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This week

• FINANCE: What never to do when buying airlines tickets online. But if you do this instead, you’ll save a bundle on your next trip…
• HEALTH: Boost your brain’s activity for just pennies a day. New evidence shows how this fruit reverses mental decline, even in Alzheimer’s patients…
• MARRIAGE: How to save your marriage, even if your spouse is dead-set on divorce. Noted doctor and Christian author has seen these biblical principles work time after time – even when only one spouse uses them…
• PARENTING: The biggest mistake Christian parents make when trying to develop their children’s leadership skills. You can’t give them responsibility unless you also give them this…
• SUCCESS: Can you get rich in your own internet business. Successful entrepreneur says ‘yes,’ as long as you don’t make this crucial mistake…
• Is your past marked by tragedy? Instead of being bitter, take a lesson from this Christian woman who founded two universities and helped mold a future King of England…
• Having trouble seeing the true power of God. Perhaps you’re not looking in this direction…

“The Bible teaches that Christians are totally different from anyone else.” -  
Peter Jeffery, Evangelicals Then and Now (Buy Now)

Health

Boost Brain Activity for Just Pennies a Day

If you think that apple juice is kid’s stuff, think again. Apples and apple juice may be among the best foods you can add to your diet. New evidence is explaining just how apple products can help boost brain function.

It turns out that drinking apple juice may actually increase the body’s production of the brain chemical acetylcholine. Acetylcholine supports memory. Neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine are chemicals released from nerve cells to carry messages to other nerve cells. Such communication between nerve cells is vital for good health, not just in the brain, but throughout the body.

Boosting levels of acetylcholine in the brain is not a new concept. Alzheimer’s medications have been developed to do exactly that. By increasing the amount of acetylcholine in the brain, we slow mental decline in people with Alzheimer’s disease.

In a great new study, a University of Massachusetts Lowell research team found that having animals consume antioxidant-rich apple juice had a comparable and beneficial effect. Medications called cholinesterase inhibitors are given to humans with Alzheimer’s disease to inhibit the production of specific enzymes that break down acetylcholine in the brain. The end result in the animal study is similar. Higher levels of acetylcholine in the brain boost memory.

Other studies have shown that the antioxidants in apples protect the brain. This study just gives us more reason to enjoy the fruit.

The results obtained from the animals consuming moderate amounts of apple juice were comparable to drinking approximately two eight-ounce glasses of apple juice or eating two to three apples a day.

So an apple a day, (or two), may truly keep the doctor away! If I get my way, the day will come when foods like apples, apple juice, and applesauce are routinely recommended to protect the brain. Isn’t it nice that apples and apple juice are available all year?

– James Balch, MD

(Quoted from Prescriptions for Healthy Living, October 2006, 800-728-2288.)

Parenting

What You Can Learn About Parenting From Business

Teaching children to be leaders is something every Christian parent should strive for. In Hebrews 5:12, the writer chastises his readers because they haven’t grown up to be teachers (a type of leader). But one major reason many people never grow up to be teachers or leaders is because their instruction was lacking in one critical area. If you can give this to your children, it will go along way toward making them leaders.

We discussed last week that strong leaders are responsible stewards. But children don’t naturally possess the ability to be responsible. Granted, some children are more responsible than others. But most parents discover very quickly that children will get things done much more quickly if the parent is standing over them as they do it. This is called accountability.

The idea of accountability is that at some time in the future you must give an account of those things you have been made responsible for.

For instance, children may be given a responsibility to clean up their rooms. But most of the time, they need to be checked on – to be held accountable for the responsibility the parent has given them. When children are young, they need this type of accountability. But don’t think that you can let accountability stop after they become more responsible. The type of accountability can change. But it can’t go away. We all need accountability.

Unfortunately, there are many people who would like to have so-called responsibility without accountability. It almost always leads to big trouble. Our children practically beg us for responsibility. But they rarely want the accountability that should go with it. And many parents give in to their children’s demands. This is a big mistake.

Take, for example, parents who give their teenagers a sports car. That’s a huge responsibility. And we’re seeing many of these kids killed in those cars because they aren’t responsible and there’s no accountability to make them responsible. Kids who have to earn the money to buy their own cars typically are far more responsible with their purchase. But they still need accountability.

Jesus uses a parable to teach us how this principle works in business. In Luke 16:1-2 he said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’” (Luke 16:1-2).

The rich man was holding his steward accountable for actions he had taken.

In the context of the rest of this story, the idea of stewardship is similar, if not the same, as that of the modern manager. Managers are those who organize, plan, schedule, instruct, and have greater responsibilities within the organization.

But it is a fiction to imagine that there are two groups within the organization: those who manage and those who do not. We are all given responsibilities, whether we’re in a position of leadership or not. What we do with those responsibilities will determine how far we’re able to move up in leadership. And a good manager (read: parent) will hold those under him accountable for their actions – good or bad. The better he does, the more quickly those under him will develop.

The only thing that should distinguish “management” is greater responsibility, particular gifts and abilities (some people do not have or will not develop the necessary skills to be at the top of the management hierarchy), and experience.

In business, members of the staff are often given performance reviews to see how they are progressing.  It is an important and necessary step for a successful business.  In the home, performance reviews may be less formal, but they are just as necessary. As you give your children responsibilities, make sure you hold them accountable for what they do. Also hold them accountable for their progress in overall maturity. Doing so will develop leadership skills in ways you never imagined.

– Ian Hodge

Success

The Fatal Mistake That Keeps Most Internet Entrepreneurs From Succeeding

The big buzz in business these days is Internet entrepreneurship. Everyone is looking for a simple way to supplement their family’s monthly income, and the Internet is providing the means.

If you’re interested in building an Internet business, there are plenty of opportunities. But with those opportunities come just as many pitfalls. The high-tech industry experienced these pitfalls firsthand back in the 1990s. When the stock market bubble burst in 2000, it put hundreds, if not thousands, of Internet companies out of business.

The question is, why did those companies fail and what can you learn from them?

Most of those companies failed simply because they thought doing business in the virtual world was different than doing business in the real world. It’s not! The same business principles that worked before the Internet came along work just as well on the Web.

My good friend Richard Schmidt, who is a venture capitalist, financial newsletter writer, and former CEO, agrees. He said, “Having been involved in a number of my own businesses, spending years at Fortune 500 companies, and in consulting turnarounds, it became obvious years ago that there are certain ingredients or keys to success in operating a business…. Those keys to success are different ways in which you can be available in the best possible way to serve the customer. Yet, in the 1990s, the customer was taking second place — or worse, last place — to a lot of the pseudo ideals.”

Richard also said you could see the problem simply by walking in the door of most companies. “Casual Fridays turned into sloppy everydays and respect was replaced by self-expression…. Somehow every distraction from pets at work to pizza and pasta are there, but something was missing ... the business.”

As a venture capitalist, Richard reviews a lot of business plans, so he saw firsthand how bad things got. “One business plan I reviewed, which was not atypical, showed a need of $7 million dollars for start-up expenses, with $6.75 million of it going for salaries and perks.”

That’s not much of a plan – unless you plan to skip the business and move right into retirement. But I don’t know of many venture capitalists willing to fund anyone’s retirement but their own.

If you want to try your hand at an Internet business, go for it. Just make sure you’ve got a plan. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy to start out. But you’ve got to have an idea of what product or service you’re going to offer, how you’re going to market it, and how you’re going to capitalize it.

Next week, we’ll look at the best way to decide on the products or services your business will sell. Following one simple rule can spare you from a lot of headaches and wasted money.

– Steve Kroening

(Ed. Note: Richard Schmidt also publishes two stock newsletters called Stellar Stock Alert and Homerun Stock Alert. For more information, please call 866-478-3552 or visit his websites www.stellarstockreport.com and www.homerunstockalert.com.)

Wisdom From History

When Great Tragedy Gives Rise to Great Opportunity

Cambridge’s history is filled with remarkable people – but no one more amazing than Lady Margaret Beaufort. She came from a distinguished Lancastrian family and inherited much wealth. Her father died soon after her birth and she was given to wed at the tender age of 12. Soon after that, her husband died. By the age of 13, she was already a widow and a mother.

That in itself, to us, would spell disaster. Yet God would use all these experiences to mold her into an industrious and godly woman. She was to be married and widowed two more times. The death of her second husband occurred at the same time that King Henry VI was murdered in the tower of London and replaced by Edward IV. Since her son was the legitimate heir apparent (as Henry VI’s nephew), he had to flee into exile for his protection. Bereaved and yearning for the company of her son, she found solace in her relationship with the Lord.

These were very difficult years. She lived during the rebellion and treachery of the War of the Roses. Her own life was in danger, as she plotted to bring her son to the throne. God provided protection to her through her third husband, a wealthy widower and steward of the king’s household. While she lived in the court, she gained first-hand knowledge of the English court and affairs of state. She became a shrewd judge of character. This knowledge and insight would prove invaluable to her son when he eventually took his rightful place on the throne. Eventually, when she was just 42 years old, her son Henry VII was crowned king of England.

Personally, I have not known many people with such tragic lives that have not become bitter. In Margaret’s case, her tumultuous life led her to grow a vibrant faith in God. She would use her great wealth for many charitable causes. To her, duty to God and duty to her neighbor were mutually important. She had a highly disciplined spiritual life. Her day was occupied in personal devotions and daily service in the chapel. She also allotted time to be informed of court affairs and displayed great insight into solving problems in her society.

She saw education as a way of arresting the ignorance and moral corruption of her day. With this in mind, she used her wealth to found two colleges. She’s the only woman ever to do so. Christ College was founded in 1505 and St. John’s in 1512. In all selections of students, preference was given to the poor. In the end, her confessor and friend, Bishop John Fisher, in his eulogy at her funeral, best summed up her amazing life.

He said, “All England has cause to weep at her death: the poor, to whom she was always piteous and merciful; the students of both universities to whom she was a mother; all learned men to whom she was a patroness; all the good religious men and women whom she so often visited and comforted; all good priests and clerks to whom she was a true defendress [sic]; all the noble men and women to whom she was a mirror and example of honor; and all the common people for whom she was a mediator and defender.”

Hebrews 11:13 – All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

– Gladys Villnow

Word for the Wise

Where to Find the Power to Solve Big Problems

"and these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him!" Job 26:14 (NIV)

Whisper – Have you ever really considered the power of God? Oh, we casually speak of His majesty, His creative acts, and His miracles. But we have a kind of Cecille B. deMille version of God’s power. We almost believe that it is some sort of “special effects” magic. Maybe not quite real. After all, how many of us have actually seen a miracle? How many of us, who claim to have witnessed a miracle, have seen nothing more (or less?) than a medical or financial recovery? Sight to the blind, restoration of limbs, and resurrection of the dead – those don’t seem to be on the agenda anymore. Do you suppose that God has changed His tactics, or could there be another reason why miracles seem to pose as merely unexplained mechanisms of science and economics?

We live in a culture that has been anesthetized to divine majesty. Perhaps the barrage of spiritual chatter has deafened us. Maybe the clutter of sacred images has blinded us. No matter how it occurred, we are numb. We don’t expect to see God’s power because deep down we no longer believe that God can do anything. We say the words but they are not part of our way of looking at life. We have put up a high wire, a concrete wall between “sacred” and “secular.” It's fine to talk about the history of God’s actions in church, but when it comes to the real world, it’s more or less just about being a better person.

To all this, Job shouts a resounding “NO!” Job calls us to dramatically shift our view about life. If God is the Creator, then all that we have seen of His handiwork thus far is nothing more than the faintest of whispers of His power. Do you think that speaking the universe into existence was something fabulous? It certainly was, but it was only a tiny glimmer of what God can do. Did that sink in? Everything so far is just the very edge of what God’s up to.

Put your problems up against that! Do you think God has abandoned you? Do you think He has forgotten you? Do you think He can’t take care of the enormous problem you face? Who are you kidding? The next time you start feeling like God can’t manage your problems, go outside and look up – way up. Look past the moon and the stars. See if you can see the end of what He has already done. Then remember. It’s only shemets – a whisper of His power.

– Skip Moen

(Ed. Note: Skip Moen, PhD, is the president of At God’s Table and the author of Words to Lead By.)

Resources

Love Life for Every Married Couple, by Ed Wheat, MD (BUY NOW)

Evangelicals Then and Now, by Peter Jeffery (Buy Now)

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