Now that I have some you doubting my character, the real story is that the money that I used to buy my Mercury outboard motor came from extra that I got when we recently refinanced our house and we still have intact Patty’s teeth money, though her sciatic is causing lots of pain so she isn’t probably going to the dentist until she gets to feeling better from that.

One of the things that I am thankful for is that we were greatly influenced and taught by an older couple when we were first married about financial wisdom and choices, especially about giving to the Lord and living within our means. Most of the early years of pastoring our income was very low and with eight kids we needed to budget, save, do without, and pray a lot. Now at this point in our life we aren’t rich but we will have our house paid off in a few years with no other debt. Though I did get a notice from Oregon State that I had made a mistake on our taxes and owed them an additional $35!

I do have a nice boat that I built and a fine motor to make it go! So we probably are rich!

The number of wise people in our life over the years has been a major blessing for us. We have received great counseling on our marriage, how to raise good kids, how to manage our money, our walk with God, and how to Pastor a church successfully.

A key principle though is that we sought it and we listened and learned, many don’t do that.