Approaching 40, Bill yearned for a boat. Frugality won out until the day he came across the obituary of an old high-school classmate named Ted. Ted had been the same age as Bill and now he was dead. Bill was certain this was a sign that life was too short. So he went out and purchased a boat that very weekend.
Days later, a former classmate called Bill. "Sure was a sad thing, wasn't it?" the classmate said. "You know, Ted's boating accident and all." (1)
Experts tell us that the baby boom generation is becoming focused on the passage of time. Life IS short and so many boomers are starting to think about retirement. Since many of them have lost faith in Social Security, these boomers are socking away money like never before. That is said to be the primary factor in the spectacular rise in the stock market over the past several years.
And so I thought, as a public service, I would help those of you who are eyeing the future with this important question: Have you checked on your investments lately?
Now I don't think I have to tell you that MONEY IS NOT YOUR MOST IMPORTANT INVESTMENT. Some of you think it is. You think to yourself, when I have enough money put away, then I'll be able to enjoy life. Then I will be able to do the things that give me pleasure. Then I will be able to enjoy my family. If that is the way you think, chances are that day will never come. You had better find some enjoyment in life now. You had better enjoy your family now. Time is shorter than you think and time is far more precious than money. If you are selling your precious time and all you're getting back is money in return, you are not a wise investor. In Gibran's small volume SAND AND FOAM there are two lovely lines:
They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; And I deem them mad because they think my days have a price.
You may be thinking, "But pastor, you don't know how close to the edge we are living financially." Not that any pastor has ever had to make difficult decisions with regard to money! I know that some people have to struggle all their lives to make ends meet. Researchers asked a group of people to estimate the size of a dollar bill. They found that the poorer a person was, the more likely he or she would overestimate the size of the bill. Middle-class and rich people usually gave a correct or close estimate of the bill's size. (2) Money can loom mighty big when it is scarce. But few of us have to worry where the next meal is coming from. Still, we let life slip by while we worry about our finances.
We're like some mice I read about. An experiment was done in which caged mice were given water, but not food. Their food was buried deep in the sand in the bottom of their cage. It was easy for the mice to smell the food and start digging in the sand. They were rewarded for their digging by finding food and being able to eat. Then one day, no one buried the food. It was put out in the food dish, right next to the water dish. But the mice kept on digging. Every day for the rest of their lives, the mice would dig in the sand. Mice, in their natural habitat, are not digging creatures. But they still kept digging every day for their whole life. (3) May I say that some of us are no smarter than those mice. We're still digging, still worrying, still neglecting the really important things while we chase the almighty dollar. Can you imagine what that says to our young. No wonder there are so many young materialists. You and I may say we worship God, but the real homage is paid in our society and in many of our homes to mammon.
In Plato's REPUBLIC there is a searching passage where Socrates points out that it is not what youth are taught that most influences them, but what is applauded in the assembly and in the market place. And what many of our young see is that society worships money. They learn to agree with Voltaire who said, "When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion."
I fear that is true. How difficult it is for any of us to extricate ourselves from the web of materialism that our society has woven. Even in church we get caught up in the drive for material security. Bishop Ernest Fitzgerald tells of a radio preacher in North Carolina who spent most of his air time asking for money. The owners of the station began to receive complaints, so they established a new policy; ministers could no longer ask for money over the air. Surprisingly, the preacher took the news rather well and simply asked if there were any limitations on his prayers.
"Oh no," the manager assured him, "you can pray as you please." That afternoon during the broadcast, when the radio preacher announced prayer time, he prayed for the usual things, then concluded his prayer with this: "Lord, you know I am not here to ask for money, but my address is . . ." and he even gave his post office box number! (4)
Money is not our most important investment. The sad thing is that deep in our heart every one of us knows that, and yet we seem to get caught up with everyone else in the pursuit of those things which only wear out and eventually are of no use to us.
THE PURSUIT OF A MEANINGFUL LIFE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MONEY. Deep in our hearts we know that, too. For generation X, having a good time is more important than money, according to surveys. One reason generation Xers say that, we are told, is that they don't think they will ever fare as well as their parents in the economic marketplace, anyway. My guess is that this will be a passing phase. When Xers start moving up in our outrageously successful economic system, they, too, will be tempted to sell out to mammon. My hope is that many of our younger people will learn from their parent's mistakes and see that making a contribution to society is more important than making a buck or having a good time. Why not invest your life in changing the world? Why not give your life in making a lasting contribution to the world. People who make a real contribution to this world find fortune and fame as a by-product. Their first goal is to make a difference. If you have looked into the face of people whose only goal in life is the accumulation of wealth, you will not see there the joy that you will see on the face of those who have sought something more lasting, more meaningful.
People who knew him said you could see such sheer joy in the face of a man named Felix Carvajal. Felix was not a successful man by the world's standards. Felix was a postman in Cuba, a skinny little man with no athletic training, when he first made up his mind to compete in the Olympics. The year was 1904, and Felix Carvajal was smitten by the idea of an international goodwill gathering of amateur athletes, running for glory, but also for worldwide brotherhood. After work each day, Felix would go into town and make speeches to the passing crowds, telling them of his dream to compete in the Olympics in America. A passerby here or there, moved by his courage or amused by his madness, would donate some pocket change toward his cause. Soon, Felix had saved up enough to get to St. Louis, the site of the Games.
Felix had never traveled outside Cuba before, and he didn't know a word of English, but he set out with high hopes. Stopping over in New Orleans, Felix was conned by a street swindler and lost all his money. So he got a dish-washing job, and earned enough money so he wouldn't starve. Then, he set out walking toward St. Louis. Often he was able to hitch a ride here or there. At night, he slept in the open air. Some people took pity on him and gave him food. Once in St. Louis, Felix had no place to stay and no way to eat. The American weight-tossing team took him under their wing and found him living quarters and food. As the story of this little Cuban man spread, more and more athletes found themselves admiring this man who stood almost no chance of winning.
Felix entered the marathon event, probably the most strenuous competition in the Games. The day of the race, people from all over gathered to cheer him on. He didn't have the benefit of proper training and preparation, and he was dressed in regular street clothes and work shoes. The day was oppressively hot. But Felix's face shone with joy as he jogged mile after mile of the marathon route. The crowd in the stadium that day cheered for the winners, but they went wild when Felix appeared. Felix had won no medals or honors that day, but he had won the admiration of millions of people from around the world. The athletes passed the hat to pay Felix's way back to Cuba, where he went back to his job as postman. But everywhere he went in his town, people wanted to hear the story of how he had traveled to America to compete in the Olympics. (5)
There are wealthy people all over this world who have never discovered the joy that Felix found following his dream. Money is not your most important investment. We know that. A meaningful life is more important. AND THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN MONEY AS A LONG-TERM INVESTMENT.
Your spouse, if you have been so blessed, and your children, and other people whom you love.
We look at the triumph of Felix the postman and say, he made a great investment. But there was once an Olympic athlete who made an even greater investment than that. Lawrence Linderman once interviewed Bud Greenspan, a film maker who makes award-winning films about the history of the Olympics. He asked him to tell his favorite memory from these races. Greenspan replied that his favorite is the story of Bill Havens, who in 1924 was the best rower in the country and was about to go to Paris to win a gold medal ” a medal, says Greenspan, he couldn't lose. But just before the Olympic team was ready to leave, Bill Haven's wife was about to give birth. Should he go? The doctors told him to go, his wife said she would be fine. But Bill Havens decided to turn his back on his own personal dream and stay with his wife as she delivered a new life into the world.
Bill was not sure he made the right decision until many years later during the summer of 1952. That's when he received a telegram from Helsinki, Finland. The telegram read, "Dear Dad: Thanks for waiting around for me to get born. I'm coming home with the gold medal you should have won. Your loving son, Frank." His son won the gold medal in the singles' 10,000 meters canoeing event ” the same event his father would have competed in. (6) Bill Havens made a great investment.
There is something more important than money. Something more important than following your own dream. It is investing in the people you love. Many of us will give lip-service to that truth, but the statistics tell a different story. The average father today spends only about 3 and one-half minutes with his children each day. If some of us treated our other investments the way we treat the people we love, we would have gone bankrupt a long time ago. We need to invest in those we love.
But as your investment advisor, I must point out to you that your investment ledger may still be incomplete. Certainly we must put away money for retirement. Certainly we must follow our dreams and seek a meaningful life. And without a doubt we should invest in our family. But the story does not stop here. Jesus, the ultimate investment counselor, says, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." IF CHRIST IS NOT AT THE CENTER OF YOUR INVESTMENT STRATEGY, YOU ARE NOT INVESTING WISELY, REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOUR STOCKBROKER MAY SAY.
Here is where many of us are operating at a real deficit. We have focused on bread for our tables but not bread for our hungry hearts. How much of your time, energy and financial resources have you devoted to the work of Christ? How much riches do you have laid up in Heaven? As an unknown poet once said,
I counted all my dollars while God counted crosses;
I counted gains while he counted losses;
I counted my worth by the things gained in store,
But he sized me up by the scars that I bore.
I coveted honors and sought for degrees;
He wept as He counted the hours on my knees.
I never knew till one day by a grave
How vain are the things that we spend life to save.
I did not know till a friend went above
That richest is he who is rich in God's love.
Have you checked your investments lately?
1. Based on a story by Christie Craig (Spring, Texas) in "Life in these
2. United State," READER'S DIGEST, February 1996, p. 102.
3. Dr. Joyce Brothers, HOW TO GET WHATEVER YOU WANT OUT OF LIFE, Ballentine Books, (New York, 1978), p.124.
4. Dr. Erst G. Beier & Evans G. Valens, PEOPLE READING, Warner Books, New York, 1975 p. 23.
5. James W. Moore, STANDING ON THE PROMISES OR SITTING ON THE PREMISES (Nashville: Dimensions for Living, 1995), p. 123.
6. Carli Laklan, OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS: WHY THEY WIN (New York: Funk & Wagnall's, 1968), p. 134-139.