can you transform your life from the outside in?

Some would argue that true transformation only happens inside of us - it's a matter of the heart. Others point to the outside and argue that if you change a person's external circumstances that person has a much better opportunity to become a new person from the inside out.

get rich fast - guaranteed!

If you want to get rich fast ...

• rework your budget and cut out some extras and immediately grow richer in your ability to save and invest.
• invite new neighbors to your house for dinner and immediately grow richer in hospitality.
• read a great book and immediately grow richer in knowledge.
• introduce your child to a new hobby you can work on together and grow richer as a parent.
• find a way each day this next week to practice a random act of kindness and grow richer in kindness.
• write a check to a ministry or charity you believe in and grow richer in generosity.
• think of a friend who is going through a tough time, write him or her a heartfelt note to say how much you believe in them, and grow richer in encouragement.
• forgive someone that wronged you and immediately grow richer in grace.
• volunteer to help at a homeless shelter and immediately grow richer in compassion.
• make a list of as many of your blessings as you can think of and grow richer in gratitude.
• spend time in prayer and immediately grow richer in your relationship with God.

We usually think of growing rich as getting more money. Cultivate the right habits and that just might happen. But the first step in growing rich is knowing what matters most to you. Then you can pursue dreams and riches that reflect your values.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

- Jesus (Matthew 6:21, NIV)

What do you value most? How can you get started getting rich fast?

richard jury returns - one of my favorite literary detectives is still solving crimes

Chief Inspector Richard Jury is surrounded by colorful characters - from the idle rich Melrose Plant (who gave up his hereditary title of Lord) who assists him on cases, to his assistant Sergeant Alfred Wiggins (a hypochondriac of the highest order), to the copper-haired fortune teller Carole Anne (is Jury her father figure or a "person of interest") who lives two floors above him, and the residents of Long Piddington, his frequent stop from London to the scene of the crime.

the 4 queens of crime - when women ruled murder mysteries

Growing up I consumed a lot of Agatha Christie novels - but I met my favorite author from the "locked room mystery" genre when I was a junior or senior in high school - Ngaio Marsh.

She was born in New Zealand and split time between there and London. She wrote 32 crime novels and was considered along with Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Margery Allingham one of the "Queens of Crime." Women novelists dominated the genre in the 20s and 30s. (They don't do too bad today either.)

the most important step is the first step (and the hardest step)

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The first step is often the hardest.

I am a very productive person and can work for hours without interruption. But only when I get started. Some days I start earlier than other days.
Often for me - and perhaps you - the first step is the hardest.
You have things you should do. Things you can do. Things you want to do. Things that will make your life better and improve the life of those around you. Things that will improve your self esteem. Things that will make you healthier. Things that will improve your relationships. Things that will deepen your spiritual life. Things that will make you smarter and more interesting. Things that will help you fulfill a dream in your heart.
Things that maybe you've given up on because ... well, because you never got started. You simply haven't taken the first step.
One of my annual rituals is that the first time I go to a pool that has a high dive, I head straight there first. Why? I know it is harder to go head first off a ten or twelve-foot spring board every year and I want to serve notice up front - to no one else but me - that I can still do this.
What do you want to do today? This summer? Before the year is over? In the next decade? Before your life is over?
The most important step to get there, to do it, is the first step. Begin it. Be bold.
What one step can you take even today?

Jerusalem: A Biography - reviewing Montefiore's history of the holy city

Most of us know that in 1493 Christopher Columbus sailed the "deep blue sea." But one of his key motivations for sailing west to secure the riches of India never made it to our childhood textbooks. It can be found in a section of his letter to Ferdinand and Isabella that is often redacted: "before the end of the world all prophecies have to be fulfilled - and the Holy City has to be given back to the Christian Church." It is usually taught that the Spanish monarchs commissioned Columbus to beat the Portuguese in the search for the west route to India. But what is left out is that the drive behind the commissioning was they felt exactly the same way as Columbus - they needed more gold to fund a new Crusade to the Holy Land.

Jerusalem: The Biography
by Simon Sebag Montefiore

That is just a tiny sampling of the fascinating history found in Jerusalem - from King David to
the Six Day War; from the birth of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to the concurrent rise of Jewish and Arab nationalism to the Israel-Palestine conflict - woven throughout Montefiore's