Blog Swapping and Reading

It's been a while since I last posted something on Cagle Journey. My journey is slightly less busy this season than last. However, all of my blog energy is going into my college rankings and student reviews blog called The College Consensus blog.

For those of you who play the SEO game, you know that backlinks are key to a successful online business. Rather than just ask companies for backlinks, I've started partnering with websites and swapping blogs. That way, they get a backlink on my site and I get a backlink on theirs. Plus, I still get the same amount of posts on my blog even though I'm posting on other blogs. Got it?

Last week my partner Jeremy wrote a great post for college bound homeschoolers on My Footpath. This week I wrote a checklist purposed to prepare high school juniors for college on a scholarship website called How 2 Win Scholarships. I'm not a huge fan of the website format but the content is really good and the woman who runs things is very knowledgable.

So that's what I've been up to. That and reading silly books like the Hunger Games series and Imaginary Jesus.

How do you define Success?

"I am so busy. We say this to one another with no small degree of pride, as if our exhaustion were a trophy, our ability to withstand stress a mark of real character. The busier we are, the more important we seem to ourselves and, we imagine, to others. To be unavailable to our friends and family, to be unable to find time for a sunset (or even know that the sun has set at all), to whiz through our obligations without time for a single, mindful breath, this has become the model of a successful life." Sabbath by Wayne Muller (p. 2-3)

How do you define success?

Eugene Peterson on Being a Busy Pastor

"I (and most pastors, I believe) become busy for two reasons; both are ignoble. "I am busy because I am vain. I want to appear important. Significant. What better way than to be busy? The incredible hours, the crowded schedule, and the heavy demands on my time are proof to myself-and to all who will notice - that I am important. . "I am busy because I am lazy. I indolently let others decide what I will do instead of resolutely deciding myself. I let people who do not understand the work of the pastor write the agenda for my day's work because I am too slipshod to write it myself." - Eugene Peterson

From Losing Time to Changing Behaviors

In my field I often encounter very driven people who put spiritual and emotional health on hold in order to spend more time and energy on working towards financial gain and vocational success. Parents implicitly (and sometime explicitly) teach their kids that educational success is the only thing that matters. Dads work long hours and barely even see their kids.  The problem is, time never stops.  We waste much of our life rushing to success while missing being fully alive in the present.  We can gain success in business and live our lives empty because we have neglected the things that really matter.

I have a confession. I have been losing time. As I mentioned in the last blog entry, I started a business.  The idea was that I would come home from work, play with the family, eat, read books with the kids, and help get the kids in bed. Next I would use the time I formally used to study for my MDiv to work on my business. School assignments have a distinct beginning and end. Running a business never ends. There are always more things to do.  I found my mind racing at all hours of the night. I would finally get to sleep but then sleep late.  I would miss mornings reading the Bible with my boy. I would be distracted during the day when I should have been fully focused on being with my family. I have been losing time.

While we cannot go back in time, we can change behavioral patterns. We have the choice to say no to good things to make room for the best things. I am still committed to getting this business off the ground.  However, I am creating stronger boundaries so that I do not miss out on time with my family. Here are the steps I am taking to make healthier decisions.

• Delete Facebook and Twitter off of my iPhone (at least, for a few weeks)
• Establish more reasonable business goals for each week
• Remember that unachieved goals do not cause the earth to explode
• Establish consistent work hours during the week

It's funny that changing behavioral patterns requires simple goals.  It isn't rocket science.  But is also requires discipline.  It requires letting one's desire to have it all together.  It requires the awareness of one's limitations.

Interestingly enough, there are many studies out there that suggest that taking care of emotional, physical, and relational health can actual lead to more productivity.  Success and health are not mutually exclusive.  In his book, Becoming a Coaching Leader, Daniel Harkavy shares tons of stories of people becoming very successful while living a life of balance.  He also offers many tools to help people create a healthy life trajectory.  Read it today.

Do yourself and those around you a favor.  Slow down.  Don't take yourself so seriously.  Drink a cup of coffee slowly.  Breathe deeply.  Embrace your loved ones more often.  Laugh more.  And ultimately, don't lose any more time.

The Start-up Hint

I am not ready to fully reveal what our website will do.  However, I can give you a huge hint.  We have launched a logo-less blog to start gaining traction with search engines.  The idea is that we will slowly build the website and adjust with the feedback that we get.  The "thing" that will distinguish us from our competitors is currently being developed.  Meanwhile, we will write good articles to generate interest.  

Introducing www.collegeconsensus.com/blog.

On the Death Penalty - to a Christian Audience

(I had to write this for my Christian Ethics class.  It had to be less than 500 words.  I concede that my non-Christian friends may think that parts of my reasoning are silly.  Just act like you are eating Thanksgiving with me and I am debating with Uncle Ted.)


Since Rick Perry became governor of Texas in December of 2000, 237 individuals have been put to death by the state judicial system.[1] Of the 46 individuals put to death by capital punishment in 2010 in the U.S., 17 were executed in Texas. Currently capital punishment is illegal in 16 states.[2] This is obviously a divisive issue. Should Christians be supportive of the death penalty? Let us begin with scripture.

Biblical support of capital punishment is prevalent in the O.T. In Genesis 9:6 God said, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made Man.” Exodus 21 commands that capital punishment be used for the following offenses: if a person deliberately kills another (21:14), if a person attacks his/her father or mother (21:15), if a person kidnaps another (21:16), if a person curses his/her father or mother (21:17), if a person is fighting an kills a pregnant woman or her child (21:23), and if a person owns an aggressive bull but refuses to pen up the bull and the bull kills a person (21:29). 

Christian proponents of the death penalty often quote Genesis 9:6 and the parts of Exodus 21 that make sense. However, they conveniently leave out the verses in Exodus 21 like kidnapping, cursing one’s parents, and allowing an aggressive bull to be put in a situation where the bull kills a person. 

The most difficult task of a theologian is determining when a section of scripture is timeless truth and when the section is simply a specific message to a specific group of people at a specific time. Nobody who participates in these arguments sees Exodus 21 as a complete timeless truth, which means there are two camps. There are those who see Exodus 21 as completely written to a specific culture at a specific time and there are those who think that parts of it are timeless truths. All of this begs the question, who treats scripture with more respect? 

I would contend that those who argue in favor of the death penalty using Exodus 21 but who do not even mention the ridiculous verses are committing a lackadaisical and dangerous form exegetics. Why is it dangerous? Because they wholeheartedly embrace a principle based on half thought through biblical passages without thinking through the individuals influenced by the principles. The startling reality is, our judicial system does not only put to death guilty people. At times, people are put to death even though there is evidence that they are innocent. [3]   Moreover, only 5% of criminologists think that this form of punishment deters people from crime (a non-biblical argument for capital punishment). [4]  With such biblical uncertainty combined with the statistical uncertainty, should we not give people the benefit of the doubt and allow them more time to heal, grow, and surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ?

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 [1] The Dallas Morning News, “ Prediction: Politics Will Be Hank Skinner’s Lifeline,” http://deathpenaltyblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/11/prediction-politics-will-be-ha.html (accessed November 7, 2011).

 [2]  The Death Penalty Information Center, “Facts About the Death Penalty, ” http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf (accessed November 7, 2011).

 [3] “Georgia Executes Troy Davis After His Last Plea Fails,” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44592285/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/georgia-executes-troy-davis-after-his-last-pleas-fail/#.TsJtQ31Ng00 (accessed November 7, 2011).

 [4] The Death Penalty Information Center, “ Facts About the Death Penalty, ” http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf (accessed November 7, 2011).

The Startup - Post one

A few years ago I blogged about business ideas. Here is the blog of the ideas I have that I probably will never do.  A few weeks ago a buddy asked me if I'd be interested in working with him on a startup.  I said, "Heck ya!"  The big difference this time is my friend actually has experience in the field.  He has already taken a company like this one and helped it grow it's revenue by over 800 percent.  That does not mean we will be successful.  But that does mean we have a higher chance of being successful with this venture than I do when I blog but do nothing (did you follow that).

So here I am, working on Articles of Organization and an Operational Agreement for our budding L.L.C.  My goal is to finalize these documents in the next two weeks and file them with the Secretary of State by December 1.  I finally get to put my undergrad degree to work!  If this works I will be the CFO.  If it does not work, I will be the friend who looks at numbers and legal documents.  Let's be honest, I can't call myself the CFO until we make at least $5.

Things I have learned this week:
1.  Sabbaths are still important
2.  Startups are tough...especially when you do not quit your real job (and when you are still in school and have a baby at the same time)
3.  L.L.C.'s sound sound kind of sketchy
4.  I have a lot of good friends who are willing to give me free advice
5.  Most of our idea breaks no "intellectual property" laws