I'm 40 and living in my friends' basement...

...and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Seriously. This morning I was thinking about how crazy life can be. At times, Traci and I feel like we’re the punch line to one of those Nationwide Insurance commercials: “Life comes at you fast.” It’s funny when it happens to MC Hammer, not-so-funny when it happens to you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcXTW14fS2Y

Last week we returned from a 6,500 mile road trip to Oregon, and began the next phase of our Michigan life by moving into the basement of a dear friend. Don’t get me wrong, it might be one of the nicest basements I’ve ever seen. There are four bedrooms (the places sleeps 14!), two full bathrooms, a full kitchen, a nice little dining area and to top it off -- it’s fully furnished including towels, blankets, sheets and all the kitchen utensils for our family. Did I mention we’re on a lake and have a beautiful view from large windows and have walkout access from our private entrance? It’s really a gift.

Back in January, I was struggling to see the gift side of this situation. After all, I’m 40-years-old, I have a wife of 18 years, three amazing kids and I’m at the stage of life where I should be settling into my career. In fact, five months ago, I would have told you that I was settling into a career. I would have told you that I was in a job that I could see staying with through my “golden years.”

Then God turned my life upside down. He removed my job, income, insurance, house and basic comforts and securities. He clearly directed Traci and I to put ourselves full-time into Overboard Ministries and He lined up a partnership with another local ministry (Starwood Ranch) to help make that pursuit a reality.

So, in an instant, we moved from regular full-time income to having to raise our own support. We switched from having the comfort of an on-site house, to living on the kindness of others while we wait 7 months to settle in a new town (August/Sept). For the first time in my life, my insurance isn’t being supplied by my employer, and instead, we’re paying out of pocket for super limited coverage and I’m facing the expenses of an upcoming surgery. The kids will be changing schools again.

And I honestly wouldn’t want it any other way. Seriously.

Over the past few months, as I’ve had time to process the series of events that has put us where we are, I can honestly tell you there’s no other place I would rather be. Sure, I would love to be back in a house, on someone’s payroll and enjoying the peace of mind that comes with quality insurance, but if I had to choose between that and the path we’re on...I hope I’d make the hard decision to hold this course every time! (Of course I’d take both if I could, but right now, God has said those two options aren’t available to us.)

The reality is that this journey has already stretched me further than I thought possible, and I suspect the stretching has just started. Already I’m experiencing a renewed energy and faith in the person and work of God, and I suspect He has some pretty amazing works to show us. Traci and I are enjoying a closeness and intimacy that only comes through facing obstacles together, and the bonding we’ve done with our kids has only served to strengthen their faith and push me to be a better dad.

Although this season has brought deep sorrow, challenging growth and difficult decisions, it has been filled with deeper joy, richly rewarding experiences and life-changing moments of being the recipients of God’s goodness and grace through others. The sorrow, growth and decisions don’t compare to the joy, experiences and goodness and grace of God. Not even close.

I feel a little hint of experiential understanding of Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18:

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (NIV).

The Overboard Life requires an eternal perspective, in the good seasons and in the “bad” ones. When God has provided abundantly beyond our needs, and when it seems that He has given just enough to meet the current circumstances. When we have that eternal perspective, truly we are maturing in our faith and will be ready for whatever God has next.

I’m still maturing, and the season of life we’re in is part of the process of preparing us for a deeper faith and more profound expression of our relationship with God. If being a 40-year-old homeless husband and father is what it takes to experience that, then I’m ready for the journey. Yes, I’m praying for a little more certainty and comfort in the future, but even more, I’m praying I keep becoming who God wants me to be so that I’ll be ready for what He wants me to do.

And that’s why I can honestly tell you, I wouldn’t want it any other way. Seriously.

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water.

Lessons from the road

Ever since I was a child, I’ve always loved a good ol’ fashioned road trip. I’m sure part of my love comes from doing lots of these trips while growing up, and another part is just because I love driving and being out on the road across this amazing country where we are privileged to live. Whatever the reasons, the fact is: I love road trips. Telling people we were driving from Michigan to Oregon got us some pretty funny responses. Only a few people thought it sounded fun, others expressed horror at the thought, others gave us pity and a few just shook their heads, confident our sanity had left us completely! When we told them we were doing it with the three kids, too, many shared their worst travel experiences, or said in a whiney voice, “Are we there yet?!?” Traci and I had a lot of laughter telling people about our trip. Wait until we tell them we’re doing it again in June!

But I seriously love the open road, and our family travels really well. The kids have learned how to engage each other, as well as how to entertain themselves when necessary. Traci and I enjoy the scenery and talking about life, work, family, sex (when the kids are sleeping =) dreams, Overboard Ministries, USANA, sports, news, politics, God’s amazing creative power as seen from the front window of our van, and lately, a lot about our future. Our road trips generally create great memories and the confined space gives us ample time to work on bonding and to grow in patience and grace.

Road trips are also full of the unexpected, and always provide ample learning opportunities.

Our’s started with a big lesson three and half hours before we left the Traverse City hotel we were enjoying. We were scheduled to leave by noon on Friday, but Thursday night, a loud noise from the car caused us both a great deal of concern. Since my knowledge of cars can be summed up in a sentence (“take it to a mechanic”), I knew I had to take it in before we hit the road.

We have a great mechanic in Traverse City, a fellow Christian who does excellent work with integrity (Kinney’s Automotive), and who happened to be just ten minutes from the hotel. I showed up when the doors opened Friday morning, and got on the schedule for an hour later. Shortly after I returned, one of the techs was taking a look at our van. Turns out the front driver’s side wheel bearings were bad (that accounted for the noise) and just for added fun, the brakes were nearly metal-to-metal and needed to be replaced. I had prayed for a quick, $12 fix with parts already in the shop. Instead I had a three and half hour repair, parts had to be ordered from a nearby shop and we were looking at a $500+ repair. And who doesn’t love road trips?!?

As I was driving back from the shop to the hotel (after I scheduled the appointment but before the tech had given an official diagnosis), I was lamenting the unexpected expense, whining to God about the lost time and was worrying about how the money and time would affect our whole trip. I was deep in worry when God taught me an important lesson.

Just as I was contemplating offering to leave AJ to work in the shop to pay off our bill, I hit a little clearing on the side of the road and guess what I saw? The sun was coming up on the horizon.

Honestly, I was instantly cut to the heart at the site of the sunrise. Maybe that sounds silly to you, but to me, I was reminded that the God who created the universe, the God who “makes the sun rise up in the east” was the same God who cares intimately about me and my life, you and your life, and the lives of every individual on the planet. He is the same God who has provided for our family during this season of transition in ways we could never have planned or imagined, and the same God who was going before us on this trip. As I thought about the sunrise, I felt silly about how caught up in worry I had been just moments before.

I confessed my worry to Him, and returned to the hotel ready to gather the family, load up the van and hit the road. What did God do thru all of this?

1. He helped us discover a super loose wheel bearing pack that would have failed on the road. What happens when they fail? According to a bunch of online testimonies, your wheel can actually fall off! Imagine that happening at 70 mph!
2. We also discovered that our brakes and rotors were in dire need of repair -- another item I’m glad we corrected before barreling down the rockies at 80mph (I love the speed limits in Utah and Idaho!).
3. Before we left town a friend asked to meet us at a local McDs, and he gave us $210 for travel expenses.
4. Despite all the delays, we ended up arriving at our destination at precisely the right time -- to the minute!

It’s crazy how often we get caught up in worry, fear or anxiety when we serve the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I don’t think I can even count all the times He has shown up big in our lives, or provided a friend, some rest, a meal or a few bucks “at just the right moment” and yet when faced with a minor auto repair, I panicked.

Yet God is so good to us, and Friday morning He cleared the sky so I could see the sun come up (that’s right, all you Northern Michiganders have me and my sinful worry to thank for Friday’s glorious sunrise!) and reminded me of His limitless power and ability to provide.

How are you doing in trusting Him today? Does a worry -- big or small -- have you distracted from what He is doing in and around you? Maybe you need to make Philippians 4:6-7 your prayer today: “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s holiness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life” (The Message).

It’s going to take us three, twelve-hour days, to get to our Oregon destination, and along the way, I’m going to try and keep worry in its rightful place. How about you? Maybe you need to take the family on a road trip and see what God has for you, too!

Go ahead and take the plunge, life -- even road trips! -- are better on the water.

Two years ago we began preparing for THIS day!

On March 20th, 2013, right around 5pm, we pulled into the back driveway of a snowy Lake Ann Camp, having just completed a 2,500 mile van ride from Salem, Oregon. We had spent five days on the road seeing family along the way, and the kids looked at their new home for the first time (Traci and I had seen it just once before). We were all nervous, we were all excited and we were all...VERY hungry! We grabbed dinner at Papa’s J’s pizza across the street and spent the first night in our new digs. No mattresses, no couches -- no furniture of any kind -- but a lot of hope and energy about our future in God’s grand plan. Today, one day shy of what would have been our second anniversary at the camp, we’re officially launching the next phase of our lives and ministry. Who knew that two years ago today, we were already preparing for this moment?

Thankfully...God knew!

Traci and I have been on this wild journey, and we count it a true honor that so many of you have journeyed with us! When we left Salem in 2013, we left behind a great church with awesome friendships and meaningful relationships, and we headed to Northern Michigan, unsure of what was waiting. Our hearts truly ached to leave a place that had been home for over 12 years to our family, a church that had been the only ones our children knew and a city where most of my family still lived. Montana was the furthest “east” any of our family had settled.

On March 20th 2013, Lake Ann Camp became our new home and we quickly settled into life and work God had so clearly called us to. Although our time at LAC ended abruptly with heart break just two years later, the time of ministry God gave us was awesome! We wouldn’t trade it for anything. And clearly, through it all, God was already preparing us for this day.

So today, we are excited to officially launch Overboard Ministries, full-time, and begin chasing after the big dreams that God has placed in our hearts.

Back in April of 2011, I published my first book, Project Joseph. In the process of writing the first manuscript, I began researching how to get the book published. I read blogs (started this one, too), interviewed authors, called publishing companies and submitted several letters with a copy of my book. Through many rejections, one letter was returned by a publisher that had clearly done two things: first, the respondent had actually read my book and second, he had taken the time to send a personal response.

I know publishing houses don’t have time to read every submission and don’t have the man-power to personally respond to every request, but I was grateful for this one letter. In it, the reviewer of my book encouraged me to complete the manuscript and finish the project to completion. He told me that his company published a very narrow style of book, and my writing wasn’t in that style. However, he assured me that it was a book worth writing and that I should pursue it all the way to publishing.

That letter is one of the main reasons Overboard Ministries exists.

As we approach the four year anniversary of Overboard Ministries this April, we have published 9 books by 8 authors, and 3 more books will be out within the next month or two. We have several projects lining up in the ranks, and by the end of 2015 it is likely we will have close to 20 books in our arsenal! But publishing books is only part of the dream of Overboard Ministries.

Honestly, when Traci and I first began to dream up the Overboard Ministries concept, we hoped that the publishing arm would become a financial tool by which we could fund other facets of the ministry. We thought Overboard would involve:

1. Speaking to high school and middle school students
2. Investing in couples and marriages through classes, seminars and retreats
3. Ministry to those in ministry -- coming alongside pastors and their wives
4. Mentoring youth pastors and those going into full-time student ministry
5. Publishing books that are intensely biblical and intensely practical.

But these things aren’t being done to simply maintain the status quo. Overboard Ministries is about helping believers live their God-designed lives out of the comfort of the boat, and out on the water where Jesus is building His Kingdom. We want to challenge students to live-out their faith in radical ways on their school campuses, sports teams and in their own homes. Traci and I have a passion to see couples put faith in to practice in how they approach every aspect of their marriages. We know too many pastors (and wives!) in ministry who have been so beat up and wounded, that they’re simply existing day-by day; we want to encourage them and help restore their passions to dream God-sized dreams for their organizations! I have met too many youth pastors who fit the young youth pastor stereotype (it’s not a good one!). I love to help young guys develop a faith-driven philosophy of ministry that will challenge students -- and parents! -- to put faith into practice every day, while also helping these guys develop long-term ministry strategies. And our books must continue to be intensely biblical and intensely practical, challenging readers to make their faith an everyday experience.

As God has walked us through this amazing journey together, and brought us to the place of taking this thing full-time, Traci and I know that Overboard Ministries will only be as strong as the team He continues to put around us. So many of you have encouraged us over the past two months with financial gifts that have brought us to tears, and many more have overwhelmed us with words of encouragements, powerful passages of Scripture and timely texts. THANK YOU.

So we’re asking you to continue your relationship with Overboard -- with Traci and me -- as we move into the next phase of this ministry. We are looking to gain true partners in ministry in two main areas: prayer and financial support. First of all, we know the heart of Overboard is going to be our prayer team. Not just people who say, “hey, I’ll pray for you...” (I’ve been guilty of that more times that I care to admit!), but people who will add us to their daily prayer list, will read over our regular prayer updates and will ask God to do amazing work in, and through, us. CLICK HERE to be added to the Overboard Ministries prayer list.

Secondly, we are anxious to find people who believe in Traci and me, and the vision we have for Overboard, and who will come along side us with monthly financial support. We have supported friends in the past, so we know what a huge commitment this is, and yet we also know the joy of sharing in the work of others through our financial gifts. While prayer is the heart of Overboard, monthly support is the backbone. Would you consider supporting Overboard Ministries with a monthly gift? Whether it’s $10 a month or $1,000 a month, your investment in Overboard is an investment in the work that God is going to continue to do through this ministry. (Maybe for you, you’d like to make a one-time gift to help jump-start our work today. That’s awesome!) All gifts are tax-deductible through our partnership with Ripe for Harvest, and if you want to be a part of our monthly support, click HERE. (choose one of the payment options, and then select "Joe Castaneda" from the drop-down list)

I believe God loves it when His children step out in faith and express audacious goals! Our audacious goal for raising support is this: we want to find at least 100 monthly financial partners between now and April 30th (just six weeks away!). That number seems so obnoxiously large to me, but our God is so obnoxiously bigger than anything I could ever dream up! A big verse for me the past few years has been Ephesians 3:20 (in The Message) “God can do anything, you know, far more than you could ever imagine, guess or request in your wildest dreams...” I love that! Our audacious goals are nothing in God’s eyes, and so even as we set this one, we know He can do more.

And as our team, our Overboard family, grows, we long to keep our relationship a two-way connection. Traci and I are already preparing a prayer wall where the names and faces of our supporters will be prominent so that we remember to pray for, and support, you, too. From day one we want to build lasting relationships so that all of us can share in the great work that God will do as Overboard Ministries moves forward.

I can’t wait to share with you all that God is going to do, and I can’t wait to hear about all that God is doing in your life as you come along side and partner with us. If the past few months have been any indication of what He has in store...then the next part of this journey will be an adventure worth sharing!

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!

Check out this 10-minute video that explains even more about Overboard Ministries, and be sure to visit our web site to learn more, or to join our team: www.overboardministries.com

How much can you be bought for?

A few weeks ago, one of my friends posted an interesting scenario on her facebook page. She had stopped by a store on her way home from being out, and paid for a couple of energy drinks using a $50 bill. The clerk however, gave her change as though my friend had given her $60. The clerk had probably just hit the “6” key, instead of the “5” key when typing in the amount given. By the time my friend got home and counted the money, she realized she had $55 in her wallet where she once had $50!  

So she posed the question on facebook: what would you do if you were given the wrong change?

The responses were varied, super interesting and at times incredibly humorous. Some people thought she should give the money back, even though a trip back to the store was 25-30 minutes round trip. Other felt like the mistake of the clerk was foolish -- who gives change for $60 when only one bill was given? (Oh c’mon, you’ve never heard of a $60 bill?) Several others were divided, feeling like a call should be made to acknowledge the mistake, and change given if it was convenient. Still others were somewhat undecided.

What about you? Would you return the change? What factors would influence your decision? Would it matter if you had to travel 30 minutes to return it? Would it matter if there was some inherent risk in making the trip? Would the dollar amount influence your decision?

A few years ago Traci and lived across from a Safeway super market. After we checked out and got him, we realize the clerk had given us change (on a $100 bill) and two brand new, crisp twenty dollar bills had gotten stuck together. The result was that we were $20 richer. We realized right away what had happened, so we walked back across the street, got in line with our teller, Demetrius, and returned the change.

He was so thankful. He has to count his register at the start and end of his shift, and any discrepancies in the money can result in either him having to pay back the shortage, or him potentially losing his job if there were repeated mistakes and/or a large sum missing. He was not a repeat offender, but he was so thankful he wouldn’t have to explain a missing $20 to his manager. And honestly, he was a bit surprised that someone would return $20 of his mistake. As he pointed out, “There is no way of knowing who got the extra $20 and if it had been me, I probably would have bought a case of beer and a bag of chips with the extra money!”

All of us face decisions like this in our lives. Whether it’s about getting back too much change at the grocery store, receiving credit for work that wasn’t ours, passing the blame onto someone who wasn’t at fault or hiding the facts of a situation from a spouse, or child, a boss, a legal authority or even the IRS. All of us face these types of decisions that are asking the same basic question: What is your personal integrity and character worth?

Living the Overboard Life demands integrity. Money is one of those areas where many of us can compromise our integrity in order to save a few bucks, make a few bucks or, like in our example today, to keep a few extra dollars that were mistakenly given to us. But turn the tables, and almost all of us would long for people to treat us with integrity and character. If you were responsible for the register and made a simple mistake, wouldn’t you be thankful for an honest customer who returned the extra money?

I’m notorious for leaving my wallet places. Traci and I were vacationing at the beach in Oregon one time, when we went shopping at a local mom and pop grocery store. We bought our stuff, drove back to the condo where we were staying, fixed dinner and started watching a movie. Suddenly my cell phone rang with a number I didn’t recognize. When I answered, it was the local grocery store calling to let me know they had found my wallet and were holding it at the front counter. When they searched inside they found a card with the name of the company who owned the condo we were staying at. They called the front desk, the front desk gave them my cell number, and they called to make sure I knew where my wallet was.

Traci and I drove to the store and realized that, unlike most days, I actually had cash in my wallet that day -- closet to $100. And when we picked up the wallet, every dollar bill was still in there, and nothing had been taken. I found out the name of the young man who discovered the wallet and turned it in, and gave him a $10 tip for his honesty. He wasn’t going to take it, so I gently jammed it in shirt pocket knowing that any 16-year-old kid is happy for an extra $10.

Would you have turned in the wallet? Would you have made the effort to find its owner the way that store manager did? Both the young man who found it, and the manager who took time to find me, demonstrated something really important: Their integrity was worth more than $100. What about you, what is your integrity worth?

Have you ever lied about your child’s age in order to save a few dollars on your child’s ticket at the movie theater or at a theme park? Would you return the money given to you, incorrectly, by a clerk who had made a mistake? Would you leave a bill unpaid when a clerk made a mistake on your order and gave you your meal for free? (This just happened to me recently, and you should have seen the expression on the manager’s face when I returned the receipt and offered to pay the amount in full!)

What is your integrity worth?

I long to keep my integrity in tact, and believe me, I face challenges ever day (as I know you do, too!). I wish I could tell you I had a perfect track record, but that doesn’t give me an excuse for falling short in the future. Solomon said it well, “A good name is more valuable than great riches” and your integrity is your good name. I don’t want to give mine away for a stuck $20 bill, a mistaken return of $5 or for saving a few bucks at the movie theater. My integrity is worth more than that. After all, if I’ll compromise myself for to save a few dollars on a child ticket, what message am I sending my children?

Your integrity is one of your greatest assets. Hold the course now, and it will pay great dividends down the road later.

Go ahead and take the plunge, your integrity is stronger on the water!

#tbt: I won a $1,000 in a box of cereal!

I know I’ve already written past the 4th grade years a week or so ago, but on #tbt (Throwback Thursday) it seemed an appropriate time to share a story from that glorious age: the day I won $1,000 out of a box of Captain Crunch cereal.  

#whatyouareabouttoreadisatruestory

There is a whole area of study in human development that believes the most important time of a person’s life is the fourth grade. There’s something about that age that cements core childhood thought habits and patterns, and where a child’s belief about themselves and the world around them begins to come into focus. These scientists (behaviorists?) see an uncanny connection between 4th grade belief systems and adult behavior.

When it comes to fourth grade, I actually don’t remember much. I remember Mr. Vanderhoff and that I really liked him as a teacher. I remember that we got to be out in the “new building” in fourth grade, so that added a new layer of coolness to getting older. I have a few other scattered memories (like playing Oregon Trail on the Apple II E’s in the library) but most remembrances are pretty hazy.

However, the memory of when I won $1,000 from a box of cereal is vivid.

It was a Saturday morning when I stumbled out of bed and wandered into the kitchen. I grew up in a cereal family, where cereal was eaten day or night, and the prize in the box was never left to the second person. When I woke up on that Saturday, I was a little surprised to see I was the first to climb in to the box of Captain Crunch because my brother Phil had been required to attend a day of school reserved for extra special students: Saturday School. So he had gotten up well before me, but had chosen not to enjoy the Cap’n that morning.

Pleasantly surprised, I opened the box, and dumped a healthy pile of the golden deliciousness into my bowl, and poured a little too much milk make sure I’d have enough for seconds. As I crunched away, I reached into the box to pull out the mystery prize, only to discover, much to my disappointment, that it wasn’t a game, but a silly poster of Cap’n Crunch himself. I turned the box around and read that there was a special contest involving these posters and the winners would receive their choice of a 5-minute Toys-R-Us shopping spree or $1,000.

I finished breakfast then removed the wrapper that protected the poster from total Cap’n Crunch dust decay. There was the Cap’n, holding on to a flag pole, with a big cheesy smile. Apparently the flag had a secret glow-in-the-dark message that I would only be able to see in our hall closet, the one room in the house without any outside windows. So I took my poster into the closet and I couldn’t believe the two words I saw:

“You Win!”

I shrieked. I woke up my mom and told her I had won $1,000. Knowing the sweet, never sarcastic, always truth-telling child that I was, she replied in her most motherly tone: “No you didn’t. Now go clean your room.” I was going gonzo because I knew I had won, but I needed my mom to verify this great moment of truth. She wasn’t ready to be duped by her fourth grade son (who was known to carry jokes waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to far), so for several minutes she didn’t even think about checking the poster. Finally, whether out of true curiosity or just a desire to end this really bad joke, she took the poster and held it up to the light, revealing it’s secret message: “You Win!”

She read the box carefully and I began parading around the neighborhood boasting about my prize. I think I knew from the outset that I was taking the $1,000 because I had been wanting to buy a computer like my friends all had, a Commodore 64! Sure enough, the rules confirmed that I had indeed won the prize and we sent our poster off for verification.

During that time we talked a lot about the prize. I thought about the 5-minute shopping spree for a few minutes, but realized that computers were not included in the list of acceptable items, so I went back to the grand. The day my prize letter arrived, my parents carefully read the form and I selected my prize of $1,000. I still remember the day the check arrived and my dad took me to cash it. The banker gave me ten crisp hundred dollar bills and I had never seen so much money in my life!

$300 of it went into the bank. Out of a depth of kindness (or pity?) for my brother who passed on the prize, I think I threw a Franklin toward his future school bills. I gave my parents $150 for buying the groceries and then spent $350 on my new computer, a black and white TV (aka: monitor) and a floppy disk drive. I was in heaven!

Now some of you math geeks added up the money and said, wait, that only adds up to $900. Pat yourselves on the back for your astuteness, the rest of you go back up and check their work. My mom tells this part of the story from that corner of a mom’s heart that’s reserved for moments her children “get it,” and they are filled with so much motherly pride. I think my brothers and sisters filled most of that space in my mom’s heart, but I have at least one moment that takes up a little real-estate in that corner of her heart!

When the money came, my mom said, “Ok Joe, you have $1,000, how are you going to

spend it?” We had already been talking about groceries, bank, computer etc... but she wanted to know that I actually had a plan. I quickly corrected her: “I have $900 to spend and I will buy a....” She stopped me, “What do you mean you have $900?” I put on my best theological hat and explained that God gets the first 10%, so $100 was going to Him. That left me $900. I think she actually teared up a little.

The day I put the $100 bill in the offering plate is good for another story (something about pride and gifts given to draw attention to one’s self?) but the principle was important. My parents had taught me early on that no matter how much or how little you made, at least 10% comes off the top and goes to God’s work.

I look back at that prize money and realize that I didn’t even bat an eye at giving money to my parents, giving a consolation prize to my brother and especially about returning one hundred bucks to the Lord. It was engrained in me to give be generous and to be a willing and joyful giver, that from the outset I was readily prepared to share what I had been blessed with. I haven plenty of other moments where my generosity was lacking, but that big moment in my life, really set a standard in my life, one Traci and I still try to practice today, whatever the season of life. And the cool thing about generosity is this: it’s not just about money.

God expects His children to be generous with everything they have, because everything you and I possess has God’s fingerprint all over it. Did you work for your money? Well who gave you that capacity to work? Did you win $1,000 out of a cereal box? Who put that box in your local grocery store allowing it to fall in your cart? Did you inherit your parent’s fortune? Who gave you life and placed you in that family to begin with? God knows it all, He directs it all, and so there is nothing we can simply claim as our own. James reminds us that every good and perfect gift comes to us from God.

In 2 Corinthians Paul gives a powerful teaching about generosity and stresses three key principles:

1. Give generously according to how God has blessed you
2. Give regularly
3. Give out of love and joy, not guilt

While Paul was teaching specifically about money, these same three principles apply to all of our giving. Give of your time generously, regularly and out of love and joy, not guilt. Give of your hospitality with generosity, regularity and out of love and joy, not guilt. You pick the gift, and these three principles apply! Notice, too, that we aren’t instructed to give everything away, but simply to be generous.

The Overboard Life requires a truly generous spirit. And generosity is never in comparison to anyone else, but always in comparison to God’s abundant blessing and goodness in our lives. The reason God is the standard is because no matter how much you and I give, it’s impossible to give more than God has already given to us -- you cannot out-give the Great Gift Giver!

How can you be more generous today? Don’t let selfishness, fear, control or scarcity keep you from being generous with the gifts God has given you. Give generously to the Lord and watch how you share in a great harvest of righteousness and joy.

24 down, 16 to go.

Go ahead and take the plunge -- giving generously -- because life is always better on the water!

3 Thoughts about Money

At the beginning of the month I had the opportunity to experience the joy of travel delays on flights from Oregon, to Des Moines and then an attempt to get back to Traverse City and ultimately Lake Ann Camp. During my third day at the lovely airport in Des Moines, Iowa, I was standing in line for the flight that would eventually get me to Chicago. While there, I heard two crew members talking about their financial investments. One of them was boasting about a deal where he turned $30,000 by following the advice of a magazine he highly recommended. The other extolled the virtues budgeting every penny he spends. He explained that the reason he does PB & J on each flight was to maximize the amount he’s putting away for his retirement. One of the men puts 11% away for his retirement, the other is displeased with his wife’s lack of future planning. One splurges a bit more than the other, while both men admitted to pretty flippant waste at airport bars and restaurants in their early years as crew members.

While listening to them, I was struck by their obsession with making money, saving money, investing money and their plans for the future. But any time you talk to people about money, there is a certain weirdness that comes over the conversation. We all have strong feelings about earning, working, spending, saving, budgeting, investing…etc…etc.

In light of listening to these two guys chat, I came up with three principles that are true about how we are to view money, based on God and His Word. Are you living with these principles in mind?

1. We are stewards, not owners: Everything we have comes from God. Yes, everything. The money you make at work is made possible because God gave you certain abilities and talents, He blessed you with a capacity to earn a good education and He opened doors for you to experience the fruit of His goodness. When you get that check each week/month, remember that 100% of it is God’s, and you are a caretaker of the resources He has given you. Since God is the owner, that means you and I are stewards of His possessions, and God cares immensely how we steward what He has provided. We need to make sure we view “our” money in its proper context.
2. Generosity is commanded, not just encouraged: Being generous goes beyond just being nice, or just being compassionate; generosity is an issue of obedience. Now the degree of our generosity is a matter that must be resolved between us and God, but our need to be generous is mandated by God. What’s generous to one man may not be to a different woman. Giving one percent of our income to God may be an outstanding step of faith and commitment to one person, while 20% is the norm to another.  In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul explains that un-coerced generosity results in special blessings from God. God delights in generous givers who give joyfully.
3. Money is a tool, make sure you control it: Like any of the gifts God gives us, money is a tool that is meant to be used for the work of God. Yes, we must pay the bills and feed the family, and yes it’s ok to enjoy the fruit of our labors. What isn’t ok is to have the making of money as our chief motivation in life -- to see ever person we talk to or every activity we engage in be about money. When we are the tool in the hand of money, our priorities are out of balance. Writing to young Timothy Paul reminds him of the importance of contentment in regard to possessions (1 Timothy 6:6). Whether we’ve been blessed with much or little, we cannot let money be our master, it must be our tool.

My friend Doug is a money guy -- he loves working with money and he’s good at it. He recently wrote a blog about the topic that you can find HERE. There are a lot of great online resources about this topic, too.

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!

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Entertain Strangers

Strangers: Hebrews 13:2, kindness, mercy, generosity Last week I was preaching the first part of Hebrews 13, including this verse:

“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2)

I should have known I’d get a chance to practice this week. I got a practictude* check.

I preached Hebrews 13:2 on Sunday, on Thursday, the janitor of our church sheepishly knocks on my door and asks me to come to the front. Apparently our secretary had stepped out for a quick bite, and while she was gone, two rough looking homeless guys showed up and needed some help. Our poor janitor was caught off guard as they walked in and started looking around, being a little “pushy” as they sought help. So she came back to my office a little scared and very glad that she wasn’t alone in the building that day!

As I walked back up front with her, I was a little frustrated at the timing of this event. My Easter sermon wasn’t ready yet, and I knew Friday wasn’t going to offer much time for studying. I had carefully carved out several hours on Thursday afternoon for study, so I had already determined that I would get this encounter over with quickly, and get these guys out the door.

These two guys were a sight. Obviously they had been on the streets for a while, and according to their story, they had been hoofing it for a couple of weeks, having left Salt Lake City over a month ago, in an attempt to reconnect with family in Eugene, Oregon. Here in Salem, they were just 65 miles from their destination.

However, they hadn’t been able to hitch a ride to Eugene. The rains had been heavy the last couple of days, and they desperately wanted to get home. So as they stood in our church foyer, a little wet, very hungry and very stinky from days without showers or laundry, they were asking for a ride home.

I knew I didn’t have 3 hours to take them to Eugene back, I had kids to pick up and family commitments that made that impossible. So after I talked to them a while, my secretary returned, and I had her look up pricing for tickets on the bus, or train, to get them home. It took another ten minutes, and we finally found a bus that could get them home. The bus station is about 20 minutes from our church, so I loaded these two guys up in my car and drove them back downtown to purcahse two tickets.

It was rough inside my car. The smell from these two men was strong, almost overwhelming, and the torrential rain made it unwise to roll down the windows. But as we drove to the bus station, I quietly asked God to give me words and I did my best to turn the conversation towards Christ. We talked about Easter, it’s meaning and they both shared their stories of religious encounters. I tried to steer the conversation towards relationship with God, not religion about God, as we pulled into the Greyhound terminal.

I purchased two, non-refundable tickets to Eugene, for a total cost of $46. As we walked out, they were both so relieved and so thankful for the help. They were eager to get back home and glad that someone finally was willing to help them. I remembered that they hadn’t eaten all day (it was now almost 2:30 in the afternoon), so I called my buddy Mike who runs a hotdog stand on the streets downtown. He was still open and just two blocks from the bus station. I sent the boys his way, and Mike fed them for me.

The point is simple: It really didn’t take much to minister to these guys. It did take a little time, and a little over $50 after I purchased their tickets and fed them, but after spending 1 1/2 -2 hours with Roger and Chris, I can tell you that it was time, and money, well-spent. A lot of people come to our church looking for a handout. As soon as you talk to some for a just a couple of minutes, you know the need isn’t legit, and you send them on their way as kindly as you can. In 15+ years of pastoral ministry, I’ve been cursed-at, yelled at, preached at and condemned by people who wanted help and we didn’t -- or sometimes we couldn’t -- give it.

I’ve also been blessed to be able to provide help, like we did for Roger and Chris. Sometimes, even after you’ve tried to carefully determine the actual need, you realize later that you were scammed. Like the guy at my Seattle church who came by, did a couple of hours worth of work on the property for $50 so he could get his bus ticket to LA, only to see him the very next day at the church across the street doing the same thing! It hurts to get burned, but that doesn’t give us permission to disobey the command given in Hebrews 13:2.

Giving Roger and Chris 90 minutes of my day was tough. The rest of my Easter preparation had to come at weird times, and had to be snatched out of other hours of the week. But at the end of the day, I was blessed by my encounter with these two young men. I was blessed to have talked with them about the Lord. I was blessed by their thankfulness over a non-refundable bus ticket, and a warm lunch by the best hot-dog vendor this side of Chicago. (By the way, if you’re even in Salem, make sure you look me up and we’ll go hit Dogzilla Hot Dogs together!) And who knows, maybe someday I’ll get to heaven and meet Roger and Chris...two angels God sent the Thursday before Easter to test my obedience!

The point is clear: Do good to people, even those you don’t know. Take minute or two (or 90) to help someone who has a need. Take time to listen and to engage, and not to see everyone you don’t know as a threat or a scam artist. Yes, we need to be careful, and yes -- there are far too many people with a “need” that are just trying to scam a few bucks or trying to avoid work. But don’t let that be an excuse for you and me disobeying God’s Word on this matter.

Jesus is calling His children out of the comfort of the boat and out on the water where He is building His Kingdom -- are you willing to obey His command and serve a stranger today?

Go ahead and take the plunge -- Life is better on the water!

*Practitude: When you get a chance to practice what you preach. It's an opportunity to test that your attitude reflects what you practice. Having an "Exactitude" is slightly different and causes my wife and I to scuffle at the dinner tab