Hope for your financial life and beyond

Surety: The Potential Costs of Cosigning a Loan

Any good professional financial planner would tell you their primary goal is to create financial security for their clients. They would organize your investments in such a way as to produce that desired outcome. They would also counsel you the best … [Continue reading]

Surety: Do You Really Want to Cosign That Loan?

There is a curious money word in the Bible - found mostly in Proverbs - that needs some defining. It’s the word “surety.” Surety refers to the act (or promise) of a person to take on or assume the responsibility for the debt obligation of someone … [Continue reading]

All Work and No Play: The Importance of Rest

Please don’t fear…I am not writing from a snowed in mountain resort lodge. I have to admit that, until recently, I assumed the "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" proverb came from that Jack Nicholson thriller The Shining. (Disclaimer: if … [Continue reading]

Living Life With An Open Hand (Part II): How to Properly Control Money

In the post Giving to the Needy, we saw how God wants us to relate to those who may be less fortunate. We saw from Deuteronomy 15:7-10 that God commands we give to them. Our hearts should be sensitive to their need and we should give freely, … [Continue reading]

Living Life With an Open Hand (Part I): Giving to the Needy

We live in a socioeconomic divided world. There are the “haves”, the “have-nots” and the “have-in-betweens.” Your status, in regards to wealth, can determine how much influence you have, how much access you have to important people, and how many … [Continue reading]

Why to Develop a Strategic Plan

It has been a tough summer in many parts of the Midwest as crops have suffered due to the lack of rain. Drought conditions reduce crop yields, lessen the food supply and can put a farmers entire livelihood in jeopardy. In some countries, a severe … [Continue reading]

God’s Provision (Part II): Our Attitude Plays a Role

We saw in part one how God provided for Elijah during a terrible drought in Israel. I Kings 17:6 tells us that ravens brought him bread and meat each day and he drank water from the brook.  Everything was going fine for him, that is until the brook … [Continue reading]

God’s Provision (Part I): “You’re Feeding Me How?”

“I’m starving,” the little girl said as she walked into the kitchen after school. It would be another hour before dinner was ready and the thought of going that long without something to eat was too much for her. “Please daddy,” she pleaded…“just a … [Continue reading]

For the Love of Money

“Money money money money, MONEY!” “Some people got to have it…Hey, Hey, Hey - some people really need it…Hey, listen to me, y’all do thangs, do thangs, do thangs - bad thangs with it Well, you wanna do thangs, do thangs, do thangs - good thangs … [Continue reading]

Do You Want to be Debt Free?

Where do you stand on the concept of debt? It is huge issue in our culture today with proponents pushing both sides of the debate. And probably no Biblical issue about money has been more widely and passionately discussed than this one. We can all … [Continue reading]

In All Labor There is Profit (Proverbs 14:23)

We have been working our way through the seven core concepts or themes found in the Bible that deal with the topic of money. Today, its time for us to go to work, so grab your lunch pail and your tool belt. Here we go. There is an interesting … [Continue reading]