Campus Ambassadors @ UAlbany

Making Tough Decisions

When I was preparing for my talk on “What’s God’s Will For My Life?” I realized that I was focusing more on the theological aspect of knowing God’s will, and less practical advice. While that (hopefully) should give some insight on how we view God and hence live our lives, I didn’t have the time to go over more concrete advice for making tough decisions (which is what most people really mean when they say they want to know God’s will).

Some Tips

Here are some things to consider when making a tough decision:

• Pray – Scripture tells us that we can pray for wisdom and it will be given to us (James 1:5). Of course, wisdom is not about just knowing the answer, but more about learning to exercise good judgment, so don’t be let down if your answer doesn’t just magically come to you.
• Study the Bible – Take a look at Proverbs 16:3, notice the order, first we commit our work to the Lord, then our plans will be established. In other words, Continue Reading…

Dave Ramsey’s Budgeting Forms

At the end of this post is another excel model that I have put together using Dave Ramsey’s Budgeting forms.  I have never seen these in excel format anywhere else so I think this format is original here on this site, however the content is not.  I am giving these away.  Just download and use them.

This model contains 13 of the most important forms that Dave includes in the information in Financial Peace University.  He gives 15 forms with his package, but I have only included what I believe to be the most useful here.

To buy any of his financial products or for a boat-load of information on financial advice from a Christian perspective, check out Dave Ramsey’s site at: www.daveramsey.com

The document is cell-protected so the only cells that can be changed are the cells that are in grey [where you plug in your own information].    As in the other budget excel model, the numbers and information already plugged in to this model are fictitious and there as an illustration

Hope this blesses you and assists you to be the manager of God’s resources that He wants you to be.

The Dreaded “B”-word!

In the last four CA meetings of 2009 we discussed God’s plan for the money we have. We laid some general groundwork in those discussions. We talked about saving, debt and giving. We also talked about the importance of planning out how to use money. In other words… we talked about the dreaded B-word; “Budgeting.”

It’s a word nobody likes to think about and even less people actually like to do it; but it is imperative to secure financial planning to budget!  Budgeting, or not budgeting, can be the difference in your financial future, but it only works if you do it.

For the Excel geeks among us, I have attached an excel model budget I made up that Kim and I use for our own personal budget both for monthly planning, and it lets us see a whole year at a glance. There are some numbers in the model already just as a visual guide to let you see how this model works.

I have also attached a document that gives some instructions on how to make the best use of the excel model.

It’s our hope that this information is tremendously practical, helpful and useful to you as you begin to plan out the use of the money God has blessed you with. Hope this blesses you.

Does God Hate Fags?: Christian reflections on Fred Phelps’ visit to UAlbany

The answer is certainly No!  Absolutely not.  God loves all of us.  In fact God in the form of Jesus is the embodiment of love.  One of the biggest misunderstandings out there is that God Hates people.  I don’t know what goes on in the mind of people like Fred Phelps [leader of WBC] or why they think the way they do.  Since it is not my job to judge, all I can do is speak truthfully about God and hope that my voice will drown out voices like Phelps.

Phelps’ hateful claim however, raises an interesting question.  What does a loving God hate? Continue Reading…