The blog world seems to have faded to the background lately. I haven't posted anything of worth in sometime. Why? No good reason. Really, I should be posting regularly just to keep sharp on my writing skills.
What have I been doing lately you ask? Not posting on my blog. I've been doing school work on my way to an Associate's Degree. What an accomplishment it will be when I finally get that piece of paper. Both my sisters are well on their way to being fully degreed and I'm really proud of them. Leah did a great job figuring out the system. I only wish I could have tried to figure it out a little more. I just didn't realize that getting into a class merely required bringing an add slip into whichever class I wanted to take. I thought that it was full when it said it was full.
Since then I've come a long way. I should be graduated by September or October of this year. I'm working toward getting a BS in business. I figure its kind of an open ended degree for the current job market. A business degree can be utilized in every industry.
What else is new you ask? What, that wasn't enough for you? You want more? Okay. I'm also learning a great deal about real estate, mortgage loans, and investing. Why? Because I can't be poor my whole life. Wait, you mean to tell me that you want to be rich? Yes, absolutely. But aren't you a Christian? Yes. Don't Christians try to avoid the pursuit of money and all that? I'm glad you asked. It just so happens that I've done a lot of soul searching in the midst of disliking my job, seeking better money, and planning for the future of my family. My current situation will not allow Maggie the opportunity to leave her job and be a stay at home mom without tremendous sacrifices to our standard of living. I also don't want to work for somebody else my whole life where I get paid what they think I'm worth.
Well, that's all great, but isn't money a root of all evil? I have one word for you: Amplification. Judging by the funny look I'd guess that I've lost you. Allow me to explain. Money is, in and of itself, neutral. It is neither good nor bad. However, the person with the money has the option to use it for good or for bad. Money provides the amplification of the character of that person. If you were somebody that wants to help others, that is generous, and that has a good heart, those qualities can be amplified by money. With money, you can help out people in need, you can ease the burden of the check at the end of the meal for your friends, and you can use it to make a difference. Amplification. If a person is greedy and evil, those traits would be more obvious with money as well. Does that mean money is good or evil? No, it means the person that uses it is good or evil.
So, being a Christian and working with money to make it grow so that you can do good things with it is not a contradiction. Being responsible and investing, growing your money, and moving up in the world so you can do things like have a stay at home wife are good things.
Now that I've explained myself, I'll fill you in on a little bit. We've got lots of options on the table because we bought our house early. Now we have a significant amount of usable equity that can be converted to cash for investment. This is where we have some different roads that we could take. We could sell this house and put a hefty down payment on a nice new house, we could take the equity out in the form of a loan, rent out this house, and put a down payment on another less expensive house as well. We may find a foreclosure (cause there are a lot of those lately) and fix it up a little. Who knows. That's why I'm learning everything I can right now. I want us to be as educated as possible so that we can be good stewards of the money God has given us.
That's it! Of course that's not everything that has happened during the months of silence, but that's what's happening now. If I were to write down everything you'd soon lose interest and eventually fall asleep. Then you'd wake up with asdfghjkl written across your forehead the next morning and I just couldn't do that to you. I will, however, try to post a little more so we don't have to do all this catching up all at once. Till next time, may you dwell on eternal things and daily choose to serve the Lord and Him only.
