Adding Up the Jesus Fund - The First Installments

Last week I introduced you to my Jesus fund.

Here's how it's adding up so far....

After the new year, I decided I was going to have to start dieting. I had gained 10 pounds in a year and was growing out of my pants. And my kids were asking me if I had a baby in my belly, which was met with a prompt lecture on how you never say things like that to Mommy.

One of the ways I decided to go about my plan to lose weight was through walking on the treadmill.

But I am oh, so picky. The treadmill had to be in the corner of the room because it just felt too tacky to have a piece of exercise equipment in the middle of my living room. And I, of course, needed to be able to watch TV while exercising because that is the only way I could tolerate it. And I had to pull the treadmill way out to the middle of the living room to see the TV.

All kinds of problems here.

My solution?

I need a new entertainment stand - one that is flat, with no doors covering the TV, so I can just rotate the TV for my convenience.

I drove to very fashionable and very trendy HQ and prided myself in picking out an inexpensive, yet attractive, flat entertainment stand. We got it all loaded up in the car, smashed right up against Little Miss and drove home - conviction pouring down all the way.

I was purchasing this entertainment table for my own convenience. I didn't need it. I could inconvenience myself by pulling out the treadmill if I so desired. And it cost $183.37. $183.37 that I really didn't think about, and easily justified spending. Enter shame.

So, it never came out of the box. It went right back to HQ and the refunded money went straight into the Jesus Fund.

Installment #1? Check!

I mentioned I've been reading Jen Hatmaker's book, 7 - a project against excess. She has partnered with HELP in the efforts to promote Garage Sale for Orphans as a way to get rid of all the extra stuff we all have laying around and help end human trafficking in Haiti. (Maybe something I would like???.....).

Now, I live in the middle of no where. The summer after we moved into our home I held a garage sale. Saying that it bit would be an understatement. I vowed I wouldn't do it again.

So Amazon is my substitute.

I have a lot of books in my bedroom that I've read once and know I'm not going to read again, so I started listing them on Amazon. Results so far? $6.75.

Installment #2.

It's a start, and a pretty good one, I think. For me, this is going to add up fast.

Do you have any creative ideas for how I can add to the Jesus Fund? Let's here 'em!

photo credit

Cleaning It Out

A friend of mine introduced me to Jen Hatmaker and her radical book, 7.

I started reading it on Wednesday and today I started making concrete changes as a result of the convictions it has prompted in me.

I say convictions and not guilt because guilt is not driving the decisions I'm making. My hunger for Christ-likeness is leading the charge. Finally!

We have an ENORMOUS pantry in our kitchen, including three massive shelves that span about 6 feet in length each. And it is full.

I called the kids into the kitchen with me tonight and talked to them about what many kids in Haiti have right now. Rice and beans. Two things. I pulled out a container of rice and a can of beans and set it on the floor. I told the kids, "If I handed this much food to a kiddo in Haiti right now they would think it was Christmas."

My kids jaws actually dropped.

I explained to them that I had been learning new things about how God wants us to live and how we were going to change as a result of that. Change number 1? Going through our things. Seeing what all we have, taking stock, disposing of the expired items, giving away that which is good but we won't use and making a plan for the items we have. We cleaned out 1/3 of the pantry. Not our cupboards. Not our refrigerator. Not our freezers. (Yes, more than 1 freezer.) Merely 1/3 of our pantry. We pulled out 120 items.

120!

Tonight I am not okay with that. I made a list of meals I'm going to make this week with many of those items. Why do I possibly need to go grocery shopping with that many things in 1/3 of my pantry?

Our new rule in the house is we don't buy food to replace other food until the first thing is gone. Don't want the snacks we have? Well, we can get new ones when these ones are gone.

Your thoughts? How many things do you have in your pantry?

Radical

Just want to share with you why the book we're reading is more than likely going to change our lives. Have you read it?