As our nations economy spirals helplessly out of control and is teatering on the edge of that magical cliff, I am still convinced that we not only haven't figured out how to fix things, but we won't even admit how we got here. Nobody in Washington seems to want to realize that is an individual had done what we have done as a country and simply printed more money any time we run out that there is a felony called counterfeiting and we would be found guilty!
I am by no means the smartest man in the world but I am thankful for my parents and Mrs. Wilson would taught be basic math as a child. From basic math I was able to transfer knowledge to finances and established early on that if the price of what I wanted was more than the amount of money I had, the I couldn't buy it. It was amazing how that worked. I was serious about it. I even kept a list in my desk drawer in my room of the serial numbers on my dollar bills and marked them off the list if I spent them. Obviously I didn't have many but when you have to draw a line through each one you spend it has an amazing way of making you hang on to them.
I wonder what would happen if our leaders in Washington had to do the ... oh nevermind. Why dream of something that makes so much sense?
Then came high school and a car and real paychecks instead of dollar bills and it was harder to keep track of my money, but still diligently reconciled my checkbook every month so I knew exactly how much money I had on any given day. I was maturing and growing up and taking on responsibility and then I went to college.
Did you know that every company in the world will give a college student a credit card? You did! Oh no they got you too. But why should a college student worry about running up a few hundred or a few thousand dollars in credit. What's that compared to several trillion? Our young people are really good learners, they watch their leaders and wonder why they can't do exactly what their leaders do. They can. They have. They will therefore continue to dig a hole so deep that the sides will fall in on top of them.
But what could they do with no debt? What could you do with no debt? Look at your bills right now. Which ones are current? What do you owe that is accruing interest? If you were able to make those bills including your mortgage go away would your life be simpler, better, less stressful? What could you do with just that money? Maybe make more money because you could collect interest instead of paying it.
What about the church you worship at? They had to build a space for you to come and sit in on the weekend. But that usually meant they had to go in debt. What if that suddenly went away? Can you imagine how many people could be helped with the annual interest paid on church mortgages? If we got our own house in order, then we could get God's house in order.
What about our country? What if churches started taking care of people with the money they used to spend on debt service in a way that eliminated the need for government entitlements? Who would you rather have take care of you anyway? Money hungry bureaucrats trying to build a bigger government or people who have a personal relationship with the Great Physician, the owner of the cattle on a thousand hills and the one who created life and the ability to acquire wealth? What if the country didn't have to pay for entitlements and people actually worked and earned their own money and had a sense of self-worth?
What could we do if ...
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