More Faux Pas

I came home one afternoon and decided to take a hike on the trails behind our house. Before leaving, I walked into our pantry to grab a snack. I spotted a package of chicken jerky I hadn’t seen before and opened it up. I took out a chicken strip and bit into it. It was chewy, but tasty, so I put in my pocket and headed out.
A week later I asked Kristina, “Do we have any more of that chicken jerky? I couldn’t find it in the pantry.”
“What chicken jerky?” she asked.
“Those strips of chicken from the package that was on the shelf.”
“Do you mean the yellow package with the dog on the front of it? Don’t you know that a dog on the package means its dog food? You didn’t eat it did you?”
There was no good answer for her question, but I tried, “I just figured that chicken is better for you than beef, and no, I did not notice the dog on the package….”
My lesson: If something seems more chewy than you expect, no matter how good it tastes, you might want to look more closely at the package.
Kristina has a long history with my faux pas. Some have been more costly than others.
In 1979, a lady named Dorthea called and asked to come by our house in Novato for a visit. We welcomed her and she explained that she wanted to borrow $3,000 for a month to cover some emergency expenses. In 1979, $3,000 was like $20,000 today.
Dorothea brought the deed to her condo and said we could hold on to it for collateral for the loan. It was a lot of money, but I was persuaded because she had allowed us use her condo at Lake Tahoe for family vacations. So, I assured her that I trusted her and we didn’t need to hold on to her deed. After all, Jesus said, Give to those who ask from you and from those who want to borrow from you, don’t turn them away. (Matthew 5:42)
We didn’t have $3,000 in the bank, so to help out Dorthea, I called my brother Robert and asked him if he would make the loan to Dorthea. Robert replied, “I don’t know her, but I trust you. I’ll loan you the money and you can give it to her if you like.”
Kristina did not feel good about this loan, but I assured her it would work out. I picked up the money from Robert and gave it to Dorthea when she returned a few days later. After a month went by, I called Dorthea and she said the money was coming soon. Then after that, she stopped taking my calls altogether. I never saw her again.
I sold the only investment asset we owned to pay back Robert. Kristina was upset and I felt really stupid.
What did I learn from this event? Not as much as I should have.
I should have taken the deed to Dorthea’s condo. She probably offered it to the next person she borrowed money from. But that was not the main lesson.
A few months later, I lost another $500 on a loan to Ron, who had worked for my little construction company. He offered me a Martin guitar as collateral for the loan. I didn’t take his guitar because I was so sure he would pay me back. Kristina did not feel good about that loan, either. We used the money she was saving to pay our taxes. The only time I ever saw Ron after that, he was crossing to the other side of Grant  Avenue to get away when he saw me walking down the street.
These two loans taught me that the money Kristina and I have is not my money, it is our money. We now talk and pray and honor each other’s financial discernment and sensibilities. For the last 47 years, any time we have made a big purchase, or a big loan, we have done it together. We are in unity about our financial decisions so that, whether we are wise or whether we learn a lesson, we don’t become divided, we remain united. It is a slower, and sometimes humbling process, but we are wiser together and at peace with each other.
I was asked to preach at a Bible church in central Phoenix recently. Their pastor is a great young leader who was speaking at another local church that Sunday. I was given a text from their series in Song of Solomon and told I had forty minutes in each of their two services for my message.
I studied, prayed and prepared for the sermon. Forty minutes was plenty of time for me. That Sunday morning, I started the sermon with some stories and then launched into the scriptures. Before I was half way through my message, I glanced up at the big digital countdown clock on the back wall of the sanctuary. It said I had six minutes to go! I was shocked. I usually have good internal timing, but somehow, I must have lost track of the time.
It was important to me to honor their time parameters, so I hurried through the rest of the scriptures, and left out my main points at the end. We closed the service and I greeted some of their members. Then I went back to the sound booth where their tech team was talking. I spoke to a group of them.
“Hey guys. I was halfway through my message when I saw on the clock that I had only six minutes to go, but it seems like the service ended early.”
“Yeah,” one of them replied, “We didn’t set the clock right. You can’t count on that clock. No big deal. You had more time.”
I had to restrain my response, “I wish I had known that earlier.”
The second service went much better.
My lesson: Sometimes the clock in your heart may be more accurate than the clock on the wall.
The clock in my heart is telling me that America is being tested and our tests are going to get more intense in the days to come. I can sense that many people are anxious about war, our economy, AI, and what is going to happen next.
These issues are not only concerning Americans. My friend Benjamín in Israel is awakened several times a night and has to leave his apartment to go into bomb shelters. Anti-Semitism is increasing and, as the world treats the Jews, they will one day treat Christians. Our friends in Ecuador and Mexico are dealing with cartels. The world economy is stretched. Millions of immigrants around the world live in fear of their neighbors. People with abundance fear losing their riches.
We believe in the Prince of Peace who rules over the nations. Remember that Jesus has risen from the dead and He will sit at the right hand of the Father until all his enemies are put under his feet. He shall come again to judge the living and the dead. And He shall reign forever and ever.
Believers need to resist anxiety and share these truths.