Budgeting Finances, Your Marriage & God

Prior to marrying my wife, Courtney, 99% of the financial decisions I made were complete and utter disasters. I didn't make a budget, I didn't plan for the future, I spent money and when I ran out - I'd spend money I didn't have. I had credit card debt, a bad car loan and no direction - all the while thinking this is how everyone is with their money. I had to change my view on what a budget really is. A budget to me is being serious with your life decisions. Period. With the help of Dave Ramsey & Courtney, after about 6 months - The light would finally click on in my head and I would change.

Almost 4 years later - no credit card debt, no bad car loan, no debt except the mortgage and putting a name to every dollar we have - has made all the difference in the world. The everyday weight I felt about having debt was lifted and I can appreciate everything in this world so much more. It has allowed me to share with others that you can conquer your financial worries just by being realistic.

Thinking about a "budget", we need to budget for things in our everyday life that don't just deal with finances. We have to budget time for our spouses and their needs, wants and passions. Budget time with children (if you have them), We have to budget time to have fun, We have to budget time for fellowship with our friends and family. Most importantly, We have to budget time with God and prayer and the word of God - the Bible.

In the below passage of Luke 14:28-30, we learn that if you do not sit down to budget first - you will be mocked and unable to finish a vision you have set forth in your life.

Luke 14:28-30
For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he may have enough to finish it; lest perhaps, after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all those seeing begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish.

In the below passage of Corinthians, we learn that saving leads to a prospering life.

1 Corinthians 16:2
On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.

You can have a truly enjoyable life - if you budget appropriately for it.

Joshua Friedel

P.S. If you haven't gotten on board with Radio Shopping Show, You need to today and start saving money! Below is the link to learn more!

http://www.radioshoppingshow-jackson.com/

Our First Girls Night Out!

We had a BLAST at The Mosaic Shop!
There were great conversations, yummy food, people showed off amazing creative talents...all-around girlie fun was had by all!! We even enjoyed intensely concentrating on making our mosaics just right. If you couldn't make it, don't worry...we decided to have a monthly night away from the hubs and kids. Oops, I meant 'Girls Night Out' so we can bond with our fellow Sunday Schoolers! :)
The next one will be in October, so be on the lookout for that email and post.
I hope to see you all at the next get-together!!

Sunday School September 12

We are beginning Chapter Two in our study from Sacred Roads:Exploring the Historic Paths of Discipleship. Chapter Two is entitled, "Experiential Discipleship" and begins on page 32. And if we have your email address, you should be getting a brief audio-devotional today sent from my secretary, Karen.

BTW...if you don't have a book, or did not study your lesson, or may be running late...COME ANYWAY!!!!

See you this Sunday!!

The Battery

According to a comment I heard on a science program on MPR the other day, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford had a bet on what would power the newly invented automobiles. As we all know, Henry Ford and his choice of petrol won the bet that cost Thomas Edison (a battery proponent) a $100.

It looks like we have come full circle... now, automakers are trying to wean us off petroleum products by touting a new "eco-friendly" way of transportation with their version of a car that runs on battery power.

All of us may eventually drive battery powered cars, but I was reminded last week that even though my truck is "powered" by gasoline, I still need my battery charged if I am going to be able to drive. I know this because I left the lights on all night and they ran my battery down requiring me to get "a jump" before I could go anywhere. The battery may not be the main source of power, but I challenge you to crank your vehicle that has a full tank of gas without a charged up battery!

As I have been preaching lately, the Holy Spirit is the Christian's "battery." He serves the purpose of getting us going and keeping us going. And without a "fully charged" life, we can't walk in obedience or grow in godliness.

If your spiritual battery is dead, I hope to see you at Sunday School and Worship this Sunday...nothing recharges our spiritual batteries like the study of the Bible, fellowship with other believers, and a time of annointed worship.

PS: Thanks Jeff for coming to my house and "jumping off" my truck!!
PSS: Francis Chan's book entitled The Forgotten God is a book on the Holy Spirit that I just completed...I highly recommend it!

The Gift

I sent him a text and thanked him for the gift...we text every week. He is a member of our church but he has been a part of my life since I was 14. Though over 70, he texts like a teenager. In fact, he said that the learned to text so he could talk to his grandchildren...how many grandparents would go to that trouble?

I thanked him for the gift...a magazine subscription. I also thanked him for the fish...he left them in the freezer at the church. And while I was thanking him in a text message, I was also thanking Him in my heart...for bringing him into my life when I was 14.

While my parents were divorcing, he was taking me fishing, hunting, and out to lunch. He was helping me thru a rough time by giving me the "gift" of his time...how many folks would go to that trouble?

I have been blessed by his friendship thru the years. He is still giving me the gift of his time...we went fishing the other day at his deer camp and caught bream until we were tired of pulling them in. I have often thought of what gift I have given him? Am not really sure, but the gift of is friendship for over 35 years reminds me how important it is to have people in your life that really care about you.

Give a gift today...a thank you; a call; a visit...let someone know how grateful you are to have been given the gift of having their lives intersect with yours.

The Blackberry

I was sitting at the bar at Primos Restaurant last Monday knockin back some green beans and baked squash when I looked around and saw two other guys doing the same. I don't know where they had been before they came in for lunch, but I had just attended a funeral and was trying to grab a bite before heading back to the office.

One similarity between all three of us, besides the fact that we were eating alone, was that we held our forks in one hand and our Blackberry's in the other...eating and texting; or eating and surfing; or eating and checking email...that's what I was doing...checking e-mail.

I had called a member of my SS class to join me for lunch but got his VM...and at such a late hour (1pm), I never tried to call anyone else...I figured me and the Blackberry would just belly up and enjoy a nice, "productive" meal together. And that is the way most people think today...they are just as comfortable spending time with their electronic gadgets than with other people. I was forced to do so, but the guys to my left and right seemed as if this was a regular lunchtime habit...fork in one hand and phone in the other.

Henry David Thoreau said that during his time, people, in an attempt to be distracted from their lives, would "visit the Post Office." Today, we just turn on the TV, radio, stuff our ears with buds, and what ever else we can find to occupy our time...but why do we have to "occupy our time?" Why cant we just sit...listen...engage others around us...and take a break from having to read the latest article, e-mail or send an urgent text?

Psalm 46:10 tells us to "be still and know He is God." That is best accomplished when you can put the phone down, get away from the computer or TV, and turn off that Ipod.

That Blackberry, Iphone, laptop, or Droid is not your "friend"....it is a tool. And sometimes, you need to leave your "tool" in the car or at the office so that you can slow down and see God in the daily activities of your life.

Girls Night Out

We will have a Girls Night Out at The Mosaic Shop (in the same shopping center with Margaritas at the corner of Pear Orchard and County Line) on Friday, Sept 3rd from 6:30 - 8:30 pm.

They have projects from $12 - $45 (lots of super cute ones for around $20). You get to pick out whatever you want and the price includes all the materials you need to make your very own mosaic!

They will allow us to bring in food and drinks, so I thought it would be fun to have some light finger foods. We don't need everyone to bring something (and I definitely don't want anyone stressing over it)...but IF you have the desire to bring an item, let me know.

It's going to be a great Girls Night Out!!

If you have any questions, please let me know...Courtney 601-201-6745 or friedel4281@bellsouth.net

The Albino

Somebody sent me a picture of an albino baby deer. He was mostly white with a few patches of brown. He had pink eyes...as most albinos do.

I have never seen an albino deer, other than that picture, but I did have an albino friend in 1st grade. His dad was the principal of our school, and his son Bliss was my best friend. Bliss had snow white hair, a gangly kind of run, green lens in his coke-bottle thick glasses, and a loud, high-pitched voice...and me as a friend.

Nobody wanted to be friends with Bliss because he could not go out in the sun... he also acted unsociable at times, and was generally misunderstood....but I liked Bliss. He was funny, had kind of "snort" when he laughed, and made me his friend. And though I didn't have a pigment problem, I was like Bliss in that neither of us was ever too comfortable around crowds. I was a scrawny first grader and the other kids picked on me because I was small, and they picked on Bliss because he was different...we were a match made in Heaven!

It is hard to like/love people that are "different." But I remember a story in the Bible where King David befriend a young man that was different. His name was Mephibosheth and he was a cripple. He had no friends or source of income due to being crippled in both feet from a boy...the victim of an overzealous nursemaid who was fleeing for their lives when she dropped him and damaged his feet.

David befriended Mephibosheth because he was the son of his best, and now deceased friend, Jonathan. David said to Mephibosheth in 2Samuel 9:7, "I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan."

There are people around us who need to be shown friendship "for the sake of OUR Father in Heaven." People who may be unlovable, handicapped, or just seemingly always on the outside looking in.

Look for that Bliss, or that Mephibosheth today and show them kindness for the "sake of your Father in Heaven."

The Owl

Owls have a reputation for being wise... and they may be (wise that is). But I saw one last week that demonstrated "coolness under pressure."

I was sitting on my patio when I heard a cacophony of sound coming from some Hawks. I walked down to the woods where I heard the commotion. I saw an owl surrounded by three young hawks and they were screeching at that owl at a decibel that ruined my meditation time.

After a few minutes, a small murder of crows arrived...they, too, crowed at the owl with unbelievable intensity. All the while, the owl just sits, stares, looks around, and bats his eyes...he eventually flew off with both crows and hawks continuing their gang behavior by smothering him in flight...but you could tell that the owl was unconcerned by their "thugish" actions and seemingly oblivious to their disdain.

How do you handle pressure? At work? At home? Within your relationships?

The Apostle Paul stated that there was a time when he was "hard-pressed on every side." (2Cor 4:8) In an earlier chapter in 2Cor, he revealed that "he was under pressure far beyond his ability to endure" and thought that he would be crushed by his circumstances and swamped by the storm of difficulty he was facing (2Cor 1:8-9) BUT, Jesus delivered him. As he puts it,
"Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." 2Cor 1:9

If you have people crowing at you today...and trying to push your buttons; or if you feel that your circumstances are a weight too heavy to bear, then do as Paul did and turn things over to Jesus and learn how to rely on Him instead of trust in yourself.

The Party!

Everyone should have received an evite by now announcing our party this Saturday night at 6pm in The Harbor (youth bldg). If you did not receive an evite, text me your email and I will make sure that you get a special invitation!!