Tom Adams sat behind his big desk, writing out his agenda for the merger. \u00a0He had it all figured out. \u00a0He was good at seeing what needed to be done, making an agenda, checking things off and getting things done. \u00a0It’s why he was the boss.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, there were other agendas being created. \u00a0Tom’s wife was making her list. \u00a0Cleaning house and washing clothes. \u00a0Dinner tonight. \u00a0A weekend with Tom. \u00a0Perhaps going to church together on Sunday. \u00a0She hoped as she scribbled it down with her pen, but felt adding it to the agenda for the week-end was a waste of ink.<\/p>\n
Tom’s daughter also had an agenda. \u00a0School work, hang out at the mall with friends, piano recital. \u00a0She wondered if her dad would be there, then struck it from her agenda. \u00a0He wouldn’t come. \u00a0Why should she let it bother her. \u00a0If he didn’t care, neither would she.<\/p>\n
Somewhere else, there were unseen agendas. \u00a0God had his written down long ago. \u00a0His agenda for mankind. \u00a0His agenda for Tom Adams . . . \u00a0Seek Me. \u00a0Love Me. \u00a0Know Me. \u00a0Enjoy holy fellowship with Me. \u00a0Love others. \u00a0Give yourself and gain your soul . . . and many other things too wonderful for Tom to comprehend.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, in a dark place not far from the office, the devil was making his agenda for Tom. \u00a0Become too busy. \u00a0Become too important. \u00a0Focus on self. \u00a0Abuse \u00a0power. \u00a0Ignore the needs of those around you. \u00a0Make money and possessions your priority. \u00a0His list was long, and easy to make.<\/p>\n
Later that evening, as his wife and daughter got up from the cold dinner table and headed for the piano recital, Tom was walking into the boardroom. \u00a0As the meeting began, he tried to assert his first agenda point, but hit some resistance from others. \u00a0That’s when it occurred to him that others might have an agenda too. \u00a0He thought about it only for a second, then decided his plan was best. \u00a0His way was better. \u00a0He brushed them off, overruled them all, and pushed through his own agenda.<\/p>\n
. . . and somewhere in a nearby dark place, the devil smiled, licked his pen, and checked one off his list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tom Adams sat behind his big desk, writing out his agenda for the merger. \u00a0He had it all figured out. \u00a0He was good at seeing what needed to be done, making an agenda, checking things off and getting things done. \u00a0It’s why he was the boss. Meanwhile, there were other agendas being created. \u00a0Tom’s wife […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[278],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2441,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2440\/revisions\/2441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}