Mission Accomplished

Today was a good day. We got a late start in the garden because of an after Church activity. By the time we had some lunch and got home it was already three o'clock. But in the last 4 hours, we've managed to clean up last years earth boxes and buckets and plant a good number of bell pepper, jalapeno peppers, habaneros, Ghost peppers and even a poblano. We also planted some summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, cantaloupe and green beans. I even had time to plant my black currant plants just as I had hoped. Brittan was a huge help and while I was watering everything in, she put the netting over our strawberry bed. As an aside, we are beginning to get a very nice number of strawberries. I didn't expect this many our first year. We're beginning to get some blossoms on our golden raspberries, too. Gotta love it.

We still have quite a bit to plant, but by this time next weekend, we should be done. I love this time of year.

Is it the Economy Turning Dr Jekyll into Mr Hyde?

They are calling them, "Familycides". According to the press, it seems there has been an increase of them lately. The typical script goes: a man kills his wife and children, then kills himself. Neighbors, colleagues or family members discover the grisly scene and the authorities try and unravel the mess while the newswires feed the tragedy to the world.

Underlying an overwhelming majority of these familycides are serious financial issues. Usually a mountain of debt and often there is a hint of financial impropriety somewhere in the background.

We expect suicides to go up during economicly challenged times. In 1932, the height, or depth, of the 'great depression' suicides dramatically spiked. I remember at least one suicide that resulted from the Enron scandal a few years back. And just this past week, a leading financial officer of Freddie Mac, the troubled mortgage company, took his own life.

But now, we have these extremists, who not only kill themselves in a moment of shame and distress, but take those they love with them. How could anyone sink that far down the pit of depravity?

The media would spin this into a demonstration that we 'are in the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression'. I say, "Poppycock!"

First, we are NOT in the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression. So far, it's not even the worst in my lifetime. I remember some pretty bad times in the 70s and 80s, when interest rates and unemployment rates were considerably higher than today. When we leave emotions and hype out of the mix and put our present situation into historic perspective, we see an entirely different story.

One of the differences now is the amount of debt held both individually and corporately. Never in our past have so many owed so much to so many more. America and the world have leveraged ourselves to the breaking point. As the old parable reminds us, when a house is built on a foundation of sand, it will never withstand the strain of stormy weather, regardless of how lovely it might be. And for many families, businesses and nations, our financial houses are built on just such sandy places.

Back to our premise, for just a moment; it is not the economy that is turning peaceful family men into mass murderers. In Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, it was a potion that brought the evil, decadent Edward Hyde out of meek Dr. Jekyll, but the potion was just the catalyst. Henry Jekyll knew, or at least suspected, that he (we all) had a dark side. What surprised him was the immensity and strength of evil inside.

In the same way, financial crashes are not the root of familycides, or even suicides, but are merely the potions consumed that allow an inner dark side to emerge.

I would argue that the way to fix our economy is quite simple. Not very easy, but quite simple. We do it the same way we fix our personal economies, we spend less than we earn. We live within our means. There will be pain, embarrassment and frustration involved, but that's how we get there. I say no institution is too big to fail. In fact, for us to regain sound footing, some instutions MUST fail.... or reorganize and live again.

But we'll address that another day. Today, let's examine a solution to the rampage of murder and suicide that fills our daily news reports. First, not all of them are financially related. Many have to do with broken relationships. But all have one common denominator: despair!

Often there is anger, depression, fear and panic. Then hopelessness takes over and Mr Hyde is loosed. He inevitably leaves devastation in his wake.

The individuals who perform these dasdardly acts, have one piece correct, in a twisted sort of way. The only way to eliminate Edward Hyde, is to kill him. But that doesn't mean Dr. Jekyll must perish as well. And it certainly doesn't mean that the entire Jekyll household must be exterminated.

The Bible calls our Mr Hyde, "the old man". And he truly does live in all of us. When left to our own devices we are all capable of great corruption. Fortunately most don't take things to the ultimate extreme that family killers and mass murderers do. But we all have ugliness inside. The Bible reminds us that the "old man" must be put to death. He cannot be controlled, tamed or domesticated. He must be destroyed.

We do that by handing over the keys of our lives to Jesus of Nazareth and letting Him drive. It's called, 'repentance.' Repentance sounds like some kind of a demand, but it's really an invitation; Jesus said it this way, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest."

An economic turnaround will not repair the darkness inside us. But Jesus can. Just like we need to build our finances on new foundations, we need to rebuild our lives on a new foundation. It won't always be easy. And the stormy weather will still come, but just like in the old parable, a house built on the rock, will STAND.

My heart aches for the millions in fear and despair right now. I know the answer. I've experienced it. It works. HE works. I encourge you to read the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament. If you don't have a New Testament, go online to www.biblegateway.com and read it there. Talk about becoming DEBT FREE! It's even better than IOU NO MORE.

Garden Update

Finally..... some good weather and some progress. First, Brittan planted all the tomatoes this week. That's like, 200 or so plants. Amazing. Some of them have shocked pretty hard, but I do believe most of them will make it.

Last night I planted the corn and some green beans. Today things just got a good drink of water as we spent most of the day shopping for items for our basement. Tomorrow I plan to plant my black currant bushes, some hot and bell peppers, some squash, zucchini, cucumbers, cantaloupe and maybe a few carrots and garlic. I just want to at least get a little of everything in the ground before the weekend is over. Then we can spend next week, completing the project.

Our fruit trees are looking pretty good. Especially the fruit cocktail tree. The apple tree has come on well after looking for the longest time like it wasn't going to live. We lost a few raspberries and a blackberry plant to a freeze in March, but the rest of them are doing great.

Our tangerine, lemon and fig trees are coming on nicely as is our blueberry bush and our banana tree. I hope to start adding some pics to this space once I get the garden in. I think that will help in understanding the scope of the project. It should also show that anyone can do the same thing, with a little creativity and sweat.

Town Hall For Hope

Tonight at 8 p.m. eastern time, Dave Ramsey will present his live national simulcast, "Town Hall For Hope". Thousands of Churches across the country will serve as hosts. Dave intends to address the economy then take live questions from audience members. It looks to be quite an event. I expect it to calm a lot of fears and make quite an impact, nationally. You'll find a link to Dave's website on the side panel of this blog. Check it out.

Due to other extremely pressing commitments, Brittan and I will not be able to attend the event, but we're fully supportive. Dave is one of the Good Guys.

How Typical Millionaires Manage Money

As you know, from time to time I enjoy passing along links to articles I find interesting. This is one of those times. Yahoo Finance has a fun little article about how ordinary millionaires think about money. Hmmm...... "ordinary millionaire" sounds a little like an oxymoron, but here's the link anyway.

My Heart Hurts Tonight

It sure is quiet here at Recession Proof Central. Too Quiet. Brittan is away this weekend at a Church sponsored women's retreat and I'm here doing the all alone thing. Oh, don't worry, I shan't be bored. Mrs. B left me with a nice list of chores to complete while she is away bonding with people and renewing her spirit. If I get the list complete, it will be a miracle. See, from my perspective, weekends were made for naps. But apparently I'm wrong. Apparently they are for getting the basement ready for the contractors who arrive on Monday to turn it into a living area. I believe the correct expression is, 'a finished basement.' Finished bank account, more like. But at least the contractor is someone I can trust. He's married to my sister, so chances are, he'll do the job right, cause I know where he lives. And his work crew is one of my younger cousins, who I haven't seen in about 11 years. I'm quite excited about the project, actually. And both my brother in law and cousin are good eggs. They will stay with us through the week and return to their wives in Florida on weekends. I'm looking forward both to the finished basement and the 'fellowship' time.

But the main reason my heart is hurting is because of the spike in very sad emails I'm receiving from men and women who are struggling during this difficult economy. Sure, most people simply write and say, 'here's my money, send a book.' or, 'please send the free spending plan form'. But several have poured their hearts out regarding the difficulties they are facing. While I wish I could make their pain go away, I am honored that IOU NO MORE can be there to help others go from where we were to where we are now.

If you have beaten debt and are living debt free, make yourself available to assist others. If you're struggling now, fear not. The future is bright.

Major Power Outage

We've been without internet here at Recession Proof Central for about 40 hours. It's good to be connected to the world again. Got nothing to write about. Just wanted to share the good news that we're on line again.