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Saturday, February 24, 2024

25 Years of Debt-Free Living

In 2013, my wife Michelle and I published Debt-Free Living in a Debt-Filled World. Since we’re more than a decade removed from that publishing, and as we are now a quarter of a century into our debt-free journey, we thought it was time to share an update.

Michelle and I were married in January of 1998 and a little over a year later began our journey of living debt free as a calling. Our intention was always to be a witness to the world of the truth of God’s Word on all matters, but especially to be a witness to what God has to say about money and finances.

To briefly recap, after marrying in early 1998, and after Michelle fully grasped just how broke and in debt I was, she became very anxious about our financial situation. Prior to marriage, we had agreed to live on a formal (written) budget (maintained to this day). Before our honeymoon even ended, Michelle had begun to formulate a plan for getting us out of debt. I quickly agreed and we began paying off our debts, using the “snowball” method taught by the late, great Larry Burkett.

At the time of our marriage, Michelle was a full-time employee at the financial ministry Larry founded, Christian Financial Concepts (CFC). Most everything we learned about money, debt, and other biblical financial principles, came via Larry’s teachings at CFC (now Crown Financial Ministries). These sound, biblical financial principles are still at work in our lives today. Sometime in 1999, while living in our one-bedroom apartment, and after getting out of debt (we had a total debt of about $25k), Michelle began encouraging me to build/buy a home without a mortgage—in other words, completely debt free.

I immediately bristled at the notion, thinking there was no such path to that dream. I was a teacher of mathematics (still am to this day) and she was an employee at a Christian ministry. In other words, we were not in high salary jobs. (Throughout our 26+ years of marriage, our total annual income has almost always been between $75k and $100k.) Also, our parents were not wealthy—by American standards—thus, I saw no way we could get into a home within a reasonable amount of time without borrowing money.

Michelle persisted, and then God took it even further. In His “still, small voice,” God revealed to me that, to be a witness to the world, He desired for us to live a completely debt-free lifestyle. In order to get into a home (easily the largest expense for the vast majority of us), our plan was to live in as low rent a situation as possible, save every dime we could, and build on a small approximately one-acre lot that we owned (it was part of the debt we paid off early in our marriage).

After saving around $40k, we broke ground in the spring of 2000. Acting as our own contractors, and with tremendous help from several generous and handy family members, we partially finished our home in the late summer of 2001. We were able to move into our 1,000 square foot basement at that time. Approximately two years later, doing things in stages as we could afford them, we completed the rest of our home.

Our snow-covered North Georgia home from a few years ago.

Michelle continued to work full time at CFC until our first child Caleb was born in the spring of 2002. After Caleb was born, Michelle became a stay-at-home mom. This was always our plan, and our debt-free lifestyle made this a much easier transition. Michelle has remained a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom until this day. She has been able to work part time mostly from home through the years to bring in some income.

As was her desire long before even marrying, Michelle has homeschooled each of our four children throughout their k-12 education. Again, our debt-free status made this much more doable. What’s more, homeschooling has allowed us to take full advantage of the dual-enrollment options our home state of Georgia offers.

Thanks to Michelle’s hard work and diligence in this area, both of our two oldest children (Caleb and Jesse) both finished high school with an associate’s degree. Both are now done with their undergraduate degree. Caleb graduated at 20 with his B.S. in cyber security and Jesse finished at 19 with a B.A. in humanities. Both finished their degrees with zero debt. (We started college savings accounts for each of our children at a young age.)

Our daughter Caroline (child #3) will finish high school this spring and our youngest, Noah, is a high school freshman. Now that Noah is 15, everyone in the house is a driver! With the exception of Noah, who’s yet to have his own car, we’ve been able to help each of our children obtain a vehicle of their own, paying cash each time.

However, every vehicle we have owned was bought used —and with the exception of one, cost $10k or less, with several costing less than $5k. (We’ve never bought a new car. We paid over $10k for a minivan once early in our parenting.) Because we have a car maintenance category in our budget, we do regular maintenance on each automobile and thus are able to help extend the life of each car. Our oldest car is 24 years old, and the newest one is 13 years old.

Along with budgeting for cars, gas, food, insurance, school, and so on, we’ve regularly saved and invested throughout our marriage. Our savings account wouldn’t impress Hunter Biden, but we’ve socked away far more than the average American family. We’ve saved well for retirement, and we’ve even been able to save for weddings!

Our oldest son Caleb married the beautiful, sweet Emma last spring. They were both 21 at the time. To help them get a good start on the expensive American life, Caleb and Emma live in our re-modeled full basement apartment.

Caleb/Emma’s Wedding Day, June 2023. Left to right: Noah (14), Caroline (17), Emma (21), Caleb (21), Michelle, Trevor, Jesse (19).

Our debt-free life has been far from easy, and we’ve “missed out” on some of the expensive “pleasures” that going into debt can allow for. However, more than anything else, our 25+ years of debt-free living has brought us peace! The peace that only comes from surrendering to the One who made us and doing things His way instead of our own way.

As we’ve often said, the most important financial principle that the Bible teaches is that of stewardship. Whatever our status with financial debt, the sooner we grasp the fact that God owns it all and that we are merely stewards—managers—of what is and has always been His, the better we will be in every area of our lives. May God richly bless you as only He can!

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2024, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.TrevorGrantThomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com


Monday, February 19, 2024

The Christian Ad That SHOULD Have Run During the Super Bowl

A recent video posted by UK pastor Jamie Bambrick on X has gone viral for all the right reasons. Mr. Bambrick, who serves as associate pastor of Hope Church Craigavon in Northern Ireland, is shocked by the response to his video, which took him less than an hour to create and has racked up several million views on X

Pastor Bambrick's video post is a response to the, at least confusing, if not dangerously wrong, "He Gets Us" ad that ran during the Super Bowl. In his post, Pastor Bambrick declared that the "He Gets Us" ad "failed to convey anything of the gospel to the hundreds of millions who saw it." Pastor Bambrick's video is embedded below and does a GREAT job of conveying the Gospel of Jesus Christ! It is one minute long and well worth your time! 


Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the 
The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com  

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Mollie Hemingway Breaks Down Everything Wrong With U.S. Elections

In her testimony today before the House Administration Committee today, Federalist Editor-In-Chief Mollie Hemingway declared that mail-in ballots, the private takeover of elections with "Zuckerbucks," Big Tech censorship, and Democrat meddling, are the biggest ways that "the American system of self-governance is under attack." 

On mail-in ballots, she noted, 

Instead of having full security and a verifiable chain of custody for ballots being issued, cast, and counted, we flooded addresses across the country with tens of millions of unsupervised mail-in ballots months ahead of elections frequently to locations from which voters, if they're even alive, have long since moved, instead of having election administration that is rigorously nonpartisan and impartial under the law.

Her opening statement video below is less than four minutes long and well worth your trouble.


Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the 
The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com 

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Warren Smith Conducts Master Class on Debunking Left-Wing Bias

Filmmaker Warren Smith runs a YouTube channel called Secret Scholar Society. A recent video posted to the channel is a great illustration in how to deal with left-wing bias when asked questions on the challenging moral issues of our time. In the video shown below, a young man asks Mr. Smith what he thinks about J.K. Rowling and her literary work now that her so-called "bigoted" opinions are well known. The questioner is referencing Ms. Rowling's supposed "history of being extremely transphobic." 

Mr. Smith does a masterful job--through the asking of questions--of forcing his young questioner to reveal his own predisposed biases. We need more of this in schools and the media! Watch:

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the 
The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com 



Monday, January 15, 2024

Fani Willis and the Corrupt Mainstream Media

Last week contained more than one terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for Fulton County, GA District Attorney, Fani Willis. On Monday, January 8, Ashleigh Merchant, lawyer for Michael Roman, one of the 18 Trump co-defendants in The State of Georgia v. Donald J. Trump, et al, filed a “bombshell” motion alleging that Willis “improperly hired an alleged romantic partner to prosecute Donald Trump and financially benefited from their relationship.”

The “alleged romantic partner” is special prosecutor Nathan Wade. On January 9, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reported,

The bombshell public filing alleged that special prosecutor Nathan Wade, a private attorney, paid for lavish vacations he took with Willis using the Fulton County funds his law firm received. County records show that Wade, who has played a prominent role in the election interference case, has been paid nearly $654,000 in legal fees since January 2022. The DA authorizes his compensation…

The filing alleges that Willis and Wade have been involved in a romantic relationship that began before Wade was appointed special prosecutor. It says they traveled together to Napa Valley and Florida, and they cruised the Caribbean together using tickets Wade purchased from Norwegian and Royal Caribbean cruise lines…

Willis and Wade, the motion contends, “have been engaged in an improper, clandestine personal relationship during the pendency of this case, which has resulted in the special prosecutor, and, in turn, the district attorney, profiting significantly from this prosecution at the expense of the taxpayers.”

According to Merchant, multiple “sources close to both the special prosecutor and the district attorney have confirmed they had an ongoing, personal relationship.” Merchant’s filing also notes that Willis formally hired Wade on to her get-Trump team on November 1, 2021, just one day prior to Wade filing for divorce from his wife of 26 years. Wade’s wife, Jocelyn Wade, has also entered the legal fray against her (soon to be?) ex-husband and Fani Willis.

According to RedState, on the same day that Ashleigh Merchant filed her motion against Willis and Nathan Wade, Jocelyn Wade subpoenaed Willis to appear for a deposition in the Wade’s divorce proceedings. This whole sorry saga is a disaster for the Fulton County DA and her efforts to prosecute the former President.

Fani Willis said nothing publicly on these matters until yesterday (Sunday, January 14). Speaking at length before the congregation at Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta, but without admitting to being in a relationship with Wade, and without mentioning him by name, Willis referred to Wade a legal “superstar” who is uniquely qualified to be on her get-Trump team. She also referred to Wade as “a great friend and a great lawyer.”

In her speech, Willis read from a letter that she claimed to have penned to God during her trying week. (Note to Ms. Willis and Big Bethel AME Church: In these situations, the proper role of the church and the individual is truth and repentance, not allowing for, and the giving of, political speeches!) Of course, in an attempt to defend herself, her office, Wade, and her get-Trump campaign, Ms. Willis also played the race card numerous times.

Whatever the whole truth here—and in the name of Jesus, may it all come into the light quickly—one of the most telling aspects of this sordid, evil affair is the inaction of the Georgia media on these matters. The AJC reported on it only after Ashleigh Merchant filed her motion on behalf of her client, Michael Roman.

Likewise, all other Atlanta and Georgia media reports on the likely corruption within Willis’s office came after Merchant’s motion. So we are to believe that, in spite of what appears to be a lengthy affair between Willis and Wade, which involved numerous trips, and in spite of the timing of the hiring of Wade by Willis which corresponded very closely to the divorce filing by Wade, nothing was known about Willis and Wade’s personal relationship?!

I mean, we’re talking sex and politics here! We’re talking national politics involving a former U.S. President who is again seeking the office, and no one was talking about Willis and Wade’s relationship?! I would like to know if Nathan Wade’s wife, Jocelyn, reached out to anyone in the Atlanta or Georgia media concerning her husband of 26 years and his relationship with Fani Willis.

Was there an effort within the Georgia media to keep the truth about Willis and Wade quiet since Willis and Wade are leading agents in the get-Trump campaign? Someone needs to investigate this matter as well. Would you be surprised to learn that we are again looking at another case of gross media malpractice in the United States?

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2024, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the 
The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com