Hope for your financial life and beyond

On How to Keep Moving On After Failure

November 1, 2014 by 9 Comments

Hidden Nuggets Series #62 – “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed…That I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart…” – Psalm 27:13-14

Like some of you I’ve been watching the World Series for the last two weeks. My team is not in it so I’m not 100% engaged. But Kansas City is a fun, Cinderella story and my uncle likes San Francisco so I have a passing interest in what is going on.

moving onWhat’s always intrigued me about baseball is how these men deal with failure. Imagine if you failed 75% of the time you tried to accomplish something. Hard to fathom isn’t it? You’d probably give up and at the least have a negative perception of yourself.

Yet that’s what happens to the average baseball player. A .275 batting average is considered respectable in the Major Leagues. Those who hit over .300 for 20 years likely have a chance at the Hall of Fame. It’s remarkable that those enshrined as the game’s best were beaten by the pitcher 7 out of 10 times.

In order to deal with that much failure I’ll bet they have several things going for them:

a short memory…

confidence…

stubbornness (to continue)…

and belief.

Where Does Your Strength to Believe Come From?

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Filed Under: Hidden Nuggets Series, Inspiration Tagged With: , , ,

No One Can Serve Two Masters

October 24, 2014 by 9 Comments

Hidden Nuggets Series #61 – “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” – Matthew 6:24

you cannot serve two mastersAnakin Skywalker had a choice…the good or the dark side. He found out you cannot serve two masters.

Ben Hur had a choice…his Jewish heritage or Rome’s agenda. He found out you cannot serve two masters.

Scrooge had a choice…profit or Christmas. He found out you cannot serve two masters.

Choices pit one side against another. They require us to move decisively in one direction. You pick a side and go with it, all the while hoping for the best.

There is no middle ground.

There is no playing both sides.

There is no giving 100% to both agendas.

Why You Cannot Serve Two Masters

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Filed Under: Hidden Nuggets Series, Vices Tagged With: , ,

I’m Sick But Still Writing Only Because I Set a Goal

October 17, 2014 by 18 Comments

Hidden Nuggets Series #60 – “Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection…”- I Corinthians 9:26-27

words "sick day" written on sheet of paperI feel awful today. From top to bottom and places in between the body is just not working the way it’s designed. I’m this close to calling it a day and going back to bed.

Yet, here I am at 9:30 am writing a post. Why? All because of the writing challenge I chose to lead and participate in for the month of October. Thirty-one straight days of writing 500 words a day was the goal. I’m a third of the way home at the time of this writing without missing a day.

And I’m not about to let some bodily discomfort and multiple trips to the bathroom stop me now. (In fact, sickness is the one scenario that I suspected might derail my efforts when I announced the challenge. Interesting isn’t it…it’s come true.)

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Filed Under: Goals, Hidden Nuggets Series Tagged With: ,

The Hands of the Diligent Make One Rich (Proverbs 10:4)

October 10, 2014 by 12 Comments

Hidden Nuggets Series #59 – “He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.” -Proverbs 10:4

diligentTake a look at your hands.

What do you see?

At first glance I see the obvious – the lines in the palm, the shape of the fingers and thumb, the knuckles and the fingernails. These are the physical features that should clearly stand out.

Yet with closer examination I see something else. These hands represent my livelihood. The way in which I use them determines the course of my life.

I perceive only two possible scenarios for the work of my hands. They can choose to be diligent hands or they can choose to be slack hands. That choice can shape my life.

Diligent vs. Slack Hands

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Filed Under: Hidden Nuggets Series, Work Tagged With: , ,

Proof It’s the Thought That Counts

October 3, 2014 by 13 Comments

Hidden Nuggets Series #58 – “Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea.” – Acts 11:29 

two penniesThe reign of Claudius Caesar, the fifth Emperor of Rome, was marked by a series of famines. Several touched the city of Rome, one occurred in Greece and another impacted the countryside of Judea in Israel. It is to the last famine listed that the Bible specifically speaks.

We are told that when this famine in Judea occurred, the leaders of the church decided to send assistance to the region. We can only assume this meant food and supplies, as money would have been quite useless during a time when there was so little to buy. Once accumulated, the supplies were sent to those in need by the hands of the missionaries Paul and Barnabas.

What’s remarkable is that there was no squabbling on who was sending what or how much. The Bible says each person determined to send relief “according to his ability.” In other words, people gave what they could – some gave more…others less.

Thus proving that when giving it’s the thought that counts.

Taking Their Cue From a Poor Widow

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Filed Under: Giving, Hidden Nuggets Series Tagged With: , ,

The Do’s and Don’ts of Taking Selfies In Our Narcissistic World

September 26, 2014 by 19 Comments

Hidden Nuggets Series #57 – “Who would form a god or mold an image that profits him nothing?” – Isaiah 44:10

taking selfiesEarlier this year I stumbled across this news report that blew my mind. A student broke the leg off a valuable early 19th century replica sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in Milan, Italy. He didn’t accidentally bump into the Drunken Satyr sculpture (like my kids might do), which depicts a follower of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, passed out in a drunken state. It wasn’t quite that simple.

The reason the leg broke off was because the student was sitting on it…to taking selfies.

What is the world coming to?

We Live in a Selfie World

There is no denying it. We live in a taking selfies world. The preponderance of people flipping the image-capturing system of their camera 180 degrees to take a picture of themselves by themselves is growing with epic proportions.

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Filed Under: Hidden Nuggets Series, Random Fun Tagged With: , , ,

Give Up to Go Up: Spending Money For Personal Growth

September 19, 2014 by 8 Comments

Hidden Nuggets Series #56 – “…Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God…” (Hebrews 11:24-25)

give up to go upToday and tomorrow I’ll be immersed in all things personal finance as I’m attending a conference in New Orleans known as FinCon. Finance professionals, bloggers and financial news media from around the country will be engaging one another on the current trends in the industry. I probably won’t see the craziness that might happen at an event like Comic Con or Dragon Con but I’m looking forward to it nonetheless.

I’ve read over the past few weeks that some of my colleagues were able to afford the conference trip through travel rewards received from their credit card. I think that’s awesome for them, as they will be getting a nearly free stay in The Big Easy. I’m completely off credit cards though so that option is not available to me.

Once I factor in all the expenses – conference fees for my wife and I, our hotel stay, food and travel expenses from Atlanta – we will spend over $1,000 for this trip. That seems like a lot of money and maybe it actually is for a three-day conference for two.

The more difficult part is that I’ll be missing one of my daughter’s volleyball games and two of my youngest son’s T-ball games. It’s his first season playing so I’m really looking forward to being there for him. Yes, there will be other games but I’m sad at having to miss two of them.

In the end though, shelling out the money and missing family time are all sacrifices I’m willing to make for the trip because this one thing I know…

You have to give up to go up.

Give Up to Go Up

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Filed Under: Hidden Nuggets Series, Leadership, Spending Tagged With: , , ,

An Amazing Offer From the Coolest Inheritance Story in the Bible

September 12, 2014 by 8 Comments

Hidden Nuggets Series #55 – “And the younger of them said…Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.” – Luke 15:12

inheritance in the bibleInheritance in the Bible is a hot topic with the word being mentioned over 200 times. There are some unique and compelling stories that involve the assets of one generation being passed on to the next. We find everything from women receiving an inheritance – which was uncommon in the culture of the time (Numbers 27), a younger brother “stealing” it from another (Genesis 27), and a woman being redeemed in an inheritance transaction by a man who would become her husband (Ruth 4).

Fun, fun stories that show not only how lives can be changed and futures altered but the passion, tension and questions that can surround the wealth transfer process.

For my money, the most memorable passage about inheritance in the Bible didn’t even literally occur. It was a parable, a fictitious story told by Jesus in Luke 15:11-32. While the ultimate message of the story was to expose the corrupt and selfish nature of the religious leaders of the day, it brings other memorable truths that can’t be ignored.

I Want It All and I Want It Now

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Filed Under: God's Provision, Hidden Nuggets Series Tagged With: , ,

The Problem With Infomercials, Televangelists, Mechanics and Pretty Much All of Us

August 22, 2014 by 13 Comments

Hidden Nuggets Series #53 – “For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers…whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.” – Titus 1:10-11

man on Ab Roller doing situps

Uuuh…not an affiliate link.

“Just five minutes a day and you can have rock solid abs like this. All it takes is three easy payments of $29.99!” blared the infomercial, waking me from my late-night, post-baseball game dozing. I’ve seen this bit before and like a sucker fell for the Ab-Roller (excuse me…I meant the “Ab-make-every-hot-girl-hang-on-you-roller”) years ago.

Maybe it worked for you. It did nothing for me except hurt my back.

Being Taken by Others

We’ve all been taken or at least felt taken by someone. Like the mechanic who expertly claims the car repair will require a new Johnson rod. Or the televangelist who promises your $100 donation will go to feed orphan children in Romania (when in reality it pays his six-figure salary). And the aforementioned infomercial, promising instant results with so little effort. (Why do we fall for these ridiculous products? LOL)

In reality, we all have an agenda. That agenda, however altruistic it appears, does possess a level of selfishness. We want and do things that benefit ourselves in the long run. Our own self-existence is the foremost thought in our mind. “If others are blessed (or harmed) through what I do then so be it.” So often goes our logic.

Which then makes it really hard to build trust in others.

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Filed Under: Hidden Nuggets Series, Relationships Tagged With: ,

The Joys and Rewards of Whitewater Rafting

August 16, 2014 by 15 Comments

Hidden Nuggets Series #52 – “They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your pleasures; For with You is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.” – Psalm 36:8-9

whitewater rafting As you read this today I’ll be floating…uh, white water rafting down the beautiful rivers of the Oconee in Tennessee. Depending on my luck, or more accurately the acumen of my raft mates, I’ll have hopefully not gone overboard yet. The last rafting trip on vacation this past summer – the first in probably five years – I deep-sixed on the first class three rapid we hit. Nailed it perfectly right on my side of the boat.

I love days like this, even if it’s only for a few hours. The chance to be on a river and let my senses drink in the sights and sounds of nature remains something I always look forward to. It brings me pleasure and peace even when bouncing out and into the drink – life preserver, oar and all.

We’ve been given so much that satisfies our desires to the fullest. This extraordinary world and all it contains can bring life to our soul as we enjoy and explore it. It’s rejuvenating, precious and thrilling all at once.

I believe there was purpose to that.

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Filed Under: Hidden Nuggets Series, Travel & Health Tagged With: , ,

My Top 10 Favorite Proverbs About Money

August 2, 2014 by 20 Comments

proverbs about moneyIt’s an exciting milestone day for me as my Hidden Nuggets Series is turning 50…as in this will be the 50th post in the series I started just over a year ago. It’s been an encouraging experience for me personally as I’ve explored how verses in the Bible and proverbs about money relate to my personal financial journey and issues in the world at large.

In case you are wondering, my interest in what the Bible said about money began while leading Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University class in 2010. In the middle of a video session, Dave made an off-hand remark saying that a person could get a degree in personal finance just by reading the Biblical book of Proverbs. “It’s in there…really!” he said, and then went on with the lesson.

That statement intrigued me. For days I couldn’t shake the comment.

So I started reading from Proverbs – one chapter a day for a month. That month of reading and recording all the proverbs about money I could find so inspired me, I decided to read the entire Bible through in a year and record all the verses that discussed a money related theme. I would find over 400 passages in all…you can find them categorized here.

That exercise taught me that if God takes the issue of money and our use of it seriously then so should I.

Top 10 Proverbs About Money

To celebrate my 50th post in the Hidden Nuggets Series I’d like to list and rank my personal top 10 proverbs about money and share a brief snippet about what the verse means to me. Here they are from #10 to #1.

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Filed Under: Biblical Money Truths, Hidden Nuggets Series Tagged With: , , ,