Dessauer Group

I get this question all of the time. I always have to revert back to Albert Einstein. I know what your thinking? Albert Einstein and real estate investing? What is this guy talking about? Well stay with me…

Cap Rate is a relative term based on where you are and what you are investing in. In other words, it changes depending on where you are and what type of asset class you are looking at (apartments, storage units, office buildings, retail, etc.). There is really no specific cap rate that is good or bad. Instead the question, what is a good cap rate, you need to ask is: What is a good cap rate on the South side of Chicago for Apartments.

Cap rate, which by the way, stands for capitalization rate is the barometer that gives the investor the understanding of value of a certain asset class, in a certain area. It is really no different than how we as Americans shop for other items in stores. When we look at the price tag of an item at the store, we immediately make the decision of whether or not it is of value based on where we are shopping. Cap rate allows us to do the same thing with real estate.

Typically, cap rate is only used for commercial properties. Non-commercial properties (residential) usually use another form of valuation called the sales comparison method. When you use cap rate you are basically concerned with two things. One, what is the Net Operating Income of the property? Two, what is the sales price? Cap rate shows the relationship between both of those two items.

If you take the sales price and divide it into the net operating income, you will get what the cap rate is. Now, that is the cap rate of the deal (price tag), you still have to figure out what the cap rate of the area is (where you are shopping). A market cap rate is an important step you want to make sure you understand. The three ways you can easily find a market cap rate are:

1.    Do research online.
2.    Talk to a good commercial real estate agent or Broker.
3.    Talk to a commercial Appraiser.

So a little higher cap rate on a property than the market that it is in, means that you are probably on the right side of a deal. A deal that has a cap rate lower than that of the area that it’s in, could indicate that you could be paying too much. Make sure you have adequate figures and the information of how the asset got priced.

One last thing, you don’t want to always go after extremely high cap rate compared to an area. It is usually is an indication of unstable income. Something is causing the unstable income and for the novice investor it could be disastrous! Make sure you do proper due diligence before buying that type of property.

If you remember some of the things that we discussed here with regard to cap rate, you can do quite well. It could make the difference with what level of success you obtain. Heck, even Albert Einstein could have been a good real estate investor with this information if he wasn’t trying to figure out how the universe worked!

“Remember…wealth has nothing to do with money, success has everything to do with failure, and life is as simple as you want to make it!” – John Dessauer

An apartment building is typically built by builders and/or developers. The challenge with that is the fact that builders typically build buildings with little regard as to the demographics of the area. This in my opinion, has been a big mistake. It’s the very reason why some apartment buildings have gone as “non-performing” in metro areas that have been built fairly recently.

Anyone looking to build an apartment building has to look at the apartments from an investors point of view. The builder should be considerate of four major things. They are:

1.    Growth and Development of an Area – How the employment outlook is in an area is a key component in the supply and demand model that apartment buildings thrive on. Apartment buildings should not be built in an area where there is long-term stagnant growth. The management of the apartment building in a no growth area will have higher expenses than normal in attracting and maintaining tenants. Because of this, the Net Operating Income of the building will suffer, hence continually losing value. Only build in areas of strong long-term growth.

2.    Competition – What is the competition in the area with apartments? What type of       amenities are most desired in the area? Builders often flood an area with Class A apartment buildings when the real need is in the Class B range. Take a look at the demographics of an area along with information about income levels, rents, occupancy rates, and housing market stats. The builder needs to understand if the market is flooded with apartments in general or even a particular style. In other words, if the need is for entry level apartments is greater than that of luxury apartments, then that’s what should be built.

3.    Occupancy/Vacancy – When occupancy rates are on the rise, it is an indication that rental units are in demand. Builders should have a plan to build particular models that are needed within a market. When builders fill that need, investors are usually there to purchase the newly constructed buildings and get them occupied. This is call absorption within a market. When Vacancies are high, absorption with new units entering the market happens at a snails pace.

4.    Rents – This is the final thing a builder needs to look at. If the average rents are $800/month for a 2 bedroom unit in a given market  building the builder should work backwards from those numbers. The builder should annualize the income from the building and apply the appropriate vacancy rate in the area. He then should consider about 45% of the gross income goes to expenses. Once you have your income and expenses you can now understand what the Net Operating Income is. From there you can figure value. If value is obtained, then the builder can then budget how the construction and development cost compare to real market value. The builder can then figure the margin from the sale of the newly constructed building and repeat the process.

An apartment builder that keeps these points in mind, should be very busy in the coming years. Currently, supply is stagnant at best. Demand will be increasing from the Echo Boom generation. Echo Boomers will completely change the multi-family industry, according to a recent report by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. In the next 10 years, Echo Boomers will create more than 2 million households from the ages of 24-35 years of age. That particular segment of the market place is dominated by renters.

Builders taking notice to the ideas presented here are going to be able to create a long, sustainable career in building apartments. Adding units to a market where apartments  can’t keep up with demand is gong to keep builders busy for a while. Done right, builders should be smiling all the way to the bank.

“Remember, wealth has nothing to do with money, success has everything to do with failure, and life is as simple as you want to make it.” – John Dessauer

Lately the world has been themed with protests. Protesting everything from low wages, increased costs, and inequality. Protesting does two things. One, it is a public display of unsatisfaction and two, it shows a desire for change.

All of this protesting has got me thinking…protesting is a way for change to flow naturally from a newly created necessity of “I can’t stand the way things are!” I commend the people throughout Greece, Egypt and even here in America (Wisconsin) that are standing up for change. I commend, even through I may not agree with what they are protesting.

Change is interesting, because it’s not to agree or disagree, but to let happen. That is where the difficulty comes in. Change is not something that is easy for people to let happen. Change means that you move outside of your comfort zone and enter into an area that you are not familiar with. Isn’t that something that we do everyday?

We should be so familiar with change that it should be comforting. Change is the only constant in life. I once saw a sign that read, “Each moment is a place we have never been!” Remember that life is a journey to which we should be enjoying.  I also believe that the right to protest is also something that is not only distinctively American, but also inherently human.

Human in the sense that we protest every aspect of our life. When you pass a slow driver you are protesting his speed. When you yell at someone, you are protesting something they have done (or not done). Finally, when you don’t call someone back, you might be protesting against that individual or what they stand for.

As I think about it more, protesting is what creates the good and bad in life. Examples of the good could be the idea of freedom. Which is what we created in this country when colonists left England in search of religious freedom. Or when we save animals from abuse. Just as protesting can create the good in life, it also can create the bad.

Protesting can also take the form of alcohol or drug abuse. People protest the current negative state of their life, and to ease the pain, (we protest) by using alcohol or drugs. I don’t judge, so people can protest how they please, but people have to know that there are many ways to protest. Its not that they are protesting that is often the issue, but how they are protesting that makes the very change they need.  I argue that Charlie Sheen is protesting as hard as the people in Greece, Libya or Wisconsin. Just in a different way and for a different cause. But the battle is apparent and important.

We may not know it, but we all desire a need for change. Sometimes we fight the very idea of change, with you guessed it a protest!  In life, it’s not the idea that we fight change that makes the biggest difference, it’s has more to do with how we protest, that makes the biggest difference.

Understand change and determine the appropriate protest. It’s that very decision that helps shape one’s future and prospects for success. What type of protest will you use to handle your next challenge?

“Remember…wealth has nothing to do with money, success has everything to do with failure, and life is as simple as you want to make it” – John Dessauer

This week was the culmination of the second challenge that Heather and I have participated in since the first of the year. You might remember our first challenge was to go to a service at each one of the five major religions. You can see my blog The Bias of Religion.

The second challenge was to go without eating any meat  or fish for 30 days. That might not seem like a very tough challenge for some of you, but for Heather and I it at first seemed easier to climb Mt. Everest! Meat has been a part of our lives for a long time. Meat has pretty much been the staple of our meals since we were both infants.

The first week was the hardest! Knowing that each meal was going to be without meat was a very tough thing. Until I realized that there was a whole world of food that I was ignoring due to the fact that things such as beef and chicken were pretty much the superstars of my plate. Then when you throw in pork, “fagetaboutit!” why would I want to eat anything else?

I had not really ever paid attention to things like vegetables, beans and things like humus and tofu. I never had to think about what I was eating as much as I have during this challenge. I think that is what made the challenge actually fun. I actually had to think about what I was eating and now become creative with what I was eating.

That was my first “ah ha” moment with this challenge. We get into a rut with the way we eat, by the habitual buying and eating of pretty much the same things. If you journal what you have ate during the last month, you probably would find that you have eaten the same 8-10 things, just made in different ways. Primarily, most people eat the same things over and over. Some of the things are probably some type of beef, chicken and pork. Can you name any of the others?

My second moment of clarity was the fact that it is other people give you a hard time for going vegetarian. I’m not quite sure if this is a Midwest thing or something else at work here. Every time I had mentioned to someone that I was going vegetarian for a month I either got strange looks or a smart-ass comment like “what would you do that for?”

I guess it’s true that people do not like it when people do things other than the norm or different than what they do. (I have never been one to conform, anyway!) As the month went on, I found myself talking more to people about the fact that I was going meatless for a month. About two and a half weeks into it, the meatless life was starting to win me over.

Definitely during the third week I realized something remarkable. I felt better and had more energy. This was something that I never expected. I had more energy in my daily activities and just felt better all around. I can attribute this I believe to two things. First, I think your body works harder to digest meat. Two, the hormones and antibiotics that go into the meat that we eat are not good for us and make us not feel as good as we should. By the way, did you know that half of the antibiotics that are made today go into the farm animals that we eat?

I also felt full more throughout the day. I did not feel like I was starving myself in any way. I actually felt like I was more in control of my eating than at any other time in my life!

Finally, I lost about 7 pounds in the process. I don’t totally think it’s because I didn’t eat meat that that happened. I think I lost the pounds because I was more conscientious of what I was eating. And that’s the thing for me that I was so excited about. It was my “on purpose” eating habits that I had newly acquired. I was being more selective for better food for me and I actually tasted new things that I was totally missing out on.

I would totally recommend this challenge for anyone. It was great for me to learn about will power, new foods and “on purpose” eating. I have decided to make fish a regular part of my diet and only have beef, chicken or pork one day of the week. I think if you take this challenge you will learn some great things too. The cattle, chickens and pigs will thank you!

“Remember, wealth has nothing to do with money, success has everything to do with failure, and life is as simple as you want to make it!” – John Dessauer

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I would like to have you think a little differently today. I would like you to think about the idea of debt and how that affects our daily lives. I think a lot of people are involved with debt because of how our money system works.

In the 70′s President Nixon took our country off the gold standard. Meaning, our dollar was no longer backed by gold. It’s one of the things people remember least about Nixon, but should be considered one of his most important decisions made during his administration. Things have been on a slow decline ever since. What’s the only thing that has gone up? Debt.

As I have spoke about before in my blogs, our system is based on fiat currency. That means our money is based on debt. Our dollars are actually notes, which are a promise to pay Primarily because our money is based on only faith and not any substantial commodity, such as palladium, gold or silver. I wonder what our world would be like if our money was backed by a precious commodity. Here are my thoughts…

1. I think if our dollar were actually backed by a precious commodity, it would actually have more of a steady value. Our dollar has been declining in value for years. Some people speculate that our government is doing it on purpose and others believe other countries are doing it. Either way, it is bad for the American economy. I think we need to get back on track with a currency that is backed by something of value. If we do, the deflation of our dollar is greatly slowed.

2. A dollar backed by a precious commodity greatly reduces or even eliminates inflation. We can greatly control the idea of inflation because we would not have the notion of too many dollars chasing too few assets.  A dollar backed by gold or silver means that there is only a certain amount of dollars in circulation. The printing presses get turned off. Forcing us to be responsible in our spending.

3. A dollar backed by a precious commodity slows uncontrollable growth by government, private companies, and individuals. Take some time and Google, “The Story of Stuff.” I think you will find it interesting on how much stuff the world  produces, for our consumer society. Producing all that stuff strips and drains our resources. Sometimes I feel our society moves to fast, because of readily printed money. We have lost our quality, not quantity, idea of production. It may even have us producing more because wage competitiveness with other countries such as Mexico, Philippines and China would be on a more level playing ground.

4. A dollar backed by a precious commodity will bring a change in how we are viewed around the world. Countries such as China and Japan buy our treasury bond offerings. That gives us the money to consume “stuff”. The money we pay for the “stuff”, goes right back out to those exporting countries. They get the money and get to export their “stuff” that they get to produce. Those countries use us and our desire to be consumers that have to have instant gratification to be happy. America will never be economically healthy with that chronic death spiral. With a backed dollar, this fouled system changes immediately.

5. A dollar backed by a precious commodity may be forced upon us by one significant change in the world economy.  This one thing is the fact the our dollar is used as the world’s reserve currency. Meaning everything is traded and bought in American dollars. Things like currencies and commodities including oil. If the world changes the reserve currency, say to the Chinese Yuan, which I believe could happen in the next couple of years, it would change our lives dramatically here, long term for the better. But short term, there would be unbelievable chaos! Damon Vickers book, The Day After the Dollar Crashes, gives a nice detailed description of how that will someday look.

6. Finally, a backed dollar by a precious commodity will spark our nations creativity. Because we would have a limited money structure, based on how much precious commodity we have in storage, we appreciate more our creative resources. People will be more creative because there is a limited supply of money to buy the very things you create.  We will have to be forced to think with the ingenuity that created great fortunes of wealth in this country. Just think of this, Andrew Carnegie, Marshall field, and the Rockefellers all created their massive wealth by using creative, ingenuity and hard work, all at a time when we were on the gold standard.

Our current way of handling our economy is unsustainable. The massive debt that we carry is dangerous for us now, but disastrous for us in the near future. It could be changed with If you want a simpler, easier and smarter country, you might think about how a backed dollar will help our future and the future of our children.

“Remember, wealth has nothing to do with money, success has everything to do with failure, and life is as simple as you want to make it.” – John Dessauer

I wanted to include this topic in my blogs for 2011. I think we are in a very precarious scenario with real estate today. Being a real estate investor today can present some severe challenges. I have developed a system of questions that I think will help guide you through any purchase.

I have certainly made my share of mistakes with my investing. I want you to understand that during the “boom” mistakes in real estate investing were easier forgiven. That happens because money is easy to come by and properties sell faster. In today’s environment, which is much more like the norm, the market does not forgive mistakes as easily. Because of that, I wanted to review how I am using my system to move forward.

The system involves five questions. I have also included some honorable mention questions that are also important. Excuse my play on words here, but questions are the answer when it comes to success in real estate. Here they are:

1. How much is the income stream?

First, you have to have an income stream for it to be expensive or inexpensive. That is key because it means hat you are focusing on becoming a cash flow investor, rather than one that focuses on natural appreciation. The income stream is the money that is used to pay your debt service on the property. You derive your income stream by taking your income that comes in and use it to pay all of your operating expenses. The residual is either known as net operating income or income stream. It turns into cash flow if, and only if, there is residual left after you pay your debt service.

There are many ways to find out how expensive the income stream is. It depends on what type of property you are looking at purchasing. If you are purchasing a commercial property, you will probably look at cap rate. Cap rate is the relationship of how much income the building is producing compared to what its price is. Find out what the standard cap rate is in your market, and then compare the cap rate of your deal. It’s will tell you whether or not you are paying too much or actually have a deal.

If by chance you are looking at a non-commercial piece of property, you will probably be using comparable sales to answer the question. If you find similar pieces of property have been selling at below or above what your target property is, you will have your answer.

A good resource for finding these answers lies in the knowledge of Realtors, brokers, and even appraisers. If you take a little action you may find that the answer of value is somewhat easy to find.

2. What is my competition like?

Any time you are buying a piece of real estate you must have a strategy. Buy and hold, fix and flip, foreclosures, multi-family to name a few. In a strategy you must consider your competition. Most of the professional sports teams spend a lot of time understanding their competition. You as a real estate investor are no different.

You want to understand things like pricing, rents, amenities, age, proximaty (to shopping, schools, and highways). You also want to understand things like how your cometition markets it product. From that you ask the questions of; if I market differently, how will my customers differ? Or by understanding how much competition you have may dictate how your business is run.

By knowing your competition you can plan to implement your srategy in a certain way. You can also adjust where needed during your implementation. Your competition will have much more of an impact on your success than you can imagine.

3. How hard is my money working for me?

By understanding the simple relationship between the amount of money you produce in cash-flow compared to what cash you put into the property, you can have a financial measurement of success. Later, to get a more detailed look, you add things to the cash-flow such as appreciation, depreciation, and amortization. Without measurement, you do not know whether you are winning or losing.

The other thing that it does is enables you to raise investment money. Without knowing how well your money works for you, its harder to understand what you can pay for borrowed money. Have a better understanding of how hard your money will work for you and you will raise more money.

4. Does the property service the debt at 100%?

This was the one question that was never asked during the boom. It was one of he reasons why most people have issues with their real estate. I have even made this mistake in my career, thinking that I could work myself out out of the negative cash-flow.

Make sure that it pays the debt at 100% at the beginning. If you are buying a project where the cash-flow won’t support the debt make sure that you customized the debt service(if possible) so it will help you survive the beginning months/years of the project.

5. Am I over-leveraged?

This question is probably the most important of the five. People simply do not know how to answer this question. This question is answered by looking at the relationship of your income stream (NOI) to your debt that you pay for the year. By dividing your debt for the year (principle and interest) into your income stream you will come up with a number. If that number is 1.3 or lower you are over-leveraged.

Honorable Mention:

Should I be investing in real estate at all?

In these tumultuous times, real estate investing may not be the best thing to be investing in. Please check with your team of financial planners and accountants to make sure this is the right investment for you.

What is my exit strategy?

You have to know how you will be exiting your equity out of the property in these times. You have to know your market to sell to. Can they afford your piece of real estate? Can they get financed? Will you be able to re-finance the property to get your equity/money out of the property? Do you have contingency plans such as long-term rental, lease option, etc..

Will changes in the economy affect my investment?

You have to think about changes in interest rates, taxes, or the employment situation to see how your investment may be affected. Never under estimate a changing economy and how that directly relates to the real estate market. And keep in mind the economy is always changing!

“Remember, wealth has nothing to do with money, success has everything to do with failure, and life is as simple as you want to make it!” -John Dessauer

I was getting on a plane this last week and the national weather scene was one that makes for challenging travel. Due to a major winter storm that was centered around the Southeast part of the country and quickly heading up the East coast, many airports were starting to shut down. This delayed many flight across the country. Including mine.

As you sit at the airport, knowing your are away from your family, your comfortable house, and anticipating a busy week, people typically get anxious. I was no different. I couldn’t believe how I was getting delayed and was probably not able to get to my destination until wee hours in the morning. I would get very little sleep before my day of meetings and presentations. I started to go through my new found process of controlled breathing that I have written before in my blogs.

I finally got on the plane after a two and a half hour delay and I was headed to Phoenix. The book I’m reading called Focus, by Leo Babauta was with me and I started to read as I sat on the plane. Have you ever experienced a situation in real life only to read about it or see it on t.v. shortly there after? Well, that’s exactly what happened to me. I learned and confirmed something for me in business and in life.

Leo was talking about how we need to make sure we take life as it comes to you. “Go with the flow” was the name of the section. I wanted to make sure I plug the author again, Leo Babauta, who has a very popular blog site www.zenhabits.net  Leo also does something very cool, he puts all his work on public domain to be used by the public in any way. (Very Cool! Please support his site if you get a chance!)

I was reading from the book and this is the section that I came to:

1. Realize that you can’t control everything. I think we all know this at some level, but the way we think and act and feel many times contradicts this basic truth. We don’t control the universe, and yet  we seem to wish we could. All the wishful thinking won’t make it so. You can’t even control everything within your own little sphere of influence — you can influence things, but many things are simply out of your control. In the example above, you can control your morning routine, but there will be things that happen from time to time (someone’s sick, accident happens, phone call comes at 5 a.m. that disrupts things, etc.) that will make you break your routine. First step is realizing that these things will happen. Not might happen, but will. There are things that we cannot control that will affect every aspect of our lives, and we must must accept that, or we will constantly be frustrated. Meditate on this for a while.

3. Breathe. When you feel yourself getting angry or frustrated, take a deep breath. Take a few. This is an important step that allows you to calm down and do the rest of the things below. Practice this by itself and you’ll have come a long way already.

4. Get perspective. If you get angry over something happening —your car breaks  down, your kids ruin something you’re working on — take a deep breath, and take a step back. Let your mind’s eye zoom away, until you’re far away above your life. Then whatever happened doesn’t seem so important. A week from now, a year from now, this little incident won’t matter a single whit. No one will care, not even you. So why get upset about it? Just let it go, and soon it won’t be a big deal.

5. Practice. It’s important to realize that, just like when you learn any skill, you probably won’t be good at this at first. Who is good when they are first learning to write, or read, or drive? No one I know. Skills come with practice. So when you first learn to go with the flow, you will mess up. You will stumble and fall. That’s OK — it’s part of the process. Just keep practicing, and you’ll get the hang of it.

6. Laugh. It helps to see things as funny, rather than frustrating. Car broke down in the middle of traffic and I have no cell phone or spare tire? Laugh at my own incompetence. Laugh at the absurdity of the situation. That requires a certain amount of detachment — you can laugh at the situation if you’re above it, but not within it. And that detachment is a good thing. If you can learn to laugh at things, you’ve come a long way. Try laughing even if you don’t think it’s funny — it will most likely become funny.

7. Realize that you can’t control others. This is one of the biggest challenges. We get frustrated with other people, because they don’t act the way we want them to act. Maybe it’s our kids, maybe it’s our spouse or significant other, maybe it’s our coworker or boss, maybe it’s our mom or best friend. But we have to realize that they are acting according to their personality, according to what they feel is right, and they are not going to do what we want all of the time. And we have to accept that. Accept that we can’t control them, accept them for who they are, accept the things they do. It’s not easy, but again, it takes practice.

8. Accept change and imperfection. When we get things the way we like them, we usually don’t want them to change. But they will change. It’s a fact of life. We cannot keep things the way we want them to be … instead, it’s better to learn to accept things as they are. Accept that the world is constantly changing, and we are a part of that change. Also, instead of wanting things to be “perfect” (and what is perfect anyway?), we should accept that they will never be perfect, and we must accept good instead.

9. Enjoy life as a flow of change, chaos and beauty. Remember when I asked what “perfect” is, in the paragraph above? It’s actually a very interesting question. Does perfect mean the ideal life and world that we have in our heads? Do we have an ideal that we try to make the world conform to? Because that will likely never happen. Instead, try seeing the world as perfect the way it is. It’s messy, chaotic, painful, sad, dirty … and completely perfect. The world is beautiful, just as it is. Life is not something static, but a flow of change, never staying the same, always getting messier and more chaotic, always beautiful. There is beauty in everything around us, if we look at it as perfect.

“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.”
– Lao Tzu
“Wealth has nothing to do with money, success has everything to do with failure, and life is as simple as you want to make it.” – John Dessauer

(this blog is in my own opinion and is not meant to disrespect anyone’s belief’s in their own religious or non-religious journey)

The opportunity to learn has been something that as I grow older, I have been able to really appreciate. In our youth, we probably have to much going on to acquire the appreciation. This appreciation was no better exemplified in my latest challenge to myself.

In my blog Ignorance: The Factory of Fear, I challenged myself to go to a service of all the five major religions. To say the least, it was a challenge that I thoroughly enjoyed. I have always felt that you cannot really comment on something unless you do some type of research on it. When I heard comments surrounding the Juan Williams situations and CNN, I had to explore the bias of religion and what it means to me.

I’ve experienced a bias regarding religion throughout my life. I have witnessed firsthand, how people of different religions are biased toward their faith. I can understand how one might get caught up in the faith and be proud. I truly understand the principle of pride and how it applies to a person’s religion.

The idea though that one’s belief is better or “right” over another person’s belief is something I have found to be absurd. I have confirmed this over my visits with conversation and research. All five of the spiritual centers and their respective religions have very distinct principles and histories. That goes for not only the 5 main religions in the world, but all faiths and belief’s. We do not have the right to intrude over a person’s belief’s. (or non-beliefs for that matter)

What I found through my experience, is that every one of my visits have been with welcome arms. There wasn’t one place of worship that I went to were I was not welcome or felt welcome. I always related to the idea of a higher power and my journey has definitely reinforced my resolve that there is one. I have found that anytime you approach the idea of research and/or education humbly, you are often times greeted openly. I found this very much the case with my journey here.

I also found that the idea to be fearful regarding someone or something is primarily because you lack knowledge. Although, it was sometimes intimidating to walk into a temple or mosque not knowing what to expect, the feeling dissipated quickly after I was received warmly. As far as Juan Williams and anyone that has fear of something, I suggest from my research to learn as much as you can about it. You will find that most of the fear is because of your mind and its ability to protect you by asking damaging questions. Stop thinking and take educative action!

Finally, I think what made the largest impression on me was the presence of God in each one of my visits. God is God. God is not different in each religion. God is the same. I found God in every place I visited. Seeing the different ways people honor God and their particular belief reinforced my beliefs in a higher power. This challenge originally started out as an understanding of why people get afraid or intimidated when they see a person of Muslim faith, in full garb get on a plane. This challenge brought me to place where I was able to learn considerably more!

The only bias that should happen in religion is in God. Not my God or your God, but our God. That continues to prove itself in my own journey of faith.

Remember, “Wealth has nothing to do with money, success has everything to do with failure, and life is as simple as you want to make it.” – John Dessauer

Below is a brief description of each visit:

Christianity
November 7, 2010, (11:00a) – First United Methodist Church; Crown Point, Indiana
One of the first hymns that was sang was America the Beautiful, I though that was rather a Amerocentric(if that’s a word!) approach. It was also considered all saints Day where they honored the people that have passed away in the past year within the congregation. As I saw the pictures of the different people that have passed, from young and old it reminded me that time is short. The sermon that day was from the Gospel of St. John. It was about judging others. It emphasized five major points:

1.    Judging People is Wrong
2.    You don’t have to like people, but you have to love them.
3.    Take a look at your own life before judging others.
4.    Only our creator has the right to judge.
5.    Communion for forgiveness of sins

As we finished the service the last song that was sang was, Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus. The service lasted about an hour.

Judaism
November 19, 2010, (7:30p) Temple Beth El; Munster, Indiana
The Shabbat(Sabbath) service was one of great energy being that it was a family themed service in which a lot of the grade school children were brought in as the choir and did a short play regarding the story of Jacob returning to Canaan. There was a reading from the Torah(5 Books of Moses – Jewish Law) The story is one that emphasizes his struggle with his creator in doing things in a certain way, i.e. the will of God. He has had a history of struggles with not only his God, but his siblings, especially his twin brother, to which he is very different. He eventually agrees to peace (at arms length) to finish out the balance of his life. It is a story of life struggles that eventually leads to a peaceful conclusion. Not perfect, but productive. (A great lesson for today)

Most of the prayers were said in Hebrew, with some translation. Finally there was a HaMotzi, which is a blessing of the bread. There was fellowship of food and refreshments after the Shabbat service which is typical.

Buddhism
November 29, 2010, (4:30p) Zen Buddhist Temple; Chicago, Illinois
When you first get to the temple you are asked to remove your shoes. You then enter into the temple, which seems to be very different from any divine sanctuary that I have been in before. It was beautiful and simplistic at the same time. The teacher (as they are called) came out and led us in a 25 minute meditation session.

After the meditation session we were told a lesson. In Buddhism, it teaches that the  world provides solutions to our problems. She told of a story of a group of people that have never eaten food before, but they were hungry. Because they have never eaten food before, they did not know what food looked like. When they found themselves in front of a smorgasbord of food, they did not take part, because they knew no better.

Experience the world and it teaches you the lessons of life. It teaches you how the world provides solutions to our challenges. Many times the solutions are right in front of us, such as the smorgasbord.  We just have to have the knowledge and experience to take part in the solution.

They read some announcements and the services ended. It was about an hour.

Hinduism
December 14, 2010, (9:30a) The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago; Lemont, Illinois
This by far was my most unique experience with my journey of the five major religions. I also found it very intriguing. The temple was a fantastic structure to marvel. It was simply beautiful in is design and divinity. As custom, I removed my shoes upon entering the temple. From that point, I found myself in a very different religious spiritual experience.

The service is basically very casual where worshipers go to the different idols in the temple to worship. Hindus do not worship the different idols but they are used to help one remove himself from the matters of the world and focus on the mind of God. Hindu preaches that God is formless and shapeless. The idols help worshipers to follow the divinity of God by giving a structured focus for ones devotion.

A priest chants the whole time with ritualistic prayers(Pooja and Archana), while tending to the idols in praise of the deities. He then offers you holy water(Charanamrit) and presents blessed sweets(Prasad). In my case, almonds. I was free to go at anytime, although many stayed to meditate inside the temple for as long as they wish.

Islam
December 31, 2010, (1:15p) The Islamic Center of Northwest Indiana; Merrillville, Indiana
This particular religion you could say was the very reason that I started my journey. It was ironic that on the radio as I pulled into the parking lot the news cast were talking about Islamic terrorists and how the US government was protecting the New Years Eve celebration from them.

As I entered the mosque I arrived early so that I could meet with the Imam(spiritual leader of the Islam faith). I spoke to him about my journey and the conversation quickly lead to the events of September 11, 2001. He noted that 300 muslims also died during those attacks and he condemns anyone that uses the Muslim faith to do evil. He explained how the service worked and lead me into the mosque. As customary, I removed my shoes.

The Imam spoke in the service about the oneness of God. He said talked about the idea  of being here on Earth and noticing Human beings as they interact. Then he described the idea of bring on top of a house and looking down at things. Your perspective starts to change. Then go to the top of the tallest building and look down. You might notice how small the vehicles are. Finally look at the Earth from the moon. He said that’s Gods view. God does not get caught up in the small trivial disputes between people. He wants us to be bigger than that, because we are bigger than that. It just takes a different perspective to understand what we argue about. He challenged everyone to change their perspective to achieve peace on Earth.

After the message, there was the traditional Muslim prayers. The service and prayers lasted about an hour.