Transparent Christian Magazine

Money has been tight lately.  My ‘real job’ is going well, and I am growing my client base, which means that my checks get incrementally larger every couple of months.  Plus, I like working where I am, and I have found that when I am happy in a job I can really excel.

There are some life issues right now though that add to our financial burdens.  Our medical expenses have gone up dramatically during the last few years with my wife’s surgeries, and she is not working currently… so more outgo and less income equals some financial strain.

After some prayer, we went to my brother for help, (remember, he’s probably smarter than you?) and we laid out a budget that gives every dime a name.  What that means is that everything has a category, and we spend the money on paper FIRST, before we get a check, so we keep control over our spending.  It’s interesting…  Dave Ramsey says that money that isn’t ‘spent first on paper’ will leave you, and I have learned to believe that.  I also learned that I was part of the problem.   Ug… That was a hard realization.  A few stops at Starbucks during the week, or Target on the weekend was killing my ability to save, and pay all of my bills.  All this time I thought we had less money than we needed because Shelli was spending a few extra bucks on unnecessary groceries.

Café Mocha from Starbucks (Grande, thank you) is one of my weaknesses.  Whoever thought of combining chocolate and coffee together in a frothy mix of steamed goodness should win an award.   I tend to want one when I’m a bit stressed, and giving up the $4 coffee has been mighty difficult.  The other day, I had a relapse.

I had already spent all of my allowance for the week (yes, Shelli and I each get an allowance) but I was a bit frazzled by a recent trip to the library (It’s a long story), so I went to Starbucks and got in line.  I ordered the drink and pulled out my wallet, only to realize that I didn’t have my bank card, which I ALWAYs have with me.  Was it a ‘God Thing’ I thought?  When I got to the window, I asked if they took checks, and proceeded to write a $3.99 check to Starbucks thinking “my brother is going to freakin’ kill me when he sees this in the register”.

As I drove home I took two sips before pulling into the driveway.  I hopped out, grabbed the library books out of the backseat and I bumped the cup on the car door.  The top flew off as it went tumbling out of my hand:

–Spilling all over my left foot–

–That was wearing a croc–

–With the wonderful ‘breathing holes’ on the top–

The hot sticky mocha was very uncomfortable on the top of my foot and the squishing on the bottom was disgusting.  As I slowly walked into the house, I chuckled and pictured God saying, “You prayed, I answered, and we can do this the easy way, or the hard way”.

Sometimes I wonder why we make things so hard on ourselves.  How about you?

Love you,
Jason