Only The Real Matters

By Francis J. Kong

What is real? What lasts?
This is what this book is about--a good look at the fertile soil we need to plant our lives in; at the anchor that can secure us amid a sea of superficiality and the winds of destructive changes.
Here are stories of people who tried what they thought would make them complete and fulfilled, only to find themselves wanting more. And in their emptiness and brokenness, they discovered what's real.
Come, join me in this pursuit of the business of living.
It is my prayer that as you read these stories,
You will be inspired to make your own journey in search of the real thing
And discover what really matters above all else.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anvil Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9789712736025

Book preview

Introduction

Come, join me in this pursuit of the business of living.

It is my prayer that as you read these stories you will be inspired

to make your own journey in search of the real thing

And discover that what really matters above all else

is a refreshing, revitalizing, energizing life source

a person who could be or has already become part of our inner being

A person named Jesus

In this stimulating, somehow nervous age of telecommunication and the information highway, it is a curse to be left behind. Companies have to be competitive. Corporations have to go global. To be constantly informed is the key to survival. There is no time to rest on laurels, not even time to sit at all. Everyone must run to stay in the game. People in business have to be constantly on the go.

So, we keep running. But is anyone talking about what the race is, or what the prize will be for the winner?

The thing is, there will always be a new program to develop; a new software to learn; hordes of data to gather and analyze; a higher quota to meet; or a more innovative strategy to implement.

But while trying to achieve all that, do we end up prioritizing information over wisdom? Speed over precision? Novelty over truth? There are so many things we need to know and do. To miss a beat is to miss the boat. So you keep running; otherwise, your competitors will leave you far behind.

Run, sure, but in what direction? Where’s the finish line?

After decades of working on the formulas and strategies of what would supposedly work for business, Michael Hammer and James Champy, authors of Reengineering the Corporation, tell us to . . . forget what you know about how business should work; most of it is wrong. Meanwhile, in the book Reinventing Government, David Osborne and Ted Gaebler announced a new gospel of good government that discards centuries-old methods of running public institutions.

Will what I’m doing today turn out to be wrong tomorrow? Am I gaining ground or am I wasting time?

What is real? What lasts?

This is what this book is all about. A good look at the fertile soil to plant our lives in. An anchor that will secure permanence in a sea of superficial, even destructive changes.

I am not going to give you a philosophical treatise on what is real and what is not. I leave that to qualified philosophers. Instead, I’m simply sharing the stories of people who tried what they thought would make them complete and fulfilled, only to find themselves wanting more. And in their emptiness and brokenness, they discovered what’s real. They found out they had been settling for crumbs under a table laden with a feast, and they regretted that they had settled for less.

For most of them, the problem was not getting what they wanted, but of having little wants. In other words, the problem is not famine, but appetite deficiency. They have confined themselves to bland broiled meat when they could have had succulent gourmet steak.

When they can have the real thing

Here are stories of loyalty. Stories of friendship. Stories of persistence. Stories of attempts and endeavors, failure and success. Real stories of real people—their businesses, their treasures, their wealth, their heroes. People who, after putting a lid on their careers in order to define who they are, have discovered a deeper meaning to their lifework—work that has been transformed from an obsessive bondage to a source of tremendous fulfillment and joy.

These stories are not for speed-reading. They are not for busybodies who are looking for something to browse in between appointments as they hop from one meeting to another. They are for active people who, feeling a stirring in their inmost being, wish to pursue and discover the essence of peace amidst what Shakespeare describes a troubled life—plucking out the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. People who are willing to leave their air-conditioned offices and comfortable lifestyle, alter their routine, and dare to embark on an exciting adventure—the journey of discovering the real thing.

Chapter 1

GOD’S GRANDEUR

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

And wear man’s smudge and share man’s smell: the soil

Is bare now nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward springs—

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings

—Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)

Loving Your Work

You need to love what you do.

Have you ever heard this statement before? I have heard many speakers use this line. Truth is, I have used it myself in my seminars. But the more I think about it, the more I realize how empty and inadequate this statement really is.

You need to love your job! But what if your job is bringing coffee to journalists when you want to be writing articles too? What if you want to be a manager of a restaurant, but your job now requires you to wait on customers and clean the toilets? What if your job is embalming?

Just to continue this point, here’s a list of some of the worst job titles:

Nuclear Warhead Sensitivity Technician

Circus Elephant Clean Up Specialist

Rotten Sardine Taste Detector

Executive Assistant to the Boss’s Nephew

Shark Baiter

Russian Cartographer

Vice President, Screen Door Sales, North Pole Division

Hurricane Photographer

Director of Public Relations, Chernobyl Nuclear Facility

The Person Responsible for Replacing Urinal Deodorizers

Prison Glee Club President

MGB Electrical Specialist

Road Kill Removal Crew

I am sure there are exceptional people who have gone beyond the bounds of mediocrity and have conditioned themselves to love their job no matter how difficult it is, and I admire them. But the truth is that most people would say, My job sucks!

May I offer a proposition other than You have to love what you do? I would like you to try and reframe your mind this way: I may not love my job now, but I am grateful for the opportunity to build my life—my future, health, success, friendships—and achieve a sense of usefulness through my job. Knocking on someone’s door may not be something you love to do, but you can learn to appreciate the opportunity to discover what might be behind that door.

If, for example, a person cleans public toilets for a living, does he need to love cleaning public toilets? The answer is, no, he doesn’t. But if it’s his first step onto the ladder of success, he can say, I’m glad somebody gave me the opportunity to clean public toilets. I’m going to do it so well that I won’t be here long.

Entry-level jobs may be lacking in glamour, but consider how they can be stepping stones to a successful career.

Work may not always be easy—it may even be distasteful—but it’s alright. You don’t have to love it. You just have to learn to appreciate the opportunity and appreciate the person who gave you the chance to build a future.

And as you discipline yourself to do better and work harder, you will be able to deliver better output; and your confidence will grow. I know some people who started out hating their jobs, but because they were able to manage their emotions and convince themselves to do the job well, an amazing thing happened—they eventually ended up loving their jobs.

One time, I had the opportunity to counsel a young lady who was thinking about leaving her company because she didn’t like the job. Fresh out of college and probably spurred on by the books she was reading about having to love a job in order to be successful, she was at her wit’s end; she could no longer care less, and was seriously considering resignation as her only course of action.

After doing my best to listen to her, I told her that she should go right on working. Instead of moving out or jumping ship, she should try and find new ways to improve her work and learn. I also reminded her that she used to pay good money in school to learn, and now that she’s learning and being paid, it’s really not a bad deal.

If you’re in the same situation, please, don’t give up just yet. The truth of the matter is, it is rare for anyone to start off doing a job they enjoy. Loving your job is a process. As you diligently work on your responsibilities, discipline yourself to master what you do. Your success will come not only when you have learned to love your job but more importantly, when others appreciate the work that you do because you do it so well.

Don’t just strive to find a job that you’ll love. Love the opportunity to learn and be productive. Cultivate a thankful heart and use your current employment as a stepping stone toward something better. Most importantly, seek God for directions and wait for the right time to take action.

Let me end this with a short anecdote: One time, I met another pretty and intelligent young lady who told me something that surprised me. She said, I don’t know why, but I really love embalming. This will be my entry point to opening my own funeral business.

She loves embalming! That’s something I never thought I’d hear. What a great perspective!

The Right People

Not technical skill. Not education.

Not work experience. Not even a pleasing personality.

But good old-fashioned integrity and honesty;

qualities that the Good Book extols.

In this highly competitive age, what are the key qualifications that corporations look for in their prospective employees? A quick look through the classified ads reveals some interesting criteria:

Position: quality assurance manager for a car manufacturing company.

Qualifications: a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering or business management; must be knowledgeable in computer system and software applications.

Company: Interior Design Co.

Qualifications: college degree; presentable; possesses strong and aggressive personality; proficient in oral and written communication.

Beyond these though, we know there are many unsaid expectations.

An applicant should have a very nice and attractive resume, is able to communicate well, has the right attitude and confidence, comes from the right university and has the right track record. Also, as politically incorrect as it sounds, being good-looking doesn’t hurt either. And of course, there are the usual desirables: an impeccable work experience, or a very impressive scholastic record.

But there’s absolutely no guarantee even with all these. Don’t take it from me; this is according to the CEOs from most Fortune 500 companies. More than anything else, it is integrity and trustworthiness that they consider the most important qualities when hiring or promoting people. We get it straight from the horse’s mouth—from the already successful and respected businessmen. When integrity is pushed aside for the sake of financial expediency—looking at the ENRON and WORLDCOM debacles—the whole decent business world sends you reeling into chaos.

After being in business for decades, I have come to realize that an inexperienced worker with a track record of integrity is more likely preferred over a brilliant employee with questionable ethics. I am positive that the latter, who might seem like a more sought-after candidate, would eventually become an organization’s major headache.

The trouble with integrity and trustworthiness is the absence of schools that teach and emphasize them. Some business school professors are themselves reckless with ethics and morality.

The only way one can be assured of acquiring these qualities is to totally give in to the authority of God’s Word. Then success is sure to follow.

Step out in faith and surrender your life to Jesus Christ. Seek to understand His Word and obey Him. Only then can people qualify to be men and women of integrity and trust.

Ask yourself: What would my family, my company, and my world be like if all were to adopt my own personal ethics or values? More specifically, if success is the most important thing in my life, and I’m willing to do anything to get it, how does this affect my family, my company, and my world?

Perspective

It doesn’t matter if you’re the janitor

or the chairman of the board.

The title of your job is not the issue.

It’s the nobility you put in your job.

And nobility, in the words of Dallas Willard,

is worth without substitute.

Back in the Middle Ages, a dispatcher went to a building site in France to check on the laborers and ask how they felt about their work. He approached the first worker and asked, What are you doing? The worker snapped, "Are you