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."
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist
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
images: Drs. James W. and AnnaMarie Jackson
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