Trust Accounts (Part IV)

by Dr. James W. Jackson
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

Deposited into your TRUST ACCOUNT is exactly what someone around you needs.

How is it possible that 80% of the male population of a civilized country could be brutally massacred in the 1990s without alerting the attention of the world? Yes, it happened! No, it did not occur in Africa. Yes, I was a witness.

As far back as 340 AD the Armenians could trace their Christian religious heritage by church buildings and monasteries located throughout the area now known as Nagorno Karabakh. Throughout the centuries the Turks, the Azerbaijanis, and, later, “Stalin the Supreme” tried to eradicate the people of Karabakh. Stalin destroyed or closed down all the churches and monasteries, lined up the religious leaders and ordered them shot. He then totally cut off the Armenian enclave of Karabakh from the geographical borders of Armenia and presented Karabakh to Azerbaijan as a gift.

During the 1990s the precarious fate of Nagorno Karabakh took another tragic turn for the worse. The oil cartels desired to build an oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Black sea . . . right through the heart of Karabakh. Ethnic cleansing was determined to be the simplest solution for dealing with the nuisance population. They were perfectly isolated. No one would know. Former Azeri President Elchibey pronounced in June 1992 that if there were still Armenians in Karabakh in October of 1992, the people of Azerbaijan could hang him in the Central Square of Baku, the Azerbaijani capital. The atrocities were unbelievable at the hands of the Russian Fourth Army, the Turks, and the Azerbaijanis.

One lone international figure became the voice for the voiceless in Nagorno Karabakh. Baroness Caroline Cox, Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords in London, stood in parliament and pled their case. She then went to the scene of the atrocities and actually rode in the helicopters helping evacuate the victims from Stepanekert, the capital of Karabakh, to hospitals in Yerevan, Armenia.

Baroness Cox and her Executive Assistant, Stuart Windsor, contacted Project C.U.R.E. and requested that I join them in Yerevan, Armenia and travel with them to Karabakh. My research of the Armenian and Karabakh situation had somewhat prepared me for a cursory understanding of the history of the region. But I was in no way prepared for the emotional wrenching I would experience during my stay.

While I was in Nagorno Karabakh, I agreed that Project C.U.R.E. would deliver millions of dollars worth of needed medical goods to the bombed out hospitals in the devastated country. I also promised to send enough pieces of physical rehabilitation equipment for them to open a rehab clinic to serve the crippled victims.

But when I returned to Denver I was told that we had just sent all our physical therapy and rehab equipment to some other needy place around the world. We had none left in the warehouse. We needed a miracle. We made a list of all the pieces of equipment we would need to procure and send. We then hung the list in a conspicuous place. We all began to pray.

Several weeks later Dr. Douglas Jackson and I took a walk through our warehouse. Justin, the man in charge of our warehouse, came running up to us with tears in his eyes. He was so excited! “Listen to what just happened!” he shouted. “This morning a company who sells medical equipment called and said they were discontinuing to sell rehab and therapy equipment and were donating everything they had in their warehouse to Project C.U.R.E. We just finished unloading their huge truck. Listen to this! . . .

We took our written list in hand and as they began to unload the truck, we began to check off the pieces of needed equipment from our list. When they had finished unloading, every single item on our list had been checked off . . . every piece of rehab equipment we had written down has just now been miraculously delivered. What we needed to put on the ocean-going cargo container headed for Nagorno Karabakh was on that truck!”

As Justin was telling us the story, this thought was exploding inside my mind:

“Deposited into my Trust Account is exactly what someone else around me needs!”

Review again some of the principles of the Trust Account concept:

1. The inventory of your Trust Account (everything you possess) is there as a result of a Direct Gift or a Gift Exchange.

2. The inventory is to be administered by you, the Trustee, for the Benefit of Others.

3. As you, the Trustee, transfer inventory out of your Trust Account into the Trust Accounts of Others, God makes Compensating Deposits into Your Trust Account . . . thus allowing you to give Even More into the Trust Accounts of Others.

4. God determines the Amount, Kind, and Timing of the Compensating Deposits . . . the Trustee is only responsible for the Current Inventory of the Account.

5. Deposited into your Trust Account is exactly what Someone else around you Needs.

Allow these concepts to change your life!

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson.

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com

images: Drs. James W. and AnnaMarie Jackson 

Trust Accounts (Part III)

by Dr. James W. Jackson
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

In the days following the collapse of the Soviet Union, I spent a great deal of time in the corridor along the Volga River from St. Petersburg to Moscow, Russia. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) had agreed to pay all the shipping charges if Project C.U.R.E. would donate the incredibly needed medical goods to the area. In the city of Tver, I was hosted by the retired head of the elite Soviet Military Academy, General Yuri Tyulin. Following the coup, most of the top military personnel were notified that there would no longer be money to pay them. Desperation set in. In the evenings I was invited to meet with groups of generals and colonels and suggest ways to get involved in free market enterprises, like television repair, wood working, leather handcrafts and upholstery. Later on, I even sent used sewing machines to the officers so that with their labors they could earn enough to buy food.

One night a group of officers learned that I had a very early flight leaving Moscow. In order to make the flight I would need to leave Tver at 1:30 a.m. The officers protested, “You are not going to travel the road to Moscow at that hour. Even if you were not American, you would not pass through without getting robbed. The desperate criminals along that route would have no second thoughts about robbing you and perhaps killing you. The train is even less safe at that hour!”

The next morning my hostess, Galina Tyulin, prepared for me a hot cup of black tea and a small cake to take with me. As I stepped out into the frigid February night I was met by General Brice and Colonel Chols, retired Soviet Officers. I was placed in the rear seat of an old Russian Lada sedan with my luggage stacked on either side of me. The Lada was a virtual arsenal on wheels. Automatic weapons were on the floor in the front and very high powered, silent, gas-operated pistols were in the officers’ laps. The only thing the Lada lacked was any sort of heater. General Brice had to leave the front windows lowered to lessen the buildup of ice on the inside of the windshield.

In route to Moscow, we did indeed see the occurrence of large transport trucks coming along either side of passenger cars and pinning them between. In tandem, the trucks would squeeze the car to the side of the road and thugs would rob the travelers. I simply pulled my top coat up over my ears and breathed a prayer of thanks. The officers successfully delivered me to the passport counter of the Moscow airport, and returned to Tver. My new friends, who had been trained all their lives how to kill me, put their own lives at risk to save mine.

While I had been in Russia, I had transferred into their Trust Accounts love, concern, attention, medical goods . . . oh, yes, and some sewing machines. God had orchestrated the transfer of a “Compensating Deposit” into my Trust Account, not of more medical goods and sewing machines, but something I really needed precisely at that time . . . safe passage to Moscow in the middle of the night!

So far, in our study of “Trust Accounts,” we have discussed:

1. The inventory of your Trust Account (everything you possess) is there as a result of a Direct Gift or a Gift Exchange.

2. The inventory is to be administered by you, the Trustee, for the Benefit of Others.

3. As you, the Trustee, transfer inventory out of your Trust Account into the Trust Accounts of Others, God makes Compensating Deposits into Your Trust Account . . . thus allowing you to give Even More into the Trust Accounts of Others.

Now, let’s consider this:

4. God determines the Amount, Kind and Timing of the Compensating Deposits . . . the Trustee is only responsible for the Current Inventory of the Account.

Example: When Anna Marie and I made the decision to give away our accumulated wealth and start over again, we gave away, primarily, millions of dollars worth of real estate assets. God never made Compensating Deposits back into our Trust Account of multiplied millions of “like kind” real estate assets. But rather, over the ensuing years God has deposited hundreds of millions of dollars worth of desperately needed medical supplies and pieces of medical equipment into our Trust Account. We haven’t been responsible to give away any more real estate assets, but for the past 25 years we have been moving around in every corner of this earth distributing those donated medical goods into thousands of hospitals and clinics in 123 far flung countries.

God is very creative with his Compensating Deposits. Sometimes he gives back in like kind . . . sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes he makes his Compensating Deposits according to our expected timetable . . . sometimes he does not. Sometimes he makes his Compensating Deposits in an amount we had in mind . . . then, he surprises us with abundance . . . but not usually in the way we had insisted. Usually, it takes us traveling down the road a way, then upon looking back, we say, “Oh, look at how God worked that out. It all turned out so much better than I could have ever imagined!” I would have asked for millions more in real estate. God knew I needed medical goods he could transform into safe passage from Tver to Moscow in the middle of a blustery Russian night.

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson.

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: mailto:press@winstoncrown.com

images: Drs. James W. and AnnaMarie Jackson

"The Happiest Man in the World": An Excerpt

The Happiest Man in the World:  

Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

By Dr. James W. Jackson, Founder of Project C.U.R.E. 

“At that moment I was slammed by a wave of unexpected compassion. I had crossed over a line. No longer was I a foreign economic visitor observing at an arm’s length distance. All the hurt and tragedy of what I had previously seen at the free clinics in the favelas with Lorena came crashing in. I saw not only the hurting people in front of me and heard the crying of the babies there inside Dr. Neves’s sparse clinic, but I felt the hopelessness of the millions of people in Brazil who were ragged squatters; the people who lived in the squalor and poverty of shanties with open sewers and impure drinking water; who faced the daunting and discouraging task of eking out their survival on the streets of the Brazilian cities. I hadn’t experienced the scorching flames of passion and empathy like that before. Nothing in the ego-centered churches of entertainment and comfort where I had spent my life had ever ignited the compassion I was feeling standing in that ramshackle house of a clinic in Brazil.”  ~ An excerpt from "The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist." 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson.

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com 

images: Drs. James W. and AnnaMarie Jackson

New Book!

The Happiest Man in the World:  

Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

By Dr. James W. Jackson, Founder of Project C.U.R.E. 
$27.95 (Hardcover)

From his personal experiences visiting some of the world’s poorest and most dangerous places, Dr. James W. Jackson describes the heartbreak of seeing children die of treatable illnesses simply because the doctors and nurses lacked proper medical equipment and supplies. He also shares the joy expressed by doctors and nurses who saw containers full of donated medical supplies arrive just in time to save a life.

In his inspiring story, Dr. Jackson describes his varied life experiences including: childhood lessons in entrepreneurship, making millions in mountain real estate development, relinquishing his wealth in order to “start over,” serving as an international economic consultant, and later, founding the international humanitarian organization, Project C.U.R.E., which delivers donated medical supplies and equipment to developing country health care facilities.

The book provides an honest and personal assessment of the challenges and professional obstacles that confronted him, as well as best practices for building a “Business of Goodness.” Dr. Jackson challenges people everywhere to learn from his life experiences, and join him in becoming “The Happiest People in the World!”

	$100.00 - Book Launch Package (3 Regular Editions + 1 Special Commemorative Edition). Receive an 11% discount when you purchase our Book Launch Package.

Trust Accounts (Part II)

by Dr. James W. Jackson
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

In the previous writing regarding our “Trust Account,” we discussed that all I possess today has come to me either as a direct gift from God, or has come to me as a by-product of a “gift exchange,” whereby I took something that had been given to me in the first place and simply traded it for something that I desired even more. Now, I have a fiduciary responsibility, as a “Trustee,” to manage my portfolio of possessions in such a way as to make other people around me “better off” instead of selfishly spending all those possessions on myself.

We have been given our inheritance for a reason. The owner and grantor of everything has deposited into our Trust Account not only sufficiency for meeting our own needs, but possessions that are expressly for the benefit to others. We have the privilege to respond as “Trustworthy Administrators” and function as an integral part of a plan for meeting the needs of others around us.

The economic and cultural soul of Romania had been ripped out and trampled by the greedy dictator, Nicolay Ceausescu, and his despicable wife. In 1989, the people of Romania rose up, kidnapped the pair with a helicopter, gave them an informal trial in a farm house and killed them on the spot. But the country was in shambles. Project C.U.R.E. was called in to assess the medical delivery system and to give help.

Anna Marie accompanied me on one of my trips to Romania in 2002. We flew into Timisoara and drove along the Hungary-Romania border to the city of Oradea to perform our studies. On Sunday we were taken to the peasant village of Cefa where we joined village worshipers at a small frame church. The building included a wood-burning stove in the middle of the congregation, but the real heat came from the worshipers robustly singing from their Romanian books of worship. Average income of the peasant farmers was about $50 US per month.

After the service, we were introduced to a middle-aged couple and informed that we were going to their house to eat Sunday dinner. They rode their bicycles ahead of us to their village farm about a half-mile from the little church. As we opened the gate the farmyard animals scattered. Above, was an ominous November sky and a cold, misty rain was falling, which made the farmyard a bit messy for walking.

As we entered the house we were taken directly into the kitchen, which was the largest room in the house and appeared to be the only room with heat. The wife’s name was Marianna and she had already set the long table with plates and utensils. Even though none of the pieces matched, yet the arrangement placed on one of her homemade tablecloths made an attractive setting.

Marianna had been working on her Sunday dinner for a couple of days. She had special bread baking in her wood-burning oven and a salad of peas, diced carrots, corn and boiled eggs on her rustic cupboard. Pans of chicken and roast pork simmered alongside her potatoes. I watched the peasant farm wife as she flitted through her kitchen. Her feet hardly hit the floor. She had chosen to wear her roadside-market-bought dress for the occasion. It was dark blue with a floral print and had a velvet-type material around the collar. Even though it was a size or two too big, yet the color complimented her dark brown eyes and black hair. But the real compliment to her appearance was the compelling radiance that enshrouded her entire being. She had tapped a gusher of happiness. She was entertaining foreign guests in her own kitchen. She was fully prepared and was enjoying every minute of it. 

About 15 minutes into our meal, four other people showed up at the door, including a Gypsy preacher and his wife. They were all expecting to eat. The little farm wife never missed a beat or seemed the least bit frustrated. She went into another room and brought to the kitchen another small table and four chairs. From somewhere she found additional mix-and-match plates and graciously seated her unexpected guests and began serving them as well.

As we ate, I continued to be intrigued by the peasant farm wife. She was so happy in what she was doing. She was not allowing her obvious poverty to trump her spirit of creativity and generosity. Royalty lived within the rustic walls of that Cefa farmhouse. I would never forget the look of contentment in the eyes of the peasant woman.

As we were leaving, the peasant woman was filling up plastic sacks with fresh vegetables, pickled cucumbers, squash and cheese for our friends to take home with them. As we were walking to our car, she made a mad dash to the barn and collected some fresh eggs. From somewhere that peasant couple, living along the border of Hungary and Romania without enough money to even fix their old Russian-made Dacia car, had found the true joy of living through the experience of giving.

Happiness resides not in possessions hoarded for our own consumption, and not in tarnished gold hidden away in the secret recesses of our souls, but, rather, in the assurance that we are uncomplicated folks, grateful for what we have and graceful enough to share with others when we have the opportunity to help. 

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson.

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: mailto:press@winstoncrown.com

images: Drs. James W. and AnnaMarie Jackson

Trust Accounts

by Dr. James W. Jackson
Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

Black’s Law Dictionary defines a “TRUST” as “A right of property, real or personal, held by one party for the benefit of another. A confidence reposed in one person who is termed trustee, for the benefit of another . . . Any arrangement whereby property is transferred with intention that it be administered by trustee for another’s benefit.”

Is it possible that all I possess has been given to me . . . and I am simply a “Trustee” . . . it was all deposited into my “Trust Account” to be distributed out to others in order to benefit those around me, instead of it being selfishly spent on myself?

Is it possible that I have a “Fiduciary Responsibility” to manage my portfolio of possessions in such a way as to make other people around me “better off”?

I have come to a place in my life where I really believe the above to be the case. I have also come to a place where I have empirically experienced the phenomenon where, as I transfer those things out of my “portfolio of possession,” there is some kind of terrestrial accounting system that kicks into action, and compensating deposits are strangely and generously placed back into my Trust Account so that I can give out even more!

My next statement makes me feel a bit sophomoric and silly, but in my early days of experimenting with this phenomenon, I actually tried to out-give God. I tried to see if I could transfer out of my Trust Account into the Trust Accounts of others faster than God could transfer compensating deposits back into my Trust Account. I failed miserably. I came to the consoling conclusion that I could not out-give God. The faster I would give it away, the faster he would put it back in . . . always with a bit more. I found that I always had something left over to give away again!

The other day I walked through the aisleways of one of our huge Project C.U.R.E. warehouses. Stacked high on the steel racks were millions and millions of dollars worth of medical supplies and pieces of medical equipment. At several of the overhead dock doors of the warehouse, ocean-going cargo containers were parked, being loaded for distribution to needy hospitals and clinics far away. At other dock doors were incoming trucks being unloaded of donated medical goods to be inventoried and processed. I was nearly overwhelmed with both a raging excitement and a deeply embedded peace, all at the same time.

Immediately, a scene replayed across the screen of my mind. I was in a very dirty hotel room in an area of high poverty in the old Soviet Union during the beginning days of Project C.U.R.E. I had just promised my new friends at the near-by hospitals and clinics that I would send them desperately needed medical supplies. “But what . . . ,” I was saying aloud to myself in the room, “what if I get home and I don’t have the needed goods to send to these people?” Then I heard from heaven. “You concern yourself with helping these people, I will give you just a bit more than you can ever give away.” As I have obediently given away out of my Trust Account, God has always faithfully replenished that Trust Account with generous compensating deposits allowing me to freely give again, again and again.

I believe that being a responsible Trustee with the things deposited into my Trust Account, and acting with a sense of fiduciary responsibility and resolute confidence regarding all that has been entrusted to me, is a great part of what makes me The Happiest Man in the World.

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson.

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com

images: Drs. James W. and AnnaMarie Jackson