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According to USA Today, more and more couples are saying 'I don't' to expensive weddings.
According to the article, those brides and grooms feeling the economic pinch personally are deciding to scale back on many of the traditional wedding trimmings while those who can still afford lavish weddings are striking a "more sensitive, subdued tone."
A March survey by wedding website The Knot found 40% of brides have reduced their budgets, typically by 16%. Editor in chief Carley Roney predicts that as couples start planning their nuptials, those figures will rise....
Meanwhile, The Knot has seen a jump in activity on its Trash to Treasure message board, a forum for offloading gear such as tiaras, cake toppers and batches of bridesmaid dresses. The company also has launched a blog, My DIY (or Do It Yourself) Wedding Day, "because attention on that topic was so strong," Roney says.
Some wedding industry leaders believe that this switch to more frugal weddings may be permanent: Once there's a correction in the marital marketplace, brides are going to remember the bargains their sisters and cousins bagged during the downturn and wonder, "Why can't I do it now?" says David Tutera, who plans weddings for A-list and Everywomen alike, the latter on his WE TV show, My Fair Wedding. "We're re-looking at things."
According to The Wedding Report, the average cost of a wedding fell by 24% from 2007 to 2008, though it still hovered around the MSRP of a Honda Accord.
So what's a long-time-frugal or newly frugal bride to do? Well, here's my top three: - Cash on the Barrel, or Altar.Please don't go into debt for a wedding. Please, please (See #6). Money always lands somewhere in the top 3 reasons that couples divorce. No need to start yourself off in a nice, deep financial hole.
- Spend It Where It's Important. I had about 300 monogrammed, navy napkins left over after my wedding. Seriously, my hubbie and I were still using them at our second anniversary. I'm not sure one wedding guest remembers how they wiped their mouth at my reception. I do, however, still have my professional wedding photograph next to my bed. Decide what's really important to you and what you'll remember 10 years later and spend your money there.
- Check out all the really good ideas the Boundless Line readers had the last time we blogged about frugal weddings.
Oh, and one more thing. I've been to six-figure weddings and I've been to three-figure weddings. Far beyond the flowers and ice sculptures and jazz bands, the most beautiful thing at any ceremony was the presence of the Holy Spirit around a couple who praised our Lord.
Yesterday on his blog, Randy Alcorn answers a question from a young couple who are $100,000 in debt and wondering about how much, if any, they should be giving to the church.
The couple acknowledges that they are "reaping consequences from bad choices." But now that they are attempting to pay down the hundred grand of student loans, they are getting different advice on where giving should fit into their budget. They ask:
We have been counseled in a number of ways on this. One is that you continue giving SO THAT God will meet your need (which is much like the "prosperity gospel" and we believe the motive for giving is not right). Then we were taught that we need to be faithful, even if the budget is tight, to give at least 10%, and that that should be our FIRST check we make out each month (even if we know we won't make our other bills) as evidence of the priority of God and His church in our lives. We've also heard it taught that since we're in debt, our money is not our own so we need to work really hard to pay that back so that our money is freed to give back to God.
I understand what you are saying about the heart of giving, but I was wondering what is the biblical approach in these situations?
Alcorn addresses many points in his answer, but here are a few highlights:
- "I disagree in the strongest possible way with those who argue that since we're in debt we shouldn't give to God until we get out of debt."
- "I agree 100% with the position that we need to be faithful in our giving, maintaining it in difficult times and increasing it if we haven't been giving much in the past. Often our lack of giving has been a large part of our financial problem. Certainly, it is never a solution to it."
- "Debt is especially dangerous when we’re tempted to rob our primary creditor (God) to pay our secondary creditors (people)."
- "We owe the first fruits to God, not the last fruits. Those who put God first will pay off their human creditors, while those who put human creditors before the divine Creditor always get into trouble."
- "If by giving to God we can no longer afford to make payments on a loan, then we need to liquidate our assets, take losses where we must, and cut spending to a minimum to eliminate the debt."
You can read the entire answer here.
I really enjoyed Tim Challies' article today comparing reading books on the Kindle with reading books on, well, bound pages with a spine and everything. Here is Challies on why he prefers ink on paper:
Its book-like qualities were its best qualities; its non-book-like qualities were the ones that got to me. All of the things that annoyed me were the things that made the experience more like operating a computer and less like reading a book. Pages took too long to turn; I could not splash yellow highlighter on the pages; I could not skim through the book looking quickly for a word or phrase or note; I could not scrawl notes in the margins.
Not that there aren't benefits that come with a Kindle like being able to transfer notes to a computer through a USB port or free access to classics. But for all its benefits, Challies explains that, "Everything I wanted the Kindle to do, a book could do better."
Books are the perfect technology. I'm convinced of it. This is why the Kindle experience failed me -- it was an attempt to make the book better. And this is impossible to do. There is no technology more perfectly suited to its purpose than this one. In comparison to the book, any e-reader falters and fails.
I sort of feel the same way about reading my Wall Street Journal. I love the experience of it. I love the look, feel, smell and sound of it. (Yes, the WSJ has a sound.) I love sending my boy to fetch it in the morning. I love reading it in my favorite chair with cup of coffee on the side table.
I hope all the print-is-dead talk is wrong. There are so many ink-on-paper experiences that would be missed if we go the way of the e-reader.
I’m editing a pre-marriage module for the Focus on the Family marriage subsite. One of the articles I'm trying to cut down is First Year Off by Jonathan Dodson. He wrote it for Boundless a couple years ago. I've had to take off my reading glasses and have a come to Jesus moment here in my cubical over this article.
That's the thing about working at a Christian webzine, if your heart's sensitive to the Holy Spirit the stuff you have to edit, read, and write can really be convicting. (I guess that's not so much the thing about working at a Christian webzine as just being sensitive to the Spirit. Which unfortunately, I'm often not.)
The first part of the article made me feel pretty warm and fuzzy about my upcoming nuptials but as I neared the last section Jonathan's words began to rub against one of my idols: efficiency.
Here was the conversation I had with Jonathan (in my head) as I read. The brackets are the things that Jonathan didn't actually say. Ted said that in real life Jonathan is a nice guy, so I'm sure he won't mind too much that I'm putting words in his mouth.
***
Jonathan Dodson: Time isn't money and efficiency isn't the highest virtue—
Ashley Harris: WHAT?! Who told you that? Well whoever it was…they lied. Efficiency most certainly is the highest virtue.
Jonathan Dodson: [Wait a minute now, let me finish.] Time isn't money and efficiency isn't the highest virtue — love is — and love can be very inefficient.
Ashley Harris: Have you been talking to Brian?
Jonathan Dodson: [Brian who? And…uh…couldn’t you just read the article and stop interrupting me.]
Ashley Harris: Brian. My fiancé. All this talk about love not being efficient sounds a lot like something he would say. He’s asks me to do stuff that’s completely inefficient in time and energy saying that it’s important to him and it makes him feel loved. Like waiting on him to fix his car so we can do errands together. Me watching him change oil doesn’t make sense when I could be picking up dry cleaning and buying groceries. Did he tell you to write this?
Jonathan Dodson: [No. I’m pretty sure I wrote this article long before you got engaged. Unless you’ve been engaged since 2007.]
Ashley Harris: Okay, then. Go on…
Jonathan Dodson: [Like I was saying in my article,] a few weeks ago we got a babysitter and took an entire weekend to ourselves. This weekend occurred just before I left for an overseas trip on Sunday night. I returned on Friday to preach my first Easter sermon. Over the next two weeks I had to finalize a master's thesis, fly to Texas for an interview, defend my thesis and prepare another sermon. Oh, and there was my other part-time job. I could have really used that weekend away to work on my thesis or sermon. From a productive standpoint it was a pretty inefficient weekend.
Ashley Harris: No kidding. I wouldn’t have been able to do anything but think about all the stuff I had to get done. Like last night, I had a dress fitting that took wayyyyy longer than they said it would. There were invitations to work on, and I was packing to go out of town for my friend's wedding, and I was cooking dinner, and I had the worst attitude and barely managed to ask Brian about his day—
Jonathan Dodson: [Not to be rude, but this is my story.]
Ashley Harris: Oh, right. Sorry about that. Guess I’m still a little stressed about those invitations.
Jonathan Dodson: [Invites can be stressful. But like I was saying,] efficiency isn't my highest virtue. Well, at least I strive for it not to be. In choosing to take that time off, my wife and I had one of the most intimate, fun, and insightful times we've had in a while. By taking a step back from vocational and social responsibilities at work, church, and/or school, we were able to spend more time knowing and loving one another. In turn, that led to a greater relational intimacy and understanding, which fueled our marriage for the future.
Ashley Harris: Uh...I need to get back to editing your article.
***
As you can see I didn't have anything else to say to Jonathan. I was silenced by conviction. Deep down I believe that efficiency is the highest virtue even though I know it’s not. How can it be when scripture says that the greatest virtue is love?
I want to get to a place where I can choose to do seemingly inefficient things with the people I love instead of always doing what “makes sense.” I want their happiness to make more sense to me than getting things done my way.
I remember that summer well. When I was maybe 10 years old, I spent a month at Camp Hayo-Went-Ha. I still remember playing tetherball and roofball, eating peanut butter and honey sandwiches in the cafeteria, playing in the ball field, the three days we spent hiking and camping along Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, enduring the cold morning showers, getting letters from home, being invited to play morning reveille on my trumpet, wetting my bed....
And I remember my camp counselor. Affirming, strong, fun, engaging.
A dozen years later, during the summer after my freshman year of college, I became a camp counselor. Leading my campers in Bible studies, shooting rifles and bows with them, hiking around the grounds, cleaning up goose poop and outhouse toilets ... and helping one boy who had wet his sleeping bag avoid embarrassment by discretely having it washed.
It was great being on both sides: as a camper as as a counselor. Great memories, and growth in character.
In today's featured Boundless article, "Camp Staff Saints," John Thomas affirms the summer camp experience. When he was a kid, lonely and trying to deal with his parents' divorce, it was summer camp counselors who brought him out of his shell and started him on the long journey of healing. And as a young adult, John was able to be the one drawing kids out and helping them heal.
Of all that I've been privileged to do over the years, wearing that cotton, red staff shirt has been one of the highest honors. Putting it on was like putting on a medal. It symbolized perseverance under trial, integrity in life, grace under pressure, faithfulness to Christ, and, for so many kids like me, it symbolized hope in a hurting world.
I'm thankful for the weeks I lived among the trees and slept in the cabins, thankful for the relationships and long talks, thankful for what I received, and for what I was able to give.
I'm a big fan of Threads, a ministry of LifeWay for young adults. I receive their e-newsletter, follow them on Twitter, and keep up with them on Facebook. If you're looking to supplement your Boundless cravings, you might want to check them out.
They published a relevant article yesterday on the value of short-term missions, something I'm a big fan of. The article emphasizes the benefits you'll experience by serving others this way; of course, those you're going to serve are likely to benefit as well by your sacrifice.
The overseas missions work I've been involved with has been through Operation Blessing (Colombia), and through my local church with Wycliffe/Rotary (Mexico). The Threads article lists a few other agencies.
Summer is an ideal season to volunteer a week or more of your time to serve others, either within your own country or abroad. I'd be interested in hearing from those who have gone on short-term projects, as well as from those whose summer plans include this kind of work. Why are you doing it? Who are you going through? What do you hope to accomplish?
Student loans are just one of my buttons.
If you've read Boundless at all, you know that. I've heard many pro-debt arguments, but can't agree with any of them:
- Student loans are "good" debt because they're an investment (Me: No, it's still unsecured debt)
- You simply cannot go to college without them (Me: No, there are dozens of things you can do to eliminate the need for student loan debt — most of us just don't want to do those things)
- Student loan debt is worth it to earn a professional degree (Me: According to one Nellie Mae study, professional students experience "the greatest levels of burden" and "debt levels are high enough to make even their relatively high starting salaries appear inadequate.")
Bottom line: Ask just about anybody who has taken out student loans two questions:
- Should you have taken out less debt?
- Are your life choices limited now because of the debt you have to pay back?
I'll bet you my Boundless t-shirt (not really), that the answers are Yes! and Yes!
Still ... as much bad as I've seen student loans do, the damage does not even compare to the damage done by credit cards. And you combine credit cards with education debt and you've got one serious mess.
That's why a new study by Sallie Mae does not bode well. The study looked at the credit card behavior of college students. Here's some highlights of the study:
- The average credit card balance for a college student last year was $3,173 (higher than ever before).
- Only 17 percent of college students pay off their balance monthly; 82 percent carry balances and incur finance charges each month.
- 40 percent of college students have charged items knowing they did not have the money to pay for them. (Ummm...)
The point of the Sallie Mae study was (as they put it) to "underscore the importance of educating college students about using credit effectively, weighing their spending decisions and considering their source of borrowing."
I think they're right to sound an alarm. There is just no way to justify putting college expenses on credit cards. The benefit will never overcome the cost. (Just click onto bankrate.com to see how many months it takes to pay off a single charge of $3,000 while only paying the minimum payment. Hint: That child you haven't even had yet might be graduating high school.)
But I can't agree with Sallie Mae that our emphasis should be on teaching people to "use credit effectively." I've seen and heard about enough broken homes, working-to-pay-off-the-student-loans mommies and got-no-choices-for-the-next-ten-years lives to say wholeheartedly — It isn't worth it. Just don't use unsecured credit.
If you can only afford college with credit cards, then you can't afford college right now. That doesn't mean forever. But it does mean for right now. And if you're already running on the hamster wheel of repayment (for loans or credit cards), take heart. Fight that debt for all you're worth and get that millstone off your neck.
Trust me. That diploma feels a whole lot better without Sallie Mae or VISA cracking the whip on your back.
I've been busy. Perhaps too busy. I've had to make decisions about what to let fall between the cracks. And sometimes things just fall through the cracks all by themselves. Innumerable things bob unfinished in my wake, victims of my crowded schedule.
Communicating with authors, writing contracts, consulting our legal and orthodoxy departments, editing articles, creating article imagery, writing blog posts, enduring meetings, updating our archive, trying to debug Citrix and FTP, prototyping forthcoming new media features, trying to send a digitized copy of Ted Hughes' "Snow" to George Halitzka, resolving invoice issues, approving Facebook friend requests, considering unsolicited articles and press releases, forwarding Boundless Answers questions to either Candice or John, responding to some incoming constituent e-mails, making flight and hotel arrangements for my trip to the NEXT conference ... among other things. And that's just this week.
And I have home stuff too, of course, just like you.
Some of it I do well. Some I do adequately. All of it I do amid a packed schedule.
And in the back of my mind I hear a still small voice, the transcendent voice of God that gives meaning to all these particulars. The Spirit whose character -- His love, His faithfulness, His rest -- is a comforting constant during all this flux.
I'm so preoccupied with all these trees: the birches, the oaks, the maples, the aspens; though I too often can't see the forest, I know it's there, and take comfort that He holds these vast wilds, together with its wild creatures, in His hands.
Rachel Starr Thomson knows this tension, between a physical world and its demands and the steady eternality of a spiritual world. In today's featured Boundless Webzine article, "A Walk Across the Water," she writes about "living on a higher plain than all this busywork, about doing the work as worship." She continues:
Transcendence. So often I grow comfortable here, distracted in my busyness, secure in my surroundings. I forget that life is a vapor in the wind -- that I am walking, not on solid ground, but on water.
Often, too, I am overwhelmed by the hardships that life can present. But comfortable or not, I need constantly to transcend circumstances. Why? Because I am in the world, but I am not of it. I come from a better world. I go to a better world. For a while, I'm living the reality of that better world -- by faith -- here.
May I become more aware of that better world, as I continue striving to fulfill my calling in this one. And may this heavenly destiny provide equilibrium and motivation as I engage this earthly journey.
I saw a picture of my childhood in Peggy Noonan's latest column for the Wall Street Journal: A small sign of the times: USA Today this week ran an article about a Michigan family that, under financial pressure, decided to give up credit cards, satellite television, high-tech toys and restaurant dining, to live on a 40-acre farm and become more self-sufficient. The Wojtowicz family—36-year-old Patrick, his wife Melissa, 37, and their 15-year-old daughter Gabrielle—have become, in the words of reporter Judy Keen, "21st century homesteaders," raising pigs and chickens, planning a garden and installing a wood furnace.
I guess you could say my parents were 20th century homesteaders. Back in 1977 as the economy turned bad, my dad decided to move our family to the country. He bought just under an acre of land and set out to live a simpler, self-sufficient life. Like the Wojtowicz family, we had a garden, pigs, chickens, and a wood-burning heating solution. We also planted grapevines and lots of fruit trees. Many nights, the food on our table either came from the garden or dad's gun (we ate inordinate amounts of venison). My brothers and I didn't always enjoy this life. There were many mornings we didn't want to get up and go out in the dark to feed the animals (especially with the rats that often slept in the corn barrel we had to scoop from). We didn't like running out on cold nights to get wood to heat the house. We didn't like mowing around all our fruit trees. While our peers played Atari and watched cable TV, we walked through chicken poop to collect eggs and sweated our way through endless work projects. We couldn't help but notice that once my brothers and I left home, our parents got a riding lawnmower, central heat and air and a dishwasher. Apparently, the self-sufficiency model works best when you have lots of helpful hands around. I can't know how my life would have turned out if my dad hadn't moved us out to the country, but I sense that it was one of the most important decisions he ever made. We never had a lot of money, but we found a lot of wealth in all the life, hard work and agrarian character of our little place on earth. We didn't have to look up what the Bible meant when Jesus talked about vines, pruning, sowing, reaping, weaning, harvests, and all that other earthy stuff He used as examples. My experience of life in the country is still in my bloodstream. Not long ago, it inspired my to write some thoughts in my journal about the tug I feel back to the countryside. Here's a portion of that entry: ...I need a fence that needs mending as it meanders from the road to a home tucked between bushes and trees in a row. I need a place with a cadence of work and of fun and a calling of purpose when the day has begun. I need a place that each season has new things to do so that years later it's still something new...and refreshing.
Maybe that "need" isn't so crazy.
I used to think of my Christian walk like this: In some metaphorical sense I was creating a tapestry with my life, each day contributing a bit more to it. And at the end of my days, these threads of my life would become a gift to the Lord, the simple daily acts of kindness and obedience that I had weaved together made beautiful by Christ.
Today I was thinking about this again, after reading tomorrow's featured Boundless article, "The Glory of Little Things," by Jason Boyett. And another metaphor came to mind: My Christian walk is like a gradually growing financial investment, something to which I contribute a bit every day; it's not like winning the lottery or being given a windfall. In other words, the richness of life, its real value and significance, is found in engaging small everyday things, not in the flash-in-the-pan grandiosities.
Clearly my metaphors are lacking. So here's my proposal: Head over to the Webzine, read the article, and then share your own metaphor below. You could even share, like, a simile if you're so inspired.
Researchers have found that college students who use Facebook make a grade lower than their peers who shun the site. And you don't need to be a Rhodes Scholar to figure out why. It's because they're too distracted with friending, updating, chatting, poking, flairing, and sharing.
“Our study shows people who spend more time on Facebook spend less time studying,” said Aryn Karpinski, a researcher in the education department at Ohio State University. “Every generation has its distractions, but I think Facebook is a unique phenomenon.” ...
The Ohio report shows that students who used Facebook had a “significantly” lower grade point average -- the marking system used in US universities -- than those who did not use the site.
A student in the UK shares her story of how distracting -- and destructive -- it can be.
Daisy Jones, 21, an undergraduate in her final year at Loughborough University, realised the time she was spending on Facebook was threatening her grades -- prompting her to deactivate her account.
“I was in the library trying to write a 2,000-word essay when I realised my Facebook habit had got out of hand,” she said.
“I couldn’t resist going online. You do that, then someone’s photo catches your eye. Before you know it, a couple of minutes has turned into a couple of hours and you haven’t written a thing.” Jones is among the few to have recognised the risks. According to Karpinski’s research, 79% of Facebook-using students believed the time they spent on the site had no impact on their work.
That "a couple of minutes has turned into a couple of hours" thing affects more than just students. Pursuits ranging from work to Bible study to homemaking to family time can suffer from an unchecked Facebook habit.
The first time I heard about it was this weekend. I was doing a little research for summer vacation plans and saw it: "Sign your child up for summer camp now! If you lose your job, we'll provide a scholarship to cover the cost!"
Then, this morning I saw a quick clip about it on the news: "Go ahead and buy that new car! If you lose your job, they'll cover your payments!"
So, I've been introduced to the new way to boost sales in a slacking economy: Job Loss Protection.
Seems, it may have started with Hyundai, who first offered customers the right to return their cars to the dealership -- no questions, no repercussions -- if the customers lost their income. They then upped the ante, offering customers who lose their jobs "payment relief" for 3 months (nice for transportation while looking for another job) and then the "return with no strings" if things don't work out.
Now, not only are GM and Ford following suit (sort of), but even some home builders and mortgage companies are getting in on the "Job Loss Protection" action.
Seems consumers may be biting, because Hyundai was one of the only automakers to report a sales increase in January.
"We were looking at what would get people off the fence," said Jeff Cook, president and chief operating officer of a company offering this protection on condos. "It's thinking outside the box."
It certainly is outside the box and kudos to these marketing guys for reading the pulse of consumers so well. But I couldn't help but wonder if a little healthy fear and a little healthy pause (even, maybe, a large healthy pause) before making large purchases like autos and homes is still a good thing.
Maybe a little more fence sitting is exactly what more of us need.
Because, after all, the Bible makes two things perfectly clear about debt. First, the borrower is a slave. Second, you will pay back what you borrow. Lessons to us? First, I want to be extraordinarily careful before willingly placing myself into a situation the Bible describes as bondage. Second, I'm going to make mighty sure that even when the potholes of life come, I can still pay the debt back.
That might take a lot of forms. For my husband and I, we work intentionally to be debt free. We only take out debt on appreciating assets (sadly, Hyundais don't qualify) and, even then, only with a generous margin of safety for emergency situations, crazy real estate markets and acts of God. We keep an "emergency fund" of three to six months of income.
We routinely run "financial fire drills" asking ourselves: What happens if he loses his job or I get really sick or our real estate market tanks? Are we covered? How long can we make it? Do we have some wiggle room? Or, would we be in trouble the first month because our car payment was due and we didn't have the money to cover it?
These "Job Loss Protection" programs are inventive. And they may get some to jump off the fence. But my advice? Just keep sitting for a while. Do your own fire drill. If you are just a couple of months of unemployment away from financial ruin, maybe it's time to put the car ads down and kick the saving up.
I know Suzanne has already blogged about today’s article, but I’m going to add my $.02. (I hope it's not overkill.)
I recently deactivated my Facebook account. It was freeing. Freeing because I didn’t have to respond to the 20 something wall posts that had accumulated on my page. Freeing because I’m no longer tempted to sneak a peek at my page during work time. But it also freed me to pursue real relationships. Maybe you have energy to maintain all your Facebook friendships and have an active social life, but I don’t.
Unlike Tim and Suzanne, my relationship with Facebook wasn’t so much a detriment to my relationship with God as it was to my relationships with other people. You know, real people not their profiles.
I moved to Colorado Springs in January and it’s been a bit of an adjustment. For someone who grew up in a small agricultural community the transition to a large mega-church metropolis is a little overwhelming. When I went to the grocery store at home, I seriously knew every person on every aisle. Our community was just that small. I think there are more grocery stores in the Springs than there are people in my hometown. And since I can’t buy a loaf of bread to meet my familiarity needs these days, I run to Facebook.
Over the past couple months I have slowly identified my Facebook motives: loneliness and laziness. When I’m checking out people’s pages and writing on their walls I have a false sense of connectedness. (I’m not trying to discredit all electronic communication. I think emails and sometimes Facebook messages are genuine ways of connecting.)
But for me, it had created a false feeling of community. I needed to shut my Macbook and call a friend for coffee.
Tim Sweetman admits, “As the day progressed, I found myself talking to people more through technology than face-to-face.” Like Tim, I had more essay length emails with long-distance friends than I had conversations with face-to-face friends. That’s changing. And it’s draining at times since most of my face-to-face friends are relatively new and new friendships require work. But the reward of real relationships is worth the work.
What about you? Does Facebook enhance your friendships or weaken them?
Boundless got an e-mail from Tim. Tim is a college student who decided to invest some money in the stock market and, within a few days, saw an over 10 percent return on his investment. Now, he's wondering about day trading:
"Do you think wagering money for short periods of time on the stock market is biblical? Would you even consider day trading a real job or is it a scheme people use to hopefully get rich without exerting effort? How would I not let greed get the best of me and put God first even in the stock market?"
Those are several good questions. Let me answer by asking and answering a few key points.
First, is investing biblical at all? Randy Alcorn, in Money, Possessions and Eternity, writes:
"Scripture doesn't directly teach that we should invest, but it does provide illustrations of investing, including real estate ventures (Proverbs 31:16). Jesus speaks illustratively of investing in such a way as to gain financial returns (Matthew 25:14-29; Luke 19:12-26). This suggests that He approves of wise investments, and it certainly indicates He doesn't forbid investing. His injunctions to invest in eternity, by laying up treasures in heaven rather than on earth, puts in perspective our earthly investments but does not preclude them."
Alcorn points out that "investing doesn't simply bring profits to the investor (sometimes it doesn't even do that). It also profits the business in which we have invested." In other words, our investment money actually performs a good in our economy -- it provides capital for businesses to start, improve or expand.
Second, if investing is allowed, is all investing allowed? The answer, pretty obviously, is no.
- We should carefully consider what industries we may be funding with our investment dollars.
- We should only invest money we can afford to lose (no borrowed money).
- We should consider carefully the reasons for our investing. (Investing to multiply your assets to provide for your family or to give? Or because of greed, envy and impatience?)
Third, if some investing, but not all, is allowed -- where does day trading fit into that? For me, there are three questions that pop into my mind.
- Is day trading gambling? I thought it was really interesting that Tim used the word "wagering" to describe day trading. Of course, all investments involve risk. And one could easily argue that there are whole industry segments based on "guessing" or "betting" the future (fuel hedges, gas trading, commodities, etc.). But, in our personal finances, isn't there a difference between investing because of sound business fundamentals and investing because you think the psychology of the market will jump your stock 5 points in 24 hours? Randy Alcorn writes about the difference between investing and gambling:
"There's a difference between reasonable risks and gambling. Gambling is a shortcut to God's created pattern of working to earn money. In gambling, wealth isn't distributed on the basis of work, service, or personal need, only by chance."
- Is my work productive or parasitic? In many fields of work, there seems to be a sliding scale from productiveness to parasitic. For example, my local bank may loan money to build small businesses. Productive (possibly). There is also a strip mall store in my town that provides payday loans, mostly to the poor, at outrageous interest rates. That's parasitic. An honest landlord concerned about providing service for his leasors. Productive. A slumlord. Parasitic. A stay-at-home mom working hard for her family. Productive. A stay-at-home mom whose only interests are working out, shopping and using the nanny for twelve hours a day. Parasitic. You get the idea. Where does day trading fit into that? Does it provide a good, like investing has the potential to, or does it simply feed off the work of others?
- Is day trading based around the quick buck? We're warned several times in Scripture that "he who works his land will have abundant food...but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished" and "he who gathers money little by little makes it grow." I do not day trade, so I have no experience in this area. But it does seem from observation that few activities are as centered around the quick buck as this one.
I'm reminded of the 1987 movie Wall Street. As his son faces jail for stock fraud, the character Carl Fox (played by Martin Sheen) tells him "Stop going for the easy buck and start producing something with your life. Create, instead of living off the buying and selling of others."
In the Boundless article, "Working out a Theology of Work", John Piper is quoted as saying, "the essence of our work as humans must be that it is done in conscious reliance on God's power, and in conscious quest of God's pattern of excellence, and in deliberate aim to reflect God's glory." So, can you do that, Tim? Can you day trade in quest of God's pattern of excellence and in deliberate aim to reflect His glory? I think there are enough biblical principles in question to at least give you pause. Serious pause.
I have a lot of respect for Pastor David Wilkerson. I'm inspired by his moving to New York in the late 1950s to minister to gang members and drug addicts, a story recounted in The Cross and the Switchblade. I also admire his current activities, serving as a pastor of Times Square Church in NYC.
So when I came across his "urgent message" a couple of days ago, in which he warned that "an earth-shattering calamity is about to happen," I didn't immediately dismiss it as the incendiary words of a madman.
In part, he explained:
For ten years I have been warning about a thousand fires coming to New York City. It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires -- such as we saw in Watts, Los Angeles, years ago.
There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting -- including Times Square, New York City. What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God’s wrath.
He doesn't ask for money, but provides practical counsel on how to prepare:
- Gather a 30-day supply of non-perishable food, toiletries and other essentials.
- Fix your eyes on the Lord, trusting in His loving care over His people.
Regardless whether we're about to face calamity or not, both these words of advice seem fairly reasonable. For example, the U.S. government recommends that we keep several days' worth of food and water on hand, in case of emergencies. And it's always the right time to place your faith in the Lord.
This isn't the first catastrophic vision Wilkerson has had. In 1973, for example, he published The Vision, in which he predicted worldwide economic confusion, an increase in floods and hurricanes, a fall in moral conduct, an acceptance of homosexuality, a new drug popular with teens that will break down resistance and will encourage sexual activity, the ordination of gay and lesbian ministers, a spiritual awakening behind the Iron Curtain and Bamboo Curtain ... and a nuclear bomb detonating in New York City.
I honestly don't know what to think of Wilkerson's vision. He doesn't claim to be a "prophet," but rather simply a Christian to whom the Lord has communicated certain things. This is not an unbiblical perspective; while God primarily speaks to us through Scripture, He has communicated to humans outside of Scripture as well.
And people have gone from prosperity to need in a very short period of time; Katrina showed us that. Or consider Zimbabwe: It used to be the "Breadbasket of Africa," churning out more food than they could eat; now they are starving and impoverished. America, long-blessed by God, is not immune from the suffering that most of the world is currently experiencing.
As for me, I'm not going to panic. That's pointless, and faith-less. I may keep my pantry full, and have a few bottles of water on hand. That seems prudent, regardless of whether the "crisis" is a power outage, a truckers' strike, or a regional disaster. And I will certainly aspire to become more sober in my efforts to place my trust in the Lord.
A Zogby survey released yesterday says the tough economy is leading people to trim their budgets. Zogby found young adults leading the trimming -- especially in entertainment and education plans:
Younger adults are most likely to say they have cut back - 76% of those age 18-29 are spending less on entertainment, compared to 55% of those age 65 and older who say the same.
Nearly one in 10 (9%) have chosen to not pursue their educational plans or have changed their plans due to the cost - 13% of those younger than age 30 said the economy has put the pinch on their education plans in the past year.
How are you doing in those two categories these days?
My first confession is that I saw the movie, Confessions of a Shopaholic.
My second is that I liked it.
I confess these things knowing full well that I will be the receipient of scorn. After all, it wasn't high art. It didn't have an intricately crafted script or inventive cinematography or brilliant acting. It wasn't produced by a church. It was cotton-candy McFluff.
I have nothing to say in my defense except that every once in a while a girl just likes a cheeseburger. And, for this girl, if she can have it with a small side of financial wisdom ... all the better.
Of course, maybe, I was just thrilled, like Motte, to watch something where I didn't have to close my eyes during the course of the film. But I think, more than anything, was the fact that I could relate to Rebecca Bloomwood, the main character.
Now, I'm not a shopaholic. Much more likely I'm a debt-a-phobic. But as the opening scene unfolded, with young Rebecca's thrifty parents pleased as punch over her plain, ordinary, painfully useful brown shoes while Rebecca saw the other girls squealing with delight over their glittering pink ones, who couldn't relate? Just because I work to be debt-free, doesn't mean I don't understand the lure of pretty shoes.
As my daughter tells me when trying to explain why her favorite color is "rainbow sparkly," "it's because it's so beautiful, Mommy." We all want to be beautiful. Maybe shoes aren't our thing, but we understand the desire. It's not that we want to be runway perfect. We just want daddies who delight in us and husbands who are satisfied with us alone.
In the movie, Rebecca describes her shopping this way:
"When I shop, the world gets better, the world is better. And then it's not anymore, and I need to do it again."
And that's the problem with earthly beauty. Our shoes get scuffed. Our hair gets out of style. Our clothes wear out. Our manicures get chipped. And we have to do it all over again. Even if we do, magically, somehow get all the plates spinning together at the same time, there's still that knowledge that someday, at some time, beauty will fade.
Rebecca's solution was to buy herself into confidence. On the way to her dream job interview, she stops to buy herself a green scarf. That scarf is perfect. It makes her, she thinks, into the person she wants to be. Yes, the perfect dream job applicant would be wearig that perfect green scarf. Never mind that she has to spread the price among multiple credit cards (because they've reached their limit) and beg the final 20 bucks off the street.
But, through the story (and her out of control credit card debt), Rebecca realizes that stereotypical--but also very biblical--wisdom that money can't buy happiness, even if it is pink and glittery.
Would that I would remember that too. That I would remember that my beauty should not come from outward adornments. Instead, it be that of my inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. Of great worth in God's sight.
How does that look in daily life? After three decades on this earth, I'm still working that out. Is it important to maintain health and attractiveness for myself and my spouse? I think so. Should it be my ruling passion? Absolutely not. How do I maintain a balance? How do I make sure that clothing myself doesn't become more important than clothing the needy? How do I maintain modesty and squelch pride and self-absorption? I think, perhaps, it starts in immersing myself in God's perspective of beauty.
At the end of the movie, Rebecca repents from her high-spending ways and has a giant, designer garage sale to pay back her debt. When the movie was over, I gave a little chuckle and then headed to the store to return some new black boots. Yeah, they were on clearance. But I just didn't need them. And, all of a sudden, they just weren't that pretty anymore.
Has the economic crisis given you pause about how you steward time and money? Has it given you a new appreciation for what you have that has (to your surprise) replaced the desire for more? Russell D. Moore hopes so. Because love of money is what he believes is "one of the roots of the familial crisis all around us."
In his Touchstone article "Love, Sex & Mammon," Dr. Moore hopes the economic crisis will cause the church to reconsider her priorities. He writes,
Too many of our churches, too many of us, have made peace with the sexual revolution and the familial chaos left in its wake precisely because we made peace, long before, with the love of money. We wish to live with the same standard of living as the culture around us (there is no sin in that), but we are willing to get there by any means necessary.
And one of the means he mentions is the undue delay marriage.
Why do Christian parents, contra St. Paul's clear admonition in 1 Corinthians 7, encourage their young adult children to delay marriage, sometimes for years past the time it would take to discern whether this union would be of the Lord? Why do we smilingly tell them to wait until they "afford" it? It is because, to our shame, we deem fornication a less awful reality than financial hardship.
Other "means" include Christians driving their teenage daughters to the nearest city to get an abortion so they can have a "normal" life, pastors preaching against the sin of homosexuality but ignoring divorce for fear of losing members and their tithes, and the way we blather on about marital communication but never consider whether day care is good for children. Regarding this last means, Dr. Moore concludes,
It's because pastors know that couples would reply that they could never afford to live on the provision of the husband alone. And they're almost always right -- if living means living in neighborhoods in which they now live with the technologies they now have. Why do we never ask whether it might be better to live in a one-bedroom apartment or a trailer park than to outsource the rearing of one's children? It's because the American way of life seems so normal to us that such things do not even seem to be options at all.
Nobody knows what's going to happen with the economy. And I don't know of anyone who hopes we'll go into a depression so the church will "turn away from momentary satisfaction." But economic adjustments can be healthy when combined with a dose of self-examination. It has certainly changed my perspective. Has it affected yours?
 Dear (former) friends. I am writing to inform you that I have joined a network marketing company. I realize that this decision may cause you to terminate our friendship. I apologize for the inconvenience.
That was the e-mail I felt like writing when I decided to begin selling beauty products. My trepidation about confessing my new venture was not unwarranted. After all, one of my friends said, "It just seems like a small thing; and when I think of you, I don't think of small things."
Though I started the business as a sister-bonding endeavor, I felt awkward. As much as I loved the products I was representing, I had my own negative stereotypes of network marketing and was sure my friends did, too. And yet, I felt a peace and even a nudge to go ahead and try it.
Two-and-a-half months have passed since I started, and telling people has become easier. Mostly because everyone I've sold to has raved about the products and experienced great results. But also because through the business, God has revealed something to me about the way His Kingdom works. I wrote about it in "Lipgloss and Jesus:"
As I began to understand the tenets of the company I was serving, a surprising thing happened. I made this realization: Evangelism is essentially network marketing.
Consider the similarities:
- You have a "product" you believe in.
- You are seeking to share the results of your "product" in a way that entices others to try it.
- You are seeking to duplicate yourself in other "believers" in order to get the word out more effectively.
As I considered the factors that made this particular company successful (with 100 percent growth per year for the past five years), I realized that they relied heavily on the principles of evangelism outlined in Scripture. In fact, I could not ignore the parallels.
I have been shocked by the depth of what the Lord has taught me through something as seemingly superficial as selling beauty products. Another friend of mine, upon hearing about my discoveries confirmed how it directly related to her plight of fundraising for the mission field.
Becoming a beauty product peddler actually revived my passion for evangelism. And so I think my friend was mistaken. What I am doing is not a "small thing." What about you? What ordinary ventures has God used to teach you His truth?
One of my favorite episodes of the King of Queens was when Doug discovered that Carrie maintains an inordinately expensive wardrobe of designer clothes. Laughter and hijinks ensued. But according to this study, women hiding clothing purchases from their husbands is a real problem in the US.
[M]ore couples in the US are hiding purchases from their partners: This year about 23% reported doing so, vs. 18% in 2008. For the second year in a row, clothing is by far the most likely purchase that women will hide from their partners, according to the survey.
Becoming financially "one" in marriage is challenging, particularly during economic downturns when budgets are tight. That's when disagreement over purchases, big and small, can spark regretful arguments. Starbucks causes the most spats in my marriage. It's amazing how much sin a cup of coffee can stir up (suspicion and envy come to mind).
One thing you can do is agree on a monthly allowance for each spouse to make guilt-free purchases. The trick, however, is agreeing on the amount of the allowance.
The trend watchers at Iconoculture made a great point earlier this week -- we can get the economy chugging again by going back to the hyper consumerism so many of us lived by only months ago, but that wouldn't be good for the long run.
Writing on the Iconoculture blog, Hans Eisenbeis talks about a conversation he heard between two men outside the Minneapolis public library about the "upside of unemployment":
"I'm spending more time with my family, and we're just hanging out — doing old-fashioned stuff like playing board games and cards." His unmarried friend was incredulous. "Well, you don't need a ruined economy to do that!"
But it seemed to me the bachelor was missing the point, and the family man was reading my mind: "Losing my job made me rewrite my whole budget, which made me realize that working hard in order to spend hard meant a lot of sacrifices. For what? Less time, more junk, deeper debt." The bachelor thought a moment, and then said, "Dude, it's people like you who are making the recession longer and harder for everyone."
That's true. The economies of countries throughout the world have been fueled by lots of spending and debt. The goal of various stimulus packages has been to get people spending again. Eisenbeis continues:
The bachelor might have been correct from a macroeconomic point of view — economists call it the paradox of thrift: The less consumers spend, the longer the recovery. But who could blame the family man for looking out for number one? Consumers of every income level are realizing that getting tougher on the budget has a lot of upside. They get their finances in order, build on a more solid economic foundation for the future and, yes, recommit to core beliefs without the distractions of debt-driven consumerism. Will that delay recovery? Yes. But when recovery comes, we'll not likely see another Great Recession in our lifetimes.
Candice and I have been enjoying Andy Stanley's sermon series called "Balanced" (you can find it online in the cover flow menu at http://www.northpoint.org/messages). It's ideal for anyone looking for a Biblically wise approach for building on the "more solid economic foundation" Eisenbeis described.
As a follow up to my post yesterday about uninsured young adults, it seems that that last part about 20-somethings taking better care of themselves was merely anecdotal and not representative of the entire demographic. According to a report released yesterday by the CDC, the "young invincibles" partake in all kinds of risky behaviors.
From CNN's article detailing the CDC report:
The perception is that 20-somethings are youthful and robust, in the peak of their health.
But a report released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that young adults have their fair share of health woes.
A third of 18- to 29-year-olds, a demographic the insurance industry calls "young invincibles," are cigarette smokers. A quarter are obese, as the rates among young adults have tripled in the past three decades. Nearly two-thirds of young adults reported not having regular leisure-time physical activity.
Though there's one type of "leisure-time physical activity" young adults seem to have regularly, unmarried sex. And here are the consequences,
According to the CDC's 2008 statistics on the nation's health, 45 percent of young women between the ages of 20 and 24 in the United States were infected with human papillomavirus, which can cause cervical cancer, in 2003-04.
This is problematic for people who don't regularly get medical care, said Shu, who is also a pediatrician with the Children's Medical Group in Atlanta, Georgia.
"The prevalence of HPV -- that's just one sexually transmitted infection," she said. "There's so many others that are very common in young women. A lot of women don't get tested, because many of them don't cause symptoms. There are hidden illnesses that they don't realize, because they don't feel sick."
Here are more risky behaviors reported by the CDC:
- Almost 40 percent of adults 18 to 20 years of age, about one-third of 21- to 25-year-olds and a quarter of 26- to 29-year-olds reported using an illicit drug in the past year.
- One-fifth of young adults reported having five or more drinks in a day on at least 12 days in the past year.
- Young adults also have one of the highest rates of injury-related emergency department visits of all age groups.
For the sake of argument, I'm going to assume that the lascivious, illicit drug taking, alcoholic, overweight smoking crowd aren't Boundless readers ... per se. But it's interesting stuff none-the-less.
What do you think? Do 20-somethings have relatively healthy or relatively unhealthy lifestyles?
I've had an arthritic condition called Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) since I was 22 years old. I didn't have health insurance until age 26. I simply lived with the pain for the four years in-between. It's what a lot of 20-somethings do without health insurance.
According to the latest figures from the Commonwealth Fund reported by the New York Times, young adults are the nation's largest group of uninsured. They're called "'young invincibles' — people in their 20s who shun insurance either because their age makes them feel invulnerable or because expensive policies are out of reach." What they do instead is,
... borrow leftover prescription drugs from friends, attempt to self-diagnose ailments online, stretch their diabetes and asthma medicines for as long as possible and set their own broken bones. When emergencies strike, they rarely can afford the bills that follow.
Here's one testimony from a New York "invincible":
In dozens of interviews around the city, these so-called young invincibles described the challenge of living in a high-priced city on low-paying jobs, where staying healthy is one part scavenger hunt and one part balancing act, with high stakes and no safety net.
"For a lot of people, it's a choice between being able to survive in New York and getting health insurance," said Hogan Gorman, an actress who was hit by a car five years ago and chronicled her misadventures in "Hot Cripple," a one-woman show that was a hit at last summer's Fringe Festival. "There was no way that I could pay my rent, buy insurance and eat."
Maybe the "Hot Cripple" wasn't familiar with the Federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which requires hospitals to treat everyone who comes into the ER regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay.
Seriously, I'm not sure the situation is as dire as the article makes out. When I developed Iritis (a condition related to AS), I went to the local Federally-funded health center and was treated for about $40. If I didn't have a job, it probably would have been free. These "[h]ealth centers are in most cities and many rural areas" and do not require health insurance.
I guess if there's one silver lining it's that young adults with no insurance are taking better care of themselves.
[Levon] Aaron was one of several young adults who said living without insurance meant trying to take better care of themselves.
"I've stopped eating fast food," said Santiago Betancour, who is 19 and lives in Rosedale, Queens. "I’m eating rice, vegetables and fruits. And when I get sick, I exercise to sweat it off."
That's what I'm talking about, Levon.
Jenny Schroedel's "Dream Home Revisited" is a "just-in-time" article. Just in time for my latest round of stress over having to clean (again) the piles of clutter our kids have constructed (again). I thought I had my hands full-to-overflowing with housework. Then I read about Jenny's present existence.
Whew.
I feel tired just thinking about the overgrown gardens (I can imagine them creeping in through the windows) and the bathtub sized sink. Suddenly my workload feels more manageable. If you're frustrated by your too-small, under-decorated living space, I think you'll welcome her perspective. She writes:
Last summer, some of our friends had to move back to the mainland suddenly. Their beautiful home had been on the market a year, and while they wanted to keep it on the market, they didn't want to leave it empty. In Hawaii, empty homes fill with mold and pests — nature just takes over. So they asked us if we might consider living there and paying a reduced rent in exchange for caretaking the home and yard, and also being available to show it.
The house has everything we could have hoped for and imagined, and it has been a great joy to host so many guests, to watch the sun rise over the mountains and set over the Pacific, and to jump with the kids on the in-ground trampoline. We love living on a quiet mountain road, amongst the coffee fields, taking carrots to the horses down the street every evening and waking to the sound of roosters crowing.
But I have to say that within a few days of moving in, I was shocked to discover one of the harsh realities of inhabiting a luxury home: It is a lot of work! If you lack staff (or in our case, if you are the staff) you might on average have about 15 minutes a day to actually enjoy the home. Should you add an adventurous toddler like Natalie and a puppy to the mix, you might have to cut that figure down to about 4.5 minutes.
Having downsized from a home we realized we had overbought, I can appreciate the feeling that you're in over your head. Still, I can never seem to be reminded too much that whatever we have, it's enough.
William Lobdell worked for eight years covering the religion beat for the LA Times. More recently, he has written a book, Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America -- And Found Unexpected Peace.
Lobdell now states that he "reluctantly, no longer believes in God." Today on his blog, Lobdell poses a question, "Do Christians and atheists act differently?" He points to stats about divorce and racism in the church, but camps more on what proclaiming Christians do with their money:
"[E]vangelical Christians give more to charity. But there’s a catch. Evangelicals believe that the Bible commands them to give 10% to the church/charity. In fact, only 8% of evangelicals tithe. And on average, they give about 3% to the church/charity (down from 6% in 1968). Yes, it’s more than atheists, but nothing to brag about."
In a World magazine article titled "Profound Witness," Lobdell is quoted as saying, "Evangelicals don't give anywhere near 10 percent of their income to charity. Only a very few, often on the fringes of mainstream or evangelical Christianity, behave with their money as if they believe the Gospel is actually true."
The article's authors point to research that shows that Lobdell is half-right. Evangelical Christians are far and away the most generous Americans, but we fall far short of the biblically commanded tithe that most churches teach.
Still, I'd have to agree with Lobdell that the church has nothing to brag about. In the World article, Randy Alcorn, the author of several books on Christians and their money, called these statistics "a shame" and said that Christians' giving is a "powerful witness of the gospel" and "the greatest form of evangelism." Alcorn believes that in tough financial times, our giving can be an even more powerful witness:
"For one thing, in tough times Christian charity is needed all the more. For another, the testimony of that giving is even more profound. Giving in tough times tells the world that it is God's providence, not a large checking account, that is the source of our sustenance and security."
There's a real temptation in financially skittish times to hold tighter to our money and give less. But, I have to ask myself, what will holding onto it accomplish? More than likely it will cultivate my love of it and send the world a very powerful testimony that I don't believe the Gospel is true. That I don't believe my God can fulfill His promise.
That would be a shame.
When I first moved to Colorado several years ago, I can remember something catching my eye. It was long stretches of, what appeared to me, random fencing alongside the highways. You'd be driving along and all of sudden there were several hundred feet of mesh wire fencing, held in place by large metal stakes running alongside the highway.
"What on earth are those for?" I asked a new Colorado friend.
"The snow," she answered.
My quizzical look made her smile. It was a bright autumn day without a cloud in the sky.
"The snow?" I asked. "There's no snow."
"But there will be," she said. She went on to explain that the fencing was placed in strategic positions so that when hard snows came, they would drift behind the fencing rather than landing on the highway and shutting it down.
I thought of that when reading a financial article the other day. It was one of those "Handling finances amid hard times" kind of things--giving advice on how to make it through tough economic times. But as I read one bullet point after another, I kept thinking, "It's a little late to be telling people to build the fences when the snow is already coming down."
Still. There was some good financial advice there--along with some questionable. So, here's the author's bullet point suggestions and the running dialogue in my head:
- Eliminate debt. Always good advice, but much easier to do in the fat times than the lean ones. It makes me think of carrying around a 50 pound weight on my shoulders. It's easier to carry when I'm well fed and healthy. Not so easy when I'm malnourished and weak. Better to throw it off when I've got the strength. Either way, it needs to be gone.
- Track your spending. Agree. Ever have the feeling, "I just don't know where all my money goes?" Then it's important to take control of your spending. My hubbie and I have all thirteen years of our married spending on computer. Some is encouraging. Some is not. When my "Dining Out" budget is staring me in the face, I suddenly know exactly where my money is going--to chicken chimichangas. But you can start smaller--like with a notebook and a commitment to record every dime you spend for 30 days.
- Build an emergency fund. Do this yesterday. Without a cushion, any fall you take is going to be a hard one.
- Consider refinancing. Not so sure about this one. In full disclosure, I have refinanced my mortgage (about two years ago). If you have little debt, are giving, have savings, plan to stay in your house 5 more years, and refinancing will save you money, go for it. If not, refinancing may not be your solution. Downsizing may be your solution.
- Invest in yourself and your family. "Go back to school, get an advanced degree or continue your professional education," the article proclaimed. "You can never go wrong investing in yourself." Not necessarily. Take the guy on the radio yesterday who "invested" $90,000 in student loans to get a bachelor's degree in Spanish. Now he pays $750 a month for 20 years for a degree that is only earning him about $30K. Every investment has to be carefully weighed against its return. This did not sound like a good one. I'm all for continuing education, but I do a lot of mine through the public library. Learning new skills and staying marketable while working hard seems wise. Getting layed off and deciding to let Sallie Mae finance your furlough, maybe not so much.
The thing about those Colorado snow fences is that they stood useless until needed. But good financial stewardship reaps rewards in the good times and the challenging ones.
This morning I was reading the online version of our city's newspaper, and came across the following sentence about a local school district:
Falcon has an $80 million budget and 12,700 students.
I did the math. That's $6,300 per student per year.
My wife and I are going to be homeschooling our three-so-far kids. What could we do for over $18,000 per year, I wonder.
Then I did a bit of googling. The average national cost of educating kids is reported to be $9,295 per pupil per year.
And then I discovered that this $9,295 figure is inaccurately low; it doesn't take into account, for example, money spent on teachers' retirement programs, school building depreciation and repair, teacher preparation programs, and so on.
The Cato Institute crunched the numbers and found the cost of public education to be closer to $11,000 per student. In Washington, D.C., they found costs to be over $24,000 per student.
I don't know if this is relevant to you. You may not have children yet, or may not pay much in taxes. Some day, though, you probably will.
As for me, someone with three girls destined to be educated, someone who pays thousands of dollars per year in taxes of all kinds, I'm stunned. And left thinking More money for public education? I don't think so.
Again, I find myself wondering what I could do with that much money per year for each of my children.
In hard economic times, people give things up: eating out, lattes and...divorce. According to this article on MSN fewer people are splitting up in a slow economy.
The recession and economic turmoil is creating a new class of casualties: married couples who can't afford to get divorced. In these tough times, many people are finding it's cheaper to stay together, even when they can't stand each other.
"The reason that the economy has such an enormous impact on divorce is that most people in the middle-income brackets are getting by on whatever income they have. They're just getting by," said Bonnie Booden, a family-law and divorce attorney in Phoenix.
A major factor in the divorce downturn, Booden said, is that divorcing couples have to establish two households with current funds -- sometimes a prohibitive factor in hard economic times.
I find it sad that the author refers to those who can't afford divorce as casualties. I'm not naïve to his meaning, but excluding abusive situations, casualty -- "a person or thing injured, lost, or destroyed" according to Websters -- seems like the wrong word. This perspective views a difficult marriage as a threat to personal happiness. Well, yeah. But that's why vows include "for better, for worse."
My friend who posted a link to this article on his Facebook page noted how it's troubling that the author would speak of marriage in such a disposable and unflattering way. I agree. God commands lifelong covenant marriage for a reason. The true casualties are the men, women and children affected by the pain of divorce.
'Tis the season for New Year's resolutions and at least one money management related item makes my list each year. That's why I was interested to read this article on MSN about six financial milestones you should hit before age 30.
Some were expected: own a home (or have a plan to own a home), know your personal priorities and set your budget accordingly and reduce credit card debt. Always a good reminder. Sarah Young Fisher, [president of financial-planning firm Kuntz Lesher Capital in Lancaster, Pa.] says a 30-year-old needs to be "living on your paycheck" Sarah Young Fisher, 53, president of financial-planning firm Kuntz Lesher Capital in Lancaster, Pa. getting by without taking on credit card debt — and saving at least 10 percent of total salary for the future. "If not," she says, "you're not going be able to retire."
Several of the milestones were not as obvious. For example: Have skills. (Anyone else thinking Napoleon Dynamite? "Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills. You know, like nunchuku skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills...") The article points out that developing a set of marketable yet unique skills sets you up for career success. Even for those who do not consider themselves entrepreneurs, most workers should expect multiple changes in employers and job titles throughout their careers. "By time you're 30, you should develop a set of marketable skills," says Gregg Fisher, 35, founder of Gerstein Fisher, a New York financial-planning firm. "Try to bring something new to the table."
The model of working for the same company for 30 years and retiring with a gold watch is now two generations out of date, says Fisher, who founded his firm — which serves mostly clients under age 45 — at age 21.
Today's workers must differentiate themselves in order to survive and thrive, Fisher says. "Everyone's really self-employed. If you work for a company, you just have one client," he says. "If they fire you, you're out of business."
Good advice. Another point that stood out to me was: Know smart people. It is important to have strong advisers in your life, Young Fisher says. Knowing a good tax preparer, financial adviser, attorney and insurance agent can save you untold amounts of money and stress. "When you do need someone, get someone good," she says.
That's advice straight from Proverbs: "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed." Intelligence is an asset in an advisor, but so is wisdom. And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So I would add that godly advisers are as important as smart people.
Finally, the article suggests giving money away because it makes you feel good and "puts it in perspective," whatever "it" is. Again, that's just a good biblical principle, which, by the way, is about much more than feeling good. It is about perspective, though — eternal perspective. Giving more is one resolution that just may make my list this year.
This particular Detroit automobile manufacturer is in real trouble. They've produced some great vehicles, powered by cutting edge six cylinder engines: My favorite is their convertible model. But for some reason, expenses have been exceeding income, and it looks like it might go out of business.
Another Detroit-based car maker is also in trouble. For decades they've been turning out a variety of attractive vehicles. Their cars are remarkably safe and comfortable, they include advanced brake systems and transmissions, and they've been able to kick out hundreds of thousands of them per year. But it too seems destined for collapse, for some reason known only to their CEO and CFO.
A third Detroit car maker is experiencing serious problems. They've gone for the high-end customer, and gone for producing a wide variety of models, some with as many as eight cylinders. But stockholder muttering and a hostile takeover attempt seem to be destining this car company for failure.
Late-breaking news: All three car manufacturers have gone under.
The first car company above was Columbia Motors, which produced autos from 1917 to 1924. The second car company above was the Hudson Motor Car Company, which produced Hudsons from 1909 to 1957. The third auto company above was Hupmobile, which made cars from 1909 to 1940.
Indeed, hundreds of American car manufacturers have come and gone, among them Studebaker, Midland Motor Company, American Automobile and Power Company, Pierce-Arrow and Packard.
In some cases, these companies were acquired by other car manufacturers, who restructured them into something profitable. And in some cases, they just closed their doors and that was that.
In either case, American workers survived. Though it was no doubt sad to see each company fail, and to see decent people lose their jobs, life went on and other car manufacturers filled the gap. It wasn't the end of the car-making in America, and it wasn't the end of the workers' wage-earning, when these companies imploded.
Should these poorly run companies have received a bail-out by American taxpayers? Should successfully-run car companies have come to the financial rescue of these failing companies? Or was it right that we let the free market system allow success to succeed and failure to fail?
What's outside your window?
Maybe you're like me. A peek outside reveals the manicured lawns and minivans of suburban life. Or maybe you see something different, like city sidewalks full of bustle, or acres of crops and pasture.
A recent Boundless article challenged me to look for something else outside my window: the needy.
The article retold Leo Tolstoy's tale of Martin, the Russian cobbler who waited one day for a promised visit from Jesus. Throughout the day, as Martin watched and waited, he saw several needy people, invited them into his home, and fed and clothed them. At the end of the day, Jesus revealed that He did, indeed, visit Martin, but it was through the needy that Martin served.
After reading the story, I was bothered and couldn't exactly figure out why. In my most recent Boundless article, I wrote: I turned off the computer and sat for a second.
You see, God, that's a good story. Really, it is. I get it. But when I look out of my window, I just see neighbors. Not starving neighbors. Not neighbors in need of a coat. Just well-fed, well-clothed neighbors...
I had this nagging feeling that the Lord expected something of me, but I wasn't sure what it was.
After having what I called a "twenty-four hour whine to God": That next morning, as I dried my hair, I blurted it out frustration. Lord, I want to do it. I really do. If there was a young, starving mom walking just outside my window, I'd want you to show me and I'd want to help. I don't know why, but I feel like you expect me to do something. But, God, there's no one.
There, I'd said it. The words felt like they were still hanging there in the air.
There's no one.
Of course, the story didn't end there. There was someone, the Lord revealed. Someone who was, just about, right outside my window. And there were lessons for me to learn. Things like being open to on-the-spot obedient giving, developing relationships with those in need and asking the Lord where He wants me to give.
So, today you might try taking a look outside your window and asking the Lord for wisdom. He just might show you someone in need where you never expected to find him.
In an old routine, Jerry Seinfeld talked about how advertisers use sexy models to sell things -- even tool boxes. Seinfeld said that a guy who sees a model draped over a tool box in Popular Mechanics might stop and think, "Wait a second, you're saying I buy one of these toolboxes and I'll attract a woman like that? Get outta here! ... Well, maybe I'll buy the toolbox just in case."
It's easy to feel that way about Christmas. We hear every year that the greatest joys of Christmas come from giving to others, investing time with friends and family and rediscovering the wonder of God entering our world as a baby -- but we still tend to act like the best things about Christmas are the things that cost money.
Michael Craven put it well in a recent commentary: The thrust of this consumerist message is that the holiday is best enjoyed or most fully realized through the acquisition of "things." Advertisements bombard you with images of bountiful Christmas scenes where beautiful packages surround the tree, filling the room and happiness is produced upon the receipt of this or that consumer product. Credit card issuers alone (those most interested in seeing you spend what you don't have) spend more than $150 million on holiday advertising and promotions. Evidence that these messages work is found in the fact that according to Christian financial adviser, Dave Ramsey "Over 50% of Christmas shoppers will spend well over what they planned to and will go further into debt."
Craven goes on to show how elusive it can be to find joy in stuff: Americans have been conditioned to expect that happiness and satisfaction naturally flow from prosperity and the acquisition of things. That is the whole point of consumer advertising: to make you discontent with what you have by offering the expectation of an improved life through the purchase of the latest product—an expectation that very quickly eludes us after we have purchased said product.
Of course, consciously we know this is ridiculous, however, subconsciously we frequently find ourselves seduced by the lords of consumerism into believing this silliest of propositions.
Even in one of the financially tightest Christmas season in decades, we are being cajoled from every direction to make this season meaningful by using more plastic. We know better, but will we give in ... just in case?
In an effort to confiscate even more money from farm workers reduce global warming control climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency is apparently gearing up to penalize farmers impose a tax on cows.
In what reads like a parody from The Onion, the Finger Lakes Times reports that the annual proposed tax of "approximately $175 per dairy cow, $87.50 per beef cow, and $20 per hog" would affect over 90 percent of commercial farms.
I think that the government's arrogance in thinking that they can affect global temperatures by milking farmers for more money, with unintended (perhaps) consequences on the prices of food ... is a good thing.
None of us pay enough in taxes; that I've got over $20 in my wallet right now attests to the fact that I have more disposable cash than I ought. Doesn't matter that the government won't spend any of their new greenbacks on programs that'll green the environment; it's enough that they penalize farmer and consumer just to get their point across that cow flatulence (and, more-so, their burps) is damnable, and that God did a sloppy job designing them.
And I affirm that Gaia Mother Earth our planet must be worshiped served cared for, as it's clear that it's been doing poorly for the past few millennia without our help. Sing with me: "We've got the whole world in our hands...."
See, I don't even know how to talk about this issue. On one hand, this proposed tax represents the most senseless level of bureaucratic feel-good thinking I've come across in a while. And it's just laughable. On the other hand, it's just so ridiculously PC and Green that I wouldn't be surprised if the EPA started up these fines.
On top of already high fuel and feed costs, I don't know how those like Farmer Tom can continue coaxing life from the earth under the burden of this new Gaia-friendly, human-unfriendly tax.
I remember a few times when I came across money that didn't belong to me, not including those dimes in the phone book change slot or the penny in the parking lot.
When I had a paper route, I found someone's wallet in a melting snow pile near the local mall. I tracked the guy down to a nearby VA hospital and gave it to him. He was pretty happy, and gave me a small reward, as I expected he would.
I remember getting $10 extra in change once. Without thinking, I told the cashier about her mistake. No reward, beyond knowing that her drawer would reconcile at the end of her shift.
And I remember finding $20 fluttering along the side of the road while out walking with my then-girlfriend Ashleigh a few years ago. I took that as a sign that God approved of our little jaunt, and so we spent it at the movie theater. I'm glad I wasted someone else's $20.
I've heard a couple of stories lately where regular people like me find bundles of money, and then do the right thing and return the money to the rightful owner.
A teenager in Washington found $10,000 on the floor of a grocery store bathroom, and immediately turned it over to the store manager, who returned it to the owner.
And then there's the woman who found $97,000 in a restaurant bathroom, was tempted to keep it, but did the right thing and turned the money over to its owner.
Besides sparking a disturbing interest in checking out bathrooms, and the questions about why someone would carry around that much cash, I find myself wondering what I would do in a similar situation.
I think the best approach for me would be to not think about it much, and just allow my body to carry out what it knows is the right thing: return the money. I'm afraid that if I spent time thinking it over, I'd come up with all sorts of clever ways to justify keeping what doesn't belong to me.
On a previous post, a topic came up which I thought merited some discussion. The topic: Should Christians give their time and money to Christian organizations only -- or should they just give wherever they deem appropriate?
This big question is made up of a lot of little ones. Who does the Bible call us to give to -- and for what purpose? Is our giving for the exclusive purpose of relieving suffering? If so, isn't any group that relieves suffering worthy of our time and donations? Or is there another purpose to our giving? Is it enough to fill someone's belly without telling them about the bread of life?
Randy Alcorn, of Eternal Perspectives Ministry, tackles this question in #11 of his list of "Nineteen Questions to Ask Before You Give to Any Organization": 11. If this is a secular or semi-Christian organization rather than a distinctively Christian one, what are the compelling reasons for giving to it?
Secular organizations such as the United Way support many good things, along with some bad, including Planned Parenthood and its abortion agenda. But even when they do good there is a basic philosophical difference. They focus on the short term needs of people, without a view to their eternal welfare. Most of the organization's leaders and workers do not believe in Christ as God's Son, or in redemption, justification by faith, eternal life, or heaven and hell. When a woman is dying in their arms, they cannot offer her the living water she needs more than anything else.
If the only way to help people was to give to a nonchristian organization, of course I'd give to it. But it isn't. Let's do the good works in the name of Christ, for his glory.
Take two famine relief organizations working in the same area. One distributes food through local Christian churches. The other distributes food through government channels or hires locals, some of whom will be Muslims or animists. Why wouldn't I give through the one who works through the national churches? Won't God be better glorified by this, and his church more edified?
Dr. Albert Mohler addressed it when asked how Christians could respond to Hurricane Katrina and other tragedies (I've highlighted three from his list of six principles): - Give through organizations that are fully accountable to the Christian church. I prefer to give through denominational agencies that are directly accountable to their churches. I do contribute occasionally to Christian organizations that are not part of established denominations, but have an excellent track-record for faithfulness and effectiveness. [See the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability for further information on financial integrity.]
- Give where your heart is directed through prayer and informed awareness. There are countless needs and endless possibilities for worthy giving. Where does God direct your heart as you pray? What needs come most readily to your awareness?
- Give where the Great Commission impact is a priority. Jesus blessed those who give a cup of cold water "in the name of a disciple." [Matthew 10:42]. I give where I can be most assured that others will receive this gift and aid in the name of Christ and for the cause of the Gospel.
I agree with Mr. Alcorn and Dr. Mohler. My family gives our time and money to the local church first, then to a few other gospel-centered ministries. That doesn't mean that I pass by the local food bank collecting outside the grocery store, but that we reserve the majority of our resources for those who work in Christ's name.
What about you? Do you give? If you are a Christian, do you believe that the church and Christian ministries should be our priority?
I received a couple of text messages over the holiday and I was like, huh? What? I didn't even know I had given out my text, um, address ... or whatever it was they used to text me. I mean, don't you need a special account or something?
I know. Lame, right?
When I first began receiving them my immediate thoughts were, Why not just call and tell me what you want to say instead of writing a short, encrypted message on a small number keypad, which, by the way, takes forever if you're not well practiced? And doesn't it cost more money?
But then the light came on for me. I realized that texting can actually save time by helping eliminate formalities and idle chit chat. Like when you call someone and say,
Motte: Hi Chuck. How's it going?
Chuck: Ok. You?
Motte: Good. Hey listen, I was wondering (insert point of call here)
Ok. So maybe it saves more time for women than men. I guess for guys the appeal is eliminating formalities. Which, all joking aside, is a benefit.
The truth is, young adults appear to be driving text message trends among neophytes like me. Because once you realize that texting is someone's preferred method of communication, there's pressure to conform. This study showing that more and more parents of young adults are texting certainly supports that idea.
So what am I missing? Why exactly is texting so popular with the under 30 crowd? Is it knowing you can text someone whenever you want without interrupting them (and those around them) with an annoying ringtone?
I'm almost there. Honest. I'm thinking about looking into plans that include text messaging when my cell contract expires in February. I guess I just need a little shove.
The blog is quiet today. If you're like me, you may be having a hard time getting back to the daily grind after a holiday weekend. I sneaked home to Washington and surprised my parents. My family and I stayed in on Black Friday (except for the coffee run I made with my sister).
According to MSN, the economy shouldn't have a significant effect on Cyber Monday shoppers: This year, 55.8 percent of those with Internet access at work will be holiday shopping from their desks, likely during their lunch hours, according to the National Retail Federation.
Well, it's refreshing that at least some shoppers will be conscientious enough to cyber shop on their own time. Surprisingly, Cyber Monday is not the busiest online shopping day of the year. "It really ranks about fourth or fifth," said Peters of Internet Retailer. "Usually Dec. 12 to 15 are the heaviest days," and this year, Dec. 15 may be the peak day.
Why? "It's partly just people procrastinating," he said.
I can relate to that. I probably lose money each year just because I wait until the last minute to work on my gift list. I'm sure there are a few eager beavers out there who already have their Christmas shopping finished, but any great tips for the rest of us? What have been your best, most meaningful and most cost-effective gifts? What thoughts do you have for resisting the Christmas consumer crunch?
As we head into the Christmas season, businesses and charities alike are suffering from a struggling economy. We hear a lot about "belt tightening" these days. We've experienced it personally here at Focus. Giving is down. Way down. I don't consider myself a miser, but according to Culture 11, the facts aren't in my favor:
Strike 1: Churchgoers today give much less to the church than they did during the the Great Depression. In fact, fewer than 5 percent of churchgoers actually tithe 10 percent of their income; the average, according to numbers from Empty Tomb, a Christian research group that puts out annual reports on church giving, is now 3.4 percent, or 21 percent less than what dust-bowler counterparts gave during the worst of the Great Depression. Figures show that churchgoer contributions have been cascading downward since the 1960s. Religious conservatives do give more. Problem is, they only give nominally more and other groups give next to nothing.
Strike 2: Twenty- and thirty-somethings are the least likely to give. Taking a cross-section of church contributions nationwide right now, you’d see they nosedive as you move down the age spectrum. We can only hope that’ll change as today’s youth get older and wealthier, but it isn’t unreasonable to wonder about the cultural implications of sixty-year-olds who are 10 percent more likely to give to the church than are still not-so-youthful churchgoers in their forties and fifties, who, in turn, are 30 percent more likely to give than are those in their thirties, who are then 30 percent more likely to give than are twentysomethings, fewer than a third of whom give anything at all.
Strike 3: Evangelical churches tend to hoard funds. For every dollar evangelical churches now spend, they give about two cents to missions, an amazing statistic when you consider that funding missions was once paramount to evangelicals.
The conclusion: Americans and even the churchgoers among them grow ever less generous, spending their disposable income on goods that reflect a self-detached apathy toward the less fortunate. This shift will soon have real and immediate consequences—in fact, it has already.
The paradigm needs to be changed. I'm convicted by the personal charge: "spending their disposable income on goods that reflect a self-detached apathy toward the less fortunate." Ouch. There are certainly ways I, and I'm guessing all of us, could cut back to give more. Also, why not look into how your church is using its funds? Perhaps there are ways you can encourage your congregation to be more outward focused. Yes, we're in a difficult economy, but giving shouldn't be the first thing to go. Those fine men and women who continued to give during the Great Depression are a good example to us all.
HT: Justin Taylor
I appreciate the potential of poetry. I appreciate how the genre can distill feelings and thoughts into but a few words. As Paul Engle observed, "Poetry is boned with ideas, nerved and blooded with emotions, all held together by the delicate, tough skin of words."
Unsettling, these bones and nerves and blood and skin.
During my introspective college years, I scribbled down a few poems. Here's one of them.
* * *
reaching the white gardens
i stretch my legs over the sallow roadside bank
it's not so frigid and bleak today as it has been
the sky's not the gray and oppressive one of recent days
nor is it quite as dismal
now
here in the cemetery
kicking through drifts, my feet wet to the socks
i pass by iced tombstones and snow-crusted memorials
i'm not really looking for anything
but a feeling
here an oversnowed footbridge
here a burial mound hiding autumn's pine cones
here arthritic glass knuckles
cling from the crunchy skin of a leafless clicking lightning tree
rigid and chilly they grasp
lightly popping against each other
a clear drop hangs jiggling
and falls
tick
pocking the snow's surface
or sneaking down a worm tunnel it's made
before heading back, i haunch down in the snow
at the grave of someone's friend
and listen
to the ticking
A judge in England fears that young people will make bad jurors because of how they consume information saying, "They consult and refer to [the Internet]. They are not listening." He wonders if they'll become accustom to processing information in bits, unable "to endure hours and days of sitting [and] listening." He went on:
Our system of jury trials depends on 12 good men and women and true coming to court and listening to the case. Orality is the crucial ingredient of the adversarial system.
Witnesses speak and answer questions. Counsel speak and address the jury. Judges speak and give directions....
What process aimed at finding the truth between them, and enabling a jury to decide where the truth lies, will be in place in 25 years time? What will happen to our oral tradition? Should it, will it, be forced to change?
I've noticed this breakdown in communication in my own relationships. I've begun to skim conversations like I skim information on the Internet, not really listening as I should. It seems I'm hearing more and more people (my wife) ask, "Are you listening to me?"
If you're hearing that too, you might want to power down and engage in the real world a little more. The future of our judicial system just may depend on it.
 I had an interesting day flying back from Charlotte on Monday. All-said, my airport/flying time equaled 17 hours. I submit to you a schedule of my day:
11:30 a.m. (EST)—Arrive Charlotte Airport after having breakfast with my cousin. My flight won't leave until 3:30 p.m., so I rock in famous Charlotte rocking chairs.
3:30 p.m.—Take off for Dallas/Fort Worth. Have interesting conversation with Douglas from Seattle about Mars Hill Church.
5:30 p.m. (CST)—Arrive Dallas/Fort Worth. Since I have 3 hours and 15 minutes until my flight to Colorado Springs leaves, I decide to eat at Chili's.
5:50 p.m.—Chili's host seats some guy uncomfortably close to my table. Suitcase falls on uncomfortably-close guy, and I strike up a conversation. I discover guy is a 20-year-old professional slalom and long board skateboarder from Switzerland. Enjoy nice dinner conversation with now-not-so-uncomfortably-close guy.
6:30 p.m.—Say so long to new Swiss friend and head to my gate.
7:30 p.m.—Decide maybe I should check on new friend. Discover his flight to Denver is canceled. He's in line trying to rebook his flight.
8:00 p.m.—Swiss friend finds me and asks if he can fly to Colorado Springs since all flights to Denver are canceled. He asks if I know of a place he can stay.
8:05 p.m.—I call a guy from my improv troupe who is delighted to host International house guest.
8:30 p.m.—Swiss skateboarder introduces himself as Ramón and books flight to Colorado Springs—receiving a "priority access" boarding pass. We learn that all the runways have been shut down due to lightning storm.
8:40 p.m.—We are sent from gate C31 to gate C37.
8:45 p.m.—We are sent from gate C37 to gate C31 and learn our flight will now depart at 10:40. Our plane, which was coming from Phoenix, has to land and refuel in Lubbock.
8:50 p.m.—We find a kiosk with free Internet and begin to blog about our adventures. Ramón shows me amazing videos of him skateboarding in cities all over the world.
9:05 p.m.—Police officer wearing a helmet zooms (I use the term loosely) by on his Segway Personal Transporter (Ramón has to tell me what it is; it looks like an old-school lawnmower to me). Officer zooms back and forth through terminal repeatedly. Until we decide we want a picture—then we never see him again.
9:45 p.m.—Airport personnel begin distributing cots. We learn our flight will now depart at 11:10.
10:25 p.m.—Our flight will now depart at 11:25. Six guys wearing hard hats and reflective vests inform us that they have to disassemble the kiosk and move it 6 inches to the right (fire hazard). Ramón laughs and takes a video for his Swiss friends of our silly American ways.
11 p.m.—We learn our flight has arrived.
11:35 p.m.—We are hungry. I run to TGI Fridays and buy a sandwich and waters. When I return the flight is boarding. Because of his "priority access" ticket, Ramón gets on the plane a step ahead of me (I am not kidding about this).
12:15 a.m.—Our plane is sixth in line for take-off. I inhale my sandwich and take a little snooze.
12:30 a.m.—Take-off! Ramón shows me pictures on his iPhone of skateboarding, European cities and skateboarding in European cities.
1:30 a.m. (MST)—We touch down in Colorado Springs.
2 a.m.—I drive Ramón to my friend's house. Ramón offers me a Swiss chocolate bar as a gift for my help.
2:30 a.m.—I arrive home with fun memories of a long day, a better understanding of a fascinating sport and pictures of Europe dancing in my head. Not to mention Swiss chocolate and a new friend.
Any interesting travel stories out there?
God has really been working on my heart in the area of loving the poor. The poor are obviously close to His heart, and yet I have a calloused attitude toward them. Near the beginning of this year, I read The Justice God is Seeking by worship leader and songwriter David Ruis (He wrote "Every Move I Make"). God used the book to begin changing my attitude.
On Friday, Boundless posted the first part of my article, "Remember the Poor." In it, I pass on Ruis' insights on the poor and marginalized and talk about my own struggle with getting involved. I have discovered that I have many ideas about the poor that do not come from God's Word.
Social justice, humanitarianism, volunteerism and spreading wealth to those in need are things that our generation feels passionate about. Many believe that these "love your neighbor" changes must be brought about through political power. Others believe the church is responsible. Ruis brings forward a third option: Ministry to the poor must begin with the heart of the individual Christian. A central part of Jesus' ministry was to "preach good news to the poor" (Luke 4:18). And so it must be with us — His hands and feet on earth.
In response to my first article, one reader wrote: The more I draw near to the Lord, the more He draws me nearer to the poor. As a single woman, it can be a bit intimidating to consider how to help because the environments in which the poor and homeless reside are not always the safest. I don't know if an article could be provided in the future, or perhaps a blog post started that would invite ideas. I'd like to offer a few ideas that I have been prompted to in the past few months.
I provided a few specific ideas in part 2 of my article. But I would like to hear yours, too. What avenues have you found to build relationships with those in need? How has God challenged you in this area of loving the poor and marginalized? I hope we can be challenged together to live out the ministry God has for us to remember the poor.
Lately, my hubbie and I have started quoting a certain verse to each other: Proverbs 23:5.
It usually goes something like this. Hubbie: Did you see the Dow today?
Me: Yep. Nice. Ah, cast but a glance at riches...
Hubbie: ... for they sprout stupid wings and fly away.
Well, we paraphrase. But we do smile. And for a saver like me, it's nice to smile as you see your nest egg starting to scramble. These days, I seem to cycle from shock to frustration to composed calm and then back through again.
I'm finding, though, that the calm sections are starting to last longer and longer -- mainly because of a big lesson the Lord has been teaching me. That lesson? The difference between saving and hoarding, and what my attitude needs to be towards each.
I wrote about that Friday on Boundless in an article titled "Maggots in the Manna." "So, which is it? Does my saving make me the wise ant of Proverbs — storing up my provisions in the summer? Or am I the Rich Fool — making plans to store my excess so I'll have "good things laid up for many years" only to find that I'm a fool in God's eyes?
How do I balance these Scriptures, without ignoring either?"
After talking about the biblical differences between the saving and hoarding, I came to realize that my tendency to save can be just as destructive to my walk with Christ as someone who overspends: "I'm becoming more and more convinced that Satan will gladly encourage spenders to devour and he'll gladly encourage savers like me to hoard. As long as, either way, we're not giving."
Give it a read and see what you think. And, if you haven't noticed, Ted has been posting some good money articles lately. There are four besides "Maggots" in the last two weeks. Take a look -- it'll be more fun than watching the Dow.
Men with traditional gender role attitudes earn more money than just about everybody else. Or, at least, that's what a study reported yesterday says.
The study tracked over 12,000 people for 25 years and found that men with a "traditional gender role orientation" make a lot more money than: men with an "egalitarian gender role orientation" ($11,930 more, to be precise), egalitarian working women ($13,352 more) and traditional working women ($14,404 more).
In an MSNBC article, one of the study's authors, Beth Livingston, said that she was shocked by the results: "We actually thought maybe men with traditional attitudes work in more complex jobs that pay more or select higher-paying occupations," she said. "Regardless of the jobs people chose, or how long they worked at them, there was still a significant effect of gender role attitudes on income."
Now, there's a lot to unpack in this study. But I was most intrigued by the two possible explanations that the authors offered for their results. They posited that traditional men might make higher salaries because:
- They negotiate much harder for better salaries
- Employers discriminate against women and egalitarian men.
Interesting. From my own family's experience, there may be truth in the first suggestion. I wouldn't be surprised if my husband was quite tenacious about salary negotiations (although I don't think Ted thinks I'm some cupcake either). He's responsible to provide. He knows it. He does it.
Are egalitarian men and all women discriminated against? Well, the MSNBC article seems to accept that premise, calling egalitarian men "victims" and calling everybody but traditional men "disadvantaged groups."
But I think there are two possibilities (that probably work together) that the authors didn't consider.
Let's call the first the "Wolves at Your Door" idea. What if (political correctness police, arrest me now) it's not just that traditional men negotiate for higher salaries, but that they actually earn them? What if the responsibility to solely provide for a family causes you to work harder and smarter? Don't get me wrong. My husband is an amazing man. Very smart. Works hard. Yeah, I'll say it, he's awesome. But I wouldn't be surprised if the knowledge that he has three of us at home depending on him didn't give him a serious little kick in the pants every now and then.
Let's call the second the "We're a Team" idea. As my husband and I discussed this study, we came to this conclusion: My husband's higher salary reflects not only his work, but mine as well. By caring for our home and family, I relieve my husband of stress and also give him time. He can concentrate fully on work during the work day (and, sometimes, not during the work day) because I've got the other bases covered -- and he knows it. There is no divided loyalty in our household. We know which job provides the bread. And both of us, he and I, make sure that bread is buttered.
And then there's that pesky, but persistent, idea that most women with children simply do not want to work full-time outside the home.
What do you think? Agree with the study's authors? Agree with me? Or have your own ideas?
I think I may be a text-aholic.
Last week I discovered that in three days I had sent and received more than 200 text messages. That's too many! If you think that's bad (and maybe you don't because you're a text-aholic, too), consider the texting habits of the average American teen. According to Nielsen, Americans 13 to 17 years old send and receive an average of 1,742 text messages a month.
According to an article in the New York Times, this rise in text messaging is leading to serious accidents: Though there are no official casualty statistics, there is much anecdotal evidence that the number of fatal accidents stemming from texting while driving, crossing the street or engaging in other activities is on the rise.
In the latest backlash against text-messaging, the California Public Utilities Commission announced an emergency measure on Thursday temporarily banning the use of all mobile devices by anyone at the controls of a moving train.
The ban was adopted after federal investigators announced that they were looking at the role that a train engineer's text-messaging might have played here last week in the country's most deadly commuter rail accident in four decades.
Sending and receiving text messages seems so harmless (many teens claim they can do it blindfolded), but the fact is that it's distracting. It's also growing in popularity: In June, 75 billion text messages were sent in the United States, compared with 7.2 billion in June 2005, according to CTIA — the Wireless Association, the leading industry trade group.
And millions (at least) of those text messages are created while someone is behind the wheel. A nationwide insurance survey of 1,503 drivers found that nearly 40 percent of those respondents from 16 to 30 years old said they text while driving. That's you, Boundless readers. I've done it, but I'm going to stop. It's not worth hurting someone. "The act of texting automatically removes 10 I.Q. points," said Paul Saffo, a technology trend forecaster in Silicon Valley. "The truth of the matter is there are hobbies that are incompatible. You don't want to do mushroom-hunting and bird-watching at the same time, and it is the same with texting and other activities. We have all seen people walk into parking meters or walk into traffic and seem startled by oncoming cars."
I think I need to take a deep breath.
First, my Congress and President give $300 billion dollars to refinance loans for struggling homeowners. It sounds benevolent. But I 'm still having bad dreams of my entire hard-earned tax check going straight in the pockets of those clueless "first time" condo flippers on TV and those acquaintances who "stretched" for a mortgage they knew (or should have known) they couldn't afford.
Why is it that politicians who have worked tirelessly to lower lending standards in the name of "promoting home ownership" now seem shocked that lending standards are so low? Could it be that our quasi-obsession with American home ownership may have contributed to our current situation?
Then, the government rescues (or was that a takeover?) the mortgage industry. Then, one well-known financial firm collapses. Then another is bought out. Now, an insurance giant is teetering ... but, oops, hold on, there go my tax dollars again.
My 401(k) seems to be shriveling up like a sun-dried tomato and I was actually relieved -- yes, relieved -- the other day when I only had to pay $3.49 a gallon for gas.
Blame is flying. Candidates are finger pointing. A Newsweek article tells me that it's worse than I think. And every time I see a financial reporter look all important and talk about "highly leveraged institutions," I want to throw my ice cream sandwich at the TV and yell, "Highly Leveraged?! Just say it -- it's debt!"
Yep. I need a deep breath ... and maybe a little perspective. I think there has to be someplace to land right now that's between Chicken Little and the ostrich.
For me, it helps to remember a few things:
- Though the Dow has fallen more than 500 points, we haven't even cracked the top 20 of Dow Jones Index single-day percentage losses. It's certainly not pleasant, but for all the talk of "records" and "plunges," we're not in history-making territory. At least, not yet.
- Discipline can be beneficial. Americans are feeling the painful results of national financial indulgence. Hopefully, that will lead to wisdom -- as long as we don't act like a collective credit-card junkie who frantically transfers balances in a desperate attempt to ignore the problem.
- Dow Jones is not my provider. God is.
- Challenging times bring us back to the basics. For those who are feeling the financial pinch, or squeeze, or even suffocation, there are steps to take and real, practical financial wisdom in God's Word.
I love Google analytics. It lets me know what search terms are bringing people to my blog. Surprisingly, the strongest post continues to be one I wrote in September 2006 about the ills of movie theater popcorn. I present it to you now—in surround sound (not really):
Who needs horror movies. eDiets.com article "Fright Night: Attack of the Giant Movie Snacks!" [article no longer available online] is enough to give you nightmares. I had heard rumors of the horrific calorie content of movie theater popcorn, but I had tried to ignore them. Ignorance is bliss. But this article brought home again the unhealthy nature of movie snacks.
That large tub of popcorn has been growing for years. Now they even offer a free refill if 20 cups of popcorn isn't enough. (I have to admit, when the first "Lord of the Rings" movie came out, my family and I shared that large tub and got the refill.) Evidently, the urge to cram our bodies with several days' worth of calories and fat is primarily psychological. Susan Burke, eDiets' chief nutritionist, explains this movie of the week — inspired by a true story — as a force of habit. According to Susan, people associate popcorn and candy with movies and may feel deprived without it, even if they just came from dinner. "Movie popcorn is full of hydrogenated fat and salt and can add more than a thousand calories to your daily intake," explains Susan, who recommends you ask yourself, "Do you buy popcorn because you're hungry or because it's the movies?"
Because it's the movies, of course! But take a look at these frightening stats:
- Small Buttered (7 cups), 630 calories, 50g fat (Unbuttered: 400 cal, 27g fat)
- Medium Buttered (16 cups), 1,220 calories, 97g fat (Unbuttered: 900 cal, 60g fat)
- Large Buttered (20 cups), 1,640 calories, 126g fat (Unbuttered: 1,160 cal, 77g fat)
If you're a movie popcorn junkie, don't lose heart. When I'm dying for a snack, I usually get the "Ultimate Movie Meal" (a steal at $4.75.) It's a reduced amount of popcorn (probably 2 cups), a kiddie drink and a fun-sized candy. It's still a splurge, but the caloric damage is considerably less.
Here's a comment we hear sometimes at Boundless: "That's good advice, but what if I'm hearing it too late. What do I do now?"
And, sometimes, those comments have to do with what we have written about financial stewardship. In fact, we received one such e-mail a few weeks ago. The gist: She's a college student who feels that God is honoring her commitment to get through school with no debt. She is planning to get engaged to a man who will end up with approximately $50,000 in school debt. They both feel called to ministry and are ministry majors. She's concerned: "I've been realizing how enslaving this debt is going to be for maybe the next 10 years, and longer if we actually jump right into the careers that we feel God has called us to. We're both determined to live simply and get rid of the debt as soon as we can, but that much money will take a long time to pay off no matter how much we pinch. Any advice? How can a person get rid of school debt? I have been praying a lot lately that God would provide in unforeseen ways for him like he has for me. How much do we just trust that God will provide for us according to the calling he has given us and how much do we go out and try to find solutions now before the debt actually piles up to $50,000?"
Now, this young woman didn't take on the debt, but she will (if she marries him) have to deal with the consequences.
It's for these type of situations that I wrote, "Digging Out" -- today's Boundless article. In it, I try to explore how we can tackle debt in a uniquely Christian way and how that might look different from a "get out of debt plan" that the world might offer. It includes some solid steps to take. But it also includes answering some hard questions: Is sin the cause of my debt problem? Do I need to repent? Are the financial priorities in God's Word also my priorities?
As for this young woman, "any advice?" Well, I would advise her and her intended to sit down with a pastor or mentor couple and tackle those same questions. Ask God for wisdom. Ask Him to turn your hearts toward His priorities.
In addition, they should discuss how they will handle debt in their future marriage. Will they take on debt? And if so, for what? What do they think God's financial priorities and principles are? How will they apply them in their marriage?
She asks if they should be doing something now. My answer would be a resounding "Yes!". No need to wait to live simply. They can both work right now on getting income up and expenses down (this may seem impossible, but even when I considered myself a "broke" college student, I ate take-out, bought new clothes, had a car and had plenty of technology). He can try to pay off debt and she can save for an emergency/pay-down-debt fund for when they get married. He can determine not to take on any more debt. (I don't recommend student loan debt. Others do. Regardless, he seems to be dangerously over-committed compared to the salary he plans to make). They can plan a very, very simple wedding.
Getting into debt is all too easy, as many of us know. Getting out of debt is hard, as we also know. But God's Word is exactly right: debt is enslaving. It determines what you do and when and how you do it. It's best never to get into debt. But if you're already in, and you're already in deep, I pray that this article will give you a place to start.
Let's just start by saying I meant to pay it on time. I really did.
But, I had to return a couple of things -- so I didn't want to pay the full balance and then end up with credit on the account. You see, they'd offered me 30 percent off my purchases just for using their store credit card. So I bought first and asked questioned and tried on later. Then I needed to return something else -- so I delayed paying the bill a little longer.
Then it was the first day of school. And then Ted gave me a deadline (yeah, okay, technically I had had the deadline for two months). And it wasn't in my routine of bill paying, since I don't normally use store credit cards. So, the bill did not get paid.
Then, last night it hit me in all its fierce fury: it was the last day to pay the credit card bill. Frantically, I got on the web site to pay the bill. They wanted my bank account number. Um, no. Not gonna happen. So, I turned off the computer with an increasingly nauseous feeling in my stomach. Yep, I was gonna pay interest. Me, who rails against credit card debt. Me, who writes to encourage good stewardship. I felt like a total sap.
That's why at 8:05 a.m. this morning, if you happened to be sitting in the parking lot of my local department store, you saw a wild-eyed blond screeching into the parking lot, hustling out of her SUV and half carrying/half dragging her poor, dazed, four-year-old straight to the credit counter. There, I paid the bill in full and inquired carefully how much the interest charge was going to be.
"I'm not sure," the very helpful lady told me. "But you will have a $25 late fee automatically."
I'm sure the blood must have quite literally drained from my face because she gave me a concerned look. Yeah, there goes my savings from using the card at all.
"You know," she offered sweetly, "you can call the credit department from that phone over there. They can let you know."
A few short minutes later, I was heaping phone praise on my customer service helper lady for wiping out my $25 and the interest which they had back charged on my entire bill.
Yeesh. Never again, I swore.
It's getting practically epidemic, though. It seems almost every store I go to wants me to sign up for a credit card and promises me savings if I will. And, I have to say, it worked on me this time. It's just plain hard to turn down 30 percent off. All I have to do is sign up for your silly credit card? Okay, fine.
We think we'll pay it on time. Some of us do. But they're counting on the fact that we won't. After all, why would they offer us such an incentive if they didn't plan on making even more money off of us than we are saving off of them? According to an article over at Dave Ramsey's web site, 60 percent of us don't pay off our credit cards each month. Another article I read stated that a major chain store just made more than 15 percent of its annual profit off its credit cards alone.
And here's something else: Even when we pay off our credit cards each month, two separate studies have shown that we actually spend more using credit than cash. One of the studies showed that we spend 12-18 percent more on a purchase with credit than with cash. Another (cited by Randy Alcorn in his book Money, Possessions and Eternity) "calculated that a consumer using a credit card will buy 26 percent more than he would if he were carrying cash, even if he pays it all off without interest charges."
So, I'm saving 30 percent to spend 26 percent more? And then they're counting on the fact that I'll have returns or the first day of school or deadlines or life, and that they'll be getting some interest and late fees too?
Tricky. Suddenly, my "savings" aren't looking so smart.
For any of you contemplating heading back to the gym this fall, you may want to consider the benefits of running. According to a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine, regular running slows the effects of aging. The study followed 500 older runners as they pounded the pavement for 20 years (not continuously). According to the report: Elderly runners have fewer disabilities, a longer span of active life and are half as likely as aging nonrunners to die early deaths.
Methods for gathering the information were pretty straightforward: Fries' team began tracking 538 runners over age 50, comparing them to a similar group of nonrunners. The subjects, now in their 70s and 80s, have answered yearly questionnaires about their ability to perform everyday activities such as walking, dressing and grooming, getting out of a chair and gripping objects. The researchers have used national death records to learn which participants died, and why. Nineteen years into the study, 34 percent of the nonrunners had died, compared to only 15 percent of the runners.
The effect of running on delaying death has also been more dramatic than the scientists expected. Not surprisingly, running has slowed cardiovascular deaths. However, it has also been associated with fewer early deaths from cancer, neurological disease, infections and other causes.
The greatest benefit to runners, the study found, was the ability to continue performing daily tasks later into their lives. The runners enjoy a higher quality of life for longer. Paul did say: "For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come" (1 Tim. 4:8).
I told you a little about my personal journey into running. I have enjoyed greater discipline, better health and increased self-esteem since I added training into my life. Whether running is your thing or you want to try out one of those crazy sports you just saw in the Olympics, exercise can make life better—and possibly longer.
Copyright 2009 Focus on the Family. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. The Line and Boundless Line are trademarks of Focus on the Family.
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