EDITOR'S NOTE: Neil Franks serves as president of the Missouri Baptist Foundation. Are you a confident person? Should you be confident? How confident should you be? As someone who occasionally suffers from imposter syndrome (one who never feels quite good enough), I often sway between not having enough confidence or having too much. While a lack of confidence can overwhelm the totality of a person, I find that people have varying levels of confidence based on a particular area of … [Read more...]

I have a wonderful life. I mean, I have a wonderful wife. I have both a wonderful wife and a wonderful life. Recently, my son gave her what may be her favorite birthday gift. What was that gift? A set of replacement headphone ear pads; you know, the squishy foam part that goes between the hard plastic electronic parts and your head? Over time, the leathery part began to flake off and lost its softness. The electronic parts still worked well, but the seal needed strengthening from years of … [Read more...]

Have you ever encountered a circumstance where you looked at someone else’s work and wondered, “What were they thinking when they did this?” Maybe it happens when you are doing a home remodel project. You uncover a problem where the previous repairman made an interesting decision, which causes you to wonder what they were thinking. The other day, I knew I had created one of those moments for somebody in the future to investigate my doing. So, in case they ask you, let me explain. I was on … [Read more...]

I was so proud of myself. I thought I had made it through! But as Proverbs 16:18 warns, I was only preparing myself for a fall. You see, I had made the poor decision of going into a barbeque restaurant wearing a white shirt before speaking at a church. Since I was alone, they would only seat me at the bar, which increased the difficulty level. As a “teetotaler” who is not tempted in the least by alcohol, it would not bother me to sit out at the bar, especially since I could sit in front of … [Read more...]

It was dark when I spotted it. Those two little gleaming eyes reflecting the light from my headlights. I slowed down and moved the car toward the side of the road. I expected to see a possum or raccoon looking back at me, but it was much smaller, a squirrel, perhaps? Finally, my brain put all the pieces together; it was a tiny kitten on the side of the road. Our cat of 15 years passed a few months ago, and I am still not over it. “Blossom,” as we called her, helped raise our boys and was a … [Read more...]

So, I recently received a notice in the mail. No, it was not my reminder that I have a dental appointment coming up. Neither was it a rate increase from an insurance company or that I won a million dollars. It was better than that. It was a summons for jury duty. I have never received a jury duty summons; my wife, however, has served three times. Many of you have already been privileged to fulfill your civic duty before, but I did not know what to expect; I was a little excited and a bit … [Read more...]

It has been sitting on my desk for a while, maybe two or three years now. It was once one of the most valuable items around. (If you could find it, that is.) It sits on the far corner of my desk with a bunch of pens, the tape dispenser, and an extra pair of reading glasses, unused and under-appreciated. The half-empty bottle of Germ-X hand sanitizer reminds me of what the world was like just a few short months ago. I remember my son coming home from school after hearing that a local store … [Read more...]

I like looking at charts. Don’t you? They can convey a lot of information in a visually appealing way. While they can also mislead (just like words), they allow the brain to process data in a way that often communicates more powerfully than written or spoken words. (At least, from a guy who likes looking at charts.) Recently, while looking at a chart of the dollar’s value over time, I knew inflation was reducing the buying power of my dollar because of the Que-Burger Indicator. The … [Read more...]