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

Why This Middle-Income American Family Doesn’t Need a Wuhan Virus Bailout

As our family of six continues to weather the Wuhan virus and the local, state, and national shutdown that has ensued, and before D.C. politicians spend another trillion or two that this nation doesn’t have on a “bailout,” the Thomas family would like to make something abundantly clear: we don’t need a China-virus check!

This is not because we are wealthy—at least not by American standards. As I’ve often noted, my main source of income comes from the teaching of mathematics at government schools. That’s right, I’m employed by two government schools: a day school where I’m employed full time and an evening charter high school where I’m employed part time. Like many other states, because of an order by Georgia’s governor, we are now doing school from home until at least the end of March.

Both of the schools where I’m employed are participating in school from home. At my day school, this means all teachers are still fully employed. This is likely the case all over the U.S. My evening school is keeping some teachers (all teachers at this type of school are part-time, hourly workers) employed—I’m one of them. Thus, at this time—and I don’t anticipate this changing—I have suffered no loss of income. (Hopefully, both schools will be up and running normally soon!)

Also, as Michelle and I have pointed out on multiple occasions, Michelle is a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom with little to no income. Though this nation-wide shutdown has us quite annoyed, things are running relatively normally at the “Thomas Academy.” In other words, we do not need a “bailout.”

However, we do understand that many across the U.S. are not in our position, and because of this virus and the decisions of those in government, many Americans are suffering financially. This is especially the case with those who own small businesses. We know many such folks in our circle of family and friends. Let any bailout efforts from the government be targeted at those individuals and businesses.

If our wishes here are ignored and we nevertheless receive a China-virus check (or checks), Michelle and I have decided to use that money to help those in our community who own small businesses and are suffering the most during these difficult financial times. For example, we will be intentional about frequenting locally-owned businesses, such as restaurants, our auto mechanic, our karate school, and gun stores—northeast Georgia is blessed with several of these!

For those who offer them, we will purchase gift certificates that we can use later or give away. Also, we plan to employ local contractors for home-projects that we might otherwise put off or do ourselves. We may, for those we know well and can trust, simply write a check. However, most small business owners we know don’t want a handout and want to work for what monies they receive. However, the best thing government can do, and the quickest way out of this financial mess, is simply to get as many people as possible back to work as quickly as possible!

Also, this is perhaps the best time in my adult life to share God’s wisdom when it comes to money and finances. As Michelle and I have pointed out on multiple occasions, because of the wisdom and direction of God, for over two decades now we have lived debt free. This is another reason that we are able to weather these current times better than most, even those who have significantly more income than do we.

This would be the case even if we had a significant loss of income. Because we are indebted to no one for our possessions, we have no fear of foreclosure or repossession, even if my income went to zero. In addition, we have an emergency savings account that could keep us afloat for several months, if needed. Again, I must confess, our debt-free path was not my plan. It took a wise and financially disciplined wife and a wise and almighty God to open my eyes on most things concerning money.

After marriage, our first financial decision was to honor God by always giving a tenth of all that He provides, and also to begin living on a budget. Over 22 years ago, we established a workable budget (based only on my income, even though Michelle was working full time then) that we maintain to this day. Michelle was already tithing and living on a budget, so she simply brought what she was already practicing into our marriage. All I had to do was agree to go along. Whether we are talking about the government, a business, a church, a family, or an individual, a good budget is essential in maintaining a healthy bottom line.

A budget can help keep you from overspending during any particular income period or in any particular area; it can help you plan for non-regular expenses such as car and home repairs; and it can help you plan for your financial future. Establishing a budget can be a lengthy process. It can take as long as a full year for an individual or a family to get a budget working well, but the benefits are well worth the hard work involved.

Our budget has played an essential role in guiding us through various financial times. We are a homeschooling family of six, with our four children growing from little ones into teenagers and before long, young adults. Our budget is in constant flux, but it helps us see the adjustments in spending that we need to make in order to maintain sound financial discipline.

Early in our marriage, after agreeing to tithing and budgeting, I was still completely of the mindset of most when it came to the purchase of big-ticket items—cars, homes, etc. Because she worked for, and was financially discipled by the late, great Larry Burkett, and for various other reasons, very early in our marriage, Michelle was hinting at building our home without a mortgage. I only agreed to this, along with making a life-long commitment to living debt free, after God got my attention.

Lastly, the most important financial principle that I have learned is the biblical principle of stewardship. Tithing, living on a budget, and becoming debt free all hinged on our understanding our roles as stewards. A steward is a manager of someone else’s property. Scripture reveals that God owns everything. Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”

Thus, from a biblical perspective, none of us really “owns” anything. We are merely managers of what God has given us. Whether material resources, or our talents and abilities, a proper biblical perspective means that we understand that everything we have comes from the One who made us. Until we come to grips with our role as stewards, we will never truly understand money and wealth and how to deal with financial blessings or difficulties.

I take almost no credit for where we are financially. Michelle has always been more financially disciplined than me. Early in our marriage, through her efforts and the ministry founded by Larry Burkett, Christian Financial Concepts (now Crown Financial Ministries), I embraced the simple, wise truths put forth in Scripture concerning money and debt. In other words, we are where we are financially by the grace and wisdom of God.

Our situation was and is a unique one (detailed in Debt-Free Living in a Debt-Filled World). I would not necessarily recommend that anyone do things exactly as we did them. Our path was literally “a calling.” However, I do believe that there are tried and true, simple financial principles that we applied and are still living by that would benefit most anyone—especially in times like these.

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2020, 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
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Why Doug Collins Needs to Win the Georgia Senate Race

As is well known, Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson resigned in December due to health issues. He never should have run for reelection in 2016, but that's another matter. He had three years left in his term, and Governor Brian Kemp solicited applications from Georgians to fill his seat for 2020. Kemp received over 500 applications, one of which was from Representative Doug Collins, of my congressional district—the Georgia 9th. Collins was President Trump’s choice to replace Isakson. The president reportedly asked Governor Kemp on several occasions to appoint Collins to the senate, but Kemp bucked the president and chose political outsider and multimillionaire businesswoman, Kelly Loeffler, co-owner of the WNBA team, the Atlanta Dream.

Loeffler will serve as senator during 2020, and then there will be a special election this November in which the voters will choose who will serve the last two years of Isakson’s term. Georgia has a strange way of electing replacements to Congress when there’s an opening mid-term. All of the qualifying candidates will be on the ballot in November—democrats, republicans, and independents—a “jungle” election. If no one receives a majority of the votes, the top two will face a runoff in December to decide the winner. Some of our state legislators attempted to pass legislation to enact a spring primary and avoid the “jungle” vote so that the parties could unite behind their one candidate, but Governor Kemp threatened to veto the measure. The change would likely have favored Collins instead of Kemp’s pick, Loeffler. As of today, there are five declared republicans in the race (Collins and Loeffler are the most notable) five democrats, and one independent.

I don’t always agree with Doug Collins’s voting record, and in fact, I helped to manage my uncle’s congressional campaign when he ran against Doug in the GOP primary in 2012 and 2016. However, one thing that I love about Doug is that he has been an absolute bulldog when it comes to supporting and defending President Trump during the impeachment nonsense. He seems to have Trump’s back wholeheartedly, and that goes a very long way in my book. Doug has an established record of protecting the unborn, defending our 2nd Amendment rights, and exposing the corruption that plagues those who are opposed to the truth. He is a proven commodity, he is honorable, and I believe we can trust him to stand on conservative principles as long as he serves in Congress.

From a peek into her past, it appears that Loeffler is no reliable conservative. She uses the correct talking points now, but what I’ve been reading lately from some trusted friends who know the politics of Georgia quite well is that she’s a “globalist,” along the lines of the George Bushes and Mitt Romney, or worse.

Reportedly, Governor Kemp’s motivation in appointing Loeffler was two-fold: 1. She can pour millions of her own dollars into her re-election campaign, and 2. He hopes she will attract women voters who have supposedly left the party and ensure that republicans keep the seat in November. Those seem like pretty shallow reasons to me. As a woman, I don’t trust Kelly Loeffler to be the true conservative that she needs to be, once the pressure is off and she is sitting comfortably in her senate seat.

I couldn’t care less whether my senator is male or female, so her gender holds no sway for me. What matters is whether he or she is principled, trustworthy, and has a proven history of supporting conservative values. I simply don’t see that in Loeffler, who cozies up to the likes of Democrat Stacey Abrams, donates thousands of dollars to democrats like Senators Chris Dodd, Debbie Stabenow, Tom Harkin, and so forth, organizes her team against Georgia’s religious freedom legislation, and supports Planned Parenthood with revenue from her team’s ticket sales. The WNBA is a terribly liberal organization, so it begs the question why and how someone with strong morals and conservative principles would co-own one of the teams. Loeffler simply doesn’t pass the smell test, in my humble view.

According to a statement from Concerned Women for America in late November, shortly before Governor Kemp announced that Loeffler would assume Isakson’s senate seat:

Governor Kemp needs to know Kelly Loeffler would be the wrong choice for conservatives in Georgia and supporters of President Trump on several fronts. She sits on the board of a hospital in Atlanta that employs five abortionists and actually runs the largest training program for abortionists in Georgia. She is also part owner of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream franchise. The WNBA has been an outspoken supporter of Planned Parenthood, even partnering with the pro-abortion organization in opposing President Trump’s pro-life policies. Likewise the WNBA has remained disturbingly silent about China’s persecution of the citizens of Hong Kong, even after an NBA general manager courageously spoke out about it. Ms. Loeffler also sits on the board of a psychiatric treatment facility that provides transgender affirming counsel to minors. Likewise she has given thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to liberal and pro-abortion candidates. There are better choices for Gov. Kemp when it comes to the next U.S. Senator from Georgia. Gov. Kemp has a list of fantastic pro-life candidates. We hope he doesn’t pick the one the pro-life community will have to oppose.

We can’t take chances with something as important as a U.S. Senate seat, and we certainly don’t need any more Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski-types there. This position is too important to the future of our nation. We need someone to represent Georgia who has proven that he or she will stand for life, biblical marriage, the family, the 2nd Amendment, border security, national sovereignty, religious liberty, and so on. Governor Brian Kemp disappointed much of his conservative base when he went against President Trump’s wishes and chose Kelly Loeffler for U.S. Senate, and we voters need to send a strong message in November that we won’t stand for playing patty cake with our senate seats.

What we absolutely need to avoid in November is splitting the republican base and ending up with a democrat senator from Georgia. Since this is a jungle vote and there is no primary to allow us to choose one candidate, conservatives need to unite behind the only reliable candidate in the race. Not only does Doug Collins need to win, but he needs a landslide of republican support. There needs to be a clear mandate from the conservative base that we want a proven, principled conservative. Doug Collins needs to defeat Kelly Loeffler so we can keep Georgia solidly, reliably red and maintain the republican majority in the U.S. Senate.

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Michelle Thomas is a Christ follower, wife to Trevor Thomas, and homeschooling mom of four. Her books include Lord, I Need You, Through Deep Waters, and Debt-Free Living in a Debt-Filled World. Her website is KingdomCrossing.com, and her email is michelle@kingdomcrossing.com.

Why This White Woman Voted for Brian Kemp

In 1951, a white baby girl was born in a small hospital in Ogbomosho, Nigeria, West Africa. She was raised among the Nigerian people by missionary parents—parents who dedicated their lives to ministering to and sharing the Gospel with people of color. My mom’s family came back to the States when she was a teenager, and they settled here in Georgia, where her parents taught at various colleges and public schools. She met my dad in beautiful Cleveland, Georgia when they were both in their mid-teens. They married at 18, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Mom loved Nigeria and the Nigerian people. She considered that “home” for many years after she returned to the U.S. As far as I know—and I’ve known her for 45 years now—there isn’t a racist bone in her body. My dad was a pastor and counselor for decades before he was killed tragically in a DUI in 2015. My parents love people—of all colors and shapes and sizes—and they instilled that love in their four children. My husband Trevor Thomas and I are, in turn, teaching our four children to love God and to love all people as well.

I turned 18 in 1991, and I was excited beyond words to participate in my first presidential election the following year. I campaigned for George H.W. Bush. I made signs at the local Republican Party headquarters to help welcome him to Gainesville on his Whistle Stop Train Tour. I cried when he lost to Bill Clinton.

In the 1996 election cycle, I campaigned early on for a brilliant, articulate, conservative Harvard PhD and United Nations Ambassador by the name of Alan Keyes. Of course he was—and still is—a black man. Sadly, Keyes didn’t make it out of the primaries. Herman Cain and Ben Carson are other “people of color” who I believe would have made outstanding presidents, and I would have supported them wholeheartedly if they had made it to their respective general elections.

In last year’s race for governor, we the people of the great state of Georgia were faced with a choice, though not a difficult choice at all, in my humble opinion—a conservative white man or a liberal black woman. Imagine for a moment that the characteristics had been reversed. Had Stacy Abrams been a pro-life, pro-small business, pro-biblical marriage, pro-2nd Amendment, pro-liberty candidate, and Kemp had been the socialist, pro-abortionist, anti-gun, anti-small business candidate, I would have crawled to the polls on my hands and knees, if necessary, to vote for Abrams.

However, Kemp is the conservative and Abrams is the liberal. It’s as simple as that. It matters not a twit that he is a white man and she is a black woman. I will vote for a candidate with conservative values over a liberal candidate at any time of the day or week or year. I couldn’t care less what color the candidate’s skin happens to be. It truly is what’s on the inside that counts.

Apparently, the Women’s March leader, Linda Sarsour, blames me for Georgia’s recent “Heartbeat Bill,” which outlaws abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. On May 14, she tweeted,

While folks are debating tactics to respond to Georgia’s heartbeat bill, let’s remember that 76% of the white Women electorate in GA (more than white men) voted for Brian Kemp over Stacey Abrams. That’s where the work needs to happen. WW continue to uphold the patriarchy.

Unfortunately, Sarsour’s racist rant here is typical rhetoric from today’s left. I wish we could move on to more important issues that affect all Americans instead of dwelling on such insignificant differences as skin color. But it seems as though democrats will continue to play the race card in order to win voters to their side and gain political power. Since there is no substance to Sarsour’s argument, she is forced to stoop to slimy, deceptive tactics like race-baiting.

So yes, Linda Sarsour, this white woman voted unashamedly for Brian Kemp, and I would most definitely do it again, in a heartbeat. But it wasn’t to uphold “the patriarchy,” as you foolishly proclaim, and neither was it because Kemp is white. You completely miss the forest for the trees when you tout that ignorant garbage. As long as and whenever I have the opportunity to vote for a candidate who stands for truth, justice (for all—born and unborn), and the American way, you can bet your liberal bottom borrowed dollar that he or she will have my support. Red and yellow, black and white, we are all precious in the God’s sight, but some are much more deserving of my vote than others.

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2019, Michelle Fitzpatrick Thomas
Michelle Fitzpatrick Thomas is a Christ follower, wife to and chief editor for Trevor Thomas, and a homeschooling mom to four amazing children. She is the author of the brand new Through Deep Waters: Finding Healing and Hope in Devastating Grief and Debt-Free Living in a Debt-Filled World. Her website is KingdomCrossing.com, and she can be reached by email at michelle@kingdomcrossing.com.

Ashley Madison and Me

I thought of revealing this a few days ago when I wrote of Josh Duggar’s outing as a member of the adulterous Ashley Madison website. Recent events have now compelled me to share what I previously kept between only myself and my wife.

On February 28 of this year, I received the following email (click to make image larger):

That’s right, six months ago I received a solicitation from Ashley Madison. The subject line of the email was the Ashley Madison motto: “Life Is Short—Have An Affair!” Take note of the lies: “Every Single Minute A new Woman joins…” (Almost all of the female accounts were fake.) And when it comes to your “discreet affair,” Ashley Madison “GUARANTEE[S]…your current partner WON’T FIND OUT. This is 100% RISK FREE.” (And we all know how that has turned out.) Of course, no one should be surprised that a group promoting adultery would stoop to lying as well.

Don’t worry, I didn’t bite. After the initial shock at how my email address would end up on an Ashley Madison list, I did what I often do when faced with something illicit in the sexual realm: I told my wife.

Michelle and I have been married nearly 18 years. We long ago learned not to mess around with sexual temptation. I don’t eat at Hooters. I don’t subscribe to Sports Illustrated. I try not to even walk by a Victoria’s Secret store. (We’ve received three Victoria’s Secret catalogs in the mail recently. Each time Michelle has immediately called their customer service to have us removed from their mailing list.) Both Michelle and I try to be careful and not to allow ourselves to be in a potentially compromising situation with someone of the opposite sex. (Alone at work, etc.)

Also, with four children, Michelle and I have more to think about than our relationship. We don’t want to bring suffering into their lives because of poor decisions on our part. We want to teach, enforce, and model truth in the sexual realm. Our oldest is our 13 year-old son Caleb. Next is our 11 year-old son Jesse. (Caroline is nine and Noah is six.) We also do not want them deceived when it comes to what is truth on marriage and sexuality.

This is especially the case as our children enter puberty. We refuse to allow our daughter to dress as a prostitute, and we are teaching our sons to avoid girls who do so.

Our culture is saturated with lies when it comes to marriage and sexuality. Very often children, especially teenage boys, are targets of the sexually immoral. Whether scantily clad young ladies in the grocery-store catalogs/magazines, rampant sexual immorality in entertainment (TV, movies, music), or pornography on the internet (including what could only be described as the soft-core porn of swimsuit magazines and the like), it is extremely difficult to guard our children—not to mention ourselves—from such sexual sin.

We are literally in a war when it comes to this trash. Virtually every adult American will face sexual temptation of one sort or other. This is certainly not a battle that should be fought alone. We need to be guarded, and we need accountability, but most of all, we need the power of our Creator.

As C.S. Lewis put it, “We may, indeed, be sure that perfect chastity—like perfect charity—will not be attained by any merely human efforts. You must ask for God's help. Even when you have done so, it may seem to you for a long time that no help, or less help than you need, is being given. Never mind. After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again. For however important chastity (or courage, or truthfulness, or any other virtue) may be, this process trains us in habits of the soul which are more important still. It cures our illusions about ourselves and teaches us to depend on God. We learn, on the one hand, that we cannot trust ourselves even in our best moments, and, on the other, that we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven. The only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection.”

Copyright 2015, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Our Book in WORLD Magazine!

We've been subscribers to the Christian news publication WORLD magazine for years now. WORLD's mission is "To report, interpret, and illustrate the news in a timely, accurate, enjoyable, and arresting fashion from a perspective committed to the Bible as the inerrant Word of God."

We used to subscribe to the kids version of WORLD, God's World News, as well. However, our children have recently started to prefer the regular edition. This is especially the case with our two oldest children, Caleb (13 years-old), and Jesse (11 years-old). They have been reading the regular version of World for a couple of years now. They love it.

My wife Michelle and I both enjoy WORLD as well. Before going to bed a few nights ago, I read Marvin Olasky's--WORLD's editor-in-chief--piece on Christian education. Given our involvement in education, before I left for work the next morning, I asked Caleb to make sure that he showed Michelle the column.

However, though we've had the September edition of WORLD for several days now, and though several of us have flipped through the magazine many times, it seems that we all missed something significant (at least from our perspective).

WORLD has a recurring section called "Notable Books" where, usually, several books are featured and reviewed. Our book Debt-Free Living in a Debt-Filled World was reviewed in the "Notable Books" section in the September edition of WORLD.

Here is the review (click on the image to make it larger):

Additionally, prior to reviewing our book and six others, the "Notable Books" section began,

"During the past year, WORLD received more than 100 self-published books for possible review. This past May we had our 14 students at the 2015 World Journalism Institute each choose the books that most appealed to them—and from those to choose one to review. For the WJI students, that’s useful experience for future work in publishing or book reviewing. For the authors who sent their books, thank you. Although some of you will be disappointed not to find your book reviewed here, you have helped in the training of these budding journalists."

We had no idea this had happened. Thank you WORLD! And thank you to our friend Christy Mihalick for alerting us to this!

Trevor Grant Thomas

At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.

www.trevorgrantthomas.com

Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World

tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

“Drive-By” Default: Lee Siegel’s Financial Advice Should Come as No Surprise

Chalk this one up to yet another New York Times liberal who wants others to pay his bills. (Paul Krugman must be proud.) On the 71st anniversary of what some considered the most important day of the twentieth century, a day where thousands of men, for the sake of others, paid with all that they had, the opinion pages of The New York Times ran the “brave” piece, “Why I Defaulted on My Student Loans.” (I suppose the author will receive the Bruce Jenner award for courage.)

The piece is by Lee Siegel. On what I’m sure is his well-guarded Wikipedia page, Mr. Siegel is described as writer and “cultural critic.” He is lauded as “one of the most eloquent and acid-tongued critics in the country” and hailed by The New York Times Book Review for his “drive-by brilliance.”

In describing his financial delinquency, Siegel begins by not remembering the institution which four-decades prior, seemingly lured him and his mother into signing away his life. Siegel began his college career at a “small private liberal arts college,” which, by the end of his sophomore year, required him to take out a second loan. After his father’s bankruptcy and his parents’ divorce, Siegel had to transfer to a state college in New Jersey. Ashamed that his academic career had taken such a turn and because he thought he “deserved better,” Siegel dropped out of the state school and went to work selling shoes.

To pursue his dream of being a writer, Siegel later entered Columbia University. Though not mentioned specifically in the piece, Wikipedia notes that in addition to his undergraduate degree from the Columbia University School of General Studies, Siegel obtained his master’s degree and Master of Philosophy from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. That’s three different colleges or universities and three degrees from a very expensive private university.

Also noticeably absent from The Times piece is any mention of income-producing work in the midst of his academic studies. In the significant fallout that was the result of what even the liberals at Vox called a “terrible idea,” Siegel said that though his debt was from the time he spent at all three schools he attended, his tuition at Columbia was paid for. Presumably then, the debt he incurred while at Columbia was to pay for living expenses.

One thing that Siegel does make clear in his op-ed is that after finding himself in the career that he wanted (a writer), which “opened a new life to me beyond my modest origins,” he is confronted with the fact that such a life was not going to allow him easily to get out from under the “crippling debt” he had amassed. Siegel bemoans the fact that “the education system was now going to call in its chits and prevent me from pursuing that new life, simply because I had the misfortune of coming from modest origins.”

Of course, as the title of Siegel’s piece makes clear, his solution to his “crippling debt” is simply not to repay it. He justifies his default by concluding that, though the “social arrangement” that is the current student loan industry might be legal, it is “not moral.”

I love it when liberals make an appeal to morality to justify their desires or behaviors. Not because I derive some perverse pleasure from their misguided arguments, but as we live our lives—going to school, going to work, attending church, entering into relationships, marrying, raising children, starting businesses, voting, making law, (participating in all of this, none of it, or somewhere in-between), and so on—the morality that directs such a life is profoundly important. And thus, I wonder, and get to ask: Upon what moral code is Siegel relying as he makes his arguments against the current student loan industry?

Is it the same moral code that tells him it’s okay to kill children in the womb, and that homosexual behavior is normal and healthy? Is it the same moral code that reveals that same-sex “marriage” is a right that any two (or three or more) consenting adults should have? Is it the same moral code that says that mankind is warming the planet and that governments across the world must decisively act to save us from climate devastation? Of course it is, and thus no one should be surprised at Siegel’s inane monetary moralizing.

This is especially the case for his liberal cohorts, as Siegel’s financial advice is right in line with the rest of liberal ideology. In fact, through one means or another, for decades across America, liberals have essentially preached the same financial message as Siegel: pay little attention to how much you borrow; pursue your “dreams” at all costs; look to the government to provide you with as much sustenance for life as possible; when that isn’t enough, demand that someone else be taxed so that you can have more. (Siegel, of course, advocates for a “universal education tax that would make higher education affordable” and longs for the government to “guarantee a college education.”)

My wife and I are both over 10 years younger than Mr. Siegel, and between us we have five college degrees. We both worked as we attended college and graduated with very little debt. In fact, as I’ve noted before, through applying the Christian principles of money management (as taught by the late-great Larry Burkett), Michelle and I have lived the last 16 years of our lives completely debt free.

This includes owning our home (never having a mortgage), always paying cash for vehicles (though always buying used), educating our four children in a private homeschool academy (in addition to piano lessons, karate, and the like), and so on. For the most part, all of this is done on a teacher’s salary. We budget, we save, we invest, we give, we coupon, and so on. Most of all, we realize that all we have is the result of what was given to us by our Creator, and we are simply trying to be good stewards.

Like Mr. Siegel (shockingly, he’s writing a memoir about money), we’ve (mostly Michelle) written a book detailing our financial story, which includes a great deal about debt (though we recommend you always repay what you borrow), and the three-and-a-half-year process of building of our home debt free. (See a couple of videos on our financial story here.) Our book is on my site, Amazon, and other online retailers.

As we discuss debt in our book, we make special note of student loan debt, and how so many Americans have become far too comfortable with large amounts of debt early in their lives. No doubt that there needs to be reform, financial and otherwise, in America’s system of higher education. In many cases, college in the U.S. is far too expensive, and far too much deception exists about what a college education can do for an individual. However, most of this corruption is due to the efforts of big government liberals.

Thanks in large part to liberal policies in financing education, in recent decades we’ve seen massive increases in the cost of higher education. As Mona Charen noted last year, “For decades, politicians have bought votes with promises to make college ‘more affordable.’ They passed legislation with names such as ‘The College Cost Reduction and Access Act’ (link is mine) and the ‘Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act’ (link is mine). There are Pell Grants and Stafford Loans, and much more besides.”

Unsurprisingly, as Charen also notes, such subsidizing has led to an enormous rise in the tuition and fees charged by colleges and universities. According to Anya Kamenetz in $1 Trillion and Rising, “Since 1978, the cost of college tuition has increased faster than the consumer price index in every single year. That’s not true for any other item in the basket of consumer goods.”

And as I noted in 2012, “The cost of tuition and fees has increased faster than healthcare costs. According to the Department of Education, if these trends continue, by 2016 the cost of a public college will have more than doubled in just 15 years. University of Tennessee law professor, Glenn Harlan Reynolds, in his book The Higher Education Bubble, reports that, with the easy availability of federal funds, tuition and fees have gone up over 440% in the last 30 years.”

We hear almost nothing from liberals today, whether politicians, or pundits like Siegel, that would stem the tide of such increases. In other words, just as is the case with campus sexual assault, when it comes to the cost of college, Siegel is bemoaning what his politics have helped to create.

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2015, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Happy Birthday Michelle!

Today is the day that my beautiful and wise wife was born. As most of you are aware, in addition to being a wife to me--no easy task!--a mother to our four children, the principle author of our first book (Yes, another one is coming.), and just this year, administrator of Gainesville Home-School Academy, Michelle edits almost everything I write. Several years ago I wrote a piece for Valentine's Day on love.

I'm no expert on love--certainly not on romance--so to write the piece, I relied mostly on the wisdom of others, especially the Word of God. Much of what I write deals with issues related to families, and thus, marriage. As I noted in the Valentine's Day column, we believe that, after our relationship with our Creator, the most important relationship in the universe is that between a husband and wife.

In order to be a light to the world, Michelle and I are determined to do our best to have our marriage be what God desires it to be. We sometimes fail (the enemy hates marriage!), and that is usually due to me. In spite of this, Michelle does the amazing thing that true love requires: she chooses to love me. In other words, no matter what, I am hers (and she is mine).

As Scripture, and any marriage counselor worth a dime, reveals, love is not simply a feeling, but a matter of the will. As C.S. Lewis put it, “[Love] is a state not of the feelings but of the will; that state of the will which we naturally have about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people.”

Jesus told us that His entire law can be summed up with two commands: Love God and, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” How do we “love” ourselves? If we are honest, we should all admit that there are times when none of us is particularly lovable. In fact, most of us have probably been pretty disappointed in and disgusted by our own behavior, and thus, in ourselves. We may even have seen ourselves as downright nasty.

Therefore, loving our neighbor does not mean always having pleasant feelings about him, or being happy with everything she does. As Lewis also put it, it does not mean “thinking them nice either.” I'm certainly not "nice" all of the time. As anyone married for any length of time understands, my absolute worst moments are at home. In other words, my most unlovable moments are usually in the presence of my sweet wife. Yet, she chooses to love me.

Consider 1 Corinthians chapter 13, where the Apostle Paul reveals to us what true love is. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

Patience, kindness, a lack of envy or boasting; humility, politeness, and controlling your temper; keeping no record of wrongs, rejoicing in the truth, and so on—these all are matters of the will and Michelle does these better than anyone else I know on this earth. Happy birthday baby!!!

Love, Trevor

Marriage Commitment Challenge

In light of the viral “Ice Bucket Challenge” that has significantly raised both awareness and money in the battle against the terrible disease of ALS, I recently had an idea for a different type of “challenge.” This is a challenge to stand up for the truth—to be seen and heard in the fight against another, much more devastating plague on our culture.

(See our YouTube description here as well as below.)

For years now, I and many others have detaileded the tragic effects of the breakdown of the traditional (biblical) family unit in our culture (see my archive of columns/articles on my “Marriage/Family/Sexuality” page; also search my site for “marriage and family” and the like). In addition to the devastating effects for children brought up in a home without a loving and married mother and father, as has often been chronicled, the breakdown of the family is linked to an increase in poverty, violence, crime, and a host of other social ills.

Divorce, out-of-wedlock births, promiscuity of every kind imaginable, prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation of children, sex-trafficking, homosexuality, same-sex marriage—each of these once considered grossly immoral (“sin”) by most Americans—with some considered so gross as not even to warrant a discussion—are now not only considered acceptable in many circles, but some are even celebrated.

This is especially true of homosexuality. The federal government, the federal courts, state governments and state courts all across the U.S., school systems, corporations, Hollywood, the news media, the sports industries and media—virtually every realm of our culture has capitulated by some measure to the homosexual agenda.

Such acceptance and celebration has infected not only our secular culture, but the church as well. For the last decade we have watched as denomination after denomination, congregation after congregation, in the name of the fallacy that is today’s “tolerance,” compromise long-held biblical truths on marriage and sexuality.

Additionally, the movement to redefine marriage, which is being rabidly debated throughout the U.S., is not only seeking to shatter the foundation upon which all of our social institutions rest, it is seeking to legitimize—using, among other things, the full power of our legal system— homosexuality and all of its perverse variations, including transgenderism.

Bakers, florists, photographers, wedding hosts, and the like have suffered under our legal system due to their Christian views on marriage and homosexuality. This will certainly continue. As I noted a few months ago, and as Al Mohler recently pointed out, “We are in the midst of a massive revolution in morality.” Mohler adds that, “sexual morality is at the center of this revolution.” He refers directly to a “crossroads” and alludes to an unavoidable showdown that is looming within the evangelical church. However, I believe this is the case for our nation in general.

Given all of this, and as I mentioned at the beginning of this piece, the success of the “Ice Bucket Challenge,” I think it’s time for all who are concerned about where our nation is headed with marriage and sexuality to embrace a different type of challenge. This one involves no financial donation but could cost you plenty; there’s no ice-cold water involved, but it could be much more “chilling” for some. However, if this catches on and turns hearts and minds toward the truth, it will all be worth it.

What I propose is the following: Married couples—husbands and wives that is—as well as interested singles, would video a short (less than 1 minute) commitment statement on marriage and sexuality and post it online—Facebook, YouTube, etc.—for all the world to see. The statements I created (one for marrieds; one for singles) are below. You could use one of mine or create your own. It needs to be brief, so that people can view it quickly, but it needs to communicate clearly the truth on marriage and sexuality.

I propose that husbands and wives alternate reading sections, but do so in a manner that demonstrates unity: the type of unity that a Christian marriage is supposed to have. In other words, two are reading it as one. (My personal preference would be alternating the reading instead of reading it together, but others may reach a different conclusion.) Also, large groups such as Sunday school classes, church small groups, or even whole congregations could make the commitment together. Husbands and wives could make the commitment with their children present.

I especially challenge Christian leaders—pastors, elders, deacons, ministry heads, leaders of Christian colleges and universities, and the like—to make the marriage commitment and do so boldly. I also especially challenge Christians in high-profile parts of our culture—TV celebrities, movie celebrities, sports celebrities, news media celebrities, and the like—to make the marriage commitment.

However, the vast majority of us who make this marriage commitment will be those with a much smaller circle of influence. It will be this group that will convince most people that this commitment is the right thing to do. In other words, it will be the every-day Americans that will point the vast majority to the truth on marriage and sex.

As you challenge others to this commitment, I recommend that you do so in private. Some may not respond well to a public challenge on an issue such as this.

Yes, many of us who are in a Christian marriage have already said our vows before God and a crowd of witnesses. Yet, these drastic times call for more. The voices of deception are many. They need to be countered.

I’m under no illusions that the few words in these marriage commitments will, by themselves, elicit real change in our nation. Neither am I seeking merely a political solution. By and large, our politics are only a reflection of our culture. Real change will come as people live out the commitment and God uses His truth to bring repentance.

In other words, change will come when those deceived and those seeking the truth see millions of loving, committed, and fruitful marriages lived out before their eyes and God reveals to their hearts that this is the way that marriage was meant to be. Nevertheless, given where we are with marriage and sexuality in our nation, we need a large wake-up call and I believe that this “marriage commitment challenge” could be that call.

Dr. Mohler is right: sooner or later we’re all going to have to decide where we stand in these matters. We may as well start now. Is this “corny”? Perhaps, but certainly no more so than dumping a bucket of ice water on your head to help cure a disease—and look what that has accomplished.

Below are the commitments that I’ve written. Each one has been examined, and edited where necessary, by pastors and those involved in family ministry.

Married Couples:

As husband and wife we commit, before God and all who witness this, to remain faithful in all that the Bible reveals on the holy covenant of marriage.

Namely, we commit to remain faithful to one another and keep our marriage bed pure; and we commit to remain married until our earthly union is dissolved by death. Furthermore, as a union of one man and one woman, we commit to allow God to use our union as He sees fit to build His Kingdom.

Last, we commit to model and to teach others the truth on marriage and sexuality. Namely, that marriage is the union of one man and one woman for life and that the only rightful place for sex is within marriage.



Singles:

I commit, before God and all who witness this, to remain faithful to all that the Bible reveals on the holy covenant of marriage.

Namely, I commit to keep myself sexually pure while unmarried and model and teach this behavior to those in my circle of influence. Furthermore, I commit to allow God to use me as a single person as He sees fit to build His Kingdom.

If I am ever married, I commit to remain faithful to my spouse, keep our marriage bed pure, and remain married until our earthly union is dissolved by death.

Last, whether married or single, I commit to model and to teach others the truth on marriage and sexuality. Namely, that marriage is the union of one man and one woman for life and that the only rightful place for sex is within marriage.

Our Financial Story on Life Focus TV

Nearly three years ago, our family was asked to participate in a television production telling our story of debt-free living. I took the day off from teaching mathematics, and a film crew from Life Focus TV came to our home and spent most of the day with us. It was a neat experience, and we looked forward to the finished product. We had no good idea of the time frame for actual airing, and over two years later with no sign of the show, and after we started our book, we pretty much forgot about the episode.

A bit to our surprise, a friend of Michelle's contacted us today and said that she saw us on TV! It seems that the episode, "Dealing With Debt," has been out for a few months. Life Focus TV airs on a variety of Christian networks, including TBN and the Miracle Channel, as well as on PBS. Right now it seems that "Dealing With Debt" is not yet available to embed. Go here to watch it in its entirety. (We do not make a significant appearance until about 9 minutes in.)

Also, below is the video of our financial testimony that Crown Financial Ministries did several years ago (2008):