Money

Money is one of the most taboo topics around. Folks quickly shy away from talking about salaries and donations. To properly live out Christianity, this is a trend that needs reversing. Read through the new testament and you will wind it chock full of warnings about money. Read Jesus's words after his encounter with a young rich man at Matthew 19:23-24 for example. These warnings should terrify Christians, especially us accustomed to posh western lifestyles and fat paychecks. Compare how we live, concerned about building a nice retirement asset base and stockpiling wealth, to the example of true community in Acts 2:44-47. Does that challenge you? It scares me! I've got gobs to say about this, but I'll use the idea of talking more about money to talk about my most recent idea about how to put money to its proper use.

While I'm in Bermuda, I'll continue to rent my house to the existing roommates. In addition, I'll be filling my room. All together the cash will be more than enough to cover my mortgage. Because my house was so cheap, my mortgage runs $523 per month. With a full house I'll bring in $800-$900 a month, which will net me around $300 a month. I've been trying to decide the best use of this $3,600 next year. It could go into extra principal payments or even as a down payment on another rental house. Then one of my best ideas to date came to me. What I'll be doing is giving all of that money away. The neat part of the idea is that the renters get to be involved in the giving. Each of the three roommates gets to pick how three months of the extra money will be used. I'll decide how the final three months are allocated. That way, the house finances are completely transparent and all roommates get a chance to do good with the rent payments they have to make. This transparency keeps me accountable, and thats what we all need. We need to talk about money. Openness forces any self-respecting haves to carry their weight and redistribute wealth to the havenots. Maybe it will shrink the hump on my back.