The Juggling Act

Book Review.

Gelsinger, Pat. The Juggling Act. Bringing balance to your faith, family, and work. David C. Cook Pub. 2008
P.G.- senior vice president at Intel. www.patgelsinger.com
Video comments- www.iquestions.com
TV series- www.secretofsuccess.com

Comment. Henry.
Pat is a very successful business executive and speaks from his own personal experience. Where principles are discussed and demonstrated concepts are quite transferable. The strongest appeal of the book would be for people like Pat. His wife Linda writes an interesting “afterword” at the end of the book.

Pat begins with an account of his personal story (testimony).

The writing of a personal mission statement is a must for any one seeking to balance their life. It must address “mission, values, and goals”. (75, 76) The author’s mission statement is presented as a model. Goals should be measureable. Do the discipline to be a good steward of your time.

Pat explains what it means for him to ‘prioritize God’ by personal devotions (including prayer) and the discipline of memorizing Scripture. Increasing busyness increases the challenge of this goal. Church involvement is an important part of this prioritizing. Four principles must be considered as we address the management of resources. “1. Tithe to sacrifice. 2. Debt to inheritance. 3. Giving to blessing. 4. Controversy to agreement.” (105) One principle flows out another. Biblical giving comes with the responsibility of the right choices of recipients. Avoid debt. A reasonable mortgage is exempt. Practice the sowing reaping principle.

It is the parent’s responsibility to prepare children to make wise choices in life. It requires spending quality time with them. Husband and wife must “just agree” when it comes to matters of family finances.

Balance in the workplace will focus on aspirations and servanthood. Work and rest must be balanced. Work conflicts will increase as the number of employees (in an organization) increases. Mentoring and being mentored becomes a ‘juggling’ challenge. Authenticity and a clear witness must be a goal in the workplace. Be very sensitive if you feel you need to be an ethical policeman in you work environment. Regarding the sharing of your faith in the workplace Pat gives us two rules.
“1. Be yourself at all times.
2. If someone goes to the personal level, you can too.” (196, 197)