Guest Post - Living Simply

A week or so ago, a good friend of mine asked me to write a guest post for her blog. Her theme is entitled "Living the Kingdom at Home" and I decided to write about living simply. She's an editor and so my words sound a lot better when she edits them. The edited post is below. Her blog (which is awesome) is http://manysparrows.me/

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People say money drives everything. But maybe more accurately, it’s our massive addiction to stuff that drives everything.

In the 1950s, the average home size was 983 square feet.

In 2007, the average home size was 2,349 square feet.

And average family sizes have dwindled.

Advertising and marketing is an extremely lucrative industry. We’ve been convinced that we need things to fit in — things that people in the ’50s never dreamed of. Stuff is more accessible than it ever has been. Smart phones and laptops make it impossible not to know the latest fashions, electronics, and trends. The accumulation of toys, furniture, appliances, electronics, vehicles, etc… has grown substantially in the last 50 years.

Anyway, I don’t really want to convince you that society is addicted to the accumulation of stuff. I’d rather point to Jesus and share my experience in recognizing and managing our addictions to stuff in my own family.

As I think about the life of Jesus, I realize that while he didn’t have access to an iPhone, he must’ve lived simply. He traveled, on foot, for much of his life from 30 to his crucifixion at 33. He worked as a carpenter and lived to carry out his passion with the rest of his time. He probably carried a change of clothes and maybe a few carpentry tools. He told the rich young ruler to sell all he had and give it to the poor. He basically regarded material things as not having much value. I have to believe that if Jesus were alive today, he’d live very much the same way.

About 3 years ago, my wife and I moved into a house. As recent college grads, we did what everyone else does — worked big boy and big girl jobs. Being a math teacher, I immediately became alarmed with the amount of money it took for us to meet our monthly budget. I began to ask myself how we’d ever have kids when we had very little extra money. So, we started identifying ways that we could trim. And, I can happily say that 3 years and 2 kids later, we’re living on less than we did then.

What’s the difference?

The difference for us: We’re using a more Kingdom-minded approach to our home. Remember how I said that Jesus lived to carry out his passion? It looks different for everyone, but for us, it has involved adopting our two kids and building relationships with our neighbors/college community.

• We adopted our two kids from Uganda about a year ago. This took a lot of financial sacrifice and a whole lot of leaning on others for support. But, this is one of our passions and God doesn’t give us passions not to have us follow them. (That would just be mean, right?)
• Secondly, our front door may as well be a revolving door. Our kids have their neighbor friends over a lot and we host a weekly meal for college students and young adults in our area. We also have random people over during the week and a college student lives in our basement. To do this, we had to simplify our space in our house (to accommodate/have a college student live with us) and simplify our budget (to afford our relationally driven life-style).

While I’m not saying that you should adopt a child (although you should), I do think God gives us all unique passions and abilities. I also believe the biggest hindrances to using those passions and abilities is societal pressure. Pressure to have everything that the media and world tell us we need to have.

Your stuff is a means to accomplishing Kingdom results. (I know the Jones’ have a 2013 Escalade, but maybe you could settle for a 2005 minivan and afford to get involved with something you’re passionate about.)

Hebrews 12:1 says “…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

Our stuff can be a hindrance. Once we figure out which things hinder us, are we able to “throw those things off (away)?” In my experience, it’s a difficult thing to start, but once you do, it gets easier and feels better. A lot of the time, I miss the SUV that I used to have. But, I obsess much less over the minivan that we have now. It works better for our family and helps us accomplish Kingdom results better than the SUV did.

When we use a Kingdom lens, the things that matter and the things that don’t become much clearer.

So, here’s the action step: What are the things in your home (or budget) that hinder you from doing Kingdom work?

Mediocrity: the enemy of growth.

Mediocrity is the enemy of growth and fulfillment, yet everyone seems to be pursuing it.

We (including me) are so scared to do anything outside the status quo, that we go on doing the things we complain about and don't really like doing. We work our jobs we sort of like, we attend family and church functions with people we don't really know, we buy expensive houses and cars just maintain and obsess over them. Basically, we spend our whole lives trying to fill a hole within ourselves with nothing that will actually fill it.

If we're all asked to take a survey, most would respond that money is not the key to happiness. It would show that our top priorities do not include our jobs and we're not attached to the bigger physical items we own. But, then we obsess over how much money we make, complain about our jobs (yet spend the majority of our time there), and spend our weekends cleaning houses and waxing our cars.

We say "Oh, that's too bad that that person has cancer" or "those orphans in Africa sure have it rough." We silently judge those who are poor, have broken families, no college education, and live on that side of town.

The majority of folks I know are professing christians and the majority of people I know rarely do anything beyond give a little money to the church they attend. There is physical, emotional, and spiritual poverty everywhere and I don't think we believe Jesus when he talks about helping 'the least of these.' We pass our silent judgement and we're on our way - back to our comfort zones. We focus on Iowa football, who we're partying with this weekend, laying low and grinding our way through the work week. We have the thing in our lives that we should be most passionate about - Jesus. Yet, we just aren't.

I know it starts with me - the only person I can do anything about. And that's half my frustration, I am the person that I complain about. But sometimes, I can't help but vent about the rest of us. 

Jesus doesn't live in a closet.

This guy preached a couple of Sundays ago and said something that I thought was rather significant.

He was talking about resting in the Love and Grace that God extends to us. Then he said, "God does not sit around, thinking about my sin. So, as a result, but not a goal, I find myself sinning less."

It makes sense to me this way. I usually try to pull myself up by my bootstraps and do everything myself, including be a 'good' christian. In doing this, I find myself constantly frustrated because I can never measure up to where I feel like I should be.

Instead, God wants us to bask in his love and grace. When we really start to get a grip on how much God loves us and how much grace he extends to us, everyday, I think we start emulating Jesus. We start reaching out to people, asking for direction from the Holy Spirit, and thanking Jesus for making such a huge sacrifice for us. Essentially, we start focusing on God and Jesus' work on the cross and stop focusing on ourselves (and our own shortcomings).

We stop practicing closet christianity because how could we keep such amazing, life-changing news all wrapped up inside of us? We don't love our neighbors and love God because we feel like we have to. Heck, we don't even love our neighbors and love God because we want to. We love our neighbors and we love God because true understanding of his grace and love is so moving that we literally cannot have any other response.

So, STOP TRYING TO BE A GOOD CHRISTIAN and just focus on God's love and God's grace. That's all he ever wants us to do.

crazy people, part 1.

Matthew 1-4 documents Jesus' birth to the beginning of his ministry. I've read it before, but these days, there are a lot of "crazy" things going on around me. I began to notice a theme I hadn't noticed before...

Everyone worth mentioning was, by my standards, completely crazy.

     1. Mary gets pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
     2. Joseph does not leave her because ... he had a dream/vision.
     3. He marries her anyway and Jesus is born.
     4. The Magi don't return to tell King Herod (a ruthless man) where Jesus is because ... of a dream.
     5. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus leave and go to Egypt because ... of a dream.
     6. Herod slaughters all boys in Bethlehem 2 years old or younger.
     7. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus move back to Israel because ... of a dream.
     8. John the Baptist, probably a crazy, homeless man, proclaims Jesus and baptizes him.
     9. Peter and Andrew drop their entire lives and follow a guy telling them crazy things.
    10. James and John drop their entire lives and follow a guy telling them crazy things.

So, here is a possible outline for Matthew's account of the first thirty years of Jesus' life:

     - God entrusts his only son to a set of parents who are open to getting direction through dreams.
     - God prepares the way for Jesus using someone who seemed like a homeless man.
     - Jesus enlists the help of uneducated men who were willing to leave their jobs and follow him.

It occurs to me that all through the bible, the crazy ones were the ones worth mentioning. These were the people who could be described using words like "faithful" and "righteous." The Pharisees were keepers of the law, much like many christians then and today. They weren't bad people. In fact, they were pretty good people.

Being a "keeper of the law" is a category I most often fall into. I'm a good, responsible person. I love my kids and wife, I go to and give money to the church, and the list goes on. However, I'm not being called crazy for doing these things. While I'm not saying God doesn't call some people to do non-crazy things, I am saying that too many of us are "keepers of the law." It stands out to me that the people the bible chooses to talk about are the crazy people.

Clearly, God creates people to both little and big things. A person who doesn't get mentioned in the bible is not necessarily doing anything wrong. Likewise, a person who does get mentioned in the bible isn't necessarily doing everything right.

However, I do think God wants us all to grow and the only way to grow, is to be spiritually stretched. Those that continually allow themselves to be spiritually stretched are the biggest difference makers in the kingdom of God.

So, while being crazy isn't mandatory, it sure makes me stop and think whether I'm fully sold out for Jesus, or if I'm just trying to live a comfortable, moderately devoted christian life.

Manufactured Homes

Why don't more people live in manufactured homes (mobile homes)?

Maybe in other parts of the country, people do. Some of the research I've done seems to indicate that there are places where many people live in them. However, around here, they seem to have a negative stigma. And, I'll admit, the ones I've driven past aren't kept up too well. However, there are pockets of manufactured houses that are quite nice; much nicer than the house I currently live in. Manufactured homes are often a fraction of the price of a conventional house and can offer many of the same things a house can.

They don't hold their value, they are poorly constructed, you don't own the lot. These seem to be the top reasons for not owning a manufactured home (other than the negative stigma issue). If a family were intending to buy something to live in for the long haul, I would think they could find a quality made one. Also, since the mortgage would be paid off much sooner, the overall cost of owning one would be much less than that of a house (little or no property tax as well).

So, am I missing something here?

Derek

Working part time as an adult

I’ve been reading articles online about how more and more dads are unhappy with their work/life balance. It seems like around 65% feel that they work too much. In my opinion, it boils down to societal expectations and maybe more specifically, wanting to maintain a certain level of affluence (keeping up with the Jones’).  To me, it makes more sense to be happy with my work/life balance and not have a new SUV, huge TV, newest smart phone, etc… Not that those things are inherently bad, just if they get in the way.

So, I propose that more dads (and moms for that matter) should consider working part time.

But what about health insurance and retirement plans? Don’t you want to have a house, go on trips, and send your kids to college?

Well, yes. But, I think there is more fat that can be trimmed in most people’s budgets than they realize. Our family has been doing this over the last year and has managed to trim a few hundred dollars and we’ve got plans to trim a few hundred more over the next year. Add all this up and we’re talking about several thousand dollars of savings. So, my answer to that is: Yes, we need health insurance and retirement plans, but at what cost? And who says the cost of paying for these things out of pocket isn’t worth the extra time I can spend with my family?

Maybe it won’t work for every family, maybe not even mine. But I also know I don’t want to look back in 20 years and realize that my kids and wife grew up disconnected from me the majority of the time. I think I’d kick myself if I didn’t give it a shot.

So, unlike most of my ideas (90% of which I don’t post and you should be thankful), I’d really love your feedback. So be anonymous, I don’t care. But please respond if you have thoughts!

Derek

What do you give your life to?

Everyone gives their life to something. Be it their spouse, family,  job, a cause, or to God, everyone gives it to something or someone. One measurement of what people give their lives to, is where they spend their time.

There's definitely a time and place for Netflix, Hulu, Pinterest, texting, Facebook, Twitter and the like. I enjoy several of these things as much as the next person. However, the nights that I realize I've been scrolling through Twitter/Facebook feeds for half an hour straight make me feel like I'm wasting my time. I feel that if the vast majority of my time is not spent persuing the 3-5 things that I want to give my life to, then something is screwed up. Also, not doing this leaves me feeling like a waste of space.

So, without further ado, here are my top 3.

1. My relationship with God
2. My relationship with my family/friends
3. My job satisfaction/providing adequate income

Now, I'd say that most of the time, the time spent in each of the categories is in the reverse order of how they're listed. But, they're not. So, I've got some work to do. However, I'm getting there. I've made a major change in my life in the last week. The thing that requires most of my time and most of my energy is going to change.

I'm switching jobs.

I'm keenly aware of the fact that working at East drains me of most of my physical and mental engery, not to mention my time. To be honest, I love the kids. I love the staff. The thing I don't love is educational policy/politics. I will look for another teaching job. I guess I should give another school/district a shot before I hang it up for good. Who knows, maybe It'll be different.

The thing that I'll never get away from in a typical job is the amount of time I spend maintaining it. I will always view it as number 3 on the list, yet it will almost always claim the number 1 spot. So, my wife and I are slowly adopting a different lifestyle.

We're lowering our budget and restructuring our lives to make it possible for our jobs to be less and our families/relationships with God to be more.

We've decided that if Kristen opens an in home day care, we can make progress towards this goal. So, Kristen has decided to do this and she's quite excited about it. I've got a summer gig lined up and who knows what'll happen after that. It doesn't matter. What will matter in ten or twenty years will be how I used the time I was given.

So, in summary, everyone gives their lives to someone or something. Is the thing that you're giving your life to worth it?