The Glory of Delayed Gratification

March 28, 2012

Delayed gratification isn’t something we excel at in America, and my generation is particularly bad at waiting. We want to live in the homes our parents saved up for decades to buy as soon as we graduate college. We want the latest Apple product, a big house, five cars, and we want it all right now.

I think the hard part of delayed gratification is (wait for it, brilliance coming in 3…2…1…) that the whole gratification process is delayed, as in not instant, not right away, not right this moment.

It’s not as convenient to have to wait to go to a store to buy a CD to listen to a song as it is to download it on our phones instantly.

It’s not as convenient to call your friend to see what they’re doing when you can just check their latest Facebook update instantly.

It’s not easy to fight sin even though we know it won’t ultimately satisfy us, because we think it will bring instant satisfaction.

Honestly, gratification that isn’t instantaneous seems pretty weak. Why wait for something better when I could have something else right now? That’s the problem with storing up treasures in heaven where Jesus reminds us they won’t rust or be stolen (or be outdated months later by the next version or model).

Jesus doesn’t tell us we shouldn’t seek treasures. He just tells us to seek the better treasure.

The better treasures are the ones we’ll have forever, but they aren’t tangible right now. We can’t touch them or download apps on them, but they are better and eternal and, ultimately, far more satisfying.

In the midst of a world that says now, faster, sooner, we have to say, later, slower, better.

The joy of giving up current, fleeting pleasures and rust-prone treasures for ultimate, God-glorifying, crowns to lay at the foot of the throne of Christ in heaven is unimaginable.

But just close your eyes and try to to imagine how beautiful that will be. Let that moment when you exalt the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the God of the universe with the treasures you saved up just for Him drive you to say no to the immediate and yes to the ultimate.

Image provided by stock.xchng

Tagged as: crowns, delayed gratification, future, glory, heaven, instant, jesus, waiting

{ 0 comments }

Budgeting for Twentysomethings

March 20, 2012

I love budgeting. Three words you don’t normally hear from a 23-year-old guy. If you make it all the way through this monster post, I’m fairly certainly budgeting will start growing on you too.

My wife Niki and I took the 13-week Financial Peace University course by Dave Ramsey and decided to put a budget into action when we got married. We’ve been following it faithfully for the last 7 months, and it’s been unbelievably freeing.

There are lots of great tools for knowing where your money is going (I personally use Mint.com because the graphs are just so pretty), but these tools are often reactive instead of proactive, which means by the time you see how much you’ve spent it’s already too late.

Creating a budget (or cash-flow plan for you hipsters and business elite) allows you to spend every dollar on paper before the month begins.

We use the envelope system, which means we take out cash at each pay check and put it into corresponding envelopes for a number of categories: Groceries, Entertainment, Personal, Cosmetics, Gifts, Weddings, Dry Cleaning, License Plate Renewal, etc. (Dry Cleaning and License Plate Renewal? Crazy, I know, but it’s what helps you keep your budget balanced).

What’s great about using envelopes is that once you run out of cash in an envelope, you know you’re supposed to stop spending. It’s hard to exceed your budget if you don’t have any money to use. It’s not going to be perfect your first month and that’s ok. Adjust where you need to, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater just because it’s not perfect your first time around.

I can’t even venture to guess how many fights this has eliminated in our marriage. We review our budget each month and tweak things as necessary. We’re always on the same page, we know where every dollar is going, and we haven’t exceed our income (but we’ve definitely had to move some things around). More than anything, it’s allowed us to be faithful with what God has given us.

It’s freeing to know we’re allowed to go out to eat, to the movies, to buy an app we really want, or to have money set aside to be in our friends’ weddings. When you have a budget, your money is earmarked for certain things, and it brings freedom and moderation to your life.

I’ve included the spreadsheet we use for budgeting that’s been tweaked for your use. My favorite feature is the automatic currency denomination calculator (read: it tells you how many 1s, 5s, 10s, 20s and 50s to take out of the bank automatically) on the sheets labeled “Round 1” and “Round 2”. After you plug in the amounts you need to with draw from the bank for each envelope, the chart at the bottom automatically updates to tell you what denominations you need to take out of the bank so you can put the exact amounts in each envelope. It’s a huge time saver and it makes me look like an Excel trapeze artist.

If you want to start using the Dave Ramsey system but can’t take the Financial Peace class, I suggest buying and reading Financial Peace Revisited as soon as possible.

If you really want to get knee deep into these things, here are some technical and practical things we do, which may not work for everyone (and Dave may not explicitly approve!)

  1. If we buy something online (which we do nearly daily), we move the money from the corresponding envelope and put it into the Bank envelope that essentially functions as the bank for our next round of envelope budgeting.
  2. For car repairs, we had a pretty hefty balance building, and I didn’t feel comfortable keeping the cash around the house, so we deposited it into our savings account. We saved the envelope with the balance on it, and created a new sheet on our budget worksheet that lists how much we still have in that (now electronic) envelope, so we don’t confuse that money with our emergency fund.
  3. One of the trickiest things we’ve run into is when you’re buying products that draw money from multiple envelopes at the same store. What we do is pay for everything from one envelope (say, Groceries) and transfer the money from the other envelope once we add it up from the receipt (from Cosmetics to Groceries). It’s easier than putting everything on a card, and if you don’t want to ask the cashier to ring you out twice or even three times, it’s the next best solution we’ve come up with.
  4. Niki uses Dave Ramsey’s Designer Envelope System for our most used categories: Grocery, Home, Entertainment, Blow Money, Cosmetics and her own personal allowance. I don’t carry it around since she does the grocery shopping and because I haven’t figured out how to carry a red clutch and still feel manly. If I need to pick something up I’ll just grab the cash from the envelope or shamefully carry her red wallet with me to the store. In a pinch, I’ll use my debit card and we’ll take the cash out of the envelope and move it to the Bank envelope when I get back.
  5. One of our budget categories is Wedding, for gifts and expenses related to weddings we attend or participate in. Since we didn’t start our budget until September 2011, and we had some costs for a wedding in June 2012, we are effectively “in debt” to our wedding envelope. Basically, we spent more than we had in the envelope to reserve my tux and buy Niki’s bridesmaid dress, and we recorded the cost on the envelope. Each month, we apply the money we’ve set aside toward that negative balance. So, if we’ve budgeted $50 a month for weddings, and we owe $150, this month we’ll be down to -$100, and the following month, -$50. Obviously we won’t put actual cash in the envelope until we’ve reached a positive balance.

What do you do to budget? How effective has it been?

Tagged as: 20s, budget, budgeting, budgets, dave ramsey, envelope system, financial peace, money

{ 3 comments }

The Best Darn Apps Around, Vol. 1

March 16, 2012

Some say clothes make the man. I say apps make the phone.

If you don’t have an iPod, iPhone, or iPad, you’ve effectively rejected consumerism or you’ve just spent your money on the wrong technology. [Totally kidding, but by now you’re offended and the rest of this post wouldn’t be helpful for you anyway.]

I love good apps, and as my closest companions know, I’m evangelistic about products and services I love, so it’s my pleasure to present to you…

Jordan Shirkman’s Best Darn Apps Around, Vol. I

Tweetbot ($2.99) – My most used app. I read nearly every tweet (which is a problem, I know), mostly because Tweetbot is beautiful, intuitive, and feature rich. I hate reading tweets on the Twitter website (#firstworldproblems, I know) because it lacks the features Tweetbot has. Swipe right for a conversation view if the tweet is a reply to someone, swipe left to see any replies to that tweet. Push notifications, profile editing, change lists easily,  and perhaps most importantly, awesome sound effects. You have to buy a separate version for the iPad and iPhone, so it’d set you back $5.98 for both, but it’s totally worth it.

Flipboard (Free) – Flipboard syncs with your RSS reader, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and tons of other websites and magazines. It’s great on the iPad, and just as good on the iPhone. It makes reading your friends boring status updates look pretty.

Fighter Verse ($2.99) – Niki and I have been memorizing scripture together, and this app will pay eternal dividends for the $3 investment. It has a weekly plan that gives you a new verse to memorize, you can add your own verses, it has quizzes for memorization, and you can even set your lock screen as the verse your working on memorizing. Oh, and John Piper uses it.

ESV Bible (Free) – Clean, simple, and a great interface. Search for passages, highlight, favorite, and share verses. It’s my go-to Bible app.

Wunderlist (Free) – Everyone needs a task manager, right? I use Wunderlist because it syncs to a web-version and desktop version (although the syncing is quite slow, so make sure you give it time to upload before you quit the app). You can star the most important tasks, set due dates, and create different lists.

Readability (Free) – I was a serious Instapaper fan (and Instapaper [$4.99] still has the edge in saving articles faster and more effectively and deserves a mention here), but Readability is a beauty when it comes to article saving apps. Tweetbot has Readability (and Instapaper) integration, so I can quickly save articles to read later, ad free. You can then archive or delete the articles you’ve read, and star your favorite articles. A number of font options to choose the one that’s easiest on your eyes is what moved me from Instapaper.

iA Writer ($0.99, for a limited time) - A simple, clean, and a non-distracting way to write on your iWhatever. Limited features and no formatting of text so nothing gets in the way of your brain getting text on the screen instead of just worrying about bolding and italicizing it.

Groupshot ($0.99, for a limited time) – This app does the most mindblowingly magical thing I’ve ever seen. Don’t you hate it that even after a few pictures of a group, Uncle George is blinking in the only one where everyone else is looking? This app will merge pictures together and allow you to swap the faces to make sure everyone is smiling. I’ll consider your mind blown.

 

Clear Record ($0.99) – The normal voice recorder on the iPhone picks up a TON of background noise, which is pretty sucky if you need a recording that isn’t totally worthless. Clear Record is a voice recording app that packs noise reduction, Dropbox syncing, Wi-Fi and iTunes syncing, file type selection, play speed selection, and the ability to automatically start once you open the app, which is great if you need to record a public talk and want to focus on speaking instead of recording.

Dropbox (Free) - If you’re not using Dropbox, you’re living under a rock or afraid of the cloud. A great desktop app that syncs your files online, and gives you access through the slick iPhone and iPad app. Save your precious storage space and leave your documents online in the mystical cloud.

Amazon Mobile (Free) – Lookup prices on Amazon by scanning bar codes or typing in your search, then add to your cart and check out. Boom. That. just. happened. You can’t buy Kindle books from it thanks to Apple’s restrictions, but you can buy everything else Amazon has to offer. It’s my go-to app for checking book prices.

Evernote (Free) – Store images, text, ideas, and files for easy lookup and reference. Syncs with a desktop app, and I’m beginning to use it more and more for storing addresses, numbers, and ideas by just taking a picture of something. It has handwriting recognition too, so that page of notes you just wrote doesn’t need to be transcribed, Evernote will make it searchable for you.

Chipotle (Free) – Order your burrito bowl, pay in the app, and walk to the front of that monster lunch line and pick up your burrito that literally has your name written on it. Then, they call and ask how things went and occasionally stores give you free burritos for being frequent customers (they once wrote welcome back on my bag after I hadn’t ordered in a while, and I can prove it). Awesome.

Jetpack Joyride (Free) – The only game that made the cut, but man, is it sick. You control a guy wearing a jetpack and you can buy a piggybank jetpack that propels you with money. Addicting in every way.

Desiring God (Free) – John Piper’s ministry is simply tremendous. The DG app has blog posts, sermons, and other resources as well. Piper is the man, and this app looks remarkable on the iPad.

Elevation App (Free) - Last and certainly not least. Another one of my favorite pastors’ ministry apps (and yes, you’re allowed to like both John Piper and Steven Furtick). Watch, listen to or download sermons.

If you purchased every app above, it’d set you back a whopping $9 (or $12 with both Tweetbot versions) + tax. I call that bang for your buck.

What are your favorite apps?

Tagged as: amazon, app, applications, apps, best, bible, chipotle, elevation, evernote, flipboard, groupshot, ipad, iphone, ipod, readability, tweetbot, wunderlist

{ 3 comments }

Organizing Your Prayers

March 13, 2012

Prayer appears to be the least effective thing we can do. I often think to myself, “God, I have so much work to do today, there’s no way I can make the time to just talk to you.” I couldn’t be more off base with that thought. Prayer is the least utilized yet most powerful weapon in our spiritual life.

We pray to acknowledge our weakness. To ask for God’s strength and power to work through us. To move mountains. To move God. One hundred percent of our prayers are heard by God, and 100% are answered by Him as yes, no, or later.

Jesus prayed to connect with the Father and to set an example. He makes it clear that it’s important for us. Unfortunately, just knowing it’s important doesn’t make it happen.

My prayer list was growing longer and longer, and I felt like Ethel and Lucy in the chocolate factory trying to keep up.

I needed a system. It’s overwhelming to pray for everyone every day, so I created an organized document to keep track of all of the people and things for which I’m praying.  [To download a blank PowerPoint template of the prayer guide I use, click here. For a Keynote version, click here.]

At the top, I have my Top 10 lists–people I’m praying will come to faith in Jesus. I have an Athens Top 10 and a Life Top 10 for family and friends who live in other cities.

Then I have a friends and family list. I put the names of my immediate family under the every day category. I then split the remaining family and friends into Monday – Sunday.

My next category is ministry, with the men I work closest with under the every day category, as well as areas of ministry responsibility. I split other ministry contacts into each day, with around four people under each day of the week.

I have a financial supporters’ box for people who have partnered with our ministry that we are praying for that week. I have a thanksgiving box where I praise God for how he’s blessed me, and a confession box for sin I want to regularly repent of and pray God strips from me. Finally, I have a general requests box where I write in prayers as I hear them from people throughout the week.

To be honest, I don’t use this guide as often as I should. It’s incredibly helpful and it gives me direction in my time spent praying to God.

What do you do to organize your prayer life?

Tagged as: organization, prayer, prayers, praying

{ 1 comment }

Reese’s Puffs and Impatience

January 23, 2012

It’s nearly a daily occurrence for me to throw up a half-hearted-mid-chew prayer to God as I eagerly dive into a bowl of Reese’s Puffs.

It’s more than a rushed supplication. It’s an indicator of a deeper issue.

I’m impatient. I’m too impatient to take a half a minute to thank God for his provision. I’m too impatient to consistently and continually seek God in prayer. I’m too impatient to ignore a phone call or text or tweet, so instead I choose to interrupt a conversation with a real, live human being that I’m talking to face-to-face. I’m too impatient to sit down for 20 minutes and write a single blog post in one sitting (this line is being added in during round three). And I’m certainly far too impatient to deal with customer service over the phone.

Image provided by stock.xchng

It’s hard to be patient (mostly because of the whole waiting thing).

As a result of a constantly connected world, I’m in the habit of constantly disconnecting from God. It’s rare for me to make it much longer than a few moments in the awareness of God’s presence.

I’m impatient because I think the next item will satisfy me more than my current situation.

I think Reese’s Puffs are more satisfying then a moment thanking the God of the universe for providing for me.
I think a tweet or text or call is more satisfying than genuine human connection.
I think something I can buy is more satisfying than Jesus, who has given himself to me freely.

Let’s not let the next moment get in the way of the current one, especially if the current one is with the Lord.

Tagged as: disconnected, God, impatience, prayer, reeses puffs, waiting

How Would Jesus Do This?

January 9, 2012

What Would Jesus Do dominated wristbands in the 90s (but it’s hard to give much credit to 90s trends when dressing like the Fresh Prince was cool and wearing backwards pants was totally acceptable).

In reality, the WWJD bands caused people to pause and ponder what Jesus would do in their shoes. It’s a great question for analyzing situations and (hopefully) making good decisions based on how we think the Messiah would respond.

But being like Jesus isn’t just doing what he would do. It’s about thinking how he would think too.

As I think about stewarding my time, resources, and abilities, I’m beginning to ask myself, “How would Jesus do this?”

How would Jesus share the gospel with his family?
How would he make disciples in the 21st century?
How would Jesus spend his time?
How would Christ compel others to live for God if he was giving a lecture today?
How would he respond to an atheist?

As I ask myself, “How would Jesus do this,” and read about his life in the Bible, I’m convinced that he wouldn’t just slop together work or participate half-heartedly in conversations.

He was a student of his disciples and the people he talked with. He did an incredible job of asking heart-level questions that cleared away the clutter, distractions and barriers in conversations. Jesus took his time when others thought he should hurry along (in the case of his friend Lazarus), and he withdrew when others thought he should stick around (like when they tried to make him a politician).

You don’t have an infinite source of divine knowledge like Jesus, and you probably don’t know any lepers to heal, even if you were able. But Christians certainly have the ability to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, turn to God’s Word for direction, and trust the promise of Jesus that we’d do greater works than he did.

All we have to do is seek God’s wisdom as we ask, “How would Jesus do this?”

Tagged as: effective, efficient, how to, jesus, questions, wwjd

A Missionary Who Isn’t Missional

Ideas

Isn’t it funny how those who clean houses for a living have dirty homes? Or how repairmen have all kinds of broken things around the house? It seems backwards, but I’m an offender myself. I’m a missionary who isn’t missional. Talking with college students about Jesus is my day job, and I’ve recently realized I [...]

Continue Reading

When a Swiss Army Knife Trumps a Tank

Ideas

I’ve never been in a fight, but from what I understand, the biggest group with the toughest guys normally wins. Except in the case of Gideon. He is the self-proclaimed weakest person in his family, and he comes from the scrawniest family around. But God promises to win a battle with him and his 32,000 [...]

Continue Reading

Why You Haven’t Experienced God

Faith

“I would probably believe in God if he showed himself to me. Or if I had a near death experience and had some vision. If he came down to me and said, ‘I am God. Believe in me.’ Then I would start believing” In my encounters, visions and near death experiences top the charts in [...]

Continue Reading

The Diet Pill Solution

Ideas

Results show that over thirty days with no change in diet and no exercise you can lose 20 pounds! What a delight! All we have to do is take a pill, make no changes in our life, and we can lose weight. Sign me up! Whether or not the claims we hear each day from [...]

Continue Reading

← Previous Entries