I'd like to introduce you to a well-known software developer: Larry Wall. 

But first, the back-story:

I have lived and worked in the heart of Silicon Valley since 1971. For 20 years I worked in integrated circuit and software development. Then I changed careers to become a Christian pastor and served for 18 years as the pastor of New Life Nazarene Church in Cupertino, CA. After retiring in 2010, my wife and I remain there as parishioners. So I've met and worked closely with many very competent and interesting people. 

One of the most interesting is Larry Wall. He is widely known as the author of the PERL computer language, which he long-ago released as an open-source product. Larry remains fully engaged in the life of PERL, and just as engaged as an authentic Christian around New Life Church. He was there in 1992 when I arrived, and we still worship together there today. It's impossible to list all the ways in which he helps out around the church.

Jon met and came to know Larry in the church. A few months ago he produced an extremely interesting YouTube video interview of Larry, especially his involvement in the development of PERL. But as is common when talking with Larry, the conversation expanded. You can watch the interview by clicking Hacker Interviews: Larry Wall. It's so worth watching that I'm posting a permalink in the Story Corner section of this site.

One last comment on Larry: For one example of his impact around New Life Church, check out Larry Wall on Marriage.

By the way, Jonathan Shiefer is right now releasing his first movie. For details on its development, release schedule, and how to see it go to Algorithm: the Hacker Movie website.

All the best,

Tim

Later that month I posted "Home Sale Math," which unpacked the financial dimensions of selling a house with substantial long-term capital gains.

Now it's a year later and our transition is complete. Start to finish it took 13 months, much of which was a major renovation project on the new townhouse. This post wraps up our downsizing story. If you are wondering about how downsizing might look in your life, or just thinking about buying a new house, you'll find lots of valuable information in these 3 webpages. To look at this final downsizing post, click on Downsizing Followup. There you will also find links to the other two posts.

All the best,

Tim

Ordinary Time Sundays have two sets of Old Testament readings. The first is a continuation of the "typological" set, meaning the Old Testament readings either compliment or contrast the gospel. The second set is a stream of "semi-continuous" readings, meaning the Old Testament scriptures move through a book or books in sequence. Lectionary preachers choose one or the other of these Old Testament paths, or bounce between them.

If you follow this link to Year A Ordinary Time you will find links to the notes and resources for the following sermons:

• In the Beginning... the Trinity
• The Result of Right Worship
• Grace (One of the 10 Big Ideas of Christian Faith series)
• Living with the Weak, the Strong, and Even with Our Enemies
• Leaning Against Culture
• Holiness: Romance in the Christian Life
• Farming 101, the Soil and the Farming Life
• Farming 201, Managing Weeds
• Renovation of the Soul (part of a 5-sermon series titled Renovation)
• The Bad, the Good, the Best
• Lifesaving - the Grand Adventure
• The Kingdom is Like...
• Adjusting to God's Story
• Learning from Leah
• Abundance Mentality
• A Time to Surrender
• The Key to Mastering Money
• Salvation by Faith (another of the 10 Big Ideas of Christian Faith series)
• Surviving an Imperfect Family
• Living the Baptized Life
• Praying Through God's Silence
• Suffering
• Life's Inflection Points

I occasionally write about simple investing strategies that produce solid results over the long haul, primarily using stock and bond mutual funds (mostly index). The simplest is just 2 funds while the most complex uses 10-12.

Historically the real (inflation-adjusted) rate of return on stocks was nearly 7%/year; while the real return on bonds was about 3.5%. Since these tend to be uncorrelated, they can combine into quite a nice portfolio.

This post uses a market proxy benchmark to analyze the payoff for the more complex portfolio. (Hint: it's less than you might think.) To read the post click on 2 Funds or 12?.

So I generated a beginners' document to get them started, hosted a practice Video Hangout, and participated in the final meeting. The results:

• The meeting went very well.
• 7 people learned to use Google+ Video Hangouts, which they will use in future situations.
• We prototyped a new tool with very broad potential, which these early adopters and their leader will spread through the organization.

If you or your organization can use a free video conferencing system for up to 10 people, please click on this link for the document that will guide you and your users in using this tool: Google+ Video Hangouts for Beginners and give it a try.

All the best,

Tim

Recently Dr. John Calhoun borrowed an A.W. Tozer writing to remind Northern California Nazarene ministry leaders that worship and holiness are a higher priority than acts of service. 

Especially in our pragmatic, action-oriented culture we need to receive this reminder. Enough so that I decided to pass it along to you. For the advice, click on this link: Holiness/Worship before Service.

Blessings,
Tim

Google found my copy of questions buried high in the cloud, and I sent a link to my pastor friend a couple of hours ago. In the process I decided that others might also find the list useful, so I'm posting it on my website.

It's divided into the following categories:

• For connecting with visitors, in person or on the phone
• For anybody (most anywhere)
• For Christians
• For baptism, membership, and graduations
• For older people
• For potential volunteers
• To follow up on a volunteer's experience
• When recruiting staff
• When checking references (in the hiring process)

If you're a pastor you'll probably find value in every section. Indeed, you may have a list of your own questions! But regardless of what your role in the world is, I'm sure you'll find some of these very, very helpful.

To view or download the entire list click on Questions for People.

Here's a list of Lent sermons for Year A:

• Resisting Temptation
• Sin - Distrusting God
• Four Habits of Contagious Christians
• A Special Kid (the Old Testament David)
• Living with the Weak, the Strong, and Even with Our Enemies
• When Tragedy (or Suffering) Strikes
• A Bone Rattling Message

Last spring I discovered a big pool of water under our house. I narrowed it down to the feed line to a landscape irrigation system by noticing that the small red triangle icon on our water meter moved just a tiny bit in 30 seconds. For a better idea of how much water was leaking I switched to a non-leaky line that carried water to the hose at the front of the house. Then I very carefully adjusted the faucet until the little triangle turned at about the same rate. The water dribbled through the hose and onto the concrete, where it very slowly wet an expanding circle. I couldn't believe that was enough water to explain the pond under the house. The professional plumber looking on confirmed that this was not the source of water for the pond.

Still, I wanted an accurate measure of how much water was leaking. So I read the meter accurately, then we all left the house for 2 hours. When we returned I read the meter again, and did some math. The tiny leak computed to 25 gallons every 24 hours! That's 175 gallons every week leaking under our house - with no way to escape. The professional plumber was wrong to say the leak was too small to matter.

Investment portfolios leak just like this, and many financial professionals assess the problem as inaccurately as my (also expensive) plumbing professional. A little 1% leak in our portfolio here, and a half-percent leak there, doesn't seem like much. But over time these end up costing us a lot of money.

For example, if our $100,000 portfolio's underlying asset allocation of stocks and bonds grows 8% per year for 10 years we should have a $215,892 portfolio. But if our portfolio leaks 3.5% per year we only have $155,297. That's a $60,000 leak! If this goes on for 20 years, the loss computes to $225,000. In retirement these leaks cost us several years of living money! Very few of us can afford to let this happen! 

For more about these leaks and what you can do to reduce them, click on Reduce Portfolio Leaks.

All the best,

Tim

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