Topic(s): Children, Humor

• STEVEN (3) hugged and kissed his Mom goodnight, saying, “I love you so much that when you die, I’m going to bury you outside my bedroom window.”
• BRITTANY (4) had an earache and wanted a painkiller. She tried in vain to take the lid off the bottle. Seeing her frustration, her Mom explained it was a childproof cap and she’d have to open it for her. Shocked, the little girl asked, “How does it know it’s me?”
• SUSAN (4) got the hiccups while drinking juice. “Please don’t give me this juice again,” she said. “It makes my teeth cough.”
• DIANA (4) stepped onto the bathroom scale and asked, “So, how much do I cost?”
• MARC (4) observed a young couple hugging and kissing in a restaurant. Without taking his eyes off them, he asked his dad, “Why is he whispering in her mouth?”
• JAMES (4) was listening to a Bible story. After his dad read, “Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city, but his wife looked back and was turned to salt,” James asked, “What happened to the flea?”
• TAMMY (4) was with her mother when they met an elderly, rather wrinkled woman her mom knew. Tammy looked at her for a while and then asked, “Why doesn’t your skin fit your face?”

“He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.” —Proverbs 15:15

Dealing with Credit Card Debt

Topic(s): Wisdom

1. Americans are loaded with credit card debt. The average American household with at least one credit card has nearly $9,200 in card debt, according to CardWeb.com. The average interest rate runs in the mid-to-high teens at any given time.
2. Some debt is good. Borrowing for a home or college usually makes sense. Just make sure you don’t borrow more than you can pay back, and shop around for the best rates.
3. Some debt is bad. Don’t use a credit card to pay for things you consume quickly, such as meals and vacations, if you can’t afford to pay off the bill in full in a month or two. There’s no faster way to fall into debt. Instead, put aside some cash each month for items so you can pay in full. If there’s something you really want but it’s expensive, save for it over a period of time before charging it, so that you can pay the balance when it’s due and avoid interest charges.
4. Get a handle on your spending. Most people spend thousands of dollars without much thought to what they are buying. Write down everything you spend for a month, cut back on things you don’t need, and start saving the money left over, or use it to reduce your debt more quickly (cf. Ecclesiastes 4:8).
5. Pay off your highest-rate debts first. The key to getting out of debt efficiently is to first pay down the balances of loans or credit cards that charge the most interest, while paying at least the minimum due on all your other debt. Once the high-interest debt is paid down, tackle the next highest, and so on (1 Corinthians 4:2).
6. Don’t fall into the minimum trap. If you just pay the minimum due on credit card bills, you’ll barely cover the interest you owe, to say nothing of the principal. It will take years to pay off your balance, and potentially you’ll end up spending thousands of dollars more than the original amount you charged (cf. Proverbs 6:6–8).
7. Watch where you borrow. It may be convenient to borrow against your home or your 401(k) to pay off debt, but it can be dangerous. You could lose your home or fall short of your investing goals at retirement (cf. Nehemiah 5:4; Matthew 18:25).
8. Expect the unexpected. Build a cash cushion worth about three to six months of living expenses in case of an emergency. Without an emergency fund, a broken furnace or damaged car can be a serious setback (cf. 2 Kings 4:1; Proverbs 11:18).
9. Don’t be so quick to pay down your mortgage. Don’t pour all your cash into paying off a mortgage if you have other debt. Mortgages tend to have lower interest rates than other debt, and you can deduct the interest you pay on the first $1 million of a mortgage loan. (If your mortgage has a high interest rate and you want to lower your monthly payments, consider refinancing.)
10. Get help as soon as you need it. If you have more debt than you can manage, get help before your debt breaks your back. There are reputable debt counseling agencies that may be able to consolidate your debt and assist you in better managing your finances. But there are also a lot of disreputable agencies out there. —Author Unknown

“The borrower is servant to the lender.” —Proverbs 22:7

The Church Connection

Topic(s): Marriage

According to The Data Almanac 2006 (Qstat USA), regular church attendance has a positive impact on marriage health. The recent National Survey of Family Growth revealed that the divorce rate of church attendees is almost half (56 percent) the rate of non-attendees. Of the 7,643 women taking part in the survey, 32.9 percent who never attended religious services were divorced, compared to 18.5 percent of those who attend more than once a week. Surprising? Not to the Almanac’s editor, Dr. Philip Truscott: “The women in the survey include only those aged 15–44. If we were able to include women in all age groups, the differences between the various groups would be far larger.”

“Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy.” —Psalm 33:18