my dad says i should drive our old car because it's for my own good. if i just so happen to crash or anything, we'll end up with sky-high insurance rates. WHAT ABOUT MY SAFETY?? the old car is a piece of crap. anyway my dad is the one driving around getting 250 dollar tickets for speeding, so he is not one to talk about insurance rates.

i do not mind driving the old car that much, but my dad's illogical reasoning pisses me off. also, driving the new car saves us gas money, it gets twice the mpg. anyway that is not what i was planning to write about.

these past few months god has definitely taught and shown me a LOT about earning and handling money. at akc retreat one of the biggest things i remember was thomas kim telling us to look at our bank and credit card statements - if someone saw those, would they be able to tell that i'm a christian? they definitely wouldn't be able to, but they should be able to.

last weekend at empower retreat we read the passage about the rich man asking jesus what else he could do to enter the kingdom of heaven, and how jesus told him to sell all his possessions and to follow him. how universal is this lesson? of course i can't physically follow jesus around now, but how well-off should i be? jeff asked, even if you're giving both money and time (not out of duty, but out of heart-felt sincerity and concern and etc), is it wrong to be wealthy? josh told us how francis chan still only has a yearly salary around 50,000 even though he has three kids and his church collects millions a year in tithes and offerings. after coming back from africa, he sold his house and moved his family into a smaller one because he couldn't stand living beyond what was necessary.

i need to cut back on spending, that is for sure.

but even beyond just buying unnecessary clothing or food or whatever, does this apply to (should it apply to?) things like houses and cars? economically it makes the most sense to buy a house as soon as possible rather than rent. but so much money goes into maintenance and upkeep of a house - wouldn't it be better spent elsewhere? i'm inclined to say no. but it is a fine line obviously. living in a house isn't evil. i always come out of these empower discussions more confused.