Little sponges

I have a 1 1/2 years old son. I am reminded daily of how more is caught than taught. I office out of home and every morning after spending a little time with my boy, I go into my office, shut the door and start my work day.

Today, my wife and I chuckled as we watched Hudson- my son- go into my office, shut the door and plop himself in my office chair computer mouse in hand. He did this four times.

People watch our lives. Stewardship matters. There is something within every soul that is curious about the Christian life. Men and women may never seek it without the Spirit of God to draw them to Him. But they still have admiration for the ones that are willing to leave it all for the sake of Christ.

Fortunately, we have a model to follow- Christ. I Peter 2:21 tells us that Christ suffered for us to leave us an example that we may follow in His steps. Ephesians 5:1-2, "Be imitators of God as dearly loved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us..."

Money, ability, time and health- MATH if you like acronyms- are entrusted to Christians so that we might reflect the grace and holiness of our King. Life is very short. A few more funerals, weddings, seasons, elections and our time will be gone on the earth as we know it. But the Christian has a great promise to look forward to: paradise lost will be paradise renovated.

There is a day coming when we will enjoy pristine beaches with no trash, lewd behavior, high prices and hurricanes. There will be mountains without pollution and the effects of sin. We will witness and participate in athletic contests where people play to their potential. Learning will be unhindered by all the distractions that we currently deal with. Neighborhoods will be renovated without the fear of crime and decay. Sin will be abolished. Christ will be present. Do you long for that day?

Then make the most of this one brief life by becoming serious about stewardship. God has entrusted us with much and therefore much will be required- Luke 12:48. I encourage us all to constantly think about and improve on how we are modeling Christ to those around us.

For His Glory,

Ashley Hodge

Redeeming Time

Ephesians 5:16 implores us to "look carefully how you walk, making the best use of time for the days are evil." One practical way that I have attempted to redeem the time for God is to use car trips that I make alone as times of prayer and Scripture memory. There are times when this is difficult to do. At the end of a day, all I want to do is listen to music or talk radio. But there are other times when my mind is alert and active. This is a prime opportunity to pray for others, rehearse/memorize passages of Scripture and meditate on the Lord.

The memorization of Scripture has many benefits that are sometimes not obvious at first. One example: I have memorized the 12th chapter of Hebrews. The first verse in that chapter says, "Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles us and let us run the race with perseverance." As I was memorizing this chapter for the first time, I was also reading a book by Randy Alcorn called Heaven.

In that book, Alcorn proposes the theory that believers are surrounded daily not only by the presence of God and angels but also by believers who have died in Christ and are now with Him in the intermediate Heaven praying for us and rooting us on to run the race with perseverance. There are passages of Scripture that support Alcorn's theory which I won't go into here- Revelation mainly.

Even though God's presence should be motivation enough, there is something about the thought of a godly grandparent, Christian leader or friend watching us from Heaven that provides extra incentive to avoid sin. At times of temptation, I am often reminded by this verse that I memorized, "Therefore since you are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1.

As believers in Christ, we are called to holiness and we are also called to redeem the time. Use your alone time as an opportunity to live out that calling.

For the glory of God,

Ashley Hodge

Complaining

I have been writing to my 18-month old son-Hudson- on a regular basis since he was born. In a desire to leave a legacy of faith, I have attempted to give practical advice and to write out the things that I am praying for him about. One topic, I return to over and over again is my desire for him to not be a complainer.

Philippians 2:14 tells us to do all things without grumbling or complaining. Perhaps I think about this a lot because I struggle daily with a tendency to complain. Maybe it is on my mind because I look around and see the vast majority of the world constantly complaining. The Christian community would attract many people and win more friends if we would just obey this one verse- do all things without grumbling or complaining.

To develop the heart of a steward, we must daily submit ourselves to the will of Christ. A huge part of this submission is to eliminate complaining from our lives. Hebrews 12:3-4 encourages us with these words: "Consider Him who has endured from sinners such hostility against Himself that you do not grow weary or fainthearted. For in your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood."

Lord, I pray that You will daily teach me not to complain. I pray that You will teach others who know You not to complain. Encourage us daily to submit ourselves to You and to focus on the things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and praiseworthy- Philippians 4:8.

Ashley Hodge

Forced monthly savings

Proverbs 13:11, "Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it."

I have been a financial advisor for over twelve years and I have noticed a common theme among clients who have accumulated wealth over time. That theme is monthly savings. This savings might be in the form of employer sponsored retirement plans or just individual savings. There is something powerful about the habit of forced monthly savings.

In my own experience, I have set a goal of paying off my home mortgage early. Originally, my plan was to reduce my mortgage in larger chunks as I had the savings available to do so. After following this plan for over a year, I quickly came to the conclusion that I never had the "excess" funds.

For me, it took setting a goal to pay off a significant part of my mortgage debt within three years. And then factoring in how much extra I would need to pay monthly to reach my three year goal. It is amazing how much more effective forced monthly payments are for retiring debt and saving for short-term and long-term goals.

Keep in mind these principles:

1. Give to God first
2. Pay yourself second- forced monthly savings.
3. Pay cash for everything that you can- homes and businesses may be an exception.
4. Aggressively retire debt, save or give with excess monthly income.

Ashley Hodge