In addition to the normal books that I read, I have also been enjoying pre-viewing books before they are released to the general public.  Two months ago as I was preparing for the Outbreak series on finances, I was asked to review Living Rich for Less by Ellie Kay and thought it might be helpful in sermon prep.

Although I didn’t end up using any of the materials in the sermons, this is a very good book…especially if you’re brand new to wise financial planning.  Ellie Kay is a born saver while her husband is a born spender.  After marraige they acquired quite a bit of debt and this book is her story of how they practically got out of it and how to this day they continue to enjoy the benefits of being good stewards of their money.

Ellie has a great sense of humor and uses it to illustrate the principles she’s learned through 12 easy to read chapters.  There are literally hundreds of practical steps she suggests and if you’ll even apply just a few dozen of them, you’ll be on the right track financially.

In the midst of our current economic downturn many people are looking for answers.  Let me say that the Bible always has the best solutions.  However sometimes we need help in how to apply those principles and that’s what Ellie Kay does here…she takes biblical principles and makes it easy for anyone to understand.  Recommended.

• Just finished writing the vision message I’ll be delivering on the 28th of the month.
• Man am I pumped…almost makes me forget that there is snow on the ground.
• I had to write today because yesterday I was spent and had no energy or creativity.
• Sunday in addition to preaching the 2 Experiences, I returned at a little after 4pm to start working on a project with a crew of guys and 4 of us never left until 1:30am.
• I’ve been fighting off a bug, but after all that, yesterday my body couldn’t take it anymore.
• Just realized today that between 12/21-12/29 I will be preaching  4 different messages a total of 7 times.
• Whew that tires me out just thinking about it.
• In total we had over $9200 come in for the Contagious Christmas Challenge!
• I bought the gift cards on Friday…what an adventure.
• Imagine walking into a store and asking them to help you buy a few thousand dollars worth of gift cards in small amounts.
• The receipts are a few feet long from each store.
• I went into Circuit City to buy a $50 card and the girl asked if I wanted a bag for it.  I said, “As strange as it may sound, yes because I’m buying $9000 worth of gift cards today and don’t want to lose it”.
• She looked at me like yeah right, you’re exaggerating…I said “No really I am”.  To which she just shook her head and mumbled, “mmm hmmm”.
• I felt bad at Toys R Us because I got in the line of a cashier that only had 1 functional hand.  Imagine how long that took him to validate over 30 cards.
• At least this time at the mall I didn’t almost get in a fight with anyone.
• Well got more work to do…hope everyone is having a great week so far and your able to stay off the roads.

• Another great day!
• But it was nerve -wracking getting there.
• As I blogged about earlier in the week, on Wednesday I completely re-wrote todays message.
• Glad I listened to God on that one…
• …7 more people came to Christ!
• Also, on Thursday night during practice, our main computer twice crashed.
• This morning we were worried whether it would do it again, but eveything worked fine.
• I think the 9:15 crowd was still half asleep.
• Somehow I got a sticker at 9:15 that was printed on the wrong side. So when I went to do the “how to give one to your family member” illustration, there as nothing on it.
• Thankfully it was the only one that way.
• At 10:45 it was cool to actually be able to have a relative, who just happened to be visiting, on the stage for the illustration.
• Today and tonight the stage is undergoing the first stages of being redesigned.
• Can’t wait to see how it turns out!
• And oh yeah…you’ve been asking for it, so here it is.  I Hate the Holidays Intro Video.

Thought the above graph from this week’s Time Magazine could be a helpful visual illustration to all of you who are overly worried about the economy.

As you can see our economy goes through ups and downs, but the ups almost always last far longer than the downs.  Last week it was offically declared that we’ve been in a recession since December of 2007, meaning that we’re 12 months into what most economists believe will last another 5-15 months.  In other words…this too shall pass.  In the meantime, keep these two things in mind…

1. God doesn’t want you to worry about money because after all it’s all His anyway.
2. The bible encourages us to be good stewards of God’s money and there are many scriptures that talk about storing up in good times so you survive the bad times.  So what i’m saying is the next time we’re in an expansion period, make sure you’re putting some money aside so that the next recession doesn’t hit you as hard.

• I’m feeling really good this morning…spiritually, physically, relationally and emotionally I’m in a good place.
• I’ll enjoy it while it lasts because the bible tells us that “in this world you will have trouble”.
• I guess the question then becomes how do you deal with trouble?
• To me I see it as a positive thing. 
• Just like when you lift weights, the muscle is built by the resistance of the weights, spiritually speaking, we grow the most when were pushing through a time of resistance.
• However, I’m still going to enjoy today.
• Guess yesterday’s news means I’m no longer in the running for the Senate seat in the state of Illnois.  :)
• If you haven’t yet checked out the pictures from Sunday, especially the ones from the child dedication, make sure you do. 
• As of yesterday, the Contagious Christmas Challenge total stood at a little over $9100.  I know a few others said they keep forgetting to bring their money so we might make our goal of $10k yet.
• Yesterday I had a meeting with Jenny Shifler who has been handling the adminstraitve side of things for this and I was able to read for the first time some of the stories of families that are in need.
• Wow it breaks your heart what some families are dealing with, but going back to the beginning of this post, I’m praying that through it all they would come into a relationship with Christ or continue growing their relationship with Him.
• Got a busy day ahead of me, so I’ll stop now…hope to see many of you tonight at church for the various classes that take place.