An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The fellow replied, “Only a little while.” The businessman then asked why he didn’t stay out longer and catch more fish?

The fisherman replied that he had enough to support his family’s needs. The business man then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?” The fisherman replied, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, enjoy my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I play guitar with my friends. I have a full and busy life.”

The businessman scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA, and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. From the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The fisherman asked, “But how long will this all take?” To which the American replied, “15-20 years”. “But what then?”, the fisherman asked.

The businessman laughed and said, “When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions. Then what?” The American replied, “Then you would retire. Move to a small fishing village where you could sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, enjoy your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could play your guitar with your friends.”

Do we really know what success looks like when we’re staring it in the eye?

Tags: business, money, success

I heard about a farmer who called the office of a large church asking to see “the Head Hog at the trough”. The receptionist said, “Sir, if you’re talking about our beloved minister, you may call him Reverend or Pastor, but I don’t think it would be proper to refer to him as ‘Head Hog at the trough’.”

“Well, all right,” the farmer said, “I just sold a few sows and was going to donate ten thousand dollars to the building fund, so I was hoping to catch him.”

“Oh, just a minute, Sir,” the receptionist said. “I think the Big Pig just walked in!”

Since many ministers, especially televangelists, are perceived to be always focusing on money, many preachers go to the opposite extreme of not wanting to talk about money at all. I believe this is a mistake. The Bible talks more about money and giving and stewardship than it does about baptism and the resurrection combined. God’s people can’t grow spiritually unless we get understanding of the stewardship principle.

Tags: money, stewardship

A father was explaining ethics to his son who was about to go into business: “Suppose a woman comes in and orders $100 worth of material. You wrap it up and give it to her. She pays you with a $100 bill. As she departs through the door you realize that she has given you two $100 bills by mistake. Here’s where the ethics come in. Should you or shouldn’t you tell your partner?”

The father could only pass on the ethics that he himself understood. If the father had a warped, selfish set of ethics. that’s all he could pass on to his son.

Likewise, you can only pass on to your children what is in your heart. By the way, what is in your heart?

Tags: ethics, money, parenting, stealing

My first job was mowing lawns with a friend. One of our contracts was with the Newville United Methodist church to mow that cemetery. The ground was rough as can be and we mowed it all with two push mowers. By the end of summer I had saved up $25 for the county fair.

Out with a friend, the first night of the fair I decided to take my chances with the game where you had to knock something over with a baseball to win. I tried it several times and just lost my money. When I decided to move on, the Carney made me a deal I couldn’t refuse. If I tried once more and won, he would give me all my money back. So, I tried and failed again. He kept offering me deals to get my money back until I had lost that entire $25. Then he announced that I should learn a lesson from it. Yeah, I thought, don’t listen to any Carneys.

And I did learn from that experience. I learned how gullible I was, what a terrible aim I am, and how quickly money can slip through our fingers. And I’ve never been conned like that again. It was a lesson well worth $25.

Tags: fair, money

In his book, Its Not My Department, motivational speaker Peter Glen illustrates the value of learning to serve. He tells the story of a man named John Barrier, who went in to cash a $25 check at the U. S. Bank of Washington in Spokane. In his Ace Concrete Company baseball cap and dungarees, Barrier looked like an ordinary customer.

As he left the bank, he tried to drive his pickup truck out of the parking lot. The young man at the parking booth, however, told Barrier to cough up 60 cents, or he’d have to go back into the bank and get his parking ticket validated – proving he had done business at the bank.

Annoyed, Barrier backed up, parked his truck and went back into the bank to have the teller stamp his ticket. He couldn’t find the original teller, and the one he did find refused to validate it. She thought he was a dead beat.

This time, Barrier was really ticked off. “Give me the $ 1 million I keep here!” he snorted. “I’m taking it next door.”

Alarmed, the teller called a supervisor, who whispered to her that her customer was a multimillionaire real-estate developer. The bank apologized and quickly stamped his parking ticket – but it was too late. Barrier withdrew his money and took it to the new bank down the street. Because of its unserving nature, the bank was out $1,000,000.60.

What does that story say to you?

Tags: money, service

I heard the story of a successful young businessman who was out for a Sunday drive in the mountains near his spacious house.

He hit the accelerator on his BMW convertible and let the breeze blow his hair backwards. Suddenly, he lost control of the car and rolled down a mountain throwing himself from the car. Onlookers quickly called the police who rushed to the scene, finding the fellow stumbling around and looking below at his wrecked car.

The police reported that the man was bleeding profusely and muttering, “Oh, my car. It’s ruined, it’s ruined.” A policeman chastised the man and said, “You idiot yuppie! All you really care about is your car and you don’t even notice that your left arm has been severed and is missing!”

The yuppie looked down and moaned, “Oh, no, not my Rolex, too!”

God’s blessing may include some really nice things in this world. But, we need to be sure our things are under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, as well as our souls. When Job lost his possessions, he responded by saying, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:21).

How have you reacted when the Lord allowed something to be taken from you?

Tags: greed, materialism, money