or of people in full-time ministry. For those of us who work full-time and have spouses who work full-time, time to cultivate meaningful friendships can seem like a distant luxury, even if all the more necessary.

Compounding matters for me are some inherent difficulties of investing in the kinds of deep relationships that one can often enjoy (which in fact I did enjoy) when you are younger. First, many of my longest-standing friendships are with people who live far from me, and try as I do to maintain ties through phone calls and the occasional visit, it takes a lot of work. Second, closer to home, many of my close Christian friends, say some of my fellow congregants, are here today and gone tomorrow, due to the relatively transient nature of our neighborhood, so for example it can be deflating to have to build intimacy within a small group when key people are constantly moving away. Third, those friends of mine who are physically close and are likely to be stationary for the time being, such as the parents of my children’s friends, are not often Christian and so I lack that important connection with them.

As an introvert, it can be hard to summon the energy to work on friendships after a long day or week of work. But as Rich Lamb’s book and the Bible both suggest, friendships are important and worth investing in. Even as I face the challenges of making and keeping friends, I realize I am rich in relationships, and grateful for the many really solid people in my life, so I hope this post is not construed as having a complaining or discontent edge to it. I’m just pointing out that making and keeping friends takes effort, effort worth putting forth, but effort nonetheless, especially for people like me.