Lord, Won't You Buy Me a Mercedes Benz: Synchroblog

When it comes to Money, I'm afraid that the Church in the West often finds herself parodied by an old Janis Joplin song.

Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

"Come on God, baby, I've worked so hard for you, can't you just..."
As Westerners, we tend to believe that God owes us financial providence in exchange for our allegiance and (our sometimes occasional) obedience. I know I've believed the lie. It's deep within the fabric of the American Dream. It's deep in foundations of the Western Church that was coddled by the Industrial Revolution. I know, because I'm a part of it.

Jesus sent his disciples out on journeys and told them to take nothing with them, to make no lodging arrangements, and to bring no provisions. He taught them to give up their rights to "things." He taught them how to rely on the Father for their needs.

I would like to be a part of calling the Church in the West back to doing what Jesus did, and teaching what he taught. When it comes to Money, Jesus warned us that our allegiance to God would be challenged by the stuff. Shouldn't that scare us, just a little?

I'm in my late twenties, and I'm only just starting to make sense of all of the mixed-messages I've received from the local church concerning money. In short, I wish the voice of the Church sounded more like the voice of Jesus. I wish I was taught to avoid debt at all costs, to live simply, and to rely on the Father, even if that means looking foolish.

I've failed enough at money. But I've resolved to learn all over again. I'm working to pay off my student loans as soon as possible, to ride a bike to save money, and to do my best to live simply. I really believe that simplicity is Sabbath. There is Rest in letting go. God has taken excellent care of me as I stumble along. I like that.

(Janis' Passport photo by Savaman)

Streams for Sunday: Debt and Indebted

I need more concentrated Sabbath in my life.

Growing Up A Little

I had such a nice day yesterday. There's nothing like sharing a good meal and a great band with dear friends. Especially friends who live on a different continent. I didn't sleep one singular wink Thursday night. I'm such a kid. I was so excited for it to be Friday that I couldn't sleep. Coffee + Jesus + adrenaline = Who needs sleep?

With all the changes coming in my life soon, I'm happy to just learn better how to be God's daughter. It's so much simpler. I really enjoy being a kid, but lately I feel like he's been helping me grow up in little ways. Like learning how to put money in my savings account and really actually following my get out of debt plan. He's so nice and helps me when I mess up. Great Dad, he is.

(Photo by B tal)

Not Bad For Twelve Days

Here's an update on my CNBC million dollar challenge. My portfolio says that in the last 12 days, my (faux) stock holdings have increased over $50,000! 5% gains in less than 2 weeks. And all that from only the companies I use and believe in. My Dad keeps congratulating me on how well I've invested/traded my fake money. If only it were this easy with the real deal. I can't wait till I'm totally debt free and free to give more away.

Our church staff is reading The Purpose Driven Church together, and, regardless of my thoughts on church, I keep thinking of how cool it is that Rick Warren gives away 90% of his income, after making all that dough on his books.

The Nelly will now be giving fair-trade stock advice for the small price of buying her a cup of good coffee. (Charles Schwabby, eat your heart out.)

(Thanks to Flickr lady P.Mitchell for sharing the Nasdaq photo.)

Needing Car Wisdom

I am in a strange, adventurous season of preparing to return to Southern Europe. Strange because I do not have a definite return time, yet. Adventurous because it feels the world is at my feet! But, strange because I really have to begin thinking about things such as buying or leasing a car, not knowing how long I may need said car.

So I started doing some proverbial "web research."

I found out that swapping a lease may be a nice way to get a reliable car without a massive down-payment, and reasonable monthlies. Especially if you'll only need a car short-term, but need more confidence than a cheap-o used car might offer. Sites like Swap-a-Lease help you get in or out of a lease, e-bay style.

The last car I drove in America was a hip '90 Volvo 240 Wagon. Oh, the Volvino was so beautiful. But he wasn't so beautiful when his brakes gave way when I was going 40 mph on Highway 301. That was a fright!

I dunno. There's no rush, yet. I'm just in research-mode. I wonder if anyone out there has any short-term car buying wisdom.

My Million Dollar Challenge

So my Dad signed me up to play in the CNBC "Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge." CNBC gives you $1,000,000 in fake money, you spend it on stocks, and then each week they award someone $10k in real cash for having the hottest portfolio. The top dawg wins the real million.
My entry in this game is beyond laughable considering I know far more about making chicken stock than I do about trading NASDAQ stocks. But I must admit, it's a pretty fun game. Especially because it's all fake money.

I'm sure I won't win, because I basically only picked stocks in corporations I support with my business in every day life, and the ones that seem the least exploitive towards the marginalized. In three days, I've made $5k! (Grazie to British Airways and Amazon.com.)

Tonight my Dad is playing in a Texas Hold-em Poker tourney, and he just called to ask us to pray because he made it to the final table. Dad's pretty great at poker. (And when he wins, he shares his winnings with me. He's a sweet Daddy, he is.)

I really don't understand why well-meaning folks condemn things like poker-playing, but pay no issue with the billions gambled away with money piled up in stocks. Particularly when many of the corporations who are winning them gains are doing so on the backs of workers who still cannot earn a living wage.

So Rich, Am I

Here's a snappy little site that calculates how rich you are, in proportion to the rest of the world's population: Global Rich List. It's a quick glance to see how we could help others by giving, even giving just a little at a time. (For example, $73 could buy me a new mobile phone OR a new mobile health clinic to care for AIDS orphans in Uganda.) I think it should have us American's enter not only our annual income, but also our current debt. I'm starting to feel that credit-and-loan is the most deceptive thing since that nasty little snake in the Garden. I could be giving more, but I'm mostly giving to Citibank and Salliemae. Gross.

Purpose-Driven to the Poor

I spent most of my birthday week in Santa Barbara, California. Saturday night, after eating one of the most lavish meals of my life at a dear friend's wedding, I met a homeless man named Wyatt. He told me his story. A fire in his apartment sent him to the streets. I was dressed to the nines for a black-tie wedding, and he was in rags. I felt sick inside over the polarity of our worlds. I did what little I could to get him some groceries, and prayed with him. He'd wanted to give me the $2.50 he had in his pockets in exchange for the food. And he said he'd pray for me, too.

I wept a lot that night. And I asked God to help me live a life that really values the poor like Jesus does. Not just one that throws money at them to make me feel better.

The following is an excerpt from Joel News International. I was pretty amazed by Rick Warren's thoughts. I read his best-seller and wondered what all the hype was about. And I judged him. I made gross assumptions about him and his exceedingly massive church. Now I'm learning from him and asking Jesus for forgiveness for my plank-eye.

How to Steward Influence and Affluence?

If you would be entrusted national influence in your nation, as well as millions of dollars, how would you steward it? How would you prevent getting corrupted by power or money? Rick Warren's book 'The Purpose-Driven Life' sold 17 million copies in the first one-and-a-half year, and brought him a lot of influence and income. "I don't think God gives you either money or fame for your own ego," says Warren. "So my wife and I made four decisions:

1. We would not change our lifestyle one bit, no matter how much money would come in. So I didn't buy a bigger house or a yacht, and still drive a four-year old Ford.

2. I stopped taking a salary from the church, based on 1 Cor. 9. where Paul says he wants to serve the gospel for free. I also added up all the church had paid me in the previous years and gave it back, because I didn't want anybody to think that I would be in this for money.

3. We set up three different foundations, that we use to train pastors in third-world countries, help those infected with AIDS, and support the global PEACE plan.

4. We became reverse tithers. When Kay and I got married 30 years ago, we began giving 10 percent of our income to charity. And each year we would raise it a percentage, because every time you give, you break the grip of materialism in your life. And so the second year of our marriage we started giving 11 percent to charity, then 12 percent, then 13 percent. Every time I give it makes my heart bigger and it makes me more like Jesus. And so, today, 30 years later, my wife and I are reverse tithers. We give away 90 percent and we live on 10."

I missed 2,000 verses in the Bible that talk about the poor

"The hard part was, what are we going to do with the fame?" says Warren. "God spoke to me from Psalm 72, where Solomon prays for more influence, so that he may support the widows and orphans, care for the oppressed, defend the defenseless, speak up for the prisoner, and help the immigrant. He basically talks about all the marginalized of society. And that was a turning point in my life two-and-a-half years ago, where God basically said: 'The purpose of influence is to speak up for those who have no influence.' I had to repent because I live in a very affluent Southern California neighborhood, and couldn't think of the last time I had cared about the homeless. When reading Scripture afresh, it was like the blinders came off. Now, I've got three advanced degrees and four years in Greek and Hebrew. How did I miss 2,000 verses in the Bible where it talks about the poor? How did I miss that?"

Source: Rick Warren at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. A full 31 page transcript of Rick Warren's extensive interview at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life is available here: http://pewforum.org/events/index.php?EventID=80

Thanks to Marc and joelnews.org