We have all heard a million difference sermons, talks, shows, read books, etc... about having balance. We know we should balance ourselves and it is not easy at all.
One thing I don't think we hear enough of is financial balance. Let's say you have your financial life straightened out, you only owe for your home, you aren't spending money wildly, etc... You still need to have balance.
Balance financially comes from what I believe God would have your life look like financially.
1) Giving - According to God's word in Malachi 3:8-10 it should begin at the church with 10%. Of course, it is perfectly OK to give more if you can make that happen.
2) Saving - According to God's word in Proverbs 21:20 only the foolish consume all they have.
3) Spending - spending is not a bad thing. Obviously, you have to buy things to survive in our current world, unless of course you live on a farm grow your own food, use solar panels, and your car runs on electricity from those panels.
I pray that you will try a life balanced on the three financial items above.
It is possible to live in this world and live as God has planned for us to live. It is not only possible but it is beneficial. If we would just CHOOSE to live this way God will take care of the rest.
It is His promise not mine. I trust Him to do that, DO YOU?
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
5 Rules for Thriving in a Recession
I guess we could argue for quite sometime about whether or not we are in a recession. I don't really know and personally it doesn't affect ME. Now, you might say that is a little hard hearted but I am strictly talking about me. God has blessed me with a wonderful wife who thinks even more frugally than I do. Because of this unity (for the most part) of thinking, we have created a financial situation in which we are sheltered from the general whims of our economy.
If you pay attention at all you know that our economy is cyclical and because of this we should be prepared. It is interesting that God's word gives us an example of how to do this. You can read for yourself where Joseph prepares for 7 years of famine during the 7 good years. You can find that story in Genesis 41.
Anyway I found an article today that is pretty good. The problem that I have with the article is that if we are supposedly in a recession now how can I possibly prepare for the recession. In other words, we should prepare for bad times (famine) during the good times (plenty). Generally speaking our problem is this, we spend everything we get, and then some, during times of plenty and have nothing set aside for the famine. I know what you are thinking and no I don't believe we will not have food as a nation any time soon. But, too many of us cause ourselves great pain and a lot of debt because we are unprepared for a layoff or economic downturn.
Truly recession is a matter of preparation more than anything else. If you are prepared for a recession you won't be affected by it. As a matter of fact, if you are a Christian you should stand out in your world as someone who is not affected by a recession. This will allow the opportunity to answer the questions of why aren't you affected and you can then share God's story. Think about Joseph here, everyone in the world at the time had to come to Him for food. What an opportunity.
We serve an awesome, giving and caring God. He wants you to look different from the world. He wants you to serve the world in bad times not be in the soup line with them.
If you pay attention at all you know that our economy is cyclical and because of this we should be prepared. It is interesting that God's word gives us an example of how to do this. You can read for yourself where Joseph prepares for 7 years of famine during the 7 good years. You can find that story in Genesis 41.
Anyway I found an article today that is pretty good. The problem that I have with the article is that if we are supposedly in a recession now how can I possibly prepare for the recession. In other words, we should prepare for bad times (famine) during the good times (plenty). Generally speaking our problem is this, we spend everything we get, and then some, during times of plenty and have nothing set aside for the famine. I know what you are thinking and no I don't believe we will not have food as a nation any time soon. But, too many of us cause ourselves great pain and a lot of debt because we are unprepared for a layoff or economic downturn.
Truly recession is a matter of preparation more than anything else. If you are prepared for a recession you won't be affected by it. As a matter of fact, if you are a Christian you should stand out in your world as someone who is not affected by a recession. This will allow the opportunity to answer the questions of why aren't you affected and you can then share God's story. Think about Joseph here, everyone in the world at the time had to come to Him for food. What an opportunity.
We serve an awesome, giving and caring God. He wants you to look different from the world. He wants you to serve the world in bad times not be in the soup line with them.
If I can help you with this please let me know (jamie.maddox@northstarchurch.org). The link to the article is below and I also am giving you the link to Crown Ministries.
I pray that you will be all God has called you to be.
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/104616/Five-Rules-for-Thriving-in-a-Bad-Economy
Monday, March 10, 2008
Global Warming?
I believe I have stated in some of my past comments that I am not the smartest person on earth. If you have read many of these posts you, no doubt, agree with that. Today I may take many steps toward proving I am not very smart but I am wondering something. Here goes.
As you are aware, there are many people, (our government, Queen of England, even the Vatican) that are very concerned with this whole Global Warming deal. I suppose those people get paid to worry with things. I don't agree with a whole lot of what they worry with, but who am I. An interesting side note is that I don't know who I agree with most.
Anyway, I really don't know if we can intelligently speak about this global warming thing. Humans have been around for a while and we do have written record for a lot of time but our scales for measuring temperature are less than 300 years old. That's right, Fahrenheit (1724) and Celsius (1742) are relatively young. Now, I found a site with temperatures dating to 1659 (which is interesting considering the info above). If we believe the info on that site our AVG annual temp has increased about 2 degrees since 1659. It has risen less than 1 degree since 1975.
With that said, scientist have told us there was an ice age at some point before humans were here. If I believe that and I guess I should since I saw the movie, then the temperature must have risen since then to get rid of all that ice.
I guess my problem is why should we just assume that what we are doing is causing what we are experiencing. I don't mean to suggest we should continue doing things that we know are harmful for anyone but I think we spend way too much time worrying about the status of Global Warming and not near enough time worrying about the status of humans and their souls.
I believe it is fairly egotistical of us to believe we have enough control over anything to destroy the human race. I believe we should take care of this earth that God has given us to enjoy. I believe we have a responsibility to live a life worthy of Him. But, I also believe it is very selfish that we would spend more money trying to prolong our future (which we can not control anyway) than we do on helping God's people (4.1billi0n in 2000 for Global Warming vs 233 million for public welfare expenditures). The spending difference is more than 17 to 1 for Global Warming projects. Good Lord!
I would argue that we are WASTING money on Global Warming. If you believe the Bible, God has a plan for earth's end. I don't think we are going to have an affect on that other than trying to get as many people on His side as we possibly can.
As you are aware, there are many people, (our government, Queen of England, even the Vatican) that are very concerned with this whole Global Warming deal. I suppose those people get paid to worry with things. I don't agree with a whole lot of what they worry with, but who am I. An interesting side note is that I don't know who I agree with most.
Anyway, I really don't know if we can intelligently speak about this global warming thing. Humans have been around for a while and we do have written record for a lot of time but our scales for measuring temperature are less than 300 years old. That's right, Fahrenheit (1724) and Celsius (1742) are relatively young. Now, I found a site with temperatures dating to 1659 (which is interesting considering the info above). If we believe the info on that site our AVG annual temp has increased about 2 degrees since 1659. It has risen less than 1 degree since 1975.
With that said, scientist have told us there was an ice age at some point before humans were here. If I believe that and I guess I should since I saw the movie, then the temperature must have risen since then to get rid of all that ice.
I guess my problem is why should we just assume that what we are doing is causing what we are experiencing. I don't mean to suggest we should continue doing things that we know are harmful for anyone but I think we spend way too much time worrying about the status of Global Warming and not near enough time worrying about the status of humans and their souls.
I believe it is fairly egotistical of us to believe we have enough control over anything to destroy the human race. I believe we should take care of this earth that God has given us to enjoy. I believe we have a responsibility to live a life worthy of Him. But, I also believe it is very selfish that we would spend more money trying to prolong our future (which we can not control anyway) than we do on helping God's people (4.1billi0n in 2000 for Global Warming vs 233 million for public welfare expenditures). The spending difference is more than 17 to 1 for Global Warming projects. Good Lord!
I would argue that we are WASTING money on Global Warming. If you believe the Bible, God has a plan for earth's end. I don't think we are going to have an affect on that other than trying to get as many people on His side as we possibly can.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Equity? What equity?
People have been buying places to live in for hundred's even thousand's of years. We are no different in that respect today. However we are different in how we pay for and use our homes. Of course, I am talking about the loans we have.
Back in the 1940's you could borrow to buy a home for a maximum term of 7 years. This practice was based off of the Biblical mandate that all property be returned to its original owner every 7 years (called the year of Jubilee). Anyway, today we can get loans for cars for 7 years and in some cases longer than that. Of course, if you buy some cars you need to spread the payments that long in order to be able to make the payment. Unreal!
As you know, you can get home loans for 30 years today but you may not know that you can get them for 40 even 50 years. You can get all kinds of mortgages today. You may have read about how the mortgage companies have contributed to the current housing mess with some of the loans they were making. I agree with that to a point but I want to call US out today. US being home owners. I will share a couple of points below and would love to hear your feedback.
1) We as mortgage consumers should never blindly accept what a mortgage rep (or anyone else for that matter) is trying to sell us on. If you can comprehend what they are saying go it alone, however the vast, vast majority of us are no where near prepared to make that decision based solely on what we are being told. Seek counsel, it is a Biblical principle you know (Proverbs 12:15)
2) We as homeowners should never use our equity as a banking account. As a whole, we want what we want when we want it (nice sentence huh?). This has led to the issue we find ourselves in now. (http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080306/home_equity.html). Homeowners have the least percentage of equity since 1945. That is staggering. This is SQUARELY ON US. We have got to get our wants under control. In my mind, it is unacceptable to use your home equity to buy things you otherwise could not afford.
Enough of my ranting! I don't mean to sound course or nuts about this but it is a huge issue. If we continue to use our equity like this what happens when we have a TRUE emergency? We as Christians should stand out of the crowd when bad times come. They are coming, will you be ready??
Back in the 1940's you could borrow to buy a home for a maximum term of 7 years. This practice was based off of the Biblical mandate that all property be returned to its original owner every 7 years (called the year of Jubilee). Anyway, today we can get loans for cars for 7 years and in some cases longer than that. Of course, if you buy some cars you need to spread the payments that long in order to be able to make the payment. Unreal!
As you know, you can get home loans for 30 years today but you may not know that you can get them for 40 even 50 years. You can get all kinds of mortgages today. You may have read about how the mortgage companies have contributed to the current housing mess with some of the loans they were making. I agree with that to a point but I want to call US out today. US being home owners. I will share a couple of points below and would love to hear your feedback.
1) We as mortgage consumers should never blindly accept what a mortgage rep (or anyone else for that matter) is trying to sell us on. If you can comprehend what they are saying go it alone, however the vast, vast majority of us are no where near prepared to make that decision based solely on what we are being told. Seek counsel, it is a Biblical principle you know (Proverbs 12:15)
2) We as homeowners should never use our equity as a banking account. As a whole, we want what we want when we want it (nice sentence huh?). This has led to the issue we find ourselves in now. (http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080306/home_equity.html). Homeowners have the least percentage of equity since 1945. That is staggering. This is SQUARELY ON US. We have got to get our wants under control. In my mind, it is unacceptable to use your home equity to buy things you otherwise could not afford.
Enough of my ranting! I don't mean to sound course or nuts about this but it is a huge issue. If we continue to use our equity like this what happens when we have a TRUE emergency? We as Christians should stand out of the crowd when bad times come. They are coming, will you be ready??
Monday, March 3, 2008
How do I pray?
Kelley and I began a Bible study last night on Philippians. The study is really about having Joy under pressure. If you are like me a lot of things come to mind when you think of Joy under pressure, but my thoughts don't automatically turn to prayer.
The first 11 verses of Philippians chapter 1 are really Paul letting the church of Philippi know how he feels about them. Lesson 1 for me it is probably a good thing to let people know how much they mean to you.
He goes on to say that "I thank God every time I remember you, in all my prayers for all of you I always pray with joy..." Lesson 2 for me I need to pray for people other than when they are in a struggle of some kind.
Finally he says "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight..." Lesson 3 for me I need to pray that people we grow deeper in love with God.
Why do you think God created prayer? I mean usually we are praying to ask for help. Is that really why he created prayer? He already knows what we need. Anyone who saw Bruce Almighty knows that God knows everything. Is it possible that He wants us to talk to Him? Is it possible He wants us to recognize we need Him? Prayer is not a way for us to get our wants and needs fulfilled. It is a way for us to speak to our Father and seek His will for our lives in EVERY area. It is a way for us to intercede for our friends and family. If it is good enough for Paul I think it will do for us.
I ask you to pray that my love will abound more and more when you remember me. I need that for myself. I commit to pray that for you as I remember you.
If you don't remember me I am 6'3" 210lbs dark flowing hair, chiseled chin, rock hard abs, you get the picture.
Thanks for praying.
The first 11 verses of Philippians chapter 1 are really Paul letting the church of Philippi know how he feels about them. Lesson 1 for me it is probably a good thing to let people know how much they mean to you.
He goes on to say that "I thank God every time I remember you, in all my prayers for all of you I always pray with joy..." Lesson 2 for me I need to pray for people other than when they are in a struggle of some kind.
Finally he says "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight..." Lesson 3 for me I need to pray that people we grow deeper in love with God.
Why do you think God created prayer? I mean usually we are praying to ask for help. Is that really why he created prayer? He already knows what we need. Anyone who saw Bruce Almighty knows that God knows everything. Is it possible that He wants us to talk to Him? Is it possible He wants us to recognize we need Him? Prayer is not a way for us to get our wants and needs fulfilled. It is a way for us to speak to our Father and seek His will for our lives in EVERY area. It is a way for us to intercede for our friends and family. If it is good enough for Paul I think it will do for us.
I ask you to pray that my love will abound more and more when you remember me. I need that for myself. I commit to pray that for you as I remember you.
If you don't remember me I am 6'3" 210lbs dark flowing hair, chiseled chin, rock hard abs, you get the picture.
Thanks for praying.
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