Abortion on the Decline

I was reading another blog and the article was worth repeating - so I mention it here. Synopsis is that Abortion as of 2005 was the lowest it has been since 1974! That is a great thing! I wish we had newer data, but this is a positive thing, and I'm glad the New York Times ran an article on it.

In the end, I hope that abortion rates continue to go down. There are alternatives, and it is a very scary thing for some women to have to go through. The author of the blog I mentioned talks about how she approaches talking about the issue. I think it's a good read, for those interested.

Dave Ramsey Grand Rapids Recap

I just got home from attending the largest event on personal finance in the U.S.

It was VERY cool! I was at Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover Live" Event. Dave taught for about 3 hours on his baby steps and stories and methods of getting out of debt and building wealth. There were at least 9,000 people there, but more likely over 10,000 (I'll find out the numbers soon).

What I like about Dave, is that he is a teacher. He wants to help people, and make sure they understand what he's saying. And his principles are not rocket science. He isn't here to make you "get rich quick". Instead, he wants to teach you how to spend, save, and give your money the right way. I seriously recommend that anyone with money questions or problems check him out. His website is www.DaveRamsey.com and he has a radio show and a TV show where all he does is help people with their money questions.

I can't say in this informal medium of the internet how much following the principles he teaches has changed my life, and the life of our family after only a few months. You have to listen to him, and the change in peoples' lives after they do some of this stuff! I personally think finding his program was blessing. So if you've heard about the crazy guy who cuts up credit cards, pays off debt, and tells you to sell the car with the $400 payment, but you've never checked him out, maybe now is the time!

My Church Family Rocks!

I just gotta say that my church family at Calvary Chapel on the Lakeshore is awesome!

My wife had her Gallbladder removed last Friday. We had done a sufficient job of keeping it under wraps until the Sunday prior. It was a laproscopic surgery, and everything went smoothly, and we aren't the kind of people to create a fuss over ourselves. Nonetheless, our church STILL wanted to make sure we were ok. So they decided to feed us. For the last three nights, a different family has stopped by each night with dinner for our family. We would really have been ok without it, but man oh man, what a blessing! It means so much to have this family that cares about us, and goes out of their way to make sure there is one less thing we have to worry about while she recovers.

THANK YOU ALL!

By the way, if you are around Muskegon or the surrounding area on Sunday moning or evening, or Thursday evening stop by and worship with us! We study through the Bible verse-by-verse each week. The pastor is a little off, but we love God anyway.

Just a quickie

Just a quick post about a quote that I was reminded of today.

"Some problems can't be solved by Googling"

I say: Amen.

Not liking Linux right now

OK , I know a lot of people like Linux. In fact, they adore it. And if you have even been on the internet, you've probably seen geeks blog and brag about how great it is. Well, I took on a small project recently that involved Linux. Shorty story - there's good, bad, and ugly. Some of it is self-imposed, but I'm definitely going to write more on this one later...

Frustration!

I am feeling really frustrated right now. I don't usually blog about my personal moods, but this one makes me mad!

I've had a problem lately. I spend too much time on the internet. I've pared down much of the time I spend at home on the internet, but I have a tendency to get on at work for way too long. So today I've been doing better. I limited my time in the morning, and started attacking real work. I spent at least an hour typing out and composing an informational email to be used internally. It was about a topic I know very well, and I really enjoyed it and was proud of it. However, I felt it important to run it by my boss for a second opinion. You never know what the higher-ups do and do not want to tell the lower-downs...

So I gave it to my boss and asked him to look it over for me and suggest any revisions. Well, he did. Basically he recommended taking out about 50% of the useful content. I really didn't want to do that, so I talked with him about it for 5-10 minutes. He finally allowed me to at least keep the content in the email (even if he didn't see my point), but he wanted me to basically take this informational email and make it a sales pitch. I wrote the article as an informative piece to people who are fairly intelligent. I think my boss basically wants me to dumb it down and advertise to the audience instead.

It FRUSTRATES ME SO MUCH!!!! Ahh. now that I got that out of my system.

The problem really comes in when I first seek the kingdom of heaven. The Bible tells us to submit to all authority, and as I write this, I have referenced the verses that really bring that home. Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2. It is kind of amazing how I get so worked up about this, and 3 minutes in the word can bring such peace over me. It's not about my boss and me. It's about God. My whole life has to be about God. There is too much at stake, to be wrong.

The part I really struggle with is that I doubt the competence of my boss. He is new to the company, and he hasn't shown himself to be the most knowledgeable source on...well, many things. Nonetheless, I view him as an authority. And shouldn't Christians be The Best workers, because we are working for Christ? Part of that would be listening to your boss.

Well, I certainly feel convicted about this, and I need to talk this over with my boss again. I usually find that when I calm down and communicate with people, things go more smoothly. Chances are, he just didn't understand my motivation behind this, and my overall goal of better communication. And I'm sure that I overreacted because this project was my kid, and he called my kid ugly. Maybe I should detach a little, huh? In any case, I will update when I have a bit more to update.


Technorati Tags: Bible Teachings, Life

Post and Event about Dave Ramsey at Upcoming

ADD is a terrible thing, but then again, it's probably a terrible thing to waste :)

While consuming a massive amount of information this morning (courtesy of bloggers everywhere) I ran across a website called Upcoming. It turns out it is actually a Yahoo website that gives information about upcoming events in any given area, or events on a certain person's calendar. So I pulled up my area to see if the upcoming Dave Ramsey event in Grand Rapids was listed. It Was!

Problem was, it wasn't submitted by a user, and as a result, the info was pretty basic and bland. So I improved upon it. See they let you add a comment to the event, and even register yourself as going to it. So I registered to it and left a comment. Hopefully it helps people get some more info about it and REALLY consider going.

I don't over exaggerate when I say that the principles Dave teaches have changed my life so far, and I'm only three months into it.
I've gone from living paycheck to paycheck, to at least having some money saved, and beginning to pay off debt. No really, my wife and I are actually PAYING for the things WE BOUGHT! I know, I know, it sounds crazy. Why actually pay off your credit cards and furniture loans, and car loans, and house? I mean, as long as you are making the payments, you're fine, right? WRONG!

We actually have a goal with our finances now. Being Debt-Free changes a person. You can hear it when people call into his show and SCREAM that they are DEBT-FREE!!!!!! I can't wait to do that myself. Even Dave's first rule - make a budget - has had a tremendous impact on our finances. It is literally like getting a raise. And it makes you feel in control of your money. I don't have to wonder at the end of the month where all of my money went, because before the month began, I told my money where it was going. And now my wife and I feel better about our money. But not only our money, our life. When you take the stresses of money struggles out of the picture, you begin to feel different, more in control. I can't even explain it all in text, I almost have to speak it to you to truly bring it home.

Are you struggling with debt and paying the bills? Are you debt-free? Do you just want to hear more about this? Make a comment on this post. Let's have a discussion about it.