Junkyard Wisdom Book Archives - Page 4 of 6

Junkyard Wisdom Belize 2018

Did you miss the first Junkyard Wisdom Belize event and want a second chance? Interested in exploring the issues of my book with some amazingly bright people who will become lifelong friends? Want to spend five days with Ken Wytsma to better understand the theology of justice and how it relates to wealth, poverty, generosity, and faith?

Well, great news! The second Junkyard Wisdom Belize event is scheduled for February 15-19, 2018. We will again stay at the amazing Jaguar Creek, from which we will visit Mayan ruins, rainforest villages, and even a local chocolate producer.

If you are …

Junkyard Wisdom Belize – the Recap

My goodness. Junkyard Wisdom Belize was … well, I don’t know how to put it into words! Wonderful. Amazing. Thoughtful. Deep. Fun. All of the above!

Twenty people gathered in Belize for five days to talk, think, reflect, and share. Each day, Ken Wytsma shared about the theology of wealth, the need for holy discontent, the importance of doing things right, and feasting in celebration of God. His wife Tamara led an early morning workshop about the challenges and hardships of obedience. My wife D’Aun led another early morning session on the embarrassment of wealth. Each day I weaved the …

JW Belize

Tomorrow I fly to Belize and the amazing Junkyard Wisdom: Belize begins. There are twenty-two brave and adventurous folks on the trip! It’s going to be an incredible time of discovery, conversation, and (hopefully) spiritual growth.

We will be staying at Jaguar Creek, one of my favorite places on the planet (picture below). It has fully recovered from last summer’s hurricane and looks amazing. You really should visit someday!

D’Aun and I would appreciate your prayers. The book Junkyard Wisdom has opened so many doors of possibilities. Just today I received an email from somebody who read the book …

Bulk Sales

Call me smart, or call me dumb, but call me if you want to buy Junkyard Wisdom in bulk. Here’s the scoop.

Knowing I was unlikely to be a top seller, and knowing it takes sales in the thousands before royalties kick in, I decided to take lower royalties and instead get lots of copies of Junkyard Wisdom.

Smart! I have lots of books I can sell or give away!

But wait. Dumb. Now I have lots of books to store and have to go through the headache of selling.

Hmmm…a dilemma. Sorta.

Solution! I can sell books in bulk …

Book Boneyard – The Lost Introduction

Every book has a book boneyard: the paragraphs that didn’t make the cut, the stories that didn’t work, or the ideas that simply didn’t fit in. For Junkyard Wisdom the boneyard is almost as big as the book itself.

When this journey to write began it wasn’t entirely clear where it would end. But I had to start somewhere, so I wrote the paragraphs below. At the time — sitting in a hotel by myself in Southern California — I thought it might work as the introduction. It’s a hint of what’s to come, but it didn’t make the final …

Why Aren’t the Rich More Generous?

Recently read that the wealthiest Americans — those in the top 20% of income earners — give an average of 1.3% of their income to charity. By contrast, those in the lowest 20% of income earners give 3.2% of their income to charity.

How does that make any sense? Well it doesn’t, actually, but there are two theories attempting to explain it. And I’ll add a third minor theory.

The first theory is that the rich are just greedy and don’t want to give up their money. Paul Piff, a psychologist at UC Berkeley, told New York magazine, “…the …

Emily Nelson Interviews Me About My Book

If you were unable to join us for the book release party, here’s the video of my friend Emily Nelson interviewing me about my book Junkyard Wisdom. Emily serves with me on the board of The SOLD Project and writes on her great blog, Beyond The Red Chair. She has a huge heart for the disadvantaged, the poor, and the people who are invisible in our society. Sooner or later the tables will be turned and I’ll be interviewing her about a book she needs to write!

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Junkyard Wisdom: Belize

My friend Ken Wytsma read Junkyard Wisdom and texted, “Let’s do an event in Belize where we host 20 people for a multi-day retreat and talk about the issues in the book.”

I was struck by the idea. So many conversations around stewardship, wealth, and poverty tend to be held at fancy hotels. But there’s something odd about spending $500 a night for a hotel room so you can talk about how to serve our neighbor. Hosting an event in the rainforest, near villages where people live on just a few hundred dollars a year, seemed like an excellent counterbalance.…