money

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Your Credit Report Card

“What do you mean, they said ‘No’?” We had been turned down for a new business credit card, even though our credit rating is exceptionally good. We were dumbfounded. What in the world could possibly be wrong? As it turned out, lots of things.

Our credit report was full of mistakes. The first and most obvious error? Apparently, some tired typist had combined Pete’s and my social security numbers into a new one that most likely belongs to someone else. I wonder what their report is like.

Then, the reporting company dinged us for having no major credit cards, even though our personal master card was listed on the report, and we were applying for a business card with the same financial institution! This was so inconceivable, the website provided no way to fix the problem.

And finally, information about our previous business card (and our perfect payment record) was entirely missing, even though we’d had it for years before the company that issued it went belly-up.

(There were additional errors that we were told weren’t significant, such as the zillion different ways people spelled “Holzmann.” Right.)

Unfortunately, it’s hard to run a business, even a non-profit one, without a credit card.

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Lessons Learned

[5th and last in a series about God’s provision]

By far, the best part of this whole experience is not how God provided for our every need—and even some wants. Yes, that was amazing. I am thankful, grateful. But that was just the physical outworking of an inner transformation.

Some of what we’ve learned was relatively straightforward. Material possessions do not create happiness. New stuff isn’t necessary. In fact, God put me on a “stuff diet.” Not only did we avoid shopping, we cleaned out closets. For several years, we took joy each day in finding three things we owned and giving them away. The surprise? It was easy. We recommend this as a wonderful way to count your blessings while blessing others.

On the other hand, we learned that receiving is hard. As our friends and family blessed us, we had to learn humility to be good receivers.

My biggest lesson, however, was much harder to grasp.

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God is Faithful

[4th in a series about God’s provision]

Our income stopped.

Suddenly, with little warning, all funding sources dried up. There was just enough trickling in to pay our office overhead, but no salaries. We said good-bye to our office assistant, who needed a job with a paycheck. Our other co-worker, Cecilia, drastically simplified her life, and incredibly stuck with us as she undertook her own journey of faith.

And there we were. Pete and I had a mortgage. We had the normal expenses of owning two cars, living in a house, and wearing clothes. We had a habit of eating regular meals. We had one daughter, still in college, who was planning a wedding. Our other daughter, already graduated and gainfully employed,  was more and more frequently referring to this guy named Jeremy. Hmm. Parents aren’t that dense.

I should add here that we regularly tithed to our church. We gave additional support to an assortment of ministries and missionaries. Never, not once, did we believe that God was judging or punishing us for any extravagance or lack of generosity on our part. It was with a clear conscience that we went to God and asked,

“So, what’s your plan to pay for all this?”

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No Visible Means of Support

[3rd in a series about God’s provision]

Pete was still capable of earning a lot of money as a consultant to the computer industry. In fact, it was just as we were in the process of moving that he was offered an absurd sum to put his ministry on hold for three to five years while he worked for a secular company. Then we’d have plenty of money to do whatever God wanted. This was so clearly a test, it wasn’t even a temptation. We had our marching orders.

We arrived in Colorado with no visible means of support.

The unexpected extra profit from the sale of our Silicon Valley house covered our expenses for the first couple of years. Then that was gone. While we prayed hard and followed excellent advice for generating donations, our income was still far short of what we thought we needed. Maybe we weren’t very good at raising funds. As “behind the lines” workers, living in beautiful Colorado, we certainly didn’t measure up to most people’s notion of supported missionaries. Maybe, however, God decided it was time to answer my prayers from five years earlier.

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When God Makes No Sense

[2nd in a series about God’s provision]

I’d like to tell you a little about our life in the last few years, as one story illustrating God’s goodness in trying circumstances. Perhaps it will give hope in a dark season.

I’ll start sixteen years ago, although that is certainly not the beginning. We were living near San Jose, living the Silicon Valley lifestyle. We had the requisite house, two cars, two kids, and a steady, dependable income that covered our expenses with a bit left over.

Even at this point, we weren’t quite typical. Pete worked as a computer technology consultant. He was paid on an hourly basis by his many clients. As his rates climbed with his growing expertise, instead of raising our standard of living, he started to work less. We determined how much money we needed to live on, and stopped there. The time this generated was donated to various local Christian mission organizations.

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The Value of Hard Times

Hard times. They come and go.

There will always be some people who are wealthy enough not to be affected by the vagaries of the economy. Their retirement funds are overflowing, their income is secure, and they are living their version of the Good Life. On the other hand, as Jesus said, the poor we will always have with us.

Some times are harder than others. We are certainly in a time of economic crisis, and we are possibly only at the beginning. Who knows how bad things will get? More and more of us will be identifying with the poor that Jesus referred to.

But, is this cause for concern? What about all the promises of wealth and prosperity in the Bible? Will we, as Christians, experience the same financial hardships as non-believers?

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