Are there basic mindsets or commitments that can set us on an accomplishment track? I have settled on six and one is resourcefulness.

“Dr. Tim Elmore, is the Founder and CEO of Growing Leaders. He is a world-renowned expert on Generation Y and Generation Z. He uses his knowledge to equip educators, coaches, leaders, parents, and other adults to impart practical life and leadership skills to young adults.”

That bio is from the cover of Elmore’s book The Pandemic Population. He shares his study of The Silent Generation (Depression era) and Gen Z.

“When the Silent Generation faced hardship, they were encouraged to be resilient, resourceful, and respectful. When Gen Z faced similar hardships, they were encouraged to be savvy, cynical and stoic. If we want to change the outcome, we’ve got to change how we lead Gen Z through the challenges they face.” (Page 28-9)

Whatever roots (assumptions, worldviews, mindsets, beliefs) you water, fruit (outcomes) will grow. Silent Generation adults taught their youngers “…to be self-sufficient yet interdependent, frugal yet charitable—an interesting mix that seems to be missing today.” (Elmore, page 19)

I’m a loyal YouTube watcher of Red Poppy Ranch. Heath & Cedar and family live in Idaho on a mountain. This program is about building and maintaining by Heath. His building experience is his former occupation of plumbing. We watched him build a house, shop, and multiple out-buildings. We’ve watched rebuild vehicles and fix several others. By himself Heath has built roads. This week he is cutting a road/trail to the top of his mountain property. I am fascinated by how many skills he uses and how he learned them. He shares stories of his heritage. For me, he is resourceful.

https://www.cabinpreneur.com/red-poppy-ranch/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reUPgc1IuHM

Resourcefulness. The week of April 7, Heath talks about teaching children life-skills. Worth taking notes! I know I didn’t learn /don’t know how to weld. That would have helped in some of the jobs like—being a singer with a bus or pickup truck needing repair.

©2024 D. Dean Benton

Ideas from my ebook in progress: Water the Roots the companion book to Carafe Conspiracy, available from Smashwords, Com or wherever you buy your ebooks.

I like Commentary online magazine. It speaks to issues in ways I don’t usually encounter. From the current edition, the article “The New Rednecks” talks about the middle class.

“Rather than be catered to by the elites who seek to make their living off their tastes and wants, the middle class is more likely to hear the elite talk about it as a problem: Middle-class Americans are racist, they complain too much about how expensive everything has become, and they won’t get on board either with the left’s social-engineering schemes or the populist right’s rage-driven apocalypticism.” (Seth Mandel, https://www.commentary.org/seth-mandel/the-new-rednecks/)

A friend sent me a paragraph from theologian Jurgen Moltmann whom I haven’t read much since seminary days. He says,

“Resurrection is not a consoling opium, soothing us with the promise of a better world in the hereafter. It is the energy for a rebirth of this life. The hope doesn’t point to another world. It is…on the redemption of this one.”

The Evangelical Right (not necessarily the “populist right) wraps its apocalypticism around the Second Coming of Jesus and Jesus’ comments on conditions preceding that event. (Luke 21:5ff & Matthew 24.)

Response to Moltmann’s thought: We don’t have to choose between a “promise of a better world in the hereafter” and “on the redemption of this one.” When Jesus does return, we—today’s Followers—may be referred to as “the early church.”

I believe in the imminent return of Jesus. Imminent meaning He may return to rapture His people at any moment. We are to so live that we will be ready. But Jesus also reminded us to be about the Father’s business. My personal most respected prophets speak of Jesus return but speak also of a coming awakening/revival/personal evangelism and the power of the unleashed, revealed and declared Kingdom, Gospel, Good News.

A beloved brother responded to a message on what God is calling us to and what He is planning to do.

“That is a powerful, scary, sobering, hopeful message from Dutch Sheets! In light of shaking, and changes, what am I to do differently than I am now? Purpose? Actively wait on God? How does that manifest itself in my station in life right now?  It makes me wonder, evaluate, contemplate”.

Keeping Gary’s questions before us put us on God’s time-line and in His employ whether He returns day after tomorrow or in 1000 years.

©2024 D. Dean Benton

My ebook, “Carafe Conspiracy” is now available from Smashwords or where you get your ebooks;

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1537105