The Wisdom Chronicle is designed to bring nuggets of wisdom from the dozens of books I read every year. I endeavor to share the best of what I have gleaned. The determination of relevance lies with you.  Blessings, Jim Whiddon

211. HIRING PROCESS Any executive who starts out believing that he or she is a good judge of people is going to end up making the worst decisions. Medical educators say their greatest problem is the brilliant young physician who has a good eye. He has to learn not to depend on that alone but to go through the patient process of making a diagnosis; otherwise he kills people. An executive, too, has to learn not to depend on insight and knowledge of people but on a mundane, boring, and conscientious step-by-step process. Don’t hire people based on your instincts. Have a process in place to research and to test applicants thoroughly .”
Excerpt From: Peter F. Drucker. “The Daily Drucker.”
212. JESUS AS EDITOR “The worst chapter of your life does not have to be the last chapter if Jesus is your editor.” — Unknown
213. LOVE AND MARRIAGE “Have you ever wondered why when people get married, they promise to love each other until death? Think about it. Feelings change. You can’t promise to have a feeling. So if love is a feeling, the marriage vow makes no sense at all. But the vow does make sense because love is not a feeling. What is it, then? Love is a commitment of the will to the true good of another person. Of course, people who love each other usually do have strong feelings too, but you can have those feelings without having love. Love, let me repeat, is a commitment of the will to the true good of another person. Now the outward expression and seal of a commitment of the will is a binding promise. So the adult way to express love is to enter into a binding promise: marriage.”
Excerpt From: Budziszewski, J. “How to Stay Christian in College.”
214. LAWS AND MORALS “The Twenty-first Amendment repealed Prohibition in 1933, and alcohol sale and consumption went back to being local and state concerns. The debacle led millions of Evangelicals to drop out of politics for decades afterward. Prohibition reminds us of the dangers of using the federal government to enforce private morality. Still, our laws will always reflect, to some degree, our moral beliefs, our religious and cultural ideas.
At the same time, laws shape our morality. Scholars refer to this as the teaching function of law”
Excerpt From: James Robison & Jay W. Richards. “Indivisible.”
215. LIFE’S UNCERTAINTIES Four times in Ecclesiastes “11:1–6, Solomon reminds us of what we do not and cannot know:
• You do not know what evil will be on the earth.
• You do not know what is the way of the winds.
• You do not know the works of God.
• You do not know which will prosper.”
Excerpt From: Jeremiah, David. “Searching for Heaven on Earth.”
216. MAN’S PURPOSE “For many men, their primary mission in life is to build a successful career, provide for their families, and retire comfortably. That is what drives them, and that is the vision they pass on to their sons. But I think there is a much greater, nobler mission to pass on to boys.
Psalm 127: “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them” (verses 4–5).
This is powerful imagery. Think about what an arrow is created to do. Was it designed to stay in the quiver, comfortable and protected? No, it was made to be aimed and shot by a warrior at a target, to deliver a blow in battle.
Can you see the connection? Boys need to understand that they are not here on earth just to achieve worldly success and comfort. They’re here to strike a blow against evil, to make a mark on their world.”
Excerpt From: Rainey, Dennis. “Stepping Up.”
217. PROVIDENCE In 1937, Disney released the first full length animated motion picture, Snow White. The limited technology of the day required over 2 million individual detailed drawings be made with each one appearing a mere 1/24 of a second on screen. A movie goer could come and be impressed, but have no idea of the size and scope of the task which was required to bring the project to the viewing public.
The same can be considered when it comes to our Father in Heaven. We cannot imagine the scope and detail with which He provides for us throughout our lives “behind the scene.”
— Chris Seidman
218. MANHOOD “A man’s willingness to offer up his life for his wife or for anybody else who happens to need him is not the end of everything. It is only the end of himself. He who is fully a man has relinquished his right to himself.
— ELISABETH ELLIOT, “The Mark of a Man”
219. LIBERTY UNCHECKED “John Flavel made a penetrating observation over three hundred years ago, and it applies to our day:
Upon their king’s death, it was the Persians’ custom (I am not saying it was laudable) to grant everyone liberty for five days to do whatever they wanted.
The unbridled lust was so great that it made the people long and pray for the installment of the next king.
When everyone has unchecked liberty, all hell breaks loose. It’s called anarchy, and it is demonic. And there is nothing like unchecked liberty to make people long for a good king and good laws.
When you are the king of your own life, you give yourself permission to do anything you want—and that’s when all hell breaks loose.”
Excerpt From: Farrar, Steve. “Real Valor.”
220. LIFE “The key to life is not its length but its depth. It’s not how many days we live, but how we live our days.” — Jim Denison