ten dollars

How much does $10 dollars mean to you?
A few months ago I signed up to receive a glam bag once a month for $10 a month. Glam Bags apparently are all the rage now and there are several options and sites to sign up on. I opted for one that I could cancel anytime. Basically what it is are beauty product samples that are sent in a little makeup bag. It can range from mascara to nail polish. It was really fun to receive it every month and you never knew what you would get, but you got at least 5+ things each time! I recently started cutting back my spending and cancel my subscription.
Then I was checking out a friends facebook page and for their birthday they wanted a $10 donation to an orphanage in Kenya instead of people giving her a gift. There was an option to do it monthly. I have been supporting an orphan in Togo since last year so I didn't select the monthly donation at this time, but it made me stop and think. I was paying $10 a month for several months for this silly little glam bag, which I don't NEED I just WANTED and the products I don't use as much. And here was an orphanage that could make my $10 go alot farther for the furthering of God's Kingdom...ALOT farther than makeup.
I've been reading Managing God's Money by Randy Alcorn. The person marrying us is having Ryan and I read it. I highly recommend it! There is one part that talks about strategic lifestyle and a simple one. IF you are living a strategic lifestyle then what you invest your money in will be used for Kingdom purposes. It is all about perspective...! This website might help you see that. It is quite eye-opening to see where you land on the scale. I'm in the top 11% percent  of the richest people in the world! And even if I only made $1500 I would still be richer than 75% of the world!
After spending almost 2 weeks in Togo I started realizing how much I really have! Right now planning and spending money on a wedding sometimes seems a bit ridiculous to me when I saw how little money there could go so far! I could help a family with a goat and a bible (a goat to help their lifestyle and a bible for their souls) for just $35. If I took all the money from this wedding and put it towards that it would help over 170 families in Togo. I'm not trying to be ridiculous here....I want a nice wedding and it's a once in a lifetime thing...but this has still crossed my mind.
Another part in the book I enjoyed was about what you leave behind, your legacy. Why save up bucket loads of money when I can use it for God's Kingdom now! Some parts in this book are quite radical, but it this part makes sense to me. He also does address the need to enjoy vacations and little comforts for the renewing and refreshing of our mental, physical, and emotional health. So it's not like he is saying to leave everything and "follow" Christ, but there is a part about that I really like to, which I won't go into right now.
"What may strike us as radical, when compared to those around us, even in our Christian culture, seems not to be radical at all when compared to the teaching of the Scripture."

Lost in God: Living the Cross Centered Life

For the month of June our church is reading together a theology book. The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller is the first option. We already have the second option by C. J. Mahaney Living the Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing. My mom has already read it so I decided I would read that book. Just from reading the introduction I knew that my thinking would be changed. He starts out with something Paul said..."Now I would remind you, brothers, the gospel I preached to you....For I delivered to you of first importance what I also received: Christ died for our sins." He is saying that the one thing that should be the center of our lives daily is the Gospel! The Good News.
Sounds so simple, eh? But then goes on to point out how every day we face temptations to move away from the gospel....that there are three main tendencies that pull us away: 1. Subjectivism, which means basing our relationship with God on our changing feelings and emotions. (yep, I'm guilty of that). 2. Legalism, which means basing our relationship with God on our own performance. (done that too). and 3. Condemnation, which means being more focused on our sin than God's grace. (uh huh guilty again).
as soon as I read that I was gripped by what I may learn from reading this. I pray that the Holy Spirit gives me discernment as I continue reading.
Finishing the first chapter required the use of a tissue. This quote really got me...reminding me of what God has recently in the last 2 years made me even more aware of.
Often my eyes fill with tears at the memories of my foolishness and sin. And in the same instant, my heart will be filled with an unspeakable, holy joy. By the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, I've been forgiven of the countless sins I've committed.
Then he went on to say something I've never really thought about. How today many people run from the past, but he considers regular reminders as precious because he never wants to forget the great mercy shown! Wow! Changing my mindset to that theology in light of the mistakes I've made in the past doesn't make the memories so painful!
I'm anticipating reading the rest of the book, fo sho!
As for the verses we have to memorize...still working on that lol...when one gets older ones memory isn't what it used to be hehe. But my study of the book of Mark is going well, more on that later :)