The following is part 5 of a 5 part series. Go here for Part 1 

I started to head to the security check point that I came through the first time about 500 feet down the hallway.  My mind was racing.

I remember putting it in my back pocket.  Maybe it fell out when I sat down at Starbucks.  Maybe it’s in the men’s restroom.  How the hell am I going to get it back?  Their not going to let me in and I’m going to be stuck in Seattle for ever.  I don’t want to be stuck in Seattle I just want to home and see Shannon.

“Excuse me sir…I think I might have left my driver’s license here when I came through security the first time.”
“We have a driver’s license that we found.  What’s your name?”
“Greg Qualls”
“Let me go look.”

Why the hell did I go get Diego’s Bible?  They could have mailed it to him. If I had just stayed in the airport I wouldn’t be dealing with all this right now.  God why didn’t you just have Diego not forget his Bible in the van…I would be probably sipping on some coffee right now still reading my book…

But I wouldn’t have realized that I didn’t have my driver’s license…then I would have to go through all the crap to get a new driver’s license.  And I would have to pay the money for the new driver’s license.  And I would have to deal with the DMV.

So I guess it is a good thing that I did go and get it. Thanks God for having Diego forget his Bible in the van…wait a second.  God why didn’t you just make sure that Diego didn’t forget his Bible and make sure that I didn’t loose my driver’s license.  I would still be sitting in Starbucks reading my book.

“Here you go sir…just sign hear and print your name her.”
“Thank you sir.”

As I walked to the TSA agent and finally handed him my driver’s license and boarding pass for the second time in the last hour, I began to think to myself…God really does work in mysterious ways.

And I heard in the quiet of my heart, “Yes I do…and I’m good.”  I don’t know why God had me go through this little adventure.  There could be several reasons.  All I know was that, in the end, I felt the hand of God working through all of it.  I felt His plan being worked out in my life and I felt drawn closer to Him.

At least He knows what He’s doing, because the majority of the time I don’t have a clue.

The following is part 4 of a 5 part series. Go here for Part 1 

So I broke camp and headed to the Budget Rental car desk.  One security exit, two escalators, one air bridge and one elevator later I was waiting for the lady at the desk to get done with her customer.  She finished with her customer and proceeded to give me the “what do you want” look.

“My friend left his Bible in one of your cars.”
“Oh yeah.  Here.” 

One elevator, one air bridge, and one escalator later, I was weaving through the labyrinth of security ropes heading towards the initial check point before taking off half my clothes and walking through the metal detector to make sure I was not carrying a gun in my rectum (“Ohhhh How did that get there?).

I pulled my boarding pass out of my back pocket and handed it to the TSA agent.  Then I pulled out my wallet and opened it up to give the guy my driver’s license.  But it wasn’t there. 

Oh yeah I put it in my back pocket….um maybe I put it in my jacket pockets…ok maybe it’s in my front pockets.  Did I put it in my book that I was reading?  Maybe it’s in my leather jacket pockets?  Did I put it in my suit case?  Ok maybe it’s in my satchel? 

As I continued to wave people past me one after another,I continued to do a pat down on myself that any police officer would be proud of.  A slow feeling of panic started to rush through my mind.

“Will my UPS ID work?”
“No it has to be a government issued ID.”

CRAP! Where the hell did I put it.  I went through all my pockets again.  I know that I had it.  I just got through security with it only an hour ago.  SECURITY!

“I think it might be at the other security check point.  I’ll go look there.”
“Ok”

photo by: moriza

We are almost two weeks into the Lent season now. I’m sorry for the delay on this last post in my Lent series. Things haven’t allowed me to sit down and write it. But for those who have been waiting patiently (and I guess the impatient ones too), here is the final post.
Once again, I’m not the most generous person you’ll ever meet (that’s probably why this list is shorter than the other ones). I don’t even like to share candy. But I’ve realized my short comings and here are some things that I’ve learned that help me to be a little more generous with my time and money.

1. Make it a priority
   You’re not going to do it until you make it a priority. As I said in another post, I learned this from a wise friend when I was in college.

   I had a moment of enlightenment when I was in college. I was a poor college student (which for some is a load of crap statement…but that is another blog), and I went out to eat with a group guys. At the end of the meal, an older gentleman in the group paid for the meal. I remember telling him how I wish I could do the same. And he responded in the kindest of words, “If you aren’t generous when you have nothing, then you won’t be generous when you have everything.”

   You have to make being generous a priority in your life. There are too many other shinny things that will take center stage if you don’t (this comes from the guy with the iPhone…I know about shinny things taking center stage…and I’m still learning). Make it a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly task to look for ways to be more generous in your life.

2. Have a budget
   You won’t know what to give until you know what you have. This works for both your money and your time. For your money, you should have a budget for every month. This takes away the excuse of saying, “I just don’t have any money to give.” You don’t have money to be generous with because you don’t plan.
   When Shannon and I first started budgeting, it was like I got a raise. Before we budgeted, we just tried to keep an eye on our checking account and when it got to low we stopped spending (don’t judge you know you do the same thing). When we started budgeting, we were finally able to plan. We were able to make our money work for us instead of the opposite (check out DaveRamsey.com for more information on budgets).
   You also need to budget your time. Some of us don’t have time to serve our fellow man because we never have any extra time. I’ll give you a tip…there is no such thing as “extra” time. There are 24 hours in a day and that is all you have. Just like you’re pay check only has a set amount of money, your life only has a set amount of time. You have to budget your time wisely so you serve those around you (check out ZenHabits.net for more information on budgeting your time).
3. Give first
   This is has two implications. You can take the idea of biblical “first fruits.” This was the commandment given by God that everything that you received (animals, harvest, children, ect.), the first of it was to be given to God. The top line of your budget should have a line for a certain percentage of your money that you want to give away. When you get paid you should automatically take that percentage of money out of your check to give away. No questions. No ifs, ands, or buts. Just do it. Then budget the rest to live off. If you don’t do this…you’ll just make excuses and never be generous with the money you have. This will teach you to be generous.
   The other implication is if you have the option to serve someone or to do something else with the “free” time in your life, serve. Give of yourself first. Generosity now has the priority. So skip the basketball game and go do a generous act.
4. Have a separate checking account
   This is a little trick that Shannon and learned when we weren’t part of a local church for awhile. We didn’t have a place that we could write a check to for a weekly tithe. So we opened up another checking account and we transferred a percentage of our pay checks into the account every time we got paid. Then we knew we could use this account to be generous whenever the opportunity presented itself without having to worry about whether we were using money that was needed to pay the bills.
   When we started going to City on a Hill we started giving our tithe to them. We still transfer the money into the account so we don’t get it mixed up with the rest of the money we have, but we enjoyed having the freedom of the extra checking account so much that we transfer an additional amount of money into it every month so we can be generous when the opportunities present themselves.
5. Give first ask questions later
   Now this might sound like I’m say to give money to anyone on the street who asks you for it (in fact I would say not to do that…give them food, clothing, bottled water, a cup of coffee…but don’t give them money. Read “Under the Overpass” to see why). What I’m saying is that my tendency and I know some of your’s tendency is to ask the question “Why?”. Why should I be generous with my time and money. The reality of it is that I can’t answer that question truly. I could give you scripture. I could give you stories in my own life. I could paint a picture of a vision of bringing heaven to earth. But you won’t get it.
   You won’t get it until you take a homeless guy across the street to Arby’s for lunch. You won’t get it until you mow your elderly neighbor’s yard for them without them asking or paying you. You won’t get it until you help your wife’s single-mother-coworker pay her rent. You won’t get it until you pay for lunch for you and your friends knowing that you might not be able to eat dinner.
   If you decide that you aren’t going to be generous until you understand why, you’ll never be generous. The reality is you need to give first and then ask questions, because by giving you’ll find the answers.

It has always been interesting to me to look at the trends of cash flow in churches. I just heard a sermon about how a church was close to half-a-million in the hole (their a very large church). The pastor gave a state of the church address and the giving increased and they ended the year with a surplus (Where the heck was all that money before?).

Now a lot of people would think of this as a wonderful story in God’s provision. Which it is. But I also see it as a sad state of the people’s hearts. I’ve seen this in our own church. The church is having trouble making the budget (which is based off peoples giving from the previous year), the pastor gives a hint at the joy of giving (which it is), and the giving goes back up.

Why does it always take and emergency for the church to give? Why do we have to be reminded to give? Why does it always take a drastic event in our lives in order for us to be generous? Why are we so stingy with our money and possessions?

This is something that is always at the front of my mind. I know what it is like to be in ministry and to know that you could spread the cause of Jesus in great ways….but….you don’t have the finances. I would say that this is sometimes one of the biggest stumbling blocks in ministry. You know God is calling you to do something, but you can’t see how you would be able to finance it.

And you and me being the good Christians we are (or not) say, “If God is calling you to do something, don’t worry because He will provide.” But what we really mean behind those words are, “If God is calling you to do something, don’t worry because He will provide…through someone other than me.”

I had a moment of enlightenment when I was in college. I was a poor college student (which for some is a load of crap statement…but that is another blog), and I went out to eat with a group guys. At the end of the meal, an older gentleman in the group payed for the meal. I remember telling him how I wish I could do the same. And he responded in the kindest of words, “If you aren’t generous when you have nothing, then you won’t be generous when you have everything.”

It’s stuck with me to this day. That was a changing point in my life. Before then, I was only generous and giving when I had extra money (which was like never). From that point on, I have tried my best to give at every opportunity I had. My generosity comes before my excess.

I think this is what Jesus is calling us to do as Christians. He tells us in Matthew that He will take care of us. Therefore, we should invest in the things that are of His heart. As we invest in Him, we grow closer to Jesus, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

We shouldn’t be generous only when we have money or see a need. We should be generous all the time. Churches should never have to worry about money. It should be the only non-profit organization in the world that should never have to worry about their cash flow. The word Christian should be synonymous with generous.

The funny thing is that once I started being more generous…the more I enjoyed it. I just hope that you would give it a chance.

We’re having a baby!!!! Let me answer all the basic questions first:

Due Date: June 6th 2008
Shannon is at 8 weeks
Yes it was planned
Yes we are excited
If it’s a girl we are calling her Addison
If it’s a boy we are calling him Asa
Shannon is having morning sickness, but she is doing fine
Shannon isn’t having really any cravings. She just has some foods she doesn’t like.
We’ve known for a few weeks now, but wanted to tell everyone after we had our first Dr. visit.

We went and had the ultrasound today and it was really cool. I think today was one of the first times that it sunk in. It still hasn’t completely sunk in yet. But I’m pretty sure it will once I’m changing diapers. The best part was getting to see his/her heart beat (we’re to early in pregnancy to hear it). The baby is 1.6 cm long and basically a little blob at this point. But it’s still pretty cool. I’m going to have to clean some crap out of my wallet now so I can fit baby pictures in the there…or I could just put it on my iPhone. I think I’ll go with the latter (I wonder if Apple make baby toys…if not they need to).

For those of you who have been waiting, here is the inaugural Beer Tip of the Day. I know you have been waiting, hoping, and praying for this day. Well it has finally come. For my very first tip, I’m going to give you the tip that changed the world of beer as I know it forever.

When I first started drinking beer, I only knew of one way to drink it…from the bottle (just a side note…if it comes in a can…it’s probable only good for three things…getting drunk, fertilizer, and making beer butt chicken….mmmmm beer butt chicken).

Well through much research, and a little help from the wife, I learned that the best way to experience a nice cold beer is not from the bottle. The true connoisseur drinks their beer from a glass. Chefs have known for years that your sense of smell drastically changes the ways something tastes (that is why you can blindfold someone and plug up their smell they can’t tell the difference between an onion and an apple). Drinking from a glass allows the beer to breath. This also allows you to enjoy the full flavor of the beer as it engages your sense of smell in the beer drinking process.

You will find that this can drastically change the flavor of your beer. When you drink from the bottle (or God forbid can) you’re nose is limited in doing it’s job. I thought it was a bunch of crap until I started trying it. My wife bought me some pilsner glasses as a gift. When I started drinking my beer in them, I noted a remarkable difference in the taste. To the point that I don’t like New Castle except straight from bottle…the glass changes the flavor to much.

There are also certain glasses for certain beers…but I won’t get into it that much. To learn more about different glasses for different beer, check out the Beer Advocate. These guys know their beer.

So that is my first Beer Tip of the Day. Until next time, enjoy your beer.