We live much of life amid unique choices. Joy is anchored in The One beyond our life. |
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“There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in his service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. . . . Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord. . . .” ― Charles Spurgeon “Our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strengths.” ― C. H. Spurgeon “Hope itself is like a star- not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity.” ― Charles Haddon Spurgeon “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.” ― Charles Spurgeon “A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.” ― Charles Spurgeon “Visit many good books, but live in the Bible.” ― Charles Spurgeon “When your will is God's will, you will have your will.” ― Charles Spurgeon https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/2876959.Charles_Haddon_Spurgeon (Philippians 2:13, KJV) |
| Amazingly enough, I have never written anything for the finance genre, even though I have been good with numbers most of my life. My wife and I started out life together going to the grocery store together almost every trip because she liked having me around as a human estimate calculator. We had a food budget, and we didn't want to go over at the register. So, I'd estimate about 5% to 10% over on every item. I didn't miss the limit very often. We didn't go together as often when the daughter arrived. We had other numbers to think about then, like #1 & #2. A few years ago I became interested in playing the stock market with play money. How? Investopedia had (and still has) a stock market simulator, whereby they give the student $100,000 in digital faux currency (dollar was the currency I used, of course.) By making simulated trades, using actual stock codes, the student was able to keep track of how their money waxed and waned. Some weeks I "lost" quite a lot, but I started to learn how to increase my "portfolio." As I tracked the leaderboard, I was staggered by how the most savvy among us increased the initial investment by 50 to 100 times and more, whereas the rest of us were tracking in the also-ran part of the field at 20,000 to 30,000 placement or lower with only half of the initial investment left or less. Funny. I never have seemed to be able to balance my checkbook to the penny, but I can do subtraction in my head to find out how many steps I have left as I progress through my daily walks in my steps app. Maybe I could try the Investopedia Stock Market simulator, again. That could give me material for a story in this genre. Words: 324 Written on February 12th, 2026 by Jay O'Toole |