Debt Free and Lovin' It

A few of you know bits of the journey my family has been on to pay off all of our debts and get our financial house in order. It is a journey we started about 2 and ½ years ago just before we moved to Austin and just after starting a new job at PFI. For our first ten years we had lived paycheck to paycheck. There was too much month left at the end of the money. We were classic consumers using our plastic cards for whatever we wanted. Occasionally through the years we would try this thing called a budget. We would write some stuff down on a yellow pad, average out our expenses, and juggle things around till it seemed to work out. But that never lasted long.

We played the game of surfing our credit cards around to lower interest and payments. We used those nasty checks to make up for monthly shortfalls. We refinanced our house for a remodel and some extra lifestyle. Upon leaving an employer we cashed out a 401k to pay off some debt and buy some more stuff. We leased a van, and paid way too much for a small car for way too long. Basically, most of the stupid stuff that people tend to do with money, we did. We had nothing in savings and were 75k in debt (not including the house). I often wondered “How can I make this much money and have nothing to show for it?”

Then in March of 2007 we started taking this class at church about what the Bible says about managing money. Something in us clicked and we made a decision to grow up and start managing our money properly. But first we had to figure out what “properly” was. We went searching for more information and found a plan that worked for us. We had tried doing things our way and failed miserably so we looked to the wisdom of others. It was not easy, but I can honestly say it was worth it. Now $75,000 and 30 months later we owe not a dime to anyone. We have money in the bank, and a game plan for continuing to build our financial stability. We are teaching our kids these things in the hopes that they will not have to follow the path we did and end up in a much better place.

I am putting this out there to let you know it can be done and to provide some encouragement if you find yourself in a similar situation. I am not trying to sell anything and I am not a financial planner or advisor by any stretch of the imagination but I can tell you what worked for us (and millions of others around the country) if you happen to be interested.

Trinity Oaks Reunion

This weekend I had the joy of attending a reunion for members of the Trinity Oaks church of Christ in Dallas. I attended TO from 1983-1986. We moved away after my 5th grade year. That's a pretty short time and a long time ago so I don't have a lot of really clear memories from church. Mostly just flashes and a few names of people. But there are certain things that stick in my mind as "firsts" so I wanted to share them here.

• First service in the church: I remember Arthur Hensarling would organize some of us young guys to pick up the attendance cards each week. Arthur was like a local grandfather to us kids. I'd get so excited when for Christmas I'd get a $2 bill from him in appreciation for collecting the cards (or at least that's what I associate it with in my memory). He also had the first car phone I ever remember seeing.
• First learned to sing: Now I knew how to sing so when I say "learned" it's not a matter of ability. During worship I would not be singing and I guess my dad was sick of it. I remember one night when he took me out of worship to the "cry" room and had a little talk with me. I don't remember what he said or did (I don't think electrodes were involved), but after that I seemed to have a greater appreciation for singing in worship or at least was on the right road of faking it till it became real.
• First started thinking of baptism: It was at TO that several of my friends and classmates began to make the decision to be baptized. I held off for quite a while as I didn't want to just follow the crowd and do it because they were doing it. I think I ended up waiting too long but eventually came to the proper decision.
• First church politics: Now 5th grade is a bit young to be exposed to such things, but I remember one fund raiser for school selling M&Ms at church. I went to the youth minister and his reason for not buying any from me was that then he would have to buy from all the kids who asked. I guess they weren't paying him the big bucks that youth ministers are getting these days.
• First major wilderness experience: My dad led a group of 4th-8th grade boys on a week long canoe trip on the Minnesota/Canada border. I remember rowing to the chant of "Coke" across the final lake before the pickup point. My dad always recites this line about "We're talking mist, we're talking fog". It was a great experience which we later repeated with a group from the church in Phoenix.

Most of my clear memories from Dallas revolve around my bestest friend Brian Davis who I have recently had the joy of reconnecting with thru Facebook. We met for lunch for the first time in over 10 years this summer and it was like we never were apart. The memories just flowed back. It was great to see him and his family at the reunion. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever find that Papa Smurf car.

Several of the people at the reunion I had encountered at Harding. But some of them I hadn't seen in 23 years. It was great to reconnect with them. I didn't spend much time at TO, but I could tell that those who had through the years were touched in great ways through their love for God and each other.

Is our worship too formal?

I had the privilege and pleasure of writing a blog post as a guest on a local church blog where one of our members often posts in "response" to one of his earlier posts:

http://fbgtxchurchofchrist.org/blog/2009/08/is-our-worship-too-formal/

Thanks Bob for the invitation. Make sure to read some of the other stuff there too. It's thought provoking.

Murphy Strikes

Murphy struck our cars yesterday. The rear hatch on the van had its hydraulics fail yesterday. So Kathryne had to take it to the Toyota dealership to get that fixed. We're letting David and Becky borrow our van for the month and we drove to DFW and back last night to meet up with them and give them the van, 4 hours each way. On the way home from DFW the tire on my car went flat...at 1am...1 hour from home. So we're on the side of the interstate with trucks wooshing past. I put on the spare and it was low on air too. Thankfully I had an air compressor in the emergency kit to air it up and get us home around 2:15am. I discovered that changing a tire on the side of the interstate at 1am is much better than any caffeine at waking me up.

The kids slept in the back seat through the whole thing.

So after driving 8 hours to and from DFW I was trying to go to sleep in my nice comfy bed. As I started to doze off, I was dreaming that I was driving. In my dream, I started to fall asleep while driving.

Now I'm sitting in Goodyear getting my tire fixed. Well, getting it replaced. They just told me it was really messed up on the inside.

Beliefs

Ran across this wonderful way of stating the basics of Christian belief in God.
Some Things I Believe...Part 1
If we talked like this more often rather than using fancy words and dogmatic statements we would be much more "salty".

We want to Chase the Cheetah

Kathryne had a great post on her blog about
http://kathrynesthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/02/credit-card-first-not-car.html

Tonight I also sent an email to Dave Ramsey (our financial mentor) about the same thing. He was talking about this a lot last week on his show.
Here are some links I found about the story of what Chase is doing:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29099482/
http://www.ledgerdelaware.com/articles/2009/02/09/news/doc49905449860ef355591420.txt
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/02/chase_class_action.html
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/credit/2009-02-08-chase-interest-rates-fee_N.htm

Here's the text of the message I sent. I wonder if he'll read it on air...

I heard you talking about Chase's slimy actions regarding their credit card fees and interest rates. Our last item on our snowball is our Chase credit card of about 16000. We're currently working on saving up to pay on or van fleece of about 14000. Next paycheck we would be able to pay off our van but given our disgust with Chase, we've decided to pay them off instead. We're not even sure if we're in the group that would be affected but are doing this on principal. We also have our primary checking and savings account with them and will be looking to move those away shortly. I know we're breaking the "rules" of the debt snowball by not paying off the smallest first but you always say that this is about behavior and their behavior has been atrocious. I hope you'll forgive us this minor deviation.

QBQ

Ever had a coworker (or friend or schoolmate or family member, but in this case coworker) who was quick to point out problems or tasks that needed to be done but would never think of trying to handle it themselves. "It's not my job", "I've got other stuff to do", "When is management going to take care of this?", etc...

Those things may be true, but as part of a team, everyone is responsible for the work of the entire team. It's the silent "I" in "Team". We often hear that it's not there, and in the sense of the fame and glory of the Team there should be no "I" present. But when it comes to who is responsible for the success or failure of the team, it is each individual's responsibility to their very best.

This is the premise of the book QBQ: The Question Behind the Question? It's a book about personal responsibility and accountability. If you haven't read it or it's sequel Flipping the Switch, then I highly recommend them both. But be ready for a challenge to your sense of security in the status quo.

This is more of a venting blog than anything else. But maybe someone will decide to pick up the books (or borrow my copies) and change their view of work and life forever.

Death* and Taxes

did taxes last night and actually owe a bit of money :( have the money saved up to cover it :) delays paying off the van 1 month :(

*No death, just taxes
**No IRS agents were harmed in the writing of this post

Video of the year

I don't usually like to post just links to videos, but this is truly hilarious and being the big Star Wars fan I am i figured this would be appropriate. Plus i really needed some laughs today and this provided them.

"Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it)" http://vimeo.com/2809991

Happy Birthday Dad

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the day my father was born, otherwise known as his 60th birthday. That’s 60% of the way to 100. If his age were a test score he would still have an F. Only 10 more years to a D-. Since he often remarks on my lack of blog postings and how much he enjoys the writings of his children, I figured the perfect gift for such an occasion would be a blog post dedicated to him.

I learned a lot of things from my dad: fishing, canoeing, bowling, song leading, basketball, baseball, English, history to name a few. If I were to speculate on one thing he would be most proud to have passed on it would be my proper use of the subjunctive mood in my writing.

I remember my sophomore basketball season when he travelled to every one of my away games. Some of my best memories are of the canoe trips along the Minnesota/Canadian border where we fished, hiked, swam, bathed in waterfalls, drank bug juice, watched for planes dipping their wings signaling it was OK to build a fire.

Some things I most certainly did not pick up from my dad are his love of westerns, musicals, and deviled eggs.

Growing up, most teenagers think their parents will never understand them and the parents feel the same way. Having become a father myself, I have a much greater appreciation for the time, effort, and enormous sacrifices that go into being a parent. I also better understand the personal inadequacies and insecurities that challenge both fatherhood and manhood. Sometimes it’s all a parent can do to hope that their kids grow up to not be a serial killer or thief much less a well adjusted, productive member of society. Somehow my dad managed to not screw up 4 times over resulting in 4 Christian families. May we all be so lucky and blessed.

Finally, I have no idea how many of my diapers my dad changed, but my hope and desperate prayer is that in the next 60 years of his life I never have to change one of his.

Happy birthday, Dad! Here’s to the next 60.

He Paid a Debt

"Speak where the Bible speaks, and be silent where the Bible is silent". This oft used motto is a baseline for doctrine and practices in churches of Christ and came out of the Restoration Movement in the 1800s. And yet on the subject of money, we are often very silent where the Bible speaks very plainly. Money is one of the top subjects in scripture. There's a ton of financial advice in Proverbs and Jesus spoke of it often. In church we rarely speak about anything other than the giving aspect of money. And the times we talk about being a good steward and giving unto Caesar are in the context of giving (because the giving is never enough). Here's a long list of scriptures that speak about money and finances.

One area where the Bible plainly speaks is on the subject of debt. The Bible never says that debt is sinful, but it strongly condemns the use of debt as a bad way to do business. Depending on the translation, words like "foolish", "stupid", "lacking in sense", and "slave" are used to describe debt, the use of debt, and the relationships it creates.

Here are a few of the scriptures on debt:

Proverbs 22:7

"The rich rule over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender."

Proverbs 22:26-27

"Do not be one of those who shakes hands in a pledge, one of those who is surety for debts; if you have nothing with which to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you?"

Proverbs 17:18

"It's stupid to guarantee someone else's loan."

Proverbs 11:15

"He who is surety for a stranger will suffer for it, but one who hates being surety is secure."

And finally there's even advice on how to get out of debt:
Proverbs 6:1-5

"My son, if you have become surety for your friend, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, you are snared by the words of your own mouth; you are taken by the words of your mouth. So do this, my son, and deliver yourself; For you have come into the hand of your friend; Go and humble yourself; plead with your friend. Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and like a bird for the hand of the fowler."

Notice that it never says that going into debt is a sin. It just says it is foolish and will take your very bed from under you.

We have churches going deeply into debt for new facilities, pastors encouraging people to use their credit cards to pay their offering, churches asking members to personally sign for the church's debt, and Christians everyone living the good life on credit cards, HELOCs, and car fleeces.

Jesus came not just to pay our debt for the redemption of our souls, he came to show us the best way to live. We're more than willing to condemn others for drinking or smoking or carousing or missing church services, but when it comes to finances we rarely insert ourselves into our brothers' and sisters' lives. The weight of debt can be as burdensome as addictions and guilt of sin. It can destroy marriages and wreak havoc in every area of our lives.

What a wonderful opportunity for outreach and showing God's love and His purpose for our lives. If we teach our children, neighbors, and fellow Christians God's way of handling what he has given us then we spread not only his love, but a great deal of peace to a world greatly in need of both.

Above all, love each other deeply

Tonight in Bible class we were talking about 1 Peter 4:1-11. We talked about the suffering of Christ and suffering for the faith. Hard times can make us stronger or break us down. Here Peter is warning his fellow Christians of what to do when the hard times come. He first points to Christ as our example. Then he goes on to give some pratical advice of fighting the dark times:

7The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. 8Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

He continues with other advice such as practicing hospitality, teaching and serving. But he echoes the idea that Jesus tried to teach us. Loving God and Loving each other is the most important thing "because love covers over a multitude of sins". The covering of sins certainly refers to Christ's love in his sacrifice that brings us redemption. But in this situation, he's referring to our interactions as a body. The MOST important thing we can do to fight the hard times that the world throws at us is to love each because all the petty arguments, offenses, and differences will be abated by love. The covering power of the love is over our sins towards our fellow Christians. They criticize us, reprimand us, believe different from us, worship different than us, and raise their children different than us. How dare they be so different from us. But all my attempts to straighten them out and set them on the right path are just clanging symbols (like the kids banging on the pots in the kitchen) if I have not love.

When they do this things, believe these things, teach these things what am I to do? Am I not to correct them? We throw around the terms conservative, progressive, liberal, anti-this, and non-that. Whatever the labels, whatever the positions, whatever the doctrines, love must bind us all together. Whether I think you're wrong and don't choose to worship as you do or you think I'm wrong and don't choose to attend my gospel meeting, we must remember the words of our Lord and his servant Peter that love must be practiced above all.

I don't have to condone your actions or accept them for myself and I can certainly discuss with you where I think you may be in need of guidance. But I must not hold a grudge, spread gossip (true or not), publish nasty letters on my blog, or write you up in a Christian publication.

If my salvation is based on doing and believing the correct things throughout my life then I'm hosed. If my salvation is based on getting everyone around me to do and believe the correct things in their own lives then I'm equally hosed. I can't do it on my own and neither can you. But together when the dark times come (such as when some big man in a black helmet tries to extinguish your light from the galaxy) we can stand up under the suffering that the world throws at us. We can use our gifts "To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."

Epilogue:
The thoughts in this article have been stewing around for a bit and our class tonight finally got me going on the track to write it all down. Some of the things rattling around in my brain are from a recent story involving the school where my mother work and my youngest 2 siblings graduated and the churches local to the area. I won't go into the story, but there are some blog entries, national Christian articles, and my brother's blog that refer to the situation. These things always make me sad. The congregation here where we attend has gone through a similar situation with lingering resentment (or fear of resentment) from some people.

Let us pray that we can love and be loved and that we will forgive others as we wish to be forgiven.

Am I Weird?

I'm sure my siblings will immediately answer "Yes" to this but hear me out before making any final judgements.

For Father's Day we had budgeted $50 for gifts and $50 for eating out. Yesterday I told Kathryne that what I wanted was to take the $100 and put it on our debt snowball. We're so close to paying off the current credit card and I want it GONE. At first she wasn't happy about this, but Sean liked the idea and eventually she agreed to it. Still she called me this morning on the way to work to confirm that I REALLY wanted to do it.

We plan on being out of debt 1 year from now and we really enjoyed meeting Dave Ramsey last week during a break in his radio show.Our 3rd FPU class starts in September and we're really excited about how we've been able to help those in our 1st 2 classes (by helping them help themselves).

Kid Stuff

Last week we watched both National Treasure movies with the kids. They really liked all the historical folklore (mixed in w/ real history). They've been looking at the 1 dollar bill and examining it's features and we've looked up the Latin phrases for their meanings. We saw the first one earlier in the week and at the end of the second one this weekend Joshua came to a vivid realization. He heard one of the character mention Gates's name and he shouted excitedly "That's Gates, the same one from the National Treasure movie." This was at the end when they were in the sunken city. He'd gone the whole movie w/out realizing that it was the sequel with the same people.

And today he is on the floor w/ the block from the Jenga game making a hidden temple and playing National Treasure. He's already found the treasure which consisted of a lego droid, lego helmet, and a lightsaber.

Now i think the temple is collapsing.

A couple weeks ago, Sean and Joshua combined the board games Settlers of Catan, Cities and Knights, and Risk into one mega-game. I called home and Sean said they were playing this game and i thought it was some new computer game they had downloaded. But they had combined all the games and made up new rules (Sean did the rule making apparently) and had epic battles.

A couple weeks later now the game is finally getting put away as we prepare for our trip to Columbia, TN.

Sean's finishing up this week in third grade. It's pretty much just parties for the remaining days.

And i've been home sick this week (but i'm not a kid so i won't write about that).

Oh noes, my shadoes

Apparently the groundhog saw his shadow today. For some reason that means 6 more weeks of winter. Now in past years, that might upset me a bit, but given the winter we've had I'm content to 6 more weeks of 60-70s and sunny weather.

The worst we've had so far is like Seattle in the fall. That lasted for 2 weeks then it got sunny again.

Interesting thought. The popular culture still clings to the idea that a groundhog seeing it's shadow or not is an omen of the future weather, yet many refuse to acknowledge that anything exists that science cannot explain when it comes to God the creator.

"We're from the government"

"and we're here to help..."


"ourselves to your money, freedom, and responsibility."

Here's an interesting chart come like to use to bash Bush:
http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/rchart4.gif

To summarize, when Bush took office, everything was great with the economy. Now after 7 years, things are horrible.

Good thing that things like world events and general economic trends have no effect on the economy. Since it's a single person responsible for all good and all bad, it's easy to fix. This means I don't have to work as hard cause someone else will take care of me. Pretty soon I hope to just stay home and play World of Warcraft all day.

John Edwards will make sure I have health care, Hillary will raise my children, and Obama will come and "change" me.

To be "fair and balanced"...

Romney will provide my underwear, Huckabee will attend to my spiritual needs, McCain will make sure I don't talk about politics before an election, and Rudy will keep me safe

I just need someone to feed me and I'm set.

Can't wait till 16

Sean had a bit of a driving lesson today. One of our friends from church invited us out to ride in what can best be described as a mini-jeep. He took us around the trails on his farm and then I got to try my hand at it too. But the highlight for me was when Sean got behind the wheel.


Now we just have to teach him to parallel park.

What would you do with $1,600?

I'm trying to remember what I did the last time grandpa government sent me a birthday check (aka rebate)* So I'm pretty sure I spent it on something that was either eaten or quickly obsolete or broken. Back at the turn of the century, the tax cuts included a one-time tax rebate of $300 (maybe $600 for us as a couple) the goal being for us to spend it along with some more of our money to stimulate the economy. And now again there are plans being made for rebates on the order of $800/1600 that we will be encouraged to spend on new TVs, game consoles, vacations and such.

Now I have absolutely no problem with the government sending me back the money that I send them throughout the year, but unfortunately this time I won't be doing my patriotic duty to provide short term stimulus to the nation' economy. Instead I'll be able to shave about 1.5 months off my debt snowball thus securing my long term future while deferring short term pleasure. I feel so unpatriotic. And yet I hope that people everywhere will take this opportunity to save their money or pay off debt. Now that would be a big help to the economy since much of the current problems are with people who have too much debt and really high interest rates both with their mortgages and consumer debt. I guess I will be stimulating Chase a little as I speed up my payments to them, but I'm not sure that's what Bernanke has in mind.

Now the question I have is since I moved this past year after tax time how will grandpa know where to send the check? I want my money ASAP. I'll have to check into that.

What have you already spent your tax rebate one?

*Other than the normal tax return.

Why do Christians like Rules?

I just heard this quote from Josh McDowell while listening to Focus on the Family:

Rules without Relationship leads to Rebellion

That's great. I have to remember that both as a Christian and especially as a parent. It's not "Spare the rod, spoil the child". That's a trite saying we use to justify our discipline methods. The actual verse is

He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him. (Proverbs 13:24)

Have to remember that too.

Gracious Receiving

"It is more blessed to give than to receive" provides us with the words of our Lord (via Paul, Acts 20:35). We always use these words to encourage people to give, whether to the church or the poor or to our friends (especially at Christmas time). We teach our kids to not be selfish an to share their toys with their friends.

But how often do have trouble accepting gifts from others. Whether it's letting someone buy us lunch or pay for a coffee or accepting a large new 50" HDTV that someone wants to buy for you (hint, hint). And that's the very attitude we have to avoid. Manipulating people into giving and then using the excuse that you're helping them be more blessed is not what Paul had in mind in when he wrote to the Philippians (4:17-18):

"Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God."

He graciously accepted their gifts even though he didn't need it in order to allow them the joy of giving. God wants us to give so that we become more like him. C.S. Lewis wrote that prayer doesn't change God, it changes us. In the same way, the purpose of our giving is not soley to help the recipient, but to also change us into God's image the way he intends us to be. Christ left all of heaven and came here and gave 33 years of his life all for us. His whole ministry was a gift. He is a giver and being a Christian means being transformed into his likeness.

We teach gracious giving, but we should not deny others the joy they will receive when they give to us. Just say "Thank you" and then pass it on. If you pay them back, then it was not a gift. If you pay it forward, you make the world a better place and at the two of you have been able to experience the joy of giving.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)