Many people are aware of the Google motto, “Don’t be evil.” This raises the question, what is evil? In scripture we read several times that, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” (Judges 21:25, NIT) The situation in Israel was grim. The people were attacked and oppressed on all sides.

From time to time the question comes up about installing GPS tracking in company vehicles. One viewpoint is that tracking provides accountability and validates usage as well as gives the ability to locate company vehicles at any time. The contrary argument is that it communicates lack of trust in employees.

Frequently I encounter individuals who get stuck analyzing everything but take no action. Most commonly these folks are either reluctant to launch a business venture or are in serious difficulty but will not take decisive action.

A person may read a lot of articles, books and seek a variety of opinions. Instead of translating the information into action, the person believes that reading more or finding additional data will reveal the correct course of action. As a result nothing happens. King Solomon understood this when he wrote, “Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest.” (Ecclesiastes 11:4, NLT) Farmers know there is always a risk. A wise farmer knows when to accept that risk by planting or harvesting a crop at the right time. The farmer may not always be correct, but the farmer knows if you don’t plant the crop you’ll never get the harvest.  Or worse, you have a crop but never harvest it; and the food rots in the field.

The Department of Labor reported in 2015 that 4,830 workers were killed in job related accidents. Behind each death is a tragedy for the individual and many family members. Some jobs carry more risk than others, like commercial fishing and the lumber industry, while other occupations are relatively safe. We have a responsibility to take all reasonable steps to ensure safety for our employees. The Lord instructed Moses, "When you build a new house, you must build a railing around the edge of its flat roof. That way you will not be considered guilty of murder if someone falls from the roof.” (Deuteronomy 22:8, NLT)

I was buying several plants at my local nursery and as I completed the transaction I said to the owner “You didn’t get my email address.” “Bill’s” response was, “Why would I need it?”  I explained that he could send me an email reminding me in the spring what plants I should get for my yard or what items to pick up for fall cleanup or let me know what’s on sale. Bill agreed that it was a good idea, finished up with me and moved to the next customer. Bill will likely never act on developing an email list.

I don’t want to interject myself into Bill’s business without being asked. However, if he were to ask me I would tell him to collect email addresses and send out a periodic newsletter. He could write the letter in the winter when business was slow and Bill didn’t have a lot to do. Then he would have newsletters written in advance.

Perhaps Bill was concerned about how to develop content. Bill could summarize good articles from the internet in a brief paragraph and provide a link to the article for more information. Better yet, he could contact the author and see if he could have permission to reprint the entire article as part of the newsletter.