JP JONES

Ok, so this weekend we talked about the difficulties that debt can create in our lives.  As I have been wrestling through this myself I came across a book by Mary Hart.  It’s entitled, “Debt-Proof Your Marriage.”  It’s not written (necessarily) as a “Christian” book, but she certainly points people to better understand the dynamics of their spending and their giving.  Anyway, within one chapter she gives 40 ways to start saving money.  I thought I would pass along 20 of them to you.  I hope you enjoy them or (at least) consider using them as a part of your plan to find financial freedom.

Here they are:

1. Shop with cash
2. Toss your catalogs
3. Call your insurance company (look for discounts; raise deductibles if reasonable)
4. Play games with your money (don’t spend your coins, at the end of each day put them in a jar, once the jar is full use it to make an additional payment towards one of your debts)
5. Clean it yourself (use dry cleaning for as little as possible; most fabrics aren’t damaged by being washed in water)
6. Self-Talk — Before purchasing anything ask, “Do we need it?  If so, do we need it now?  If so, is this the best deal?”
7. Don’t overpay your taxes — If you are getting a big refund each year stop it.  The only thing you are doing is lending money to Uncle Sam until he gives it back to you later.
8. Learn to cook
9. Never pay full price — Wait for sales or come with a coupon
10. Get supermarket savvy — Go with cash, determine what you are going to buy ahead of time, don’t go when you are hungry
11. Grocery shop less often — Use up what you have already purchased and don’t run out to the store every time you get the urge
12. Use the library — It lends not only books but also videos and music.  So, “check them out.” :-)
13. Empty the trunk of your car and fill up your tires
14. Stop Shopping
15. Hair Today/Gone Tomorrow — Guys:  Learn to cut it at home; Ladies:  Don’t get it cut as often
16. Turn down/up your thermostat
17. Make your own cleaning supplies
18. Use coupons
19. Extend the useful life of products
20. Make one big, bold move — Whether it’s downsizing to a smaller home, getting a second job, or selling something significant.

I’ve noticed something about myself and I’m assuming the same is true for you.  When it comes to change I’m usually all in until it gets uncomfortable or even to the point of pain.  Let me give you some examples.  There are occasions (recently more than I care to admit) when my belt starts to get pretty snug around my waist.  So, I make the decision to lose a few pounds.  I put together an eating plan.  I commit to following it faithfully.  Then about 2 days (sometimes 3) in I start to have some cravings (a donut from Carmello’s, a steak from the grill, chips and salsa).  It’s at this point when the cravings kick in or I have to consider turning down an invitation to go out and eat that I wilt like a dandelion that’s been cut from the grass.  Why?  Because I’m all in . . . until it gets painful.

Here’s another one:  I’ve been wanting to start running again.  I need to start running again.  So, every night I set my alarm for the appropriate time, but when it goes off I turn it off and rollover.  Why do I do that?  Because I’m all in . . . until it gets uncomfortableness!

One last example:  I started this blog several months ago and when I first started it was awesome.  I looked forward to sitting down and writing.  I constantly had new thoughts coming to my mind.  But then the “newness” wore off.  My calendar started to fill.  My “new thoughts” seemed to be “old thoughts.”  I considered calling it quits and moving on.  After all, it’s not a requirement.  It’s not necessarily even an expectation from anyone other than me.  So, I thought about stopping.  Why?  Because I’m all in . . . until it gets inconvenient.

I guess you probably are getting quite the picture.  Some are probably even rehearsing similar experiences.  So, why even bring up such topics (especially on a Monday)?  Well, in large part, because Molly and I have committed to resolutely ridding our lives from debt.  We want to live lives that are free from any obligations other than to love one another and be available to serve God’s kingdom.  As a result we are in the throws of uncomfortableness and inconvenience.  We are experiencing the initial pains of making changes.  And I know there will come a time and a day (probably sooner than we expect) when we want to quit and go back to life as it has always been.  But to be honest (in this experience) we can’t.  Much of what we feel God has called us to be is connected to freedom and obedience.  So, we need to prevail.

Here’s my question:  What have you done to make it over the hump of pain and inconvenience?

Here’s another response from someone who took our last trip to Ecuador.  As you can tell what they were asked to do (summarize their experience) isn’t an easy task, but you certainly get a taste for their heart, their soul, and their desire to honor God above all else.  This was one written by Karl Gnadt.  I hope you enjoy!

Here’s Karl:

JP has asked me to put into a few words our experience in Guayaquil, Ecuador. He might as well have asked me to explain Quantum Chromo-Dynamics, which is the theory of quarks and fluons, in one sentence. That would be easier. I’m still in the process of trying to wrap my brain around the whole experience – it was truly life-changing for me. I feel like I’ve seen behind the curtain, and now that I know the truth, I can no longer go on living in ignorance. But bear with me…I truly haven’t landed from this experience yet, so my thoughts and ideas about it are still fluid.

Before I get into it though, I’d like to publicly thank Dan Ray. Dan had been scheduled to go on this trip, but because of some last minute conflicts, he couldn’t make it. Instead of taking the refund, he graciously asked JP to find a fill-in, at his cost. Dan, I will never be able to thank you enough for this opportunity. You changed my life…

Here’s where I am: in some respects, I’m thinking that living in the United States is a curse. Oh, I don’t mean that I’ve become some Anti-Patriot. I love my country, I love my friends, and I most certainly love my family. I’m grateful for the opportunities that are available to me and every other citizen here. But here’s the thing. If you look around our country that, on the surface, seems to be so full of blessings, what do you see? Depression. Despair. Amorality. Immorality. Debt. Greed. Jealousy. Abuse. Dishonesty. And that’s only a partial list. We seem to be living under the curse of success.

We have so much compared to the people we were with in Guayaquil. The difference is startling. How many cars do we have? How big is our home? What incredible variety of food do we have to eat? How many different pairs of pants do each of us have? Are you covered by a health plan? Because they don’t even have running water in their homes. They don’t have bathrooms – they use outdoor latrines (at the home visit I went to, their latrine was overflowing with rivulets of effluent running back toward their home). Some places don’t have electricity. No glass on their windows, and no doors. Certainly nothing resembling air conditioning.

But these people, wow, what they can teach us about true joy. What they can teach us about true community. What they can teach us about a true servant’s heart. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. The children we spent time with at the project site and at the home visits were just incredible! What love they have to share!

This experience pierced my heart and I’ll never be the same. I don’t mean that I’m going to give everything away and go live in squalor. And I’m certainly not trying to make others feel guilty about what they have. To me, the real lesson that I took away is that I am, in fact, ungrateful. And I aim to change that attitude.

As I mentioned in my last blog I’m taking some time to feature a couple of responses from some of those who traveled to Ecuador this past week.  Today, we’ll hear from Paul Stansberry.  I hope if you know Paul you will take an opportunity to encourage him and thank him for representing our church in such a significant work.

Here’s Paul:

What a week! That’s about all I can say after having just completed a week in Guayaquil, Ecuador on a mission trip. To begin our trip, we arrived at Project EC-314 with a reception fit for a king. The children, who are served by the project, had assembled in two lines and then popped balloons as we passed between and into the church building. What a fanfare!

Of course, the conditions these people have to live in are so poor and so unfair. Compared to them, we have so much and they have almost nothing. With cinderblock walls, sheets of tin for roofs, no doors or windows, and crime so steep that any hole big enough to crawl through was barred up, these people still lived with pride and still did their best to stay as clean and healthy as they possibly could.

One of the afternoons while we working to poor a new sidewalk in front of the church, we broke away in order to visit a home of one of the kids at the project. In this home they have only two small rooms and an equally small courtyard that was full of rubble and garbage. The only bathroom is shared by 2 other parts of their extended family. Keep in mind, the bathroom had 3 walls, a curtain for a door, and no roof. Now, having no roof is a bit of a problem because there are only two seasons in Ecuador, the dry season and the wet season. I guess you can start to see the problem. While we were there we had the privilege to do some work for the families we met, but more importantly we took the opportunity to show them that there were people around the world that loved them and cared enough to come and visit and give them their love.

This was a work trip, so the work on site was hard. There were two masons, Jose and Patricio. Jose is an elder of the church that serves as a project site, but Patricio (Jose’s employee), does not go to church. I had a long conversation with him, and he told me about his past and how he had to grow up with an uncle that did not care for him, but rather only put him to work. Later someone in our group said that he had mentioned that he had a hard time understanding why we would use our own time and money to come there and work for free. He apparently had said I would not have done that. However I truly believe that God had him and us there for a reason and I think a big seed has been planted in Patricio’s heart.

My highlight, was meeting my sponsored child. Daniela is 4.5 years old and one of God’s most beautiful creations. She hugged me and played and laughed with me as if I were her own father. And when she fell asleep in my arms, I knew I was truly blessed. It was then I felt that maybe God’s blessings are a two way street.

About 5 years ago I remember sitting in the back of a chapel listening to a man speak about grace.  This man was a daily servant at a homeless shelter in our area.  As he talked he described all types of individuals who over the course of the past few years he had been privileged to meet and serve.  He described the mother who’s husband had left her with nothing less than 2 young children and a mountain of unpaid credit card bills; they had come to his shelter looking for help.  He described the 18 year old teenager who had in a season of anger and discontentment chosen to leave his home in the east and seek something different in the midwest; unfortunately, that initial decision to run had set in motion of series of dominoes that had ultimately forced him to become a resident at the shelter.  As the speaker closed his message he said to each of us (students and adults alike), “Friends, don’t ever believe that God’s grace is reserved exclusively for the future.  Don’t ever think that God’s grace is something you will experience . . . some day.  God’s grace is what you experience every day.  If you have a home to live in . . . it’s by God’s grace.  If you have enough food to eat . . . it’s because of God’s grace.  If you have clean clothes to wear and choices of what shoes to put on . . . you are experienced in God’s grace.”

This past week I was in Ecuador with 9 other men from our church.  We served a church in Guayaquil, Ecuador that seeks to serve and care for the children in their community.  This church is a project site of Compassion International.  Our church supports over 200 children in Ecuador through Compassion.  So, this was an opportunity to be on the front lines and experience how generosity in our lives leads to blessings in their lives.

I won’t go into much detail about the trip.  I’ve asked a couple of the guys who went with us to share their experiences.  I’ll be posting those responses over the next couple of days.  I hope you will check it out and see what God was at work doing in us and through us.  So, while I won’t go into much detail I will tell you it was as I sat inside the walls of a home that was no bigger than most of our kitchens and I met the 4 families (a combined 20 people) who live in that home I was reminded that the only thing that separates my life from theirs is that for some unknown, undeserved, often unappreciated favor from God He chose to extend me his grace by gifting me with so much.

I hope as you follow along with these stories from those who went you will join me in continuing to pray for Ecuador and the countless numbers of kids and families and churches that need God’s presence and grace.