Letting Go Again

In March Cole and I continued to look for ways to trim our spending. We changed around a few things. We tried to give up cable only to find out that quiting Cable only saved us $20 a month on the bill since we had TV, Phone, and Internet bundled. But we did change to a basic package and saved a bit. We did a lot of the little things like adjusting your programable thermostat to conserve energy. But here is where I really learned to let go and it made all the difference. Selling the Camaro was big for me but now, I was looking at selling my truck and buying an economy commuter greenie machine. I hated the very thought of it. Remember that new job I got that paid more money. Here's the catch. It is 53 miles away. That's right I do 106 miles roundtrip 5 days a week. Do the math on getting 20mpg buying mid grade fuel or getting 40mpg buying regular. I remember actually praying asking God to work it out so I could keep the truck. I sure am glad that God has a sense of humor with his people because I am sure he had a good laugh at that.
It was about this time I picked up the book by James Bryan Smith about the life of Rich Mullins. I learned some things there about material wealth. Rich referred to it as the "stuff of earth." I was inspired by his ability to rise above the stuff of this world in order to move closer to his Savior. God used Rich's example to soften my heart a bit. I really didn't come around though until April.
In April I received a letter from our church inviting us to a dinner meeting at which, Pastor Barry Cameron would be speaking. The dinner was a few weeks away and the church had just started a sermon series titled "Live Free." It was a series of messages about managing your money. I learned things like, "God owns everything, I am just a trustee of what he has given me" and "God doesn't need my money, He wants my heart." The messages continued the softening and opening of my heart. They showed me practical ways to put Biblical Principles about money into practice. They took the approach of teaching people how to manage their money according to the Bible and not guilting them into giving. The logic being if we manage our money well we'll want to give! It's true and it works.
The church offered Barry Cameron's book "The ABC's of Financial Freedom" after one of the services and I grabbed a copy and read "his model" for getting "Freed Up," and it made sense to me. Barry would be ticked if I didn't correct myself. It is not his model, it is God's model. He just does a nice job of presenting it. It also made me believe that we could really do it. When we went to the dinner I was very excited to see, hear, and meet this man who paid off his mortgage with 3 teenagers in his house on a pastor's salary in just 2 years. I listened to his story and I shook his hand and looked him in the eye. There was no catch, no sales pitch for his latest book, no huge inheritance that allowed this to happen. He was real! Not only was his story amazing but, his church's story of a debt free ministry and all they are able to do in serving their community because they are debt free. In fact, Barry tells a story of being so determined to pay off his mortgage that he took a 5 dollar bill he found in his desk to his bank to put towards his mortgage and the teller thought he was nuts. As we talked I could see sincerity of heart in his face. He just wants others to experience the relief he and his family have enjoyed.
Shortly thereafter Cole and I went to a dealership and traded my 2008 Tacoma TRD 4x4 for a 2008 Toyota Yaris. Ya know what! I was glad to do it. Do I miss that truck? Yes! But would I do it again? You bet. Check these numbers out. In one night we got rid of $11k in debt. We still owed $19k on the truck. I thought that was about what the truck was worth and they actually gave me more for it. Go figure. The car we were looking at had a blue book over what their first offer to me was and after the whole transaction was over we only owed $8k on the Yaris. Even better, with what I would save in fuel alone was enough to make double payments on that $8k 3 year loan. Having already told you how many cars I've owned, you can imagine I've gotten pretty good at dealing for cars. This was the easiest purchase by far. We barely negotiated. Turns out the saleman misquoted the price of the car and they stuck to it anyways. We were in and out fairly quickly. I personally believe that was God blessing us for being faithful to what He asked of us. Again, I am not here to debate theology. We took the payment we were making on the truck already, plus the fuel savings and a little extra we trimmed from the budget and set a goal to pay it off before the end of the year. I'll let you know later how we did with that goal. Those that know me already know the answer anyways. In one night we dropped $11k in debt and trimmed our spending by $200 a month that we then put into paying off the debt. When we let go of the "stuff of earth" to reach for the principles of God, it paid off and we are better for it and God honors our efforts.