Doug Van Pelt

I Feel Like I'm In Debt To Time...

I dunno. I'be veen working real hard lately -- maybe too hard. Lots of multi-tasking and whatnot. And I've been stuck in a non-sleep cycle that's not working too well. I've got all this busy work stacked up on my desk. I wish I just had another 12 hours to work late and take care of it. My days just seem to fly by. Complain, complain...

We have both of our Summer interns here now. You can read their intern diaries to keep up with them. They're great folks. We went out to Rudy's BBQ to celebrate Frances' arrival today. And we picked up the newest copy of Heaven's Metal Fanzine on the way back to the office. Oh, and earlier in the morning an unmarked white van came by and dropped off a package ... of 15 copies of the latest issue of HM!!! Wow! What a day! The new (20th Anniversary) issue looks outstanding! I'm so happy with it. We dropped off the 600 copies of Heaven's Metal at our house, where my wife and daughters are madly stuffing the addressed and stamped envelopes to mail out that new issue from Hutto's post office.

Okay, I've been miserably behind with posting blogs and devotions here. I've been foolishly letting the day "get away from me." I hate that. But oh well.

Anyway, Proverbs 22 addresses getting into debt (and warns against it). Verse 7 equates being in debt to being enslaved:

"The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is servant to the lender."

Debt can be a crippling and joy-stealing thing. One thing that my parents modeled for me that I'm incredibly thankful for is using credit cards prudently. When I balanced my checkbook, I would list (and subtract) each credit card purchase just as if it were a check. Then, when it's time to pay the credit card bill at the end of its monthly cycle, I've already subtracted the amount from my balance, avoid the surprise of "What!? The total is that much!?!?!" And the credit card balance is paid in full each month. I am using their money (for free) for 30 days and not paying any interest this way. It provides a convenience for me, and keeps me from buying things that I can't afford. It's a cool method that really works for me.

Another verse that jumps out today is 13:

"The sluggard says, 'There is a lion outside!'
or, 'I will be murdered in the streets!'"

This seems to speak of the paralyzing fear that worry brings. It is foolish to let worry consume us or be fearful of things that aren't even real.

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at June 16, 2005 04:44 PM