Weekly Words of Wisdom

Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.

- William Faulkner

The Mysterious Islands

Last week, I had the privilege of being in Tampa for the premier of The Mysterious Islands. This is a great movie that gives glory to God as the Creator of all things. The movie chronicles a journey by a team of creation scientists and explorers to the Galapagos Islands to see the things that Charles Darwin saw. Their conclusion, in stark contrast to Mr. Darwin's, is that these islands are a testimony of the wisdom and handiwork of a glorious Creator. I highly recommend this movie for all families. Click on the picture below for more information or to order your copy of this great DVD.

Weekly Words of Wisdom

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out. —John Wooden

Weekly Words of Wisdom

Oh, that a man might arise in me, that the man I am might cease to be!
- Alfred Lord Tennyson

Weekly Words of Wisdom

I continue to dedicate Weekly Words of Wisdom to my father. He taught me many things but chief among them was to think and to laugh. I don't think he ever did anything by accident, he always had thought it through. However, he always seemed to enjoy doing whatever it was. So again, this weeks' words of wisdom are dedicated to my dad:

"Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought."

-Henri Bergson

Weekly Words of Wisdom

This week's weekly words of wisdom are from my father, R. Ronald Hagen who passed away yesterday afternoon. In so many ways that he will never know, he has inspired me and motivated me and helped me to become what I am. I remember as a boy him telling me “I am like a bumblebee – ‘I’m not smart enough to know it can’t be done.’” He even had artwork produced that had a bumblebee on it with this phrase around it that he kept in his office.

The basis for this phrase is that because, according to all that is known about flight, bumblebees should not be able to fly. Based on the amount of lift that is calculated to be developed by their wings, versus their weight which is holding them down, they should never be able to get off the ground. But despite what the scientists say, the bumblebee still flies. I have thought about this a lot over the course of my life when someone tells me that something can’t be done. In some cases they may be right, but in many cases they are limiting themselves by their attitudes and paradigms.