I'm thankful to live in a country that enjoys a great deal of freedom and prosperity. I'm grateful for the sacrifices that many have made to make the United States a great nation. I realize that there is a tension between freedom and entitlements. The further we move down the road towards entitlements- government funded health care; government funded education; government funded retirement, etc... the less freedom we will enjoy. I am praying for our nation and hopeful that better days lie ahead. I recently watched the "Book of Eli". Very violent film with bad language. But the faithfulness to a message of preserving the Word of God at all costs was inspiring. I thought Denzel Washington did an excellent job as Eli- a man who felt the Holy Spirit was guiding him to an unknown place to deliver the last Holy Bible remaining on Earth in a post-apocalyptic world. Definitely made me meditate on how important it is to treasure and memorize the Word of God.
Some books that I have been working on lately:
Genesis: Beginning and Blessings by Kent Hughes- highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to study a book of the Bible that is integral to the Christian faith. The book is a commentary on all 50 chapters of Genesis but the chapters are usually less than 10 pages so it makes for a good devotional each day.
Hole in the Gospel by Richard Stearns- Stearns is the President of World Vision. He calls Christians to demonstrate the hope of the gospel in practical ways to a hurting world. This book came highly recommended by two of clients who I respect immensely. So I felt God was trying to get my attention to read it.
Some advice that I have been gleaning from the plethora of investment articles and conference calls that I have been listening to:
Emerging market stocks and high quality multinational stocks appear to have the most favorable risk/reward characteristics of the stock market- Jeremy Grantham
Deficits, debt and demographics are major headwinds for investment returns. An inflation spike is probable in the next 10 years due to the need to devalue our debt problems as a nation. Buy the inflation protection now while it is cheap to buy (TIPs; commodities; shorting long-term treasuries)- Rob Arnott
Concentrate on stock, bond and real estate investments that pay consistent income and funds that have the flexibility to move between asset classes (absolute return funds); these type of investments do much better in the environment we are in. Steer clear of investments that depend on debt to grow- David Rosenberg
I'm thankful that Baylor survived the conference realignment discussions and continued as a member of the Big 12 (minus 2). I'm a basketball junkie and I have really enjoyed Baylor's ascent as a basketball program. Playing on television a lot is critical to Baylor being able to continue to recruit well. I'm looking forward to a fun basketball season as a Baylor fan this year with a nucleus of Quincy Acy, Lace Dunn, AJ Walton and incoming freshman- Perry Jones who many predict to be drafted in the top 3 picks in the NBA draft in 2011. Andy Katz has Baylor #4 in his preseason ESPN poll.
Perry has sick talent- one of my dreams is to be able to play basketball like the video attached to his name in my resurrected body in a restored Earth.
Finally, I thought this quote was good that I heard on the Dennis Prager show today while driving around lunch time. "The believer in God has to explain the problem of evil. The believer in atheism has to explain everything else."
For God's glory,
Ashley Hodge
