Enough Is Enough!

I’ve had it!

I’m fed up with my dumb self.

My desire to know everything, to keep with everything, to have everything, to experience everything. It’s time to call it quits. It’s time to count the cost and pursue holiness anyway.

A year and a half of unfulfilled promises
Looking back at my blog post from December 25th, I see that most of my planning and aim to reduce my debt has gone by the wayside. I still weigh as much as I did at the beginning of the year. I don’t spend any more time regularly in prayer or Bible study now than I did back then. I’m not married or even heading in that direction.

Basically, 2009 has been pretty bleak for me in a lot of ways. In fact, it doesn’t only start there. Even in June 2008, I was seeing that things were out of control. I think it goes back even further than that.

Granted, things did change for the positive over the summer as I began to see a glimmer of hope. I began playing piano at a new church where my good friend Greg is the pastor, and that is turning out to be an exciting process. We are starting to see some growth in the church, both in numbers as well as in life within the fellowship.

Sadly, when I survey the state of the American church, comfort and excess have replaced giving and sacrifice as Christian virtues in the 21st century. The mantra of contemporary Christian circles seems to be “Man’s chief end is to get lots of stuff, end enjoy it for ever. And be sure there’s good air conditioning and comfortable seats in church while you’re at it!” The Puritans taught us that “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy Him for ever.” Quite a discrepancy.

Well, I’m tired of the stuff. I’m tired of distractions. I’m tired of clutter in my life – physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually. I grow weary of the undisciplined nature of my current state of existence. It’s time for a change.

This morning, Pastor Greg read a little bit out of E.M. Bounds book The Weapon of Prayer. I’ve read his book Power Through Prayer a few times and every time I read it, I am convicted of my woeful lack of prayer. This week, I will work my way through The Weapon of Prayer. I’ll also focus more of my time on prayer. Real prayer, not the superficial stuff.

My online life takes up too much of my time. My iPhone provides more distractions than I even know what to do with. So it is time to move forward. Instead of feeling like a victim of my circumstances, I’m going to take control. In the next three and a half months, I will regain control and discipline in my life.

Fasting will be a huge part
In the process of regaining control, I must regularly deny the flesh through fasting. For the most part, these will be day-long water/juice fasts, though there may very well be extended fasting happening as well. This past spring, I experienced the power that fasting had in recovering my focus as I went through three 5+ day fasts. Since then, the longest I’ve gone without food has been 12-15 hours.

This is an urgent need
As easy as it would be for me to sit back (like I have for months and years even) and say that I’ll get around to it later, there is no time like the present to begin to see transformative changes in my life. No more of the “just one more time” mentality. That simply delays the inevitible. To quote Professor Harold Hill from The Music Man, “‘Pile up too many tomorrows and you’ll find that you’ve collected nothing but a bunch of empty yesterdays.” Do something now!

What you can do

• Pray for your pastor. He needs it!
• I encourage you to commit to make some changes in your life. That one nasty habit you’ve been meaning to overcome. The 10 pounds you’ve gained since college. Or the 50 pounds. Or the 100. You get the picture. Read more. Watch less.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.
For God will bring every work into judgment,
Inlcuding every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

• Encourage me. Self sacrifice is never easy. 100 days of it will be greuling for me. If you happen to see me online, encourage me and ask me how things are going. Pray for me. Tell me you are praying for me and I’ll be sure to pray for you as well.

Twitter Anyone?

I know a few of you guys use Twitter and have connected with me on there. I also have been learning about it quite a bit lately, as it seems to be growing like crazy and seems to hold a lot of potential for development in the future.

But what is it? I didn’t know much, other than that it simply let me do status update things like Facebook does. So why do I need Twitter?

With a background knowledge of Facebook (and an almost immediate realization that its usefullness is far more than MySpace will ever be in its current form), I found a few articles that helped me out. I also began spending some more time, adding some friends, and just seeing what some of the more popular tweeters post. It is amazing. Here are a few of those articles:

• The Misunderstood Uses of Twitter and Facebook: Are You a Friend, Follower or a Fool?
• Twitter versus Facebook: Should you Choose One?
• Ten People All Twitter Beginners Should Be Following
• 10 Easy Steps for Twitter Beginners
• 5 Steps To Model Successful Twitter Users

Although some claim that Facebook will kill Twitter, I personally don’t see that happening. I follow people on Twitter that I don’t want to befriend on Facebook. I like the anonimity that Twitter allows me to have, while still allowing my Facebook friends to actually see pictures and personal information about me.

So do you tweet? If so, add me…

Debt Is Dumb

I foresee 2009 being one of the best years of my life.

As I stand here looking at this year, the thing that strikes me about what is about to happen is one solitary word.

Discipline
Discipline is a good thing. In fact, it is a wonderful thing. I am not talking about punishment, but discipline.  You know, discipline:

Training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior, especially training that produces moral or mental improvement.

So what specific character or pattern of behavior do I want to train? It’s actually going to be a lot. I’ll focus on fleshing out some of the plans over the next couple of weeks.

To begin with, I am going to focus on debt.

Theologically, debt says that I want now what God has not seen fit to give me yet. It God’s sovereignity and places my own wisdom above His wisdom. It says that I know better what I need than God does. Ultimately, debt gratifies my flesh and denies the Spirit.

Maybe you disagree. That’s fine if you do.

The rich rules over the poor,
And the borrower is servant to the lender. — Proverbs 22:7

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. — Romans 13:8

Rather go to bed supperless than rise in debt. — Benjamin Franklin

What I plan on doing this year is to live as frugally as possible, and put as much money as possible into debt elimination. I am going to be following Dave Ramsey’s plan.

1. $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
2. Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
3. 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings
4. Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
5. College funding for children
6. Pay off home early
7. Build wealth and give!
   Invest in mutual funds and real estate

I’ve been fully aware of him for around three years. I used his strategies to eliminate around $10,000 during the first two years. Then 2008 came.

I bought a used truck in February, but the payments on that have substantially slowed me down. I have had dental work done (root canal, and two crowns), my dog was hit by a car which cost me around $500, and some other minor “emergencies” have come and gone. Plus I have spent about just as much money as I make. So it’s time to get this all under control.

This is the first part of my discipline adventure!