Extra Cheap

This week I decided to go ahead and settle on a budget. So lets get some facts straight before somebody goes "Ramsey" on me. I'm a bike technician making $10/ hr with a graduate degree worth of student loans (and degree). Luckily I found a cheap apartment ($325/ month) and I keep my electricity bill low by not running heating or air ($17 last month). So I'll figure the rest out later including throwing in some extra budget for roadtrips (it should be one word).

While thinking of a budget I was trying to figure out how long it would be until I could get my xbox 360, internet and giant 42" plasma tv. Honestly I find if I cut back on food cost and driving I can save some serious cash in a few months. That's how I financed the NZ trip last year. But that got me thinking about how much stuff is too much.

I work in a sporting goods store. I see stuff all day. It makes me sick sometimes. There are so many people without stuff and we have so much stuff. This isn't a political conundrum, its a christian problem.

It's estimated that in 2007 1 million people died of malaria. MALARIA! Its not that hard to cure/prevent. 70% of those were under the age of 5. CCF claims to be able to offer a carton of malaria medication for $321. What have I wasted $321 on in the last year??? It's estimated that 4500 children die a day because of unsafe drinking water or insufficient toilet facilities. Women and girls in underdeveloped nations walk an average of 3.5 miles carrying 5 gallons a water a day. I don't know how long it takes you to walk 3.5 miles with carrying 5 gallons half of the way but after that I'm not sure I'd want to walk another 4 miles to get to school. In the US and Europe we spent $17 billion on our pets while people and children are struggling to survive.

But you know what? I work really hard for my hard earned money. I'm not responsible for taking care of other people half way around the world. Maybe if they went to school and learned some basic biology and geology they could dig there own wells and make there own vaccines. What's God done for me lately? I work a cruddy underpaying job and live in a one bedroom apartment in the ghetto. Maybe I'll just keep my money.

LORD, we cleared this land, we plowed it, sowed it and harvested, we cooked the harvest, it wouldn’t be here, we wouldn’t be eatin’ it, if we hadn’t done it all our selves. We worked dog-boned hard for every crumb and morsel, but we thank you just the same anyway, LORD, for this food we’re about to eat. Amen.” - Shenandoah

On the other hand there's Mathew 25:44-45.

I think like Jimmy Stewart a lot in Shenandoah. But honestly at least I have a job and God has blessed me with it and in it (read #1 Dick's in the nation and #1 bike tech for sales and gross warranty sales). Sure I don't have as much as a lot of people, but I sure have a whole lot more than most people. Running water alone puts me ahead of 1 billion people.

I still don't know what to do about the xbox and big tv.

Help?

Paul "I'd also like to get some climbing gear" Murphy