Steven Slater lost it. Frankly, if I had to deal with people cramming their entire closets into airline overhead compartments every day, I would lose it too! But Steven couldn't rein in his anger and frustration on the Jet Blue flight landing at JFK airport in New York. In his frustration with an uncooperative passenger, Slater cussed her out, got on the PA and cussed out the whole plane, grabbed some beers, pulled the emergency chute, and slid down to run away from his frustration. As he did so, he muttered, "There goes 28 years." One moment of lost control. Career sunk. And possible prison. A high price for lacking self-control. If your job, or your life, is getting on your nerves, what do you do? A good place to start is by memorizing and applying these words: Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. (Phlp. 4:8) When crisis hits or frustration mounts, take a moment and recite these words to inject some stillness and peace into the frenzy. Breathe some space into your soul. And allow self-control to take root as you remember what is deeply important and what is not. Remember also you are invited to Living Every Day with Passion and Purpose as I join Matthew Kelly for an inspiring day of dynamic teaching and application. September 11 in the Atlanta area. It will be a great day! Details here.

With unemployment having reached double digits this week, I delighted to learn about Leslie and Brian Mulcahy, who run Rabbit Hill Inn in Vermont. Each month they give away a free two night stay to someone who has been unemployed for more than 6 months. The Pink Slip Giveaway Getaway offers a small bit of grace to people who are struggling to figure out what lies ahead. Leslie says, "In our 16 years of innkeeping, this has been the most satisfying effort we have ever done." Well done! Americans are getting creatively generous to help their friends and neighbors in need. A dry cleaner in Seattle is offering free cleaning for suits to wear to job interviews. A shoe dealer in NC offers free shoes to women preparing to enter the work force. Now that about 1 in 6 of the people around you are looking for any or more work, what might you do today to offer a little grace to one of them? An invitation to lunch - your treat? A simple phone call to offer to help? An anonymous gift certificate from you to them to the grocery store to help provide basic supplies? A down time offers lots of opportunities for you to live your faith. Live generously and live well! PS - I invite you to join me in another way to help in a down time by serving the abandoned and traumatized children of the Murphy Harpst Center in Georgia. These children have been bought and sold, traded for drugs, left to fend for themselves on the streets. Each year at Christmas, my wife and I make gifts in honor of our friends and relatives as a way to serve children in need rather than giving our relatives yet another pair of socks. Feel free to join us in this generous effort of compassion. Learn more about giving to Murphy Harpst here.

C.B. Bucknor will not be working the World Series. Scheduled to work his first World Series as a major league umpire, Bucknor blew two calls in Game 1 of the American League Division Series. His poor performance, coupled with a number of embarrassing umpiring gaffes in this year's baseball playoffs caused the baseball powers-that-be to realign their umpire schedules for this week's Fall Classic. First-time umpires are out; seasoned veterans are in. As frustrating as the umpires' calls have been to players and fans, just imagine the chaos that would ensure if the men in blue began visiting the mound between pitches to offer advice on pitch selection. Or if the umpires began meeting with managers before and during the game to dictate who the right-fielder should be in. Or if the umpires union met with the General Manager of each team to help set salaries for players based on their opinions as umpires. Everyone would ask: are the umpires officiating the rules or are they playing the game? Who is making what decisions and how? How does an umpire both officiate and play? Someone needs to ask these same questions of the Obama administration when it comes to the activities of the Pay Czar, Kenneth Feinberg. Capitalism needs rules to be sure, but it is important to remember that capitalism functions best when the players play the game, and the umpires referee it. When the umpires begin to put their toe into the game, confusion reigns. Excessive government tinkering threatens to inhibit capitalism's ability to do what it does best:to create wealth and to lift the poor out of poverty. Confusion reigns when players and managers are not sure of what the rules are anymore. They no longer understand their roles. Exactly what are the umpires doing, and what can a player or manager in the game do? Financial industry executives are left in this quandary right now. First, Washington bails out struggling financial players. Then, Washington does not clearly articulate what the expectations of that bailout will be, leaving the details for later in the urgency of “saving Wall Street and the economy.” Months later, the details emerge, the compensation at bailed-out companies is reduced, even capped, and leaders are left wondering what, if any, role they can or will play in the future of the companies they lead. Already, executives are fleeing the tinkering hands of Big Government. At Bank of America, just 14 of 25 of the affected executives still remain. At AIG, only 13 of 25. By all accounts, morale is abysmal in both organizations. Worst of all, more details still remain to be revealed as Feinberg has yet more employee compensation rulings to issue, not the least of which is the ultra-sensitive issue of nearly $200 million in bonuses due in March to employees at AIG Financial Products. Confusion reigns, dismay abounds, and leadership is left with little but questions. Tentative leaders are poor leaders. Leaders who do not understand the rules of the game, since the rules are being written even as the game is being played, cannot lead. Debate the right and wrong of the initial bailout all you want, but it is a reality now. The past cannot be changed. We can only deal with the present and the future. The public now has a large stake in a number of large financial institutions, and the public's interest is for their money to be repaid as quickly as possible. Disabling leaders in the indebted institutions hardly serves that public interest. Worse still, by restricting pay, and by setting the precedent for Washingtonian micro-management, the government's actions decrease these banks' abilities to attract competitive talent in the future. Many leaders have already left. Will effective new ones be attracted by a restricted pay scale and a meddling Pay Czar? No. When an effective leader can take a job across the street for three times the pay, and without the meddling tinkering of Washington, why would he or she be motivated to work for AIG, Bank of America, or CitiGroup? In my two decades as a pastor, I learned that some of the most expensive gifts I or the church received were the free ones. Whether the ultimate cost came as a result of the unstated expectations of the donor or from the unforeseen poor quality that was discovered later, it became clear that things that are offered as free usually end up costing you the most in the end. Free is rarely free. That may well be the case here. It is more than ironic that Feinberg's “working” for free as Pay Czar for the nation may indeed cost us a large portion of the bailout funds themselves as effective leaders abandon the enterprise and the bailed-out entities slowly disappear into never-never land. Feinberg is doing us no favor. He is performing no public service. Once more, we learn the old lesson that when you let the devil ride, pretty soon he wants to drive. Business ventures rise and fall based on strong leadership. Effective, motivated leaders make the difference in success far more often than does the business idea itself or the glitz of the marketing package. By de-motivating leaders at a crucial time in these entities' lives and fights for survival, the federal government (or perhaps merely Mr. Feinberg since he has yet to speak with the White House at all) is putting into place the road to failure rather than the road to re-payment. All in all, what we are learning (or re-learning for those of us who have known it all along) is that the more the government tinkers in private business the worse the results. Very simply, Washington wants the fruit of the harvest without the tree or the farmer who produced the fruit in the first place. In doing so, they will remove the farmers who know how to produce the harvest, and they will thereby eventually kill the tree that produces the very fruit Washington desires to eat. From farming back to baseball. Umpires officiate. Players play. When the two roles get confused or conflated, only bad things can result. And taxpayers will be left holding the bag in the end. Again.

I admire Michael Moore. When God distributed gifts, He endowed Moore with a rare gift for story-telling. Any communicator would do well to learn from Moore's prodigious gift for spinning a yarn or sharing a tale. If only God had also endowed Moore with a brain. Moore has become America's scarecrow. Moore's newest film, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” debuted in theaters this weekend. I did not attend. When I fork out my hard-earned cash for entertainment, I do not like to support ignorance and gall. When I view documentaries, I prefer for the writer and producer to have a functioning knowledge of the subject upon which he or she opines. Sadly, my self-imposed prerequisites for participation prohibit me from being able to enjoy Moore's work. Remarkably, Michael Moore fails to see the irony dripping from his own ability to profit personally in mammoth proportions from his anti-capitalist tirade. According to Fortune magazine, Moore's films have grossed over $300,000,000 worldwide, and his personal fortune is in the neighborhood of $50,000,000. Good for him. A worker deserves his wages, and Moore has worked hard to tell his stories. However, Moore exhibits a credibility gap when his new movie concludes with statements like, “Capitalism is an evil, and you cannot regulate evil,” and "You have to eliminate it and replace it with something that is good for all people and that something is democracy."” First, let us not spend time educating Moore on the difference between an economic system (capitalism) and a political system (democracy). Clearly, facts do not matter much in his world of documentary fiction. Rather, let us note that he may be the biggest self-deceiver of them all, not to mention a first-rate hypocrite. To amass a personal fortune of $50MM through a system you call intrinsically evil is to participate in, and be complicit with, an intrinsic evil. Would Moore say that his work is intrinsically evil? Probably not. Are his outlandish comments not a lot like a wealthy abortion doctor's railing against Roe v. Wade and pontificating on the sanctity of human life? Moore tries to distance himself from capitalism even as he effectively maneuvers his way to personal profit. When asked recently by a reporter how he reconciles his participation in and profit from the “evil” system of capitalism, Moore replied, “Well, capitalism did nothing for me, starting with my first film.” “You know, I had to pretty much beg, borrow and steal,” he said. “The system is not set up to help somebody from the working class make a movie like this and get the truth out there.” In other words, poor Michael had to struggle as a start-up entity. Much like Apple's starting in a garage.Much like McDonald's starting with a single location. Much like every other entrepreneurial venture ever launched in capitalist America. Is Moore ignorant of the basic principles of private capital and private ownership? Or is he the supreme manipulator, spouting propaganda he does not really believe in but laughing all the way to the bank? The former appears more plausible. Not only does Moore not understand the difference between capitalism and democracy, he also does not understand the basic concepts of risk, reward, and the possibility of failure. Any of us who has launched a new venture knows well that failure occurs more often than success and that good ideas succeed only when they meet good leaders, good marketing, and good consumers. Moore is not alone. In fact, he is the norm in spite of his egocentric martyr complex. New ventures struggle. Period. Moreover, competition for capital and for consumers spurs innovation and excellence. Moore likes to critique America's partially capitalist health care system, but there is a reason that, according to Lancet Oncology, Americans have the highest survival rate for 13 of the 16 most common forms of cancer. At least in part, that survival rate can be attributed to the innovation in technology and treatments spurred largely by private capital investments and by firms seeking to gain a competitive advantage. Capitalism is by no means perfect, but it is the best economic system designed to date. Michael Moore somehow thinks he is the first person to have scrapped, scrimped, and saved to venture out with a new product or idea. Evidently, in his mind, “capitalism” helped everyone besides him. Michael created his own success. Others merely were assisted by some mysterious, nebulous capitalist “system.” Worse, Moore ignores the basic moral facts around capitalism as an economic system. Michael Novak has well-demonstrated the positive moral good created by a society rooted in democratic capitalism. Novak's work has been so persuasive that Pope John Paul II shifted his own thinking from a more socialistic worldview to advocating for the good of capitalism. Perhaps Moore failed to read these thoughts from Novak and the deceased pontiff in his days as a Catholic. For example, capitalism has the unique ability simultaneously to create new wealth and also to lift human beings out of poverty. Forbes magazine's recent work demonstrates that in China and India alone, capitalism is responsible for lifting between 500MM and 1BB people out of poverty in just the last two decades. And estimates are that capitalism has raised close to 2BB humans out of poverty in the last half-century. Indeed the last twenty-five years have been the most prosperous in world history. Not bad for an “evil” that cannot be regulated. My faith teaches me that caring for the poor is a central expression of one's love for God. As a current or former Catholic, Moore should believe the same. Indeed he said at the Washington premiere of his new movie, “...I have an extra responsibility to make sure I spend my time trying to make things better for the people that don’t have what I have, right? I mean, everybody should do that.” On that, Michael Moore and I agree. Does Moore know of a system better than capitalism for improving the economic lives of human beings? If so, he should share it. If not, he should keep his empty thoughts to himself. As I await the answer to that question, I will spend my money and my viewing time elsewhere.

Just had lunch with a good friend, and we began sharing stories of all the people we know looking for work right now. He invited me to speak at his men's group to help them find ways to cope with that. Unfortunately, I am having this conversation all the time in this economic crunch. And the news bears it out. In the Wall Street Journal today, a piece on how unemployment is actually way higher than we think. In Houston today, a man robbed a bank, saying he had no other choice to support his family. If you are unemployed, or underemployed, here are 3 suggestions for helpful ways forward. 1) Pray. This sounds like a cliche to the believer and an act of desperation to the non-believer. However, it is neither. Prayer is your lifeline, your spiritual marrow. Without prayer, you have no spiritual life. With prayer, you have a foundation for your life. Do not let your prayer life consist simply of "Help!" and "Thank you!" Instead, find ways to express your love and devotion to God. Sit quietly before Him; recite familiar prayers and reflect on the words as you go; listen to worship music to alter your spirit. Prayer changes you. And it opens you to the work that God seeks to do in your life. 2) Community. Be proactive in finding ways to stay connected with friends and acquaintances. A men's group at your church. A bowling team. A neighborhood cookout. Schedule these in advance on your calendar to be sure you are keeping yourself "out there." Stay connected and draw strength from the social support that you have. The more people you connect with, the more you will remember that you are not alone. And the more conversations you will have that may lead to new open doors. 3) Faith. Find a faith community and lean on it. If you are struggling with hurts or finances, that community will have people who want to listen and help. If you are struggling with hope, the pastor will be happy to listen and guide you. If you are struggling with loneliness, find a ministry or group there that shares your passions. As you draw on the community of believers, you will slowly find yourself trusting in God. And that is a good place to be - far better than merely trusting in yourself.

Talked on some of our most recent shows about the sense of gloom and despair that seems to be enveloping so many Americans. Even our President seems to be having a hard time preaching the "hope" on which he campaigned, preferring to govern from fear and worry. I've been pleasantly surprised by our callers (who are the best there is!) and how vibrantly they seem to be weathering the economic storm. Some registered quite low on the gloom-o-meter while others seem to be sticking it out well. This column from Chicago reminded me to share with you some of the Real Life and Faith survival strategies we've discussed on the show. Here are three survival strategies to renew your spirit and help you grow one step stronger on the gloom-o-meter! 1) Develop your faith and prayer life. Carve out 10 to 15 minutes per day, preferably first thing in the morning or last thing at night. Use that time simply to sit quietly in the presence of God. Listen. Share your deepest worries and concerns with your Creator, the One who made you and loves you. Transfer any anxiety you may be feeling on to the One who holds the universe in the palm of His hand. Doing so will grow your sense of trust in the future. 2) Turn off the TV. Watch less news. The media is in a feeding frenzy of sharing downer after downer. The frenzy continues 24/7. You do not HAVE to watch it. Cut your news viewing in half or entirely. You will be pleased with the results. Focus on the positives in your life. 3) Be a part of a faith community. Find a group of believers and participate regularly. There is strength in numbers. You will experience solidarity, support, and encouragement from others. You will discover that you are not alone. You will experience hope.

Do you like your job? I do. And it makes a big difference in my level of personal happiness. More on the Happy Jobs study from the University of Chicago. Here are the top 5 "Happiest Jobs." What do you think? 5) Special Education Teachers I get this one. The people who do this job LOVE it. They tend to be patient and caring. They get low to average pay and varying amounts of respect. But they LOVE it. A really hard job that some are called to and find happiness in. 4) Architects The architects I know are tired. They started out as architects because of a love for buildings and creativity. The longer they are in it, they find more and more frustration with people, budgets, and zoning laws and building codes, and less and less actual creativity. Surprising that they are so happy to me. 3) Travel Agents and Ticket Agents Now this one is odd. Travel agents DO seem to have a lot of fun, but their business appears to be ever-shrinking since most of us just use the Internet now. Ticket agents at the airport get battered by frustrated customers all day every day. SO I guess the happiness comes with the travel agents who have found a way to earn a living helping people have fun and find creative places to travel to. That would make me happy too. 2) Firefighters My firefighter friends are an even-keeled bunch. Low key, unflappable, and good senses of humor. They work for low pay and high respect. They take great risks but also have lots of days with little to do. A unique breed, but evidently a happy one. 1) Clergy More than 80% of clergy report being happy. This one shocked me. I meet a lot of clergy who, like architects, started off with great joy and vigor to love God and help people. But low pay, low respect, and long hours have worn them down. Interestingly, it does vary by group - Catholic priests are different from mainline Protestant clergy who are very different from evangelical clergy. 3 very different groups - some much happier than others.

I love my job. I really do. It energizes me nearly every day. Talking about real life and faith with lots of different kinds of people. According to a University of Chicago study, your job enormously shapes your happiness. What you do, where you work, and the people with whom you work = all big factors in how happy you are with your life. I found the results surprising when the study shares the top 10 "Happy Jobs." The jobs where the happiest people are. Here are numbers 6-10. 1-5 to come tomorrow. What do you think? 10)Airline pilots I get why these folks would love their jobs. Fly all over the place. Good pay. Flexible work hours. With seniority, only on duty a few days a month. What's not to love? 9) Industrial engineers My first job out of college was with a lot of industrial engineers. Good people. Unflappable. Often serious. Detail-oriented and patient. Tend to be very even-keeled. That must mean happy. 8) Auto mechanics Most mechanics I know ARE very happy. Never thought about that before. Have known a few miserable ones, but most seem to enjoy tinkering with engines and fixing things. A happy fit with average pay. 7) Science techs These folks largely work in research and development. Experimenting with stuff. Finding new solutions, inventing new things. For the scientist who enjoys science more than people, I can see much happiness here. "Just let me work on my project." 6) Actors and Directors This one surprised me greatly. Most actors and directors I have known are frustrated by low pay and few working opportunities. Lots of creativity looking for an outlet. All revved up with no place to go. To think that they are the 6th happiest profession makes me worry about the rest of us.

A little good fortune this week. By happenstance, I got the opportunity to sit down and talk with Ken Blanchard. The author of The One Minute Manager, and one of the pre-eminent gurus on leadership in American business. I noticed his title at the Blanchard Companies. He is the CSO: Chief Spiritual Officer. Never heard of that before. So I asked him about it. In his company of 300+ employees, Ken focuses on doing three things as the leader. 1) Praying - and encouraging his employees to pray. He gives them persons and items to pray for so that the entire team is focused on the same prayer needs. 2) Praise - Ken praises members of his team over and over for the things they are doing right. Choosing to focus on things going well rather than the things they may be doing wrong. People never get tired of hearing what they are doing well and being reinforced for it. 3) Inspiration - Each day, Ken sends an email with something that inspired him to the entire organizational team. Fascinating guy. Became a follower of Jesus at age 48 after the success of his One Minute Manager (more than 13MM copies sold). I will share excerpts of our conversation on the show this weekend. Listen to the entire conversation here.

Contrary to country music beliefs, there is an Arizona. Our team (Andy, Phil, and I) have made our way today to Scottsdale to share in the Talk Media Conference with Dan Patrick, Dave Ramsey, Kim Komando and others. It promises to be a fun week for us as newcomers to the talk radio field. I will post observations and experiences over these three days. First on the agenda - I really do hate flying. Not because I am afraid of flying but the whole commercial airline experience is just lousy. From the ridiculous long lines for security (the new normal in a post-9/11 Muslim terror world), to walking through a machine without my belt and shoes, the airport experience is just plain lousy. Makes me realize how much I love my little world at home - full of convenience and control, both of which I lose when traveling aerodynamically So, we are flying from ATL to Phoenix. Of course, we are flying coach. Of course, as a middle aged man, I have to use the bathroom. I am asked to wait at the entrance to the first class section for the lavatory to become available. Another gentleman has beaten me to the stall. So I stand and wait -not in the first class section where the lavatory actually is - but at the front of the coach section so that my waiting does not annoy the "first class passengers." The man in the lavatory evidently has much business to tend to. I wait for 5 minutes. Patiently (of course - waiting is a real strength for me - NOT). The coach passengers in the front row are now tired of my waiting in their space. But I persist - I will not be deterred. I am a patient waiter. After 10 minutes, the gentleman emerges from the lavatory. And I gain entrance. God is good. No point here really. Just venting how very frustrating I find the airline travel industry and experience now. Maybe next time I'll pull a John Madden and use a train or bus. PS - Forgot to mention before- check out the team photos on the web site. We finally got Ron, our #1 call screener, to pose for a shot. He looks great!