Notes from the Trail

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I read a great book, first published in 1928, over the weekend called The Richest Man in Babylon. For all of you out there whose personal finances are somewhat disorganized (or in shambles), I want to encourage you to pick up a copy and read it! For the first 2 folks who can’t afford the book, I’ll buy it for you. (It’s cheap!)

However, I ask that you sincerely promise to begin to change your approach to your finances. As a personal aside, I sat down today and ran all kinds of Quicken reports for our own family. Even though it’s extremely difficult for us to tell our income level since we’re both self-employed, we’re gonna buckle down and seek to live on 70% of what God does provide. We’ve been consistent givers since our first year of marriage (over 14 years ago), and have seen God do amazing things when you acknowledge Him with the firstfruits of your life. We’ve been able for 3 years now to give more than 10% as a joyful love gift to Him each month through our offerings to our church. We’ve also been enabled to give through other avenues as well. Now it’s time to become even more wise, strategic and shrewd with the monies God provides. I’m excited about our personal financial journey.

Are you ready to become "shrewd" with your money?

• Matthew 10.16
• Luke 16.1-3
• Luke 16.7-9

By the way, I don’t know if he ever reads this or not, but I want to thank my father-in-law, Danny Hunter, for giving me this book this past Christmas. He and Teresa have proven the premises of the book many times over and inspired me in more ways than one.

Dan Kimball over at vintage faith has written a great, personal assessment of the different stages people go through in their church involvement. check it out, and tell me what stage you find yourself in.

I got my book today and am ready to jump into the reading group. Anyone else out there interested?

While we were gone, Journey had five new couples visit! That’s crazy. Perhaps we should leave more often…

I got this from my mom. Very funny. Call me trying to sell something…

Download no-no.mp3

I’m posting tonight from Alabama - Fort Payne, to be exact. It sounds like it would be a great spot for the WWF to host a Cage Match. Caro and I concluded the Relationship Weekend with Axis this morning (Saturday) and went straight to the Biltmore Estate for the afternoon. It is still the largest home in America, built by George Vanderbilt. It was constructed with the latest in modern technology, including electrity, an in-house intercom system, phones, toilets, etc. It’s amazing and stunning.

From there we decided to head home down Highway 74 which took us meandering down some absolutely gorgeous mountain beauty. I fell in love with Murphy, Tennessee, pledging to move there if everyone else in Journey will join me. Just down the road from there, you can jump in a kayak and go white-water rafting. Or you could hop in the car and be in Atlanta, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville, Asheville, or Birmingham in the span of 1-2 hours.

We began driving with the sunroof down when dusk hit so we could hear the symphony of crickets, frogs, locusts, and birds in the waning light of the day.

We made it to Chattanooga for supper and fell in love with the downtown area there. We ate supper at Easy Seafood Company on the outside veranda and people-watched over our dinners. Because the city is such a touristy area, we had to zip down I-59 to Fort Payne to find a vacancy (we didn’t have this part of the trip planned via Expedia.com).

We should be home Sunday evening. We are so grateful for the hospitality of the folks at Axis. The collegians and singles there were great. North Asheville Baptist Church was wonderful for allowing Axis to use their amazing facilities for the weekend. Thanks! We were humbled to be able to watch the Lord use Caro and me to minister to the lives of the folks there. It was a great weekend. We’re going to miss not being at Journey tomorrow a.m. for worship, but we are expectant for God’s continued working there.

Nuff said for this trip-log.

Aaaah. You may recall some of my previous entry about supremely sublime days. This is the beginning of one of them. I’m sitting in a Panera Bread in Nashville, typing away to you, my two faithful blog readers. If I had the money, I would immediately open one of these babies up in Monticello. If you ever see one, stop! Great food, ambience, and friendly service (as well as free wi-fi!) make this franchise a hip and restful place.

Carolyn and I have been in Nashville the last couple of days, on our way to Ashville, NC. We will speaking to some collegians there who are participating in a summer discipleship project called Axis. It’s sponsored by the Baptist Collegiate Ministries of Arkansas. I’m pretty sure it was the brain-child of fellow ignorantprotestant.com author, Neal Nelson.

Here are some shots of our trip so far. (you can also see them on Flickr)

So far, we’ve eaten at several fine dining establishments, including Hard Rock Cafe, Mrs. Maggy’s, and Logan’s. Downtown Nashville is cool. We didn’t get down to see a show, but we strolled down Second Avenue and stopped at Sun Records (signers of Johnny Cash and others). I tried to get Caro to record a song with me (you can make your own record there), but she declined. So it’s up to you, Ben Coulter!

We stayed at the Union Station Hotel, an amazing place, full of history (at least history for the States - my UK readers and beyond will scoff at the idea of a train station built in 1898 being very historical). It’s gorgeous and reasonable if you book it on Expedia.com. We highly recommend it. The majestic building in the film loop is the hotel.

We stopped by the mall and went to Nashville’s Apple Store. The angels were singing there, so we stopped to listen. Why do people torture themselves with PC’s? Leave the dark side and come to the light, my friends.

We’re heading out this morning for Asheville. So I’m going to get some mo’ coffee, do some reading, and enjoy myself here at Panera. As Paul Harvey would say, Good Day.

BTW, for those followers of the boil episode… it has popped. Aaaah. Thursday was my first non-limp day in a week.