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It all started with a phone call.  My son, Joel, was working on an English essay during his freshman year in college.  “Dad,” he said, “I’m thinking of an idea and I wanted you to help me.”  His idea was to take the concepts of investing from the financial world and to apply them to other areas of our lives.  “I’m calling it LifeVesting.”

“Sounds interesting,” I said.

“I just need to know what the other areas are,” he went on.  So we talked about several ways to approach his idea, then talked about how to apply investment principles to them.  This was really engaging for me, because I had been involved in investment and financial services for a brief period of my life, and had been involved in some facet of ministry for more than 25 years.  We talked about risks and rewards, about seeking a return in various areas of our lives, and how “profit” isn’t a dirty word.  But mostly we talked about relationships – with God, with others, and with ourselves.  Joel decided to focus on those three, calling them GodVesting, OtherVesting, and SelfVesting.

What started as a (very successful!) English paper has become an ongoing dialogue between my son and me, between the Lord and me, and among other key people in my life.  I’d like to invite you to join in the dialogue, too.

We live in a world of consumers – not just of goods and services in the economy, but of lives as well.  Here’s the really tricky part – you only get one life.  With all its promise and peril, your life comes complete with a totally unmatched set of realities, rewards, and raw deals, of opportunities and obstacles, of friends and fiends.  And did I mention, choices?  An endless array of choices.  Some seem insignificant and mundane, others stressful and ominous.  But every one creating a set of consequences.

LifeVesting is about taking charge of your choices, and becoming intentional about your desired consequences.  It’s about shifting your focus from the moment to the ages, without having to sacrifice every bit of short-term happiness to make it happen.

LifeVesting is about your future, and how to shape it.

LifeVesting is about your eternity, and how to impact it.

LifeVesting is about your relationships, and how to enhance them.

LifeVesting is about your dreams, and how to experience them.

LifeVesting is about your legacy, and how to leave it.

LifeVesting is about your influence, and how to multiply it.

LifeVesting is about your freedom, and how to walk in it.

LifeVesting is about Jesus, and how to receive from Him.

LifeVesting is about you, and how you can live – really live – a life of abundance.

How to Use this Blog

Think of this as a down payment.  It’s designed to be an idea generator.  Your idea generator.  What you read and the way you apply it becomes an investment in your life and legacy.  Goose-steppers, groupies, and clones need not apply.

This site is the beginning of the dialogue of ideas, not the final word on anything.  If the only thing you do is read it and move on to the next site, you will have missed the point.  That would be like reading about how to navigate around the Walt Disney World complex in Orlando, but never actually going to the Magic Kingdom.  Think of the ideas that follow as a field guide.  Each contains general principles, life experiences, some feelings for good measure, a daily challenge or two, and lots of stories.  This book contains truth that can literally change your life and destiny – but only if you do something with it.

I’ve been blessed to have a few “adventures of a lifetime.”  I hope you have, too.  But I’m at a point in my (still young!) life where I’m ready for my lifetime to be the adventure.  Not just for my consumption, but for a generation to come.  And for the honor of the One who calls us to the greatest adventure of all – the adventure of cheating the grave and living forever.  I want to be a LifeVestor.  Let’s do it together.