Cap and Trade: All Increases Converted to Heavenly Riches

I was very challenged by something I read** on a flight to Cleveland this week. It was a biographical article about the generous life of John Wesley. I'm sure there are better biographies on him, but I recommend this article for its brevity and well-organized outline of some of the more notable aspects of his life (practice) and preaching on the subject of money and giving.

What blew me away was the degree to which he internalized things which Jesus and the Apostles taught. What is plainly seen in the Scriptures was so fully embraced by John, that it is rather shocking.

In summary, he got to a point where he committed to cap his spending at a fairly low level, and whatever extra came in after that, he would give it all away.

By why should I be shocked by his example? Is it because I feel the call to rise to a similar level of trust in God, expressed through generosity, but am as yet unwilling? Hmmm... Selah... Ouch.

In my work with high-net worth individuals, on behalf of an exceptional Christian ministry, I am privileged to know several individuals and families who have made similar commitments. I think of one young man who has great inherited wealth and has handed over control of around 80% of all that God has given him, putting it into a charitable trust that can only be used for gifting... and many similar stories of people who are indeed rising to a level like John Wesley.

Oh that I and many others would have faith like this. Lord Jesus, help (compel) us to live according to all the trust and joy you have in mind for us!

Other things that impacted me from Wesley's example (blog posts to come):

1) He was pro-business, arguing that to set up profitable endeavors was good stewardship.
2) He believed in giving during your lifetime, versus giving after you're gone. I'm not sure about this, seeing value in both. But I want to explore his thoughts more.

** This article is intended for the most mature of givers, what some call "Giving Champions." Do not be discouraged if the article seems, form your perspective, to be calling to a kind of giving/trust that you are not ready for. Instead, check out a great Web site (www.givingjourney.com) which is built around the idea that growing in generosity, like all spiritual growth, is a process, and there are stages. The creators of this site recognize four stages, and have created actionable suggested items for each stage, including things to read, and things to do. I highly recommend, no matter where you are in terms of being generous, that you click on one of the four stages:

1. Emerging Giver
   
2. Maturing Giver
3. Generous Giver
   
4. Giving Champion

I intend to share more on these stages soon...

$18 Indy to Chicago

The reader must excuse my stretch of topic on this post. Normally, I write here only about generosity, giving, and closely related topics. Today I write about travel by train.

Actually, if you think of the topic of this blog as not merely generosity, but "good stewardship" then the topic of saving expenses by travelling by train is easily within my mandate here...

Justification aside, I just want to share this with you...

I travel a lot for my work with Wycliffe. Both the work and the travel are a joy. But in an effort to save expenses (one of the best ways to insure funding for thew field work), I've begun to think about ways to seriously reduce travel expenses.

Hertz, my favorite care rental company, rents "green" cars that get better gas mileage. Nice.

But then I thought of Amtrak and my long-held wish that the US had an interstate or intercity train network. A friend told me the fuel consumption for the train, per rider, equates to a small fraction of driving your own car.

"Wow," I thought, "I could greatly reduce my footprint on the earth, and save cash? Why wouldn't I?!"

So I just booked my first online Amtrak ticket from Indianapolis to Chicago. Price: $18.00! To rent a car for the 4-plus hour, white-knuckle drive would be at least $35, plus the gas at about $20 or $30... I just saved more than 70% of the cost to get up there! And, I will have the four hours I would have been driving to sit, and get some work done on the laptop. Nice!

Also, at the end of the booking, the following was listed. Interesting. Amtrak is smart enough to see that some of its users are environmentally-minded folks and offers them one more way to tread lightly:

Economic Stimulus Checks

I have had many (conflicting) ideas about how to spend the check coming from the Federal government. Part of me says "spend it on US-manufactured goods," which would seems to meet the money's intent... Another voice says "come February 2009 your TV (non-cable, no satellite) won't work anymore and there is probably some great sales on TVs about now..." What could be more American than a TV (made in Japan)?

Of course these thoughts are second to the my first thought to take a large portion (yes, more than 10%) for a one-time gift to a ministry.

Today's Desiring God blog has a great line which takes the discussion back a step:

We would have gotten on fine without [the check]. If we didn’t know it was coming, we wouldn’t even be feeling the desires we are feeling right now.

And so, knowing that giving is greatest antidote to greed, Becky and I plan to take more than half of it and put it into a project to bring the Scriptures to a people that have no access to it, and the rest will go into Savings (we're trying to save up for an addition which would give the house a 3rd bedroom).

Which Came First: the Checkbook or the Affections?

Our Hearts Follow Our Money

• Matthew 6:19-21 — “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” [cf. Luke 12:34]
• Matthew 6:24 — “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” [cf. Luke 16:13]
• Deuteronomy 17:16-17 — “The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, ‘You are not to go back that way again.’ He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.” (cf. 1 Kings 10:14-11:13)
• Ecclesiastes 5:12 — “The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep.”
• Matthew 6:1-4 — “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
• Proverbs 18:10-11 — “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall.”

Give, Save, Spend

Becky and I have recently started to teach Nathan (age 4) and Elise (age 2) about money. Of course I mean Biblical wisdom regarding the wise stewardship of this God-given resource, and also practical money-handling advice, like that offered by Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace, Jr.

Today was really the first time we brought Elise in on the teaching. I think she understands the most important part. Let's see if you agree... But first, I need to tell you about the our Three Envelope System.

1.) We are teaching the kids that all money comes form God and it ultimately belongs to him. So the first thing we do with any money is give some back to him. This goes into the Ramsey-provided "Give" envelope.

2.) The next envelope that we need to put a chunk of the money God gives us is "Save." At first we told the kids this could be for Big Ticket Item toys they want, but on second thought that is not really what I want them to learn about savings. So we have since said this is for "a car, or college, or something big we need in an emergency."

3.) Third chronologically (and I hope eventually the kids see that its chronology determines the priority) is the "Spend" envelope. We allow each child almost total freedom to decide how to spend this. Right now, from Christmas money, and helping me with mailings I do for work, each child has about $30.00 in "Spend".

The first time they got a big chunk of money, I started to explain the importance of the "first fruits" idea. And, being the Bible-steeped guy I am, I dutifully shared with the little ones that we thus needed to pull out 10%. But Becky then had a great idea. Since the dollar amount they typically get is small, and in whole dollars, the calculation of 10% looks small to Nathan and Elise's little eyes, that really see nickels as more important than dimes, because they are bigger (and dollar bills are not as exciting to them as are any coin, because somehow they don't see value in the paper as much as the metal. Maybe all the talk of investing in Gold is initiated by toddlers...?) I digress. Becky's great idea was to, each time a child gets any money, split up their total into the three envelopes in this way:

• 25% to "Give"
• 25% to "Save"
• 50% to "Spend"

Not only is this easier to show the kids where the money is going, it helps to underscore the point of priority. I pray they might, as long as possible, continue to live on a budget close to this...

So today we really got Elise started on this system for the first time. After I split up her dollars and coins into three envelopes, and after praying with her about where to give, what to save for, and how to spend it, we shared a need for a young boy at our church. There is a family whose three children all have varying degrees of a disease and they have financial needs the church is taking a collection for this Sunday. I barely got through the first sentence or two of explaining this and Elise announced:

"I will give all this to him!" as she pushed her Give envelope toward me. Inside was over $7.00. So at her very first opportunity to freely give, she made a gift worth 25% of her net worth.

Given that I myself am called to help others excel in the grace of giving, and to encourage generosity, it is hard to put into words the sense of pride and excitement I had at seeing her joy as she responded to the need. TGBTG!