To despise money

For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.  1 Timothy 6:10

Maybe I misunderstood this verse for some time. I thought pursuing more business was a sign that I was greedy. Perhaps I should be satisfied with the success already attained. The fact is complacency with current success leads to laziness. Laziness is very destructive.

Motive?
Am I driven by the love of money? No. I don't think so. My opinion on money has changed drastically over time. Nowadays I'm more motivated by the thoughts that I have so many people depending on me. My family. My employees. My business partner. My referral partners. My vendors. My community. Think of servers in restaurants. I want to be generous with my tips to them. It's not the love of money that drives me to seek more business. Rather, it's the love for all these people in my life that drives me.

What if we take this verse and spin it around to say the same thing with a positive finish?


Let's try this: "To despise money is good, or holy. Some people, who despise money, have increased their faith and found peace."

Or: "Everybody needs money to live. It's okay to desire to provide for your family and to work to become more charitable. This will open you up to more opportunities to grow in faith and love."

Is that too much of a stretch? Is that twisting scripture?

Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.
Learn from their ways and become wise!
Though they have no prince
or governor or ruler to make them work,
they labor hard all summer,
gathering food for the winter.
But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep?
When will you wake up?
A little extra sleep, a little more slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit;
scarcity will attack you like an armed robber. - Proverbs 6:6-11 NLT

Warning: Grandparent posts never-before-seen photos of Grandkids.

Meet Colten, the newest Brasfield.  

Father (Daniel) and son.

Mumzie and Colten.

Grandpa, Uncle Levi, Aunt Kk and Colten.

Aunt Tilley and Colten.

Grandpa and Colten, age 3 weeks.

As you can see, Colten is a precious gift from The Lord.  We are thankful that he is healthy and his mom and dad are well, too.

Here are a few photos of big brother, Drake.

Giving Drake a ride at the circus.

Daniel and Drake at the fall festival at church.

Drake uses The Chair as at the dinner table.


Here are some bonus photos for you.

Mumzie and Colten are content.

I took this from outside the window.



Colten, welcome to The Brasfield Nation.  
We love you very much.

Grandpa
(aka Dadofmykids)

Day 37 of #40Days - Happy All the Time.

Intentionally blogging every day forces me to come up with something to write.  Today, I feel kind of strange.  I sat down here with two or three ideas to choose from and prayed that God would guide me.  As I started to write about the time when God turned my head like a magnet to steel, I felt a "No".  I could tell you about the multiple trips we took to get Kaymie from her birth mom only to be let down, but "No", or about my neice Falon who suffered life changing injuries at the age of three, but "No".

If you've been following my forty day project, then you know about my brother in law who was injured.  He is scheduled to have surgery this morning.  With his situation still fresh on our family, my step sister was admitted to the hospital in very bleak condition.  Both are sad situations which are probably influencing my mood.

I prefer to be positive and up beat most of the time, but sometimes that isn't reality.  Being real is part of the goal or process of this blog series.  I want you to know that if you are feeling less than "super-dee-duper" then you don't have feel guilty about it.

Some people, especially Christians, either act like or actually say that if you aren't full of joy unspeakable then you should repent.  This idea of being "happy all the time" (isn't that a line from a kids Sunday school song?) puts a requirement on people to act happy even when they aren't.  You may not think anything about revealing yourself to others, or being transparent, but that doesn't come easy for me. I am a genuinely happy and positive person, but have bad days too.

Having a bad day or going through a rough spell, which we used to call a "trial", is normal and expected.  Abnormal is the one who pretends everything is all right.  Am I making any sense here?

I'll get out of this funk in a few minutes, probably.

I love you all.

God bless,
Andy

This is post # 37 of Forty Days.  Learn more here.

PS.  That's just a random video I found of the Sunday school song referenced above.

Day 10 of #40Days - It's only the beginning.

I went to Jill's house to wake her. "Jill. Wake up. We need to get married today."

It was Dec 22, 1987.

We had planned to get married the next day, Dec 23.  But I was offered an interview on the 23rd and couldn't get it any other day.  It wasn't that I didn't have a job. But I had the opportunity at a much better job.

We called a few friends together and hustled to the courthouse where the justice of the peace was on duty. Jill wore a beautiful dress from her closet. I wore my best suit. I wrote a ten dollar check to the justice of the peace. We just didn't have much to spare.

Then Jill dropped me off at work.  I was late to my first job of the day, as Santa in the mall. My boss didn't take me serious on my excuse, until I showed her my wedding ring.  My second job of the day was selling shoes at Kinney's. After the mall closed, my third job of the day was to make an appearance as Santa at a company party, also in the mall.

Our wedding day wasn't like most.  But our marriage is now in its twenty third year. We started out as two young people in love and trying to do the right thing.  We've built a loving relationship filled with life and joy.

We've endured some hard times and some dark days. But rather than being driven apart, we have held more tightly to one another.

Our success has not been of our own ability. We've leaned on the Lord. Without God's help, we would have fallen apart. I am thankful for His blessings.  And I am thankful for my Jilly.

 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 

Genesis 2:24

I love you, Jilly.

Dadofmykids

PS.  This is post #10 of 40.  Learn more here.

Day 4 of #40Days: A Letter to my grandchildren.

Dear Grandchild,

I've been thinking about you lately. There are some things I want to tell you so you can be happy and content.

I love you dearly, even though we haven't met. You'll learn that love is timeless.

I long to see you, but only when the time is right. Your time will come and it should be when your mom and dad are mature enough to take care of you. Even if they rush your arrival, I, along with your Mumzie, will be here for you.

You are a Brasfield. There is a one in four chance that your last name is not Brasfield. But you are still from a family that holds our Creator in highest regard, and understands that what we do each day impacts our family's future. You have lots of aunts, uncles and probably cousins you can watch to see examples of good people. Stay close to your family, especially when times are tough.

You will have good times and bad times. Just as sure as the bad times will come, they will also leave, to be replaced with periods of happy contentment. Never let the bad times take you so low that you forget good times will return. Don't ever let the good times take you so high that you forget about God and family. You will need both again.

Follow Christ will all your heart. He didn't give you a rule book so He could penalize you when you mess up. Instead, He wrote you a love letter, to show you how to continue pursuing life even in the face of death. Read it and listen to what He says to you. You'll be happy you did.

Be faithful to your family, to your friends and to the Lord. Be ready for the world to try and interfere with your relationships. Be determined. You can do it.

Be very careful whom you choose as friends. The right friends can help you follow the path to good things, but the wrong friends can lead you to misery. Ask your parents about Bubba D. and about the bad influence he was to me.

Learn from the successes and failures of others.

Be a good worker, doing everything as if the Lord himself is your boss or your customer. Be content with a modest lifestyle and don't chase after easy money.

I pray your life will be full of love, happiness and contentment.

Let's go fishing.

I love you,

Grandpa

Proverbs 17:6  Grandchildren are the crown of the aged,
   and the glory of children is their fathers.

PS. The picture above is of your Mumzie and me in 2008.

PPS.  I originally wrote this letter in 2009, but wasn't ready to publish it then.  It is now 2011 and our first little grandson, Drake, has arrived.  Drake, this letter is for you and for what I pray will be many more grandchildren.

This is post # 4 of 40.  Learn more here.