A New New Year’s Resolution
This year, my wife and I made a new new year’s resolution. No, that wasn’t a type-O. It’s just that this year, we actually made one we hadn’t made before. So, what was this groundbreaking idea? Three words . . .
ATTACK – OUR – DEBT
You see (to play off of the Pharoah’s dream), we have been guilty of allowing the lean cows to eat up our fat cows. When things were great for us financially, we lived it up. When things were not, we had nothing to fall back on. So our mistakes have been two-fold: we didn’t save for difficult times in the future and when the difficult times came, we didn’t lower our standard of living.
This is how we come to find ourselves in this sad state of affairs. The most recent statistics that I have heard (from 2 different sources) say that the average household in the US has $9000 worth of consumer debt and this totals up to about $900 billion worth of credit-card debt. Well, let’s just say that we have definitely contributed to these statistics and that our household average is considerably higher than the household average.
While we applaud our government for the tax rebate help, etc. that they are giving us, we don’t hold them responsible for our foolish choices. We’ll take the money Uncle Sam gives us for having 3 kids, but we need more of a plan than that.
So, what’s our plan? It’s not some complicated get out of debt quick scheme. In fact, it’s very simple: #1, we need to make more money. We are not able to pay our bills, so guess who’s looking for a new job and talking to his bosses about how he can make more money at his current job?
#2, we’re majorly cutting back on expenses. To the extent that we crammed our family of 5 in the Focus to go somewhere because we didn’t have gas in the van and no money to get any. We even buy the cereal in the bag now -you know, the kind that you have to shove in your mouth as quickly as possible after you get the milk in the bowl, because it gets disgustingly soggy in 1.45 seconds.
We feel like God is honoring this and the angels are probably going, “they finally get it!” Two confirmations of this: 1) We were discouraged that our pantry was as empty as our mini-van’s gas tank and it was a long time till I got paid again, when a cousin of mine called and said she had some money for us and it would arrive in the mail very soon. 2) We were waiting until the last possible second before going to the store armed only with a credit card (I’m serious -the last possible second! We even prayed at lunch for money to come in the mail so we could buy dinner.), when a large check arrived from a couple at our home church enabling us not only to buy dinner, but to take care of a couple of other things we had need of.
It looks like this may be a resolution that we may actually be able to keep. We realize that it will take time, hard work, self-discipline, and patience, but we are in it for the long haul. I think January proves it as it will be the first month in years that we have put nothing on credit card.
In my job at Terminix, I’ve learned lots of things, one of which is: it’s better to be like the ant and store up for the winter than it is to be like the grasshopper who devours everything in sight as soon as it is seen.
Debt is bondage. God, grant us freedom.
catherine’s prayers
since i’m usually at work all day, the joy usually falls on me to “do night-night” with our girls. among other things, our routine always includes prayers. here’s some of catherine’s prayers (keep in mind, she’s two).
“dear God, help me only sleep good. help me only have bad dreams. help me only have good days. help me only have a new heart. in Jesus’ only name, amen.” at this point, abigail, relieved that she no longer has to bite her lip waiting to hear “amen” so she can talk, says disgustedly, “NO, CATHERINE! HAVE ONLY GOOD DAYS!!”
“dear God, help me sleep good. help me get this baby up. help me get this baby up. help me get this baby up-” at this point, i open my eyes and find her attempting to rescue a wedged baby doll from between the bed and the nightstand. i prompt her to go ahead and close the prayer, “in Jesus’ name . . .” “amen,” she says.
“dear God, help me not touch mommy’s glasses (as she touches mommy’s glasses), help me not get mommy’s ookies (as she reaches up mommy’s nose), help me lay this baby down on this table (as she lays the baby doll down on the nightstand), help me not knock over this picture (as she removes her hand away from said baby which is now laying next to a framed picture), help me . . .” well, you get the point.
and then there’s my personal favorite, “dear God, help daddy be a good mister.”
Not the first spiritual lesson from Johnny Cash
I had an interesting conversation with my daughter tonight. We were in the van listening to Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire and Abigail asked me if Johnny was really burned or if he was just dreaming about being burned. I thought for a moment and said, “Johnny is talking about sinning. He is saying that sinning hurts us and makes us feel bad just like being burned hurts us and makes us feel bad.” She candidly replied, “But I don’t feel bad when I sin.” It hurt her daddy’s ears to hear that, but I answered, “That’s because God has not given you a new heart yet, honey. When you have a new heart, you feel bad when you sin. That’s why we ask God to give you a new heart.”
Lord, please create in my daughters a new creation.
Jer. 31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be my people.”
the God of October is the God of March is the God of February (written Feb. ‘07)
wow! God is good! the halls have totally been spinning round and round over the past 15 months. notice i didn’t say, spinning out of control. it is absolutely incredible that i ever have doubt that God is active in the lives of his children.
let me tell you what i mean:
oct. 05 -i lose my job as youth pastor, we can’t make it on my dinky ups salary, so we prepare to move in with my in-laws. the day before the big move, i get a supervisor offer -badabing-badaboom -we’re staying in louisville.
nov. 05 - mar. 06 -nathan and i are looking for what the Lord would have us to do. we check out pastoring in the same association or church planting -convinced that God wants us to work together in whatever we do. “ok, God, sure you provided for us in october, but can you do it in march?”
mar. 06 -we begin talking with a 1 yr. old church plant in lafayette, in. we come up as co-pastors. the God of october is the God of march.
mar. 06 – nov. 06 -we beat our heads against the wall, pouring money, prayers, and effort at a new church plant that just won’t root. we are miserable!
nov. 06 -we are relieved to decide that the church plant will be disbanded. i’ve never been so excited to be unemployed with a mortgage before. we now have until jan. 31 to get new jobs.
jan. 07 -i get a job with calvary baptist church as a part-time ministry intern. knew God would do it! nathan and i both get job offers on the same day from terminix -i take the terminix job and nathan goes for manager of auntie anne’s pretzel store in the mall, which he was also offered that day (jan 29th). surprise, God provided!
jan. 30 -i have never felt so secure in my father’s arms. what a day for elisabeth anne to be born! God just poured on the gravy!
now -i need a bigger vehicle, i’m here in lafayette killing bugs, teaching children, and waiting to see if this church plant is going to take off the ground 2-3 yrs. from now, but am i worried? nope.
the Lord gives strength to his people. the Lord blesses his people with peace. -psalm 29:11.
a reflection on 26 years of life
as i write this i am 29 years old. every year, i wonder what the big deal about aging is. here’s a poetic reflection i wrote a few years ago:
although i don’t have much silver on my head
although only 26 years have passed
although not many books i have read
and not many memories live in my past
still there are some things i’ve learned
still there is some truths discerned
many mistakes have i made while walking on this earth
several regrets in my life that make me hang my head
sad to say the problem began as early as my birth
i did not want my parents’ way but my own instead
so now i see the only way for a child to live
is to hallow that little life and glory to Christ give
regretfully this pattern continued as a growing man
i forsook my holy heritage and God’s perfect plan
but i saw the only way for a young man to live
is to hallow his precious life and glory to Christ give
now God has graced me with a wonderful life
a child, a church, my friends, my wife
i am sure -haven’t a doubt -the only way to live
is to give them all back -his precious gifts -glory to Christ give
i know not what lies ahead
although my future is certain
but when they lay my body with the dead
when i’ve passed on through the curtain
i’m sure i’ll say then, as i do now
though i am not exactly sure how
the only way for a man to live
the only goodness there is to give
is to joyfully give up all of his rights
and make his sole aim to glorify Christ
“but even the hairs of your head are all numbered” -Jesus
I haven’t always been interested in spiritual things
You know, I haven’t always been this interested in spiritual things. Growing up in a Baptist minister’s home, it is easy to look back at my life as a spiritual journey. The first milestone was in kindergarten. At that time, several of my friends were being baptized in church. I don’t remember all that was going through my head at the time, but I felt like I too should be baptized. I talked with my parents and answered all the right questions all the right ways, later to talk with the pastor and be baptized. Looking back, I feel that experience did reflect an understanding that “Christ died for [my] sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4), but my reasons for wanting to “get saved” were ignorant and therefore not acceptable to God. My decision at that time was more likely the result of a double desire of not wanting to go to hell and wanting to go to heaven. As a child I did my best to live the life of a good Christian boy although I did not know what that meant.
From fourth to ninth grades, because of several moves, I had a difficult time fitting in with other kids my age. Although I had another significant spiritual experience in the summer of 1991, I never sought counsel from others and never acted on the inner spiritual struggles I was having. My eighth grade year, in order to be more accepted by my peers, I begin making decisions that I knew went directly against my Christian upbringing. I started a path into a downward spiral of sin that only got worse and worse for the next five years. By the time I was a senior in high school, no one would ever have guessed I was raised in a minister’s home –which was just fine with me.
The summer of 1996, after my graduation, I went on what I thought would be my last youth group trip to DiscoveryCamp in Cedarmore, KY. I made it my goal to make it through the last night’s invitation without letting God “get me.” That’s how hard-hearted I had become. But, praise God, when I left that assembly, the Lord followed me right out! The only way I can describe how I felt is that He had my heart in His hand which was getting tighter and tighter. I cried for what seemed like an hour, all the while refusing to tell my girlfriend, Monica, why I was so upset (because I had been living a double life—a Christian life around Monica, family, and church and a rebellious life around all others). He would not let go until I gave my whole life over to Him. There with my Dad and Monica (now my wife) looking on, I prayed a prayer of desperation and the Lord forgave me by His grace. From that point on, I have been a different person.
I still haven’t gotten over that incredible day; it truly changed my life. I went to camp one person and returned a totally different person. It’s true what the Bible says, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Of course, I didn’t come home perfect. Some sins I still struggle with today, but many others dropped like flies that very day. God did exactly what I was afraid He would do. He changed lots of things in my life: my friends, my interests, my goals, my affections, and my destination. That’s right, my destination. Although I’ve had struggles and doubts over the past eight years, one thing is sure. Heaven is my home. I know this is true because Jesus promised in the Gospel of John that “whoever comes to [Him, He] will never cast out” (6:37) and He is preparing a place for His children and “[He] will come again and will take [us] to [Himself], that where [He is we] may also be” (14:3).
This is the truth that has changed my life, as well as countless others. Jesus came that we “may have life and have it abundantly” (Jn. 10:10). And so I say with the apostle John that “whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things . . . [so that you may] believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:12-13). Do you have life? Do you believe?
