Hmmpost

Last night we were sitting with some other self-employed folks and the subject of business came up. We were sharing that this month so far has been extremely busy and we’re putting in 12+ hour days. I’m loving how busy things are but at the same time am feeling a number of other things are being neglected.  We pointed out that when the iron was hot in a sales-oriented business you need to act and then someone said: “God first, family second, business third.” Been thinking about the whole God first thing ever since. Why must God be first – for anybody? Is God going to pay your bills so your family can keep the roof over their heads? Does God put food on the table? I suppose if you pray for your garden and believe that God will provide a bigger crop than someone who doesn’t pray, then maybe God could help. I don’t recall some God bank account that we could withdraw funds from to pay for everything. In the practical, real world sense, forget how religious or not you are, how can any reasonable person truly put God first? The way I see it, unless I’m missing something huge here, putting God first puts nearly everything that follows at risk. I could see putting your family first, and work second. If you pull together as a family and work together you can take care of the real world bills. Putting work first all the time is not that wise unless you have no family. Some jobs don’t allow you to have much other life. For me the order of life works as follows:

*Family *work friends other

This month in particular, #2 is #1. At times the first two are interchangeable. Since we are rebooting our business in 2009 and our children are all teenagers we are spending more time working at the moment. Once/if/when we get things stable again financially, we can go back to the preferred order above. You might note that God isn’t named on my list. This blog is down in the “other” column, BTW. If a friend or work or family member needs me for something, my blogging duties will have to wait. Where would God fit? The other column. Don’t get me wrong, in the spiritual sense, I understand completely why God must be first. He could be your guiding force, energy, and provide that needed lift when everything seems to be falling apart. Those who need or desire something or Someone to believe in to live more full lives, hey, God being #1 on that list is logical.  But even on my spiritual list, God wouldn’t always be first. He’d be in the top three. Let’s say you get a call to go write a piece of business tonight that is a one time only deal or you can eat dinner with your family or head to the church to pray, which would you choose? Sorry God, I’m going with #1. Now if one of our kids was having a once in a lifetime event versus a once in a lifetime business deal I’m taking our child’s event every time and hoping that the business deal would understand that I have to put family first in scheduling conflicts like these. I’m not sure I could sleep at night putting business ahead of family every day. Some times in some situations, yes, but every time? And God? Not even in the top three for me. A friend in need would come first. Just saying that in the real world putting God first doesn’t make sense to me. Does it to you? What am I missing here? I guess maybe if your church is a part of or is your business say as a pastor or preacher, but for those who don’t work in the church? Cultism is creepy Religion and cultism are two separate things, but sometimes their paths cross. Like what we’re seeing on the web right now with Steve Jobs medical condition and his job at Apple. Cultism creeps me out. There are way too many people who have a cult-like following of Steve Jobs. I feel sorry for Mr. Jobs that there is this much cultism surrounding him. Lots of stories about him taking a medical leave of absence from Apple and the price of the stock and people wanting to know a bunch of things about his personal health and life. What Steve Jobs wants to share with us about his health and his personal life is up to him. If he needs to take a medical leave of absence, then people should accept that and move on. All this weird speculation, conspiracy theories and demands that he tell the world his health for the sake of shareholders is nonsense. I’m an Apple (AAPL) shareholder and I didn’t invest in AAPL because of Steve Jobs. I invested because I liked what the company was doing and saw promise in the future. The stock is down from it’s high of around $200, but hey, I still think there are positive signs for the company and these are hard economic times for many, many companies. I’m not selling my AAPL stock because Steve Jobs isn’t piloting the ship any more for health reasons. And yet I can’t help wondering if Steve Jobs is putting God first? I know nothing about the man’s spiritual guide but I’m guessing from a real world practical sense, he’s looking at his family and health first, his job second and God is down the line. It’s not about atheism or being anti-religion I’d like for the discussion that follows, if any, not descend into a religion vs. anti-religion discussion. I’m not trying to stoke or promote some anti-religion agenda by wondering aloud why God must be first. I respect people’s religious beliefs I’m simply asking about the practical, real world side of life. How can one put God ahead of family, work and friends? I wanted to ask this question last night but this came up as we were leaving and time wasn’t there to get into it plus I didn’t know the people well enough to make the discussion about practicality and not faith. They are two separate things to me, but that’s not the case for everyone.