May 8, 2008

Dave Ramsey Audio Book giveaway

Total Money Makeover Audio Book giveaway

In case you haven’t noticed, Dave Ramsey’s name is all over ChristianPF.com. I am a fan and supporter of his program. He has developed a simple system based on some biblical principles to help people get out of debt. Dave’s stuff is great entry-level information to get started cleaning up your finances. He has been quite a help to my financial life and I am sure there are millions of others who can say the same.

This giveaway is for Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover Audio Book. Last time I gave away Total Money Makeover it was the regular book, so we will do the audio book this time for those who like to learn on their commute to work. Personally, I love audio books, since I seem to find it difficult to sit down for an hour with an old-fashioned book. But anyway…

What do I have to do to win the Dave Ramsey Audio Book?

If you would like to be entered for a chance to win the Dave Ramsey book just leave a comment below before 7:00 p.m. CST on May 11th, 2008.

(If you are having trouble finding the comments section, just click on the title of this post and scroll all the way to the bottom.)

A few more notes about the Dave Ramsey Audio Book giveaway…

From those comments entered I will randomly select a winner using random.org.
Go ahead and enter each week, but only enter once (per household) for each one. (Duplicate entries or IP addresses will be disqualified)
Make sure you enter your email address when adding your comment so I can contact you if you win. (I promise I will not spam your or give your email to anyone else)
The winner will be announced on May 12th, 2008 in the comments section of this post!!
To be sure you hear about the next giveaway why not get ChristianPF via email or feedreeder?

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May 7, 2008

Pay your pastor well

I found an article on Crown.org and this snippet reminded me about a few situations I have seen in the past.

In our present American society, although some pastors and evangelists make extravagant salaries or raise huge sums of money to support an excessive lifestyle, ministering brethren for the most part are generally forced to live on far less than those in the secular world. Why shouldn’t pastors’, evangelists’, and missionaries’ incomes be comparable to those in the business world? Do we as Christians believe that God’s worker is not worthy to receive an adequate salary? “It is written in the Law of Moses, ‘You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.’ God is not concerned about oxen, is He?” (1 Corinthians 9:9).
Based on the Word of God:

The requirement of every Christian is to supply the needs of those ministering for the Lord.
We are to send them out in a way worthy of God. As such, pastors should be paid as much as the average member of their congregations. If pastors feel that they are being overpaid, it is their responsibility to distribute the surplus. “So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:14).
The church is admonished by God not to borrow money from non-Christian sources (3 John 6-7). The body of Christ is responsible for providing the funds that churches need to operate and to pay their staffs. “They have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. For they went out for the sake of the
Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles” (3 John 6-7).

I have seen both sides of the situation. I have seen pastors struggle to keep up with their church because they are forced to work day jobs to pay their bills. And while working at a bank I saw the other side with a pastor misappropriating church funds to finance an extremely lavish lifestyle. It was interesting to see how God moved him out of that position.

Personally, my pastors have done so much for me and my family that I don’t think I could ever repay them. They have laid down their lives for the call and have been a tremendous example of living the life the way it should be lived.

I can’t imagine anything other than wanting them to be blessed and seeing them prosper in every area of their lives.

What about you?

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May 6, 2008

Warren Buffett fights for the middle class

This video is actually about 6 months old - but it gave me another reason to like Warren. He is (or has been) fighting to increase the tax rate on the rich and lower it for the middle class.

(added 05/07 - oops, it turns out the video isn’t showing up in some browsers… so here is the link if you can’t see it…)

His tax rate is lower than mine - how about everyone else?

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May 5, 2008

You don’t deserve it.

I don’t normally go off on rants here, but I am getting frustrated with credit card companies. I have seen quite a few ads that say, in one way or another, that you should buy stuff (a lot of it) with your card, because YOU DESERVE IT.

What exactly is it that we deserve? To buy something that we are lusting after, that we don’t have the cash to pay for, that some credit card company is going to increase it’s profit margins by?

Why do so many Americans have such an extreme sense of entitlement? Are the ads the result or the cause of our feeling this way?

I don’t know about you, but I deserve hell. Not a trip to Fiji or a 52″ plasma TV. Thank God that Jesus gave up what He deserved, so that we could have what we don’t deserve.

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May 4, 2008

The minimalist life

I love simple.

I would love to eliminate about 50% of my remaining possessions. Most of it is junk sitting on a shelf that I tell myself I will use again that I probably will not. Truth be told, if someone stole it (this refers to about 50% of my stuff) I wouldn’t notice for a long time, if ever. So why do I have it?

In the midst of our over-abundance of everything, I am longing for simplicity. I love my coat that goes with dress pants as well as jeans. I love Gmail because it simplified my email management. I love ING because it made my banking easy.

I am a work in progress. I have areas of my life that I am proud of my successes in simplicity (simplifying my closet) and others that are still quite a mess. But, it is a fun journey that is worth traveling.

I always thought that freedom came as a result of many options. I am finding myself feeling more liberated as I ELIMINATE my options. I don’t really understand it yet, but I like it.

Here are my 3 rules as a beginner minimalist:

1. Evaluate your possessions that sit on shelves. Think about how often you will realistically need the item. Think about how much it will cost to replace it if needed. Throw/give the stuff away.

2. Find a place for everything. Keys, pots and pans, neck-ties, toothbrushes. It all needs a home.

3. Enjoy what you have. Get rid of the junk and really enjoy those few items that are worthy to remain in your possession.

Living the simple life

I don’t think I am alone in desiring less when our world is screaming, “more, more, more.” Lynnae wrote about why she likes the minimalist life, Leo wrote a book about it, and I seem to be hearing people talk about it a lot lately.

What about you? Is LESS the new MORE?

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