Don’t Spend It!

So the federal government is going to do another stimulus package. Where is this money coming from? Last time I checked, the US was trillions in debts and the last 2 or 3 stimulus packages did nothing to stimulate. I know that the rich have plenty of money, but even if we took it all from them it would not pay off the current debt. The federal government does not produce goods for the money they get, they get it from the citizens and there is not enough of my money left to pay any more to a wasteful bunch of government bureaucrats. STOP SPENDING MONEY YOU DON”T HAVE!!!
I can’t go out tomorrow and borrow enough money to pay off my house that I still owe on and expect my financial situation to get better. I can’t put all of my bills on a credit card and expect it to stimulate my savings account and retirement fund, nor will it give me more to eat in the next few months. Sadly there are not even enough jobs out there for me to get another one in order to make more money to pay my bills, which if I were in a financial mess would be the right thing for me to try to do, much less get another job to pay of the governments debts that I did not cause.
The American people are being duped into a financial disaster that can’t be fixed without someone putting a stop to this outrageous spending of our tax dollars. It is not because we are not paying enough in taxes, no matter who you are, it is that the government is spending money that it doesn’t have. Can anyone tell me how printing more money and going into debt helps create jobs? How does going into debt make things better if you aren’t making enough money to pay what you already owe? Stupidity is running a muck in Washington DC and I am sick of it. I am calling and writing my elected officials and telling them that they are fired if they spend one more dollar that I make and don’t have to give to them. If they want to stimulate the economy, grow a pair and make the tough decisions to be responsible with my money. Say no to more to printing and borrowing and spending. Resign and quit getting paid with my tax dollars if you want to stimulate the economy. I have a 3-year-old grandkids that can lose the money I give to her and she doesn’t require a six figure paycheck to do it.

One Step Ahead

6am is very early for a lot of people. I am one of those. There was a time when I was up and about by 5:30am every morning, but with kids growing up and moving out and jobs changing to not require it, I have taken a liking to sleeping a little later. But this week I started meeting with a group of guys from the church at 6am for ministry training and it was really weird to be out that early. We wanted to meet at IHOP so that we could relax and let the food and drink come to us, but it doesn’t open until 7am. In fact, there is not a restaurant in this town other than fast food that opens that early, so I am not the only one who doesn’t want to get up that early.
Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron,so one person sharpens the wits of another. This is the verse I shared with the guys today, at 6am. It is important in life to have someone who can help you achieve your goals and follow God’s calling. It doesn’t matter if you are called to do a specific ministry or just want a closer relationship with God, others who have a little more experience can and should help. It is easy to become a Christian. All it takes is admitting you are a sinner in need of forgiveness from God and asking Him to forgive you because you believe that Jesus paid your sin debt. It is by grace that we are saved through faith. After that, the hard part begins. Growing to be the best Christian that you can be. Jesus never left the ones that He called alone to figure things out for themselves. He invested His time and His love into their lives. He showed them by example how to live a life that is pleasing to God and taught them about forgiveness when they failed.
Far too often Christians stagnate and become of very little influence to those around them. Not because they don’t want too, but because they don’t know how too. We try to be loners in our faith and self-taught followers of Christ. But like a self-taught plumber, self-taught Christians often don’t attempt much real work for fear of causing a bigger mess than that which already exists. This should not be the case.
Reading the Bible is an important part of being a Christian. But, like learning something such as plumbing, what you read can often confuse you more because some things need someone to explain terminology and procedures. And then there are those things that happen that don’t seem to fit the directions that you just read. I was trying to install a new sink the other day and the fittings in my house were different from what I had in the instructions that came with the sink. I tried several times to figure it out on my own, but every time I did, water kept flowing out of the pipes onto the floor and I am pretty sure that is not normal. So I went to the local home improvement store with parts in hand and asked for help. This guy was a plumber who had done this many times before and showed me how to make things right. It wasn’t as hard as I thought, but without his help, I would have never gotten it and chances are, I would have never tried this again. Now I believe that I could do it right and even help someone else who might be attempting this for the first time.
So I am trying to help some guys who want to go further in ministry. They in turn are helping others who are trying to grow in their Christian walk and relationship, and hopefully, one day those who they are helping will be meeting with me at 6am. Meanwhile, I encourage you to see about finding someone to help you grow to a better relationship with God. Perhaps you need encouragement to read your Bible more. Perhaps you need to serve in another capacity at your church and you need someone to help you take that step. Perhaps you just need to strengthen your faith in the simple fact that God has forgiven you or maybe you need to take that important step of trusting God for forgiveness and salvation. If so, and no matter where you need the help, there is someone who can and will help you. All you need to do is ask. But don’t think that you can do it all alone; iron sharpens iron.
A wise man once told me that you only need to be one step ahead to lead. Lead others to help them lead others. If you don’t know where to go, ask for directions. But please, do what it takes to find your way to God and continue growing closer to Him. He is waiting to meet you and desires a relationship with you.

The Sky Is Falling!

The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Jesus is coming tomorrow! We are killing our planet! Its the worse thing that has EVER happened!!! When you hear stuff like this you think that you are either reading a children’s story about a talking chicken or watching the news or listening to our government leaders.
I try really hard to stay away from criticizing our elected officials because they have a hard job to do and I know from experience that you can’t please everyone. But there is a trend in Washington that is driving me crazy and it is the trend of calling everything a crisis. If everything is that bad then forget about what people say and fix it or quit calling everything a crisis before we stop listening to what Chicken Little has to say.
Just yesterday our president said that he could not guarantee the American public that social security checks and military retirement checks would be able to go out unless we raised our debt ceiling. I’m sorry, I thought my social security was in a “lock box” and now you’re telling me that you have to borrow the money to pay it? He told us the when he was elected that it was the worse economy since the great depression and yet two and a half years later things are even worse. He told us that if we would spend trillions that our economy would turn around and it hasn’t. He tells me, the general public that I have to do my part to help by cutting back and conserving, but he wants to spend more money. He complains about people who own corporate jets and he flies around the world in a 747 and a helicopter.

My wife and I took a hard look at our finances when I had to take a pay cut and our business went under. We both decided that hotdogs were good enough and the steak could stay in the grocery store. We started not traveling and taking cheaper modes of transportation if we had too. We watched every dime that came in and went out and the first thing that we did was stop any extra credit. No more visa, department store, or gas cards. We only paid for what we could afford. And you know what happened? We made it. Now we have far less debt and still don’t want any more. We are able to do more in the line of wants verses needs, but our financial status is better than it was when we started.
If we had taken the government approach, we would have borrowed as much money as we possibly could to pay the debt that we already had. We would have given some of it to people who aren’t doing anything to deserve it. We would have complained that the banks were evil for giving us the money, yet never once consider that we asked for it. We would find our rich uncle and tell him to pay our bills, even the new ones we were so irresponsible to get. And if that rich uncle didn’t want to give me HIS money, we would call him evil and greedy.
Sadly, the sky is going to fall on America one day if we don’t start acting like we have some common sense. We need to remind the government that it is our money they are spending, and that they need to stop spending and start being responsible with what they have. Americans are tough and resourceful. We can plant gardens and raise chickens if we have to in order to feed our families. We don’t mind cutting back and tightening our belts and working through a tough time. But we don’t need our leaders trying to scare us because they want to be reelected.
Here’s a novel idea. What if politicians did what they were supposed to. Protect us from enemies foreign and domestic. Provide an environment that encourages people to become self-sufficient. Don’t spend money you don’t have and don’t borrow from people who want to see our country fail. What if they did the right thing and let people decide to reelect them based on their job, not their talk or threats.
This is only a blog and I know that things are far more complicated than I stated, but the fact is, if I am out of money and you are out of money, shouldn’t the government be out of money? And if that is true, me borrowing and you borrowing and them borrowing will not make us better off.
Please Washington, stop trying to scare us with idle threats because you aren’t getting your way. We are scared enough because some are getting their way and it is not for the benefit of the people of this country. The sky is not falling…yet.