(Confession: This subject is never far from my mind, and this article was months in the writing. I send it forth not because it’s finished or has “truth,” but in order to light a match under someone else’s thinking.)
I slipped out of the house this afternoon with no particular destination in mind.
I drove to the mall, a mile from my house. I’d not been inside Dillard’s Men’s Store in six months, and I’m always on the lookout for their sales. The “Gold Label” dress shirts are the best anywhere, but I buy them only when they’re half price or less. Today, I bought two shirts that had originally sold for $115 for $9.95 each. Even if they don’t work out–always a possibility with me–I’ll pass them along to nice people at Goodwill.
Then, I stopped at McDonald’s which is a few blocks from home. Inside I ordered a small caramel mocha and sat in the back reading a “business” book I’d bought on sale in Office Depot several weeks ago. That book and one other, bought for 3 dollars each, had been waiting in the trunk of my car for the right moment . Today was that moment.
Note: I love to read outside my field. I’ll find an insight that works for a sermon or has an application for pastoral ministry, and feel confident no one else is using it.
Tracey Kidder’s “Truckload of Money” tells about an entrepreneur who made a billion dollars with his computer savvy, then went out and started over. The insights on every page about how he dealt with people are easily worth the price of the book.