By Mike Tenbusch | December 4, 2020
There are a couple of lessons I learned early in life, and each came at some pretty painful personal expense. The first is that you have to change the oil in your car, especially if your car is really old and leaks oil. I learned that lesson on a cold, dark night making the ride home from college when my ’79 Mustang just stopped running in the middle of Nowhere, Michigan. Up until that point, I was pretty sure the oil just replaced itself.
The second lesson came at my first job after law school, when I learned that hiding a problem from your boss only tends to make the problem a whole lot worse, kind of like leaking oil over time, until the whole thing blows up. Thankfully, I’ve never repeated that mistake.
I felt the pain of both of those lessons reading about the freighter that ran aground in the Detroit River this week. According to a lieutenant from the U.S. Coast Guard, “They apparently experienced some sort of lube oil failure and starting drifting.” Oh man, how glad I am that I wasn’t in charge of changing the oil on that ship!
As I’ve shared with you before, I’ve run out of gas more than the average person, I’m sure. I’ve learned over time that sometimes my positivity can get in the way of accurately assessing risks.
In that light, can you please help me out, and help our organization get stronger, by taking a few minutes to complete our survey about your experience with us. Your responses, year over year, help us keep a tight ship. 😊
A New Life in the New Year
By Mike Tenbusch | December 28, 2022 Daniel Castelanos has not had an easy life. He was abandoned at the dumpsite in Tegucigalpa when he was nine years old. For two years, he slept on a piece of cardboard in the dump and foraged through trash for food to eat each...
Christ the King!
By Mike Tenbusch | December 21, 2022 When our Board of Trustees voted last January to make “Water” one of our goals for the year, it was a “gulp” moment for us. We knew that we were going to be stretched and running hard all year long simply to raise the $2.4 million...
What Makes Christmas Special?
By Mike Tenbusch | December 16, 2022 We asked our scholars that question, and thought you might enjoy seeing some of their responses and favorite memories from Christmas... Thank you for being a part of their celebration. If you would like to make a final gift to our...
