My Career as a Financier to the Developing World

If you happened to read my previous post Make a Loan and Change a Life you learned that I made a small loan to an entrepreneur in Ecuador that sold Bibles and other retail items. I am happy to report that Ariola has made her first payment of $42 out of $250 or 16.8%. Since I was one of ten different lenders lending $25, my portion of her repayment was $4.20. Here's more about Ariola and her business.

Location: Guayaquil, Ecuador

Activity: Retail

Loan Amount: $250.00

Loan Use: Buy bibles, clothing and other miscellaneous products to sell

Loan Repayment Term Range: 6-10 months

Start Date: Nov 25, 2006

Amount Repaid: $42

Partner Rep: Luis Crespo, Esther Vasquez

Partner: MIFEX

Ariola is a saleswoman in her neighborhood. Primarily she sells bibles to the people from her church and her community. She started off with $50 of investment capital and has slowly expanded her businesses. She also sells clothing and other products targeted towards women. In order to make her products affordable to her clients she takes half of the payment at the time of purchase and charges the rest on a weekly or bi-weekly rate. She is eager to receive a loan in order to buy more products for her clients like more bibles, CDs and clothing. She hopes that she can receive the loan before the busy Christmas season begins. This business is a complementary source of income in her household of 6 children. Her husband works as a bricklayer but he does not make enough money to provide for his family on his own.

Go visit Kiva.org if you want to help a developing world entrepreneur.

Copyright © 2006 by Philip Hartman - All Rights Reserved

I Closed My Business. Was I Correct in Discerning God's Will?

In the spring and early summer of 2005, I began wondering if God was asking me to take my interest in spiritual journaling and writing about my faith to a higher level. At the time, I was also very concerned about the impact of globalization on my career designing business software. I began to wonder if God was leading me to start a business "on the side" to both develop my spiritual gift of writing and provide for the financial needs of my family.

In July of 2005, I believed God wanted me to do it. I felt even if my business venture was not a financial success there must be something God wants me to learn from the process. My plan was to provide some inspirational material "for free" but also offer some Christian material available for sale as eBooks for a very nominal fee (eg. $2.95) and take payments using PayPal. I wasn't expecting to make a lot of money but I wasn't risking a lot of money either. I decided I'd rather try and fail than not try and wonder for the rest of my life whether I had missed out on serving God's purpose or missed out on some blessing He had in store for me.

I took a long lunch from work one day and drove down to the county clerk's office and for $20 took out a business license for Caleb's Publishing. The name is a reference to the Old Testament character Caleb who was one of the twelve spies Moses dispatch to scope out the promised land.
Here's what I wrote back then. (Click here for the original.)

About Caleb's Publishing™

Caleb's Publishing™ was founded by Philip Hartman in July 2005 as a "leap of faith." Like many men in their mid-40's I had achieved some success in my profession but began wondering if God had something else in mind. This then became a frequent topic in my prayer life for approximately 1.5 years. Along the way, I was introduced to the idea of combining a business with a personal ministry. I also began regularly keeping a spiritual journal and discovered I really enjoyed writing about matters of faith. What you see is the result of this spiritual journey so far. I don't know where this journey is going to take me, but that is part of the fun!

Incidentally, I highly recommend the book Halftime by Bob Buford to any man who is feeling the same way. Also, visit the halftime.org website.

I hope to serve the community by:

• Providing original and thought-provoking material to assist Sunday School teachers, small group discussion leaders, pastors, and anyone seeking a closer relationship with God
• Giving you the benefit of the many hours I have spent in research over the last several years reading various books, articles, and websites. If something was thought-provoking or convicted me, then I suspect it may have the same impact on you.
• Encouraging "regular Christians" who feel God may have chosen to use them for His purposes thru their gift of writing.
• Providing a wider, Internet audience for anyone who has a message or story to tell. I want to publish both unique Christian works and original secular works in fields such as history.

Where did the name of the company and website come from?

I devoted a lot of my spare time in the evenings over the coming months to creating a website, writing, editing some sermon materials I inherited from my father and grandfather, trying to figure out how to show up in search engines like Google, and more. I did learn a lot. I felt good about sharing my faith in this way. I was amazed to find from my website statistics that my little website got visitors from far away places like the UK, Australia, Canada, India, Finland, and more.

However, one thing I was not doing was making money. In hindsight, I have come to understand how much free Christian material is available over the Internet. (Like this blog.)

Without any real fanfare, I officially closed Caleb’s Publishing today as a business entity. The ISP still hasn’t shut the site down even though I never renewed the hosting contract.

Now I must wrestle with whether I was correct in how I discerned God’s will 1.5 years ago. Was he leading me to start the business as I thought? Does it even matter if I didn't make money (espcially if I didn't risk much money)? Was it vanity on my part? Was I right about developing my own writing but wrong about the publishing other people’s writing? Was God trying to teach me something that did not depend on whether the business made money? I guess I’ll never know for sure until I’m in heaven some day. For the moment, I'd like to think I did what He wanted. I took a chance for Him. I got out of my comfort zone. People on the other side of the world did read some of what I wrote. I might have had a positive impact.

God, have I learned the lesson about writing and publishing You wanted to teach me thru Caleb’s Publishing? Did I discern Your will correctly? If not, then I pray that You correct my ways and help me discern Your will properly. If I did, then I pray that You reveal to me what You would have me do to serve You next. Amen.

Copyright © 2006 by Philip Hartman - All Rights Reserved

A Prayer for Michael and the Lost Boys of Sudan

I took my daughter's car to the dealer this morning to get it looked at. Then engine wasn't running quite right and it needed an oil change. I didn't have to work today so I just waited on the repairs in the dealer's customer waiting area. At one point it was just me and a young black man waiting on our vehicles. I remember noticing he was wearing a name tag that said "Michael". I was getting a little bored and I made some lame remark about "I hate waiting like this more than almost anything." He smiled and replied back to me in an accent that sounded foreign and I deduced that he might be here from Africa.

I always like talking to people from other countries an inquired with him "Where are you from?" He replied that he was from Sudan and I suspected immediately he was a refugee from the war there in which Muslims from northern Sudan have been attacking the Christians in southern Sudan. On talking to me a little more he described himself as one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan." (See also the Red Cross article on the Lost Boys of Sudan.)

I didn't know what that meant but I learned that when he was about four years old, his parents sent him away to Kenya where they hoped he'd be safe from the fighting in his own country. I think he said his mother was too sick at the time to travel with him. I didn't learn any details about his father other than he had learned later that his father had been killed in the war. He told me he spent 8 years as a refugee in Kenya before coming to the United States. His last contact with his mother was by telephone from Kenya two years ago.

I felt a little uneasy because I knew my life had been so easy compared to his. Whatever problems I have seemed small in comparison to his.

He told me he is now living in the US under a refugee visa which allows him to work here on a green card. He told me after working here five years, he hopes to apply for US citizenship. He's going to school at a local university to become a nurse.

The customer service representative from the car dealer arrived about that time and he had to go pay for his repairs and I never saw him after that.

God, I want to lift up Michael in prayer tonight. I pray for all the refugees of Sudan and especially for the "Lost Boys of Sudan". Bless them and show them Your provision for their needs. I pray that he will reunited with his mother soon or at least be able to contact her to know how she is and where she is. I pray for an end to the bloodshed in Sudan. I pray that we here never forget the bloodshed and suffering in that part of the world that seems so remote to us. I know that somebody's mothers and fathers and children are fighting just to survive while I am so comfortable. Forgive me when I am too complacent about the needs of my brothers and sisters. Amen.

(March 11, 2008) see the followup at Lost Boy of Sudan to Graduate

Copyright © 2006 by Philip Hartman - All Rights Reserved

Will Your Blog Be a Legacy to Future Generations?

We all have trials and tribulations in life. Like most of you I suspect, I have often wondered why God allows the bad things to happen to us. As I have matured in my faith I have tried to replace “God, why did you let this happen to me?” with something more like “God, what are you trying to teach me?” and when I’m feeling particularly strong “God, help me serve Your purposes in this rough time even if I don’t understand what that is right now.”

Back in October I was channel surfing and landed upon the History Channel and a show called 'Skeletons on the Sahara'. (Based on the book of the same name.) The show told the story of James Riley, the captain of the merchant ship Commerce which was ship wrecked off the western coast of Africa in 1815.

“In 1815, a Connecticut merchant ship runs aground off the west coast of Africa. Captured by Arab nomads, Captain James Riley and his crew are sold into brutal slavery and marched across the Sahara Desert, where skin boils, lips blacken and men shrivel to less than 90 pounds. Along the way the Americans will encounter everything that could possibly test them, but Riley and his men will also discover ancient cities, secret oases and a culture largely unknown to the modern world.”

I came into the documentary in the middle of the show but I saw a compelling story of how he and his desperate crew surrendered to Muslim desert dwellers who made them slaves. Captain Riley persuades his new slavemaster that he could make a healthy profit if he would only transport them safely to the nearest major city. There a wealthy American or English businessman or diplomat would buy their freedom back. Depending on your point of view this was either a huge gamble or a leap of faith. He had no way to know if this was really true but he staked his life on it. His master told him if it was not true, the slavemaster would slit his throat. When they arrived at their destination, the slavemaster required him to write a note in his own handwriting that he could give to the wealthy Englishman or American he found in the town. The note was full of prayerful references to God and the compassion of the reader.

The story has a happy ending. The Muslim slavemaster finds an English businessman who does indeed purchase the freedom of the Americans, by now only sunburned skeletons of men. Captain Riley made it home to his family.

I’m sure Captain Riley wondered “Why did God let this happen to me?” and his ordeal was certainly worse than anything that you or I are likely to face. What purpose might the suffering of James Riley and his crewman served? Could God have had a greater purpose that they knew nothing about?

You may have never heard of Captain Riley or his ordeal before, but let me give you the name of one person who did. You see Captain Riley wrote a book about his ordeal that was published in 1817. (Click here to see an historic reproduction.) According to one of the historians interviewed in the television documentary, Abraham Lincoln read the book and listed it as one of the most influential books in his life. The harsh description of how theses white men were treated as slaves in the Sahara is credited by some leading Abraham Lincoln to vigorously oppose the slavery of blacks in America.... and Abraham Lincoln was eventually elected President of the Unites States and served during the American Civil War.

Very few of us who try to honor God when things are not going well will eventually influence future Presidents. But.. you just never know. I offer this story also as encouragement to my fellow writers and bloggers. It is unlikely that Captain Riley would have influenced Abraham Lincoln if he had not taken the time to record his ordeal in his book. I hope and pray that the record of my Christian walk that I leave behind will have some positive effect long after my time on this earth is done. You have a story to tell too.

Copyright © 2006 by Philip Hartman - All Rights Reserved

Friends in High Places

Like many bloggers, I have the fantasy of becoming a serious, published author. I picked up a book on Christian writing by Jerry B. Jenkins of Left Behind fame. The book is entitled Writing for the Soul: Instruction and Advice from an Extraordinary Writing Life and while reading near the end I came across a story too wonderful and humorous not to share. Jerry Jenkins was telling a story about how he was asked to write an autobiography for Paul Anderson, the world's strongest man. Anderson won the 1956 Olympic gold medal in power lifting and once did a back lift of 6.270 pounds in 1957. Anderson was 5 foot 9 inches and 375 pounds of muscle when Jenkins began talking to him. Anderson ran a boys home and was known for not allowing any swearing. Later Jenkins tells this story:

"The day he drove me back to the airport, we were waiting for my plane and a man with his back to us was frustrated about something and said "Jesus Christ!"

Anderson bristled and stared, and when the man said it again, Paul rushed him from behind, wrapped those tree trunk arms around his waist, and lifted him off the ground. "Where is He?" Paul said. "He's a friend of mine!"

The guy peeked over his should and saw this mountain of a man and said, "Oh, my God!"

Anderson siad, "That's Him! Where is He?"

I thought the guy was going to wet his pants. And I dare say he never swore again without first look over his shoulder."

For those of you who share my published author fantasy, I'm enjoying Jenkin's book.

Intelligent Design for Skeptics

If you know a skeptic who doubts the existence of God, send them to this animated video "The Watchmaker." It does a great job of showing how unlikely it is that creation was all a matter of random chance.

Facing Our Fears

If you have not yet ventured out to the movie theater to see the movie "Facing the Giants" then let me give the movie my personal recommendation. (Click here for a 2 minute video clip.) There are many stories woven together in a powerful way.

• The story of a football coach who feels like a failure in his career which could apply to anyone struggling with how they make a living.
• The parents of the football players who plot to have the coach fired even thought he is a "fine man" because they value winning more.
  
• The young wife who desperately wants to have children but hasn't after four years of trying
• The faithful Christian who has been "prayer walking" along the halls of a high school for years asking God to send revival to the students of the school.
• The teenage boy who routinely disrepects his father.
• The teenage boy who has always been physically too small and too weak.
  
• The father in a wheelchair trying to raise a teenage son into a man by himself
  

I'd like to point out to other things which struck me.

• This film was basically produced on faith by a single church that wanted to impact the world at large, Sherwood Baptist in the small town of Albany, Georgia. This is an amazing example of how God can use regular people who want to let God use them in a mighty way for His purposes.
  
• My favorite scene is when the current coach of the University of Georgia, Mark Richt, visits the main character in the football team locker room and tells him how many times the Bible says to "have no fear" right before the state championship game. I know I've often been too timid, too hesitant, and in general fallen victim to fear. I wonder how many blessings I've missed out on in life because I've not taken step one on faith when God prompted me to. By the way, click here to read Mark Richt's testimony
  

Copyright © 2006 by Philip Hartman - All Rights Reserved

Make a Loan and Change a Life

A few weeks ago I was reading my local newspaper, The Tennessean, and saw an article about the most recent Nobel Prize in Economics. I learned that Muhammad Yunus, who got his Ph.D . from Vanderbilt University here in Nashville in 1971 received the Nobel Prize for his work combating poverty through the use of "microcredit" or "microloans".

Yunus’ concept of microcredit – small loans to poor villagers in Bangladesh to help them buy livestock or fund an enterprise, has grown from $27 he loaned out of his own pocket into the Grameen Bank, which has loaned more than $5.7 billion to 6.61 million borrowers. Despite lack of collateral or signed loan documents, 99 percent of the loans have been paid back. The Grameen Bank provides services in more than 71,000 villages in Bangladesh through 2,226 branches.

Just a few days ago I was channel surfing and stumbled upon a Frontline story Uganda: A Little Goes a Long Way which showed how an organization called Kiva was using the internet to connect people like me with deserving entrepreneurs in far away places. The response to this TV show was overwhelming as their website was swamped and inaccessible for several days. The website finally came back up and I was able to make my first "microloan" Saturday night. I used my credit card to loan $25 to Ariola Sánchez, a retailer in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Kiva pooled my $25 along with loans from 9 others to fully funded her request for a $250 business loan to purchase an inventory for resale.

Kiva is not a religious organization but I could tell that many of the entrepreneurs who benefit from the loans are Christian. One of the items Ariola sells, for examples, is Bibles. I encourage my readers to visit the Kiva website with their credit card handy.

The Grace Shown by Ted Haggard's Wife

I was not planning to post anything about the sad and tragic fall of the Rev. Ted Haggard. Frankly, I did not know too much about him, his background, or his ministry and I didn’t want to add to the media buzz over the situation.

I changed my mind, however, when I read words attributed to his wife that absolutely floored me in the way they exhibit the ability to show grace in the toughest of times... and grace is of course what my blog is all about.

If you check out this Fox News story “Evangelist Admits to Sexual Immorality” you will find these words about a letter from Haggard's wife that was shared with his congregation:

“In a separate letter, Haggard's wife prompted laughter when she promised to remain with her husband and said church members no longer had to worry about her marriage being so perfect she couldn't relate to them.”

Yes, you read correctly, the words of Ted Haggard’s wife Gayle prompted laughter. I think the congregation laughed in joy that she could at this time of pain make light of the perception (or is it wishful thinking?) that preachers and their wives have perfect marriages that should be envied and serve as some kind of role mode to the rest of us. (Those of us who are preacher's kids know better.) To me, these words speak volumes about her and how powerfully she has allowed God to work in her life at this time.

While I’m on the topic, I would also like to point my readers to another bit of insight on this sad situation. See Gordon MacDonald’s leadership blog “Out of Ur” and his post “The Haggard Truth: Gordon MacDonald on lies all-too-easily believed” for some insight on the dangers of fame for Christian leaders and the impact when a Christian leaders falls.

“It seems to me that when people become leaders of outsized organizations and movements, when they become famous and their opinions are constantly sought by the media, we ought to begin to become cautious. The very drive that propels some leaders toward extraordinary levels of achievement is a drive that often keeps expanding even after reasonable goals and objectives have been achieved. Like a river that breaks its levy, that drive often strays into areas of excitement and risk that can be dangerous and destructive. Sometimes the drive appears to be unstoppable. This seems to have been the experience of the Older Testament David and his wandering eyes, Uzziah in his boredom, and Solomon with his insatiable hunger for wealth, wives and horses. They seem to have been questing—addictively?—for more thrills or trying to meet deeper personal needs, and the normal ways that satisfy most people became inadequate for them.”

.....

“More than once we’ve seen the truth of a person’s life come out, not all at once, but in a series of disclosures, each an admission of further culpability which had been denied just a day or two before. Perhaps inability to tell the full truth is a sign that one is actually lying to himself and cannot face the full truth of the behavior in his own soul.

But then all sin begins with lies told to oneself. The cardinal lies of a failed leader? I give and give and give in this position; I deserve special privileges—perhaps even the privilege of living above the rules. Or, I have enough charm and enough smooth words that I can talk anything (even my innocence) into reality. Or, so much of my life is lived above the line of holiness that I can be excused this one little faux pas. Or, I have done so much for these people; now it’s their time to do something for me—like forgiving me and giving a second chance."

The Devil must be celebrating big time over his ability to bring down a big-name Christian leader. Speaking of that, I highly recommend everyone read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis for a chilling insight into temptation. My reaction upon reading it was “If I was the Devil, that is exactly what I would do!” It really is worth reading!

The Screwtape Letters

C. S. Lewis

Best Price $3.33
or Buy New $9.56

On yet another related topic. Do you believe that the Rev Ted Haggard was a "bad apple" his entire pastorial career? Or.. do you believe that he was at one time living an upright life and being used by God? I don't know any of the people involved but my first reaction is to believe that he was a good man who was not vigilant and was undermined by the temptation of the Devil... just like in The Screwtape Letters. See a previous post of mine "Like a Roaring Lion... Er Shark".

Copyright © 2006 by Philip Hartman - All Rights Reserved

Could This Be God's Provision?

Like a lot of Christian men, I struggle with balancing the need to provide financially for my family, the need to be Dad, and the need to be a husband. I recently had to shine a bright spotlight on this issue because my boss asked me to consider moving into a marketing position.

As some background, I am by education an engineer and more recently I've been a consultant on the design of web applications. I have for several years played a role which was about 70% "do the work" and about 30% technical leadership. My marketing efforts have primarily been in the area of helping deliver great results so that our clients keep giving us repeat business. My marketing has been more of an "assist" role to the "real" marketing types. I've had a leadership role, but my employer really held others accountable for a true sales quota.

Then I get asked if I would like to take on a formal marketing role and take on my own "real quota." It doesn't necessarily mean I'll make more money but there is certainly the opportunity to make more money. I also expect that in the new marketing role there would be significantly more job-related stress. I'd be out of my comfort zone. My work hours would be more unpredictable. I would likely have to increase the amount of travel I do as well.

This is not the first time I've been asked. In the past, I thought about it and prayed about it and just never felt like volunteering to "jump into the frying pan" because I was pretty happy doing what I was doing.

For some reason, this time feels different. I recent years I had really come to believe that things happen in life for a reason. Then I had about three different events happen at work in the span of two days which all seemed to point towards accepting a move into marketing. For some unexplained reason this time my reaction was not "wait and see" but more along the lines of "I wonder if I supposed to say 'Yes' this time?"

I must admit I feel like I've been conditioned over the years to say "No". All the Christian men’s publications, Christian men’s organizations (eg. Promise Keepers, Men's Fraternity), and Christian radio shows seem to preach to men to avoid any opportunity that might sacrifice one extra hour a week of family time. The ideal job for a Christian man seems to be not a leadership position, requires no overtime or weekends, and allows you to get off by 4 PM so you can help coach your child's sports team.

There was a time when I bought into this line of thinking 100%. Along the way, I started observing that life doesn't always work out along those nice neat lines.

I had a Christian friend who was in a family business that was being negatively affected by technology. The service his business provided was getting automated over the Internet. His business prospects were declining. His response? He and a partner opened a business that did not require his constant presence on site. It was basically a self-service business where he provided the expensive equipment but the customers provided the labor. He could literally make money while he was asleep.

There is one guy I know who worked for a privately owned business. After a few years, the owner was ready to retire and apparently did not have any children who wanted to take it over. The owner asked him if he wanted to buy the business from him.... and he did.

There is another guy I know who left a good job because he thought his management was starting to expect him to do things which were almost unethical. He went through a long period of unemployment and a sales position. Then God arranged for a new position. Again, the owner is ready to retire and my friend and another employee are trying to buy him out and take over the business.

I know another guy who was practically forced into starting his own business when his boss got into some legal trouble. Because of regulatory and insurance issues, the owner could not be in that type business any more.

I don't think any of these Christian men are lousy husbands or fathers just because they don't have the predictable work hours/be off at 4PM job. From my vantage point as an outsider, God has used these situations in their life to grow them spiritually. They've had to take a lot on faith. They've had to learn to live with no earthly guarantee. I guess now I’m wondering if now it is my appointed time to step out of my comfort zone and grow in some way God has planned for me. Granted, my risk is perhaps smaller than theirs as I’m still an employee vs. the owner but I think the spiritual dimension is much the same.

I wonder also about the potential impact of the career change. I try to tithe regularly so if I take the new job and am successful, would that be God's way of funding his ministry? Would it be a way to help pay for my kid's college? For my children to avoid student loan debt? For my wife to not have to work outside the home? Is there someone that I am supposed to meet in this new position and be an influence in their life as part of God's plan? Is there someone I am to meet who is supposed to influence me as part of God's plan?

On the flip side, if I take this new job will there be new temptations to resist? On my death bed will I regret making the change? Will the stress shorten my lifespan?

God, I pray tonight for Your wisdom. Help me discern whether this opportunity is part of Your provision for me and my family.... or an opportunity to decline. I pray that if I am to accept, that You will enable me to be successful. Remove all barriers to me serving Your purpose even if I don’t understand what that purpose is right now. If this opportunity is not from You, I pray that You make that obvious and protect me from taking the wrong path. In either case, I pray for clarity. Help me know with certainty what You want me to do. Even more than that, use this time in my life to help me trust in You and Your provision. Grow me into the man You need me to be. I pray for Your blessing upon me and my family at this time of decision. Amen.

Copyright © 2006 by Philip Hartman - All Rights Reserved