Yesterday was Labor Day, and I wrote about the importance of all kinds of work and all kinds of workers. Here’s an example: what image comes to mind when you think “computer programmers”? What do they do? What kind of contribution do they make?

Of course, what I’m doing right now wouldn’t be possible unless some set of computer programmers wrote the code for WordPress which runs on the internet, made possible by other programmers. Their work is everywhere. Cars, appliances, watches, phones,…

But I was struck by an unusual application, unknown to me, while reading a story from UCHealth. “Greeley father of three survives sudden cardiac arrest at parent-daughter basketball event thanks to AED and CPR.”

AED and CPR. We all recognize CPR, and most of us have seen AEDs hanging on the walls of public spaces.

The UCHealth Story’s subtitle is:

What started as a fun school basketball game turned into a life-or-death emergency — and a powerful reminder of how critical AEDs can be.

The article opens:

A few months ago, the 38-year-old Greeley dad of three was running down the court at a parent-daughter basketball game at a school gym. The next thing he remembered, he was being transported to the hospital after suffering — and minutes later being saved from — a life-threatening cardiac arrest.

The article continues:

Dave had experienced a ventricular fibrillation arrest, a life-threatening abnormal heart rhythm that starts in the lower chambers of the heart. Instead of beating steadily, the ventricles quiver and lose their ability to pump blood through the rest of the body, cutting off its supply to the brain and vital organs.

Without emergency treatment, sudden cardiac arrest can lead to brain and organ damage — or death — very quickly. With each passing minute, a person’s chance of survival decreases by about 10%.

To save his life, Dave needed immediate defibrillation, an electric “shock” from an AED, which stands for automated external defibrillator. When someone experiences ventricular fibrillation, shocking the heart, along with CPR, is the only way to restore the heart’s regular rhythm.

Fortunately, there was an off-duty firefighter, Alonso Gallardo, in the crowd, and someone brought him the AED while he was checking on Dave.

While someone called 911, a school staff member ran to get the portable AED mounted outside the gym door and got it to Gallardo, who had rushed to Dave’s side. While Gallardo’s daughter performed hands-only CPR, the firefighter removed Dave’s shirt and placed one of the pads on his upper right chest and the other on his lower left chest.

The AED provides voice commands with step-by-step instructions, instructing users on the exact steps they need to take as the machine reads and analyzes a patient’s heart vitals within seconds. It also advises bystanders on whether to continue CPR.

“You don’t touch the patient, but let the AED advise you what to do,” Gallardo said.

As the defibrillator analyzed Dave’s heart data, it told Gallardo to defibrillate, or shock him, by pressing a button, and to continue with CPR. The AED instantly monitored Dave’s response to the shock, and after a minute, it announced that he needed another shock.

“After the second shock, he regained consciousness and started to breathe and move around, so we stopped what we were doing and let him breathe on his own,” Gallardo said.

Did you catch it? I had no idea… The AED gives you voice instructions on what to do. It told Gallardo to shock the heart and continue CPR. A minute later, it told him to shock the heart again.

This machine was not built by doctors! It was built by engineers and programmed by the same guys who taught Alexa how to talk, play music, tell you the weather, and other trivial things.

Amazing. All kinds of work. All kinds of workers. God bless computer programmers.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2.10, ESV)

I always enjoy writing for Labor Day because I value work in its myriad forms.

Here’s something I heard the late economist Walter Williams share on the radio. He said:

You go to the grocery store and buy a bunch of bananas. How many people did it take to get those bananas from, say, Brazil to your grocery store?

Think about it…

People called in with various guesses. I remember someone saying, “Twelve.” Nope…

Finally, someone said, “Thousands,” and Walter Williams said, “I’ll give you credit…

It’s MILLIONS.

He explained:

Someone had to plant the trees the bananas came from and tend them. Someone had to pick them. Someone had to make the box they put them in. They no doubt rode in a truck to the shipping dock. Someone had to make the truck…and the tires for the truck. Someone had to drive the truck. Someone had to build the road. The bananas were loaded onto a ship. Someone had to make the ship. The people who built the ship no doubt wore shoes. Someone had to make the shoes…and on it goes.

Millions of people so you could go to the store built by workers and staffed by workers. You drove over there in a car built by workers.

Praise God for the miracle of work. The Bible opens with God…at work.

Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. (Genesis 1.31 – 2.3, NKJV, emphasis mine)

One fun thing about being in Estes Park is the wildlife encounters. (Usually fun. Benji, the dog, and I were confronted by an angry deer after he barked at her fawns. No photo documentation, sadly, June was too busy watching us from our cabin’s porch scared out of her wits. Anyway, Benji and I survived unscathed.)

A few days later I went to the country store where a herd of elk made their appearance. And make no mistake, they are big…

“Guys, let’s cross the street and pose for a few pictures. The parking lot is crawling with tourists.”

[Jesus] was out among the wild animals, and angels took care of him. (Mark 1.13, NLT)

We closed yesterday’s blog, day 2 of sharing from Sahil Bloom’s essay from August 20, 2025, with

Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting… Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning… (Ecclesiastes 7.2 – 4, NKJV)

In other words, there are more lessons in a funeral than in a wedding! And Sahil speaks to that in the essay we’ve been looking at: Live Like It’s The Last Time. He writes:

Shortly after publishing my book, I was asked by a journalist why I had chosen to include such gut wrenching stories of love and loss. Of a wonderful woman named Alexis Lockhart who had lost her son Jackson just after his 20th birthday. Of a soulful man named Erik Newton who had lost his wife Aubrie when their daughter was just two.

My answer was simple:

To create ripples.

You see, through pain, tragedy, and loss, there is light. It shines through from that darkness. A blinding insight. A clarity. A flash from the other side.

These stories have the power to shine that light on your path. To show you the way. To change the way you live.

Sahil loops back to the story that inspired the essay: Wade Lytal, who lost his 8-year-old daughter in the Texas floods of July 4:

Sitting at my desk, writing this piece, I feel an immense gratitude:

That the ripples I hoped to create were real. That a young father in Texas took the stories to heart. That he loved with every ounce. That he had no regrets. That he lived like it was the last time.

And I feel an immense privilege: to be able to share this story. A story of love. Of loss. Of a family in the throes of grief who need our love right now. Of a beautiful little girl gone far too soon.

Of the ripples that her light will create in the world.

They’ve already created one in mine. Last night, my son crawled into bed with us at 1am and woke me up. I was tired and had an alarm set for my usual 4am wake up.

I wanted to tell him to go back to bed, but as he cuddled up next to me, I stopped and said these words in my head:

There will be a last time he crawls into bed next to you. Live like it’s today.

Again,

Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting… Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning… (Ecclesiastes 7.2 – 4, NKJV)

Yesterday I shared the incredible story of how Wade Lytal, the father of one of the recent Texas flood victims reached out to thank author Sahil Bloom for encouraging him to spend more time with his family. The father, a believer, was being salt and light in the world. If you missed that blog, please read it now. I’ll wait…

The message that Sahil wrote, the message that helped that father, was simple:

He didn’t know it was the last time. But he lived like it was.

Sahil continues:

Writer and philosopher Sam Harris once said, “No matter how many times you do something, there will come a day when you do it for the last time.”

There will be a last time your kids want you to read them a bedtime story. A last time you’ll go for a long walk with your sibling. A last time you’ll hug your parents. A last time your friend will call you for support.

All of the things we take for granted today are things we’ll wish we could go back and do.

There’s a last time for all of it.

You won’t know when it’s the last time. But you can live like it is.

There’s wisdom in that, echoing themes from Ecclesiastes, that Sahil also touches on in his essay. I’ll share them tomorrow.

In the meantime, you can contribute to a fund in Wade Lytal’s daughter’s memory.

Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting… Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning… (Ecclesiastes 7.2 – 4, NKJV)

Too good not to share…

Sahil Bloom started his August 20, 2025, blog with this:

There are certain moments in life that feel etched into our memory. The pivotal turning points. The experiences or events that have a distinct before and after in how we approached the world.

Cruelly, we often don’t realize we’re living one of those moments until after the fact. We look back on it and say, “ah, yes, that was important!”

Well, last week, I had one of those moments—but I knew it right away…

Sahil got a letter from a guy who had read his book The 5 Types of Wealth. (I have it, but, sadly, I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet.)

Mr. Bloom, I wanted to write you and thank you for the book you recently published. I was one of the 27 fathers that lost their daughter during the tragic flooding of Camp Mystic. I read your book a few months ago and it really gave me a clear perspective on how to be a more involved father in both of my daughter’s lives. Being a college football coach it is easy to drift away and only focus on my career but the way you explained the real amount of time we have with our kiddos really struck me. I am so thankful your book helped wake me up and cherish those last few months I had with my daughter. Again, thank you for being willing to share your story with the world and I want you to know it made a lasting impact on my life. – Wade Lytal

Sahil writes:

I read it aloud to my wife, our son nearby playing with his dinosaurs, and we both immediately began to cry.

To have suffered such an unimaginable loss—and yet, to have the grace, presence, and spirit to send a message like that—I knew this man was different. I knew I had to meet him.

Last week, I pulled up to a small lunch restaurant in San Antonio and sat in the courtyard. It was about 10:45am, but the August sun was already beating down. A young man came around the corner and entered the courtyard, a warm smile masking his tired eyes. We had never met, but it didn’t matter. The two of us hugged like old friends, a bond forged through his vulnerability.

For an hour, we sat and talked over a simple meal.

• About his daughter, Kellyanne, a beautiful 8-year-old with a heart overflowing with kindness and a bold, courageous spirit.
• About loss. The struggle. The indescribably painful waves of grief.
• About faith. The church. The community who had wrapped them in love.
• About identity. The questions about never being the same again. About accepting that the same is no longer an option.
• About fatherhood. Being a pillar of strength for his wife and second daughter. Showing up for them as his duty. His responsibility. And most of all, about time. The time he had cherished with Kellyanne. The memories he had created with her. The precious moments. The lack of regrets because he knew he had been present in those last few months. He had really been there.

Sahil shares the obvious application to this story, the point he made in his book, and I will save that for tomorrow.

I want to write about our opportunities to be salt and light. What drew Sahil to want to meet Wade Lytal? Sahil lives in the northeast, a non-trivial distance from San Antonio. But he took the time to meet Wade in person and among the things they talked about was “faith…church…[his Christian] community.” Sahil answered the question (above):

To have suffered such an unimaginable loss—and yet, to have the grace, presence, and spirit to send a message like that—I knew this man was different. I knew I had to meet him.

It was a “holy moment” for Wade to write to Sahil. And it became a chance for Wade to be salt and light to Sahil.

“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. (Matthew 5.13 – 16, MSG, emphasis mine)

Do everything readily and cheerfully…Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night. (Philippians 2.14, 15, MSG)

I’ll let the text speak for itself today…

Here’s something in Ecclesiastes 6 in NKJV I’d never seen before:

All the labor of man is for his mouth, And yet the soul is not satisfied. (Ecclesiastes 6.7, NKJV)

What will the soul be satisfied with?

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” (Matthew 4.4, NKJV)

I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food. (Job 23.12, NKJV)

Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15.16, NKJV)

Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him. (John 6.27, NKJV)

Amen.

PS This blog is in the spirit of Ecclesiastes 5.2:

God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few.

I’m sharing snippets from Ecclesiastes, words to get our attention and make us think.

Here’s chilling thought from chapter 4, right after the value of partnership that I shared yesterday:

Better a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more. (Ecclesiastes 4.13, NKJV)

NLT has it:

It is better to be a poor but wise youth than an old and foolish king who refuses all advice.

Don’t get past receiving admonishment! Don’t be the person who “refuses all advice.” Said positively:

The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise. He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, but he who heeds rebuke gets understanding. (Proverbs 15.31, 32, NKJV)

Back to Ecclesiastes:

He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 5.10, NKJV)

A good word. There’s a parallel passage in Proverbs:

Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit. (Proverbs 23.4, NLT)

The solution?

Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage. As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. (Ecclesiastes 5.18, 19, NKJV)

PS If you missed the concert, you can watch it here.

Here’s a gem from Ecclesiastes 4:

Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4.9 – 12, NKJV)

My son Matt selected this text to be read at his wedding on June 29. His wife, Amber, understands the third strand of the threefold cord to be Jesus.

I agree. Amen.

This blog will post at 5:30p, Mountain time, August 24, 2025, and at 7p June and I with our son David will do a piano concert at YMCA of the Rockies as I mentioned last Monday. One of the pieces I will play is “Theme from Exodus,” inspired by the Julliard-trained piano duo Ferrante and Teicher. They came out with it right after the movie back in 1960, and for a while it was #2 on the pop chart. I was a freshman in high school when I worked out my facsimile arrangement. You can hear the real one by clicking the photo:

I got to hear them live when they did a concert at Clemson University a few years later while I was a student. I’ll never forget their introduction. They said something like, “We know that you all want to know, you know, who’s who.” Then they paused, and one of them said:

We are Ferrante and Teicher.

Think about it. At our concert tonight, everyone will know who is Bob, June and David. They can have their favorite pianist. Not at that Ferrante and Teicher concert. Neither could try to upstage the other for his own glory since we didn’t know which was Ferrante and which was Teicher. It was the epitome of Paul’s instruction to the Philippians:

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2.1 – 4, NKJV)

PS Here we are in the Estes Park News, August 22 edition, page 34:

PPS The event was livestreamed via FaceBook, and you can see the saved video here: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1C2yNS23cE/

The music starts about 2:20 in. You can only see the piano. You can hear our introductions but not see us since we’re across the stage from the piano.