When you're in a position that is not fulfilling, not what you want; one that is not pleasant and not rewarding, what do you do? If you have no friends, or your job is hanging by a thread, or the only people you're with all day are your kids or the people with whom you work and you're longing for someone (ANYone) else to relate to, what do you do? If you're in debt and it seems like no matter what you do there's more and more and more debt, what do you do?
You pray.
Pray for WHAT?
You pray for the ability to live with the consequence(s) of the choices you've made in your life until and unless God's unmerited favor (i.e., His grace) removes you from the consequence(s).
Then what?
Wait. You didn't get from where you were to where you are in one day or an hour; it took years. And moving from where you are to where you want to be, even with God's grace, can take years. Until you get there, it's a pretty sure bet that unless you thank God for what you have (a place to live, ability to see, hear, taste, smell and feel, great kids, working vehicles, a job, food on the table and, if you're reading this, a computer and Internet access), you'll be absolutely, unequivically, and continuously miserable.
And what if you don't want to wait? What if the thought of waiting is so unbearable that you want to take matters into your own hands and make changes now?
There are two things that can happen from wanting and forcing a change NOW: one, God will move from Grace to Miracle and release you miraculously from your situation, whatever that may be; or two, you'll again be making a choice to do things your way and in your time and there will be consequences. The consequenses may be easier or more difficult to live with, but there will be consequences. Making a move without God's direction or grace is NOT the way to remove yourself from whatever consequence you're facing right now.
I pray that whatever you're facing, whatever you're experiencing in this Easter season, that God's grace is extended to you and that you're given the patience to hold fast to the vision of what He has in store for you. Check Jeremiah 29:11 and believe that God has a way out, and that He will show you. And then, you wait for Him to show you and lead you out, and when He does, you follow Him.
Blessings, and Happy Easter!
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Monday, March 20, 2006
Taxes
So, this is rarely read, and typically without comment. But I'm going to write this anyway, because it's tax "season" and I just finished spending hours last night preparing and filing my taxes.
Have you ever thought about how ridiculous it is to have to spend hours, sometimes days, collecting papers, many of which might be over a year old, records, files, putting them all in one spot, and then completing forms, doing calculations, checking your math, and so on, all for the sole purpose of collecting money you've already earned? Or worse, for the purpose of having to pay more money than you've already paid?!
A related question might be, "Why am I spending so much time filing forms with a medical savings account custodian, to get reimbursed by them for medical bills I've paid, from an account to which I've contributed the entire balance?" This is all so it's not figured into my income taxes. Of course, if I contribute more than I spend, I'm out the dough. And if I contribute less than I spend, I have to pay income tax on money I legitimately spent on medical expenses!
Why do you have a 401(k) plan with your employer? To avoid income tax. Why do you have a 529 plan for your kid's college fund? To avoid income tax. Why do you have a UGMA account for your kids? Why is it so important to have a will, and to have (to an extent) a living trust? All of this is to avoid having to pay income tax.
How in the world do we ever get out from having to pay the government, at the point of a gun, a portion of everything we earn??
Contact your congressperson and tell them you want them to investigate, get onboard with, support, and legislate The Fair Tax. Next, tell your friends about it and engage in discussion about it. Tell them about the benefits of:
- Eliminating the IRS
- Eliminating filing every year
- Receiving your entire paycheck (nothing withheld for Federal income tax or FICA)
- Retail prices going down
- Eliminating the need to establish special retirement plans, college funding plans, medical reimbursement plans, childcare reimbursement plans
- Saving for retirement on your own, tax free
But what if you don't know about any of this stuff? What if this is the first you've heard of it? Where do you find out more?
First, go to the Fair Tax web site (www.fairtax.org). Some areas have chapters specific to those areas: In my home state (Minnesota) there's a private group that hosts www.mnfairtax.org. Next, I encourage reading the "The Fair Tax Book" written by Neal Boortz and Representative John Linder. The paperback version is coming out beginning of May 2006 for under $10 through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Whatever you do, do not sit back on your laurels and relax after taking the above steps. Continue learning and talking with people. And continue advocating for changing the system.
Let's get this thing done. Let's remove a government burden (no, not taxes; even Jesus said to render unto Ceaser what was Ceaser's): the requirement that we file and pay a portion of everything we earn. Instead, make it a requirement to pay a portion of everything we spend.
Good luck!
Have you ever thought about how ridiculous it is to have to spend hours, sometimes days, collecting papers, many of which might be over a year old, records, files, putting them all in one spot, and then completing forms, doing calculations, checking your math, and so on, all for the sole purpose of collecting money you've already earned? Or worse, for the purpose of having to pay more money than you've already paid?!
A related question might be, "Why am I spending so much time filing forms with a medical savings account custodian, to get reimbursed by them for medical bills I've paid, from an account to which I've contributed the entire balance?" This is all so it's not figured into my income taxes. Of course, if I contribute more than I spend, I'm out the dough. And if I contribute less than I spend, I have to pay income tax on money I legitimately spent on medical expenses!
Why do you have a 401(k) plan with your employer? To avoid income tax. Why do you have a 529 plan for your kid's college fund? To avoid income tax. Why do you have a UGMA account for your kids? Why is it so important to have a will, and to have (to an extent) a living trust? All of this is to avoid having to pay income tax.
How in the world do we ever get out from having to pay the government, at the point of a gun, a portion of everything we earn??
Contact your congressperson and tell them you want them to investigate, get onboard with, support, and legislate The Fair Tax. Next, tell your friends about it and engage in discussion about it. Tell them about the benefits of:
- Eliminating the IRS
- Eliminating filing every year
- Receiving your entire paycheck (nothing withheld for Federal income tax or FICA)
- Retail prices going down
- Eliminating the need to establish special retirement plans, college funding plans, medical reimbursement plans, childcare reimbursement plans
- Saving for retirement on your own, tax free
But what if you don't know about any of this stuff? What if this is the first you've heard of it? Where do you find out more?
First, go to the Fair Tax web site (www.fairtax.org). Some areas have chapters specific to those areas: In my home state (Minnesota) there's a private group that hosts www.mnfairtax.org. Next, I encourage reading the "The Fair Tax Book" written by Neal Boortz and Representative John Linder. The paperback version is coming out beginning of May 2006 for under $10 through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Whatever you do, do not sit back on your laurels and relax after taking the above steps. Continue learning and talking with people. And continue advocating for changing the system.
Let's get this thing done. Let's remove a government burden (no, not taxes; even Jesus said to render unto Ceaser what was Ceaser's): the requirement that we file and pay a portion of everything we earn. Instead, make it a requirement to pay a portion of everything we spend.
Good luck!
Monday, February 20, 2006
Brennan Photo
Really like this photo of Brennan, my youngest son. (My oldest, for the record, is 22 years and one day older than Brennan.)
Hope you enjoy it too.
Hope you enjoy it too.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
G'Day
Well, I've had this hankerin', this urge, this desire to begin this anew. So busy all the time, it's difficult to find time to be consistent. Perhaps the best I can offer in the way of consistency is to be consistently inconsistent!
So... Off we go.
We moved a few months ago into a larger square footage house with less storage space and a smaller kitchen-dining room-living room. More bedrooms, a huge master bedroom and a big ole family room take up all the extra space given up by the living areas. Lots to do in the house to fix it up and then sell it and move on: some electrical, some plumbing, some landscaping, some cabinetry. We replaced the garage door opener and some master bathroom plumbing already.
Katy has cut way back on her hours in the office, mostly because she spends so much time working with Brennan and preparing to work with Brennan that she doesn't have the time to spend in the office or on work-related tasks. Katy feels like I haven't really been a consistent source of support, and so she's had to pick up the slack, and so she's performed poorly, and so they're referring fewer patients to her. Regardless of accuracy or completeness of that feeling, she is receiving fewer referrals and has reduced her hours.
Brennan was diagnosed some time ago with high-functioning autism. Katy has been going gangbusters with therapy for him. It's called RDI (www.rdiconnect.com), and has been helping him in a way that is impossible to describe. Frequently (more frequently than in the past) we can't point to autistic behaviors or characteristics, and we often can readily identify behaviors that are less intense than even three months ago.
Maura is talking so well and so much that it's like she's two going on eight. Very precocious little girl, very bright. She gets jokes! She'll say, for example, while handing me her coat to help her put it on "Daddy, can you put on my coat?" I'll jokingly reply, "I can't: It's too small for me." She'll laugh and say, "No, put it on me!" Then she turns to Brennan and says, "Daddy and I were playing a game." Amazing.
Working hard at Best Buy (actually employed by Accenture, but assigned to the Best Buy account and working at the Best Buy headquarters campus in Richfield MN). Not really enjoying it, but it's better than begging, I suppose. Guess I'd much rather act. Lots of folks tell me I do a good job on the stage (course, they're all actors too, so I suppose they know that we all need accolades). Katy has said she thinks we should do more to market me -- there's an agency in town called N.U.T.S. (Non-Union Talent Search). They got me some auditions in the past, but nothing ever panned out. They didn't do much to assist with preparation. There are other agencies, but I've not really signed with them, so even when I go to their locations for auditions, my guess is they'll do their best to place their own actors before they place anyone else's talent.
Maybe I should follow up with NUTS to see if my agreement with them is still in effect. If not, maybe I should sign with another agency. I haven't heard from anyone at NUTS for years.....
I did audition for a stage presentation a couple years ago and was cast in the lead, but then had to withdraw because of adopting Maura. Well, that and the fact that the salary they said they'd be paying me was not going to come any time soon.
We (Katy and I) have been attending a financial management class at a church in Apple Valley. The class is called Financial Peace University, from Dave Ramsey (www.daveramsey.com). Very intense focus on getting out of and staying out of debt, and eliminating credit cards altogether, and going on a strictly cash basis. We've always had debt, some times more than others. Right now in addition to the mortgage, we have a 2nd mortgage (home equity line of credit), and a credit card. About $215,000 in debt altogether (the mortgage is about $190,000). Too much, by nearly any measure, so we have felt strongly that we have to make some drastic changes. Like, living on a budget, for one thing. (Yes, that's drastic for us. How do you think we got so far into debt?)
Well, it's time to close this entry. Don't want to spill my guts completely all at once. Believe me: I'd really like to make this consistent. It's therapeutic, if nothing else.
So... Off we go.
We moved a few months ago into a larger square footage house with less storage space and a smaller kitchen-dining room-living room. More bedrooms, a huge master bedroom and a big ole family room take up all the extra space given up by the living areas. Lots to do in the house to fix it up and then sell it and move on: some electrical, some plumbing, some landscaping, some cabinetry. We replaced the garage door opener and some master bathroom plumbing already.
Katy has cut way back on her hours in the office, mostly because she spends so much time working with Brennan and preparing to work with Brennan that she doesn't have the time to spend in the office or on work-related tasks. Katy feels like I haven't really been a consistent source of support, and so she's had to pick up the slack, and so she's performed poorly, and so they're referring fewer patients to her. Regardless of accuracy or completeness of that feeling, she is receiving fewer referrals and has reduced her hours.
Brennan was diagnosed some time ago with high-functioning autism. Katy has been going gangbusters with therapy for him. It's called RDI (www.rdiconnect.com), and has been helping him in a way that is impossible to describe. Frequently (more frequently than in the past) we can't point to autistic behaviors or characteristics, and we often can readily identify behaviors that are less intense than even three months ago.
Maura is talking so well and so much that it's like she's two going on eight. Very precocious little girl, very bright. She gets jokes! She'll say, for example, while handing me her coat to help her put it on "Daddy, can you put on my coat?" I'll jokingly reply, "I can't: It's too small for me." She'll laugh and say, "No, put it on me!" Then she turns to Brennan and says, "Daddy and I were playing a game." Amazing.
Working hard at Best Buy (actually employed by Accenture, but assigned to the Best Buy account and working at the Best Buy headquarters campus in Richfield MN). Not really enjoying it, but it's better than begging, I suppose. Guess I'd much rather act. Lots of folks tell me I do a good job on the stage (course, they're all actors too, so I suppose they know that we all need accolades). Katy has said she thinks we should do more to market me -- there's an agency in town called N.U.T.S. (Non-Union Talent Search). They got me some auditions in the past, but nothing ever panned out. They didn't do much to assist with preparation. There are other agencies, but I've not really signed with them, so even when I go to their locations for auditions, my guess is they'll do their best to place their own actors before they place anyone else's talent.
Maybe I should follow up with NUTS to see if my agreement with them is still in effect. If not, maybe I should sign with another agency. I haven't heard from anyone at NUTS for years.....
I did audition for a stage presentation a couple years ago and was cast in the lead, but then had to withdraw because of adopting Maura. Well, that and the fact that the salary they said they'd be paying me was not going to come any time soon.
We (Katy and I) have been attending a financial management class at a church in Apple Valley. The class is called Financial Peace University, from Dave Ramsey (www.daveramsey.com). Very intense focus on getting out of and staying out of debt, and eliminating credit cards altogether, and going on a strictly cash basis. We've always had debt, some times more than others. Right now in addition to the mortgage, we have a 2nd mortgage (home equity line of credit), and a credit card. About $215,000 in debt altogether (the mortgage is about $190,000). Too much, by nearly any measure, so we have felt strongly that we have to make some drastic changes. Like, living on a budget, for one thing. (Yes, that's drastic for us. How do you think we got so far into debt?)
Well, it's time to close this entry. Don't want to spill my guts completely all at once. Believe me: I'd really like to make this consistent. It's therapeutic, if nothing else.
Blessings
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