Money, Its a Gas!

Well it certainly has been too long since my last post. When my sister-in-law in Kenya says “Peter hasn’t updated his blog in while,” it means that I am long overdue. I think this is a timely place for a post though, because right now this year, reminds me of this time last year. And the story of our lives this time last year is a great way to explain one of the links I have up on this blog. This time last year my wife and my sitz im leben though joyful was not very fun. Our son was about two months old, and we were enjoying and getting used to life as parents. Bethany had only been working again for about a month as a massage therapist, and after some job woes the year before, I had been working at CBD for a few months.

Maybe it was everything else on our minds as new parents trying to balance work, school, and child care...for both of our schedules, but I guess we should have been mindful and responsible anyway. The problem was that we had completely run out of money. It was ironic that what happened to us was happening to the whole country at the same time. It happened just as the bill for the fall semester came. We had almost, but not enough to cover the bill. At this point we had to borrow about $250 from my mom so as not to let our bank accounts fall below zero and get overdraft fees. We were so broke we were worried about being able to pay our rent. Thankfully, because we live in campus apartments, the housing office was very generous in giving us grace to pay our rent when we could. And thankfully since then, all of Gabriel’s grandparents have been very helpful and supportive.

I know this decision was reactionary, but at least I did it. When we were completely broke, I took that as an opportunity to start being mindful and proactive about our personal finances. Here is where the explanation of one of the Greater Things links comes in. As I mentioned in the first post, I want this blog to be a free forum, so personal finance is fair game. Also, the Bible talks about money a great deal. Money can be a great tool towards “greater things.” Money can certainly be used as a tool against you too, Jesus was sure to mention that in his ministry. Perhaps the pros and cons of money can be the topic of a future post. What I am trying to get across here is that we should be good stewards of money.

Last year right in the midst of our financial woes, I got a letter from ING Direct saying that if I opened an account, I would get a $25 bonus. I know that amount of money is pocket change, but when you have negative money, $25 is a lot. They also offered this on a checking account. That’s 50 bucks that we would not have had if we did not open ING accounts. Since then we have also opened an account with them called “Gabe’s College Fund.” Opening online accounts is great because of their high interest rates. I know ING does not have the best rate around right now but so far I am happy. For more info on online savings accounts browse the GRS blog.

Finally, to explain the link. Get Rich Slowly was a personal finance blog that I found last year while we were broke. It was so informative, and I read so many posts on many different areas of personal finance. JD, who runs that blog is honest, has a great personal testimony and does a great job with the site. I recommend that everyone who is looking to get personal finance under control, and even thriving, check out that blog.

In the present day the Fitzroy family is doing MUCH better with money. We vowed to ourselves that we would never let that happen again, and with the help from family, and a year’s time, we are no longer drowning.

Yes, I Have a Blog! And Here's Why...

I wonder how many blogs actually start like this: "Well, I have finally decided to start a blog..." I know of at least one. Alas, here also am I; starting a blog which I hope will be very fruitful and help me to accomplish certain objectives and goals that I (and I believe God) have for my life. My wife Bethany told me this morning that there is nothing like the need to study, that motivates me to do other things. My blog has actually been created now for about a week, but because of a class that I am taking right now, I haven't had the chance to get the first post up. Since my exam for the class is quickly approaching, I decided that now would be the perfect time to get my initial thoughts about my new blog onto my new blog.

I think that the true purpose of this blog is yet to be seen and will be discovered as time goes on. At the outset, my ambitions for this literary endeavor are both simple yet profound. One of the main reasons I have created this blog is to give potential employers a place where they can see what I am all about. Because of my desired career path, I think that the blog will naturally take on some other qualities (yet to be seen). I want this to be a venue where authentic theological discussion can take place. I don't like how there can be a divide between one's "faith journey," and "real life." Therefore, this forum is not going to be limited to being a "Christian" blog, though most everything will have a certain perspective. This is ok to acknowledge. A perfect way to introduce the title of my blog.

"Greater Things" came to me as an idea for the blogs title when I was brainstorming some different ideas. I settled on this as a title because I saw great potential in these words for what I wanted to accomplish by creating a blog in the first place. For those who don't recognize the phrase it comes from John 14:12. I would very much like to look at more in depth exegesis for this passage in the future. But put simply, Jesus said his followers would do bigger and better things than he did. Another main purpose of this blog will be to explore what this means for daily life today in 2009. This is why this will be a free forum blog, not just limited to the things of theological discourse. This is why I have links like Get Rich Slowly posted to my blog (more on this later). It is always my goal in life to engage the world in which I live with my faith. I try to live out the two slogans that were used frequently at Gordon College "freedom within a framework of faith" and "faith seeking understanding."

So as my first post comes to a completion, I wait with eager anticipation to see what greater things can be accomplished, both on this blog and in real life. I invite anyone and everyone to engage with me in this endeavor as we pursue greater things.