A New Beginning: From "On God, Horses, and Business" to "Quest of a Christian, City Cowgirl"

It seems to have been years (almost three exactly) since my last blog post. I've been toying with getting back into it, but knew that the scope of my old blog "On God, Horses, and Business" would be hard to keep rolling with. I loved that blog and wanted to keep the history, so I've only changed the name. This is to make it more all-inclusive. Not to mention that I will probably be posting quite a bit about the beef industry, daily life stuff, and my own personal goals. I'm not really doing this in the hopes of getting people to follow me, but just to organize my own thoughts and track my own progress through life.

So heads up, there will be more posts in the future! Probably a series about the Cowgirl fitness/diet plan ;)

Another Poem, Yet Untitled....

You are the best of the best,
     greater than I can even comprehend.

Your plan is perfect
     flawless in its details.
What we see as bad
     you know is for good.

You're the guide of my life
     navigating the winding rivers.
Keeping me from following the
   dangerous paths with deep ruts.

You show me the best way
You don't promise an easy way,
   but you will always be my faithful leader
And promise that at the end of the journey
   the reward will be great.

All I have to do is trust you,
     have faith, follow.
There is no worrying with you,
     you are a sure bet.

You ask for everything,
     but the return is great!

Lord, You are the most attractive option!
     Nothing else compares!

Biblical Business: The Time Value of Money

If you've ever taken a Finance or Accounting class then you've probably heard about the time value of money. The concept in itself may be simple enough, but do enough calculations and you'll start seeing how the relationship between time and money can be pretty overwhelming.

The bottom line is that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow.

But why is that? 

Well first, I want you to ignore inflation. Just go to a perfect world where it doesn't exist. Are you there? Good, let's move on.

A dollar today and a dollar received a year from now are still a dollar. They can still buy you that same, one dollar candy bar (if you were to spend it). However, you would want to take the dollar today if given the choice. Not because you will have it sooner, but because you can invest it and earn interest on it over that year. So, if you wanted to buy that candy bar in a year you could 1) take the money now and keep it in your pocket and wait, 2) wait a year and then get the dollar, or 3) take the money now and let it set and earn interest until you want the candy bar. Obviously you'd want to go with option 3. This way you still get that candy bar and you would have a few extra cents (how many depends on the interest rate) to pocket as well.

Therefore, a dollar is worth more to you today than in the future, because you can invest it today and earn a return (interest) on it during that time.

Now that you understand the basic, underlying principle of the time value of money let's look at where the Bible talks about the time value of money. We'll be looking at the words of the Great Teacher, Jesus himself. This is where Jesus tells the Parable of the Bags of Gold in Matthew 25.

14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

  

   24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

   26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

So the first two servants doubled their money, which is equivalent to a return (or interest rate) of 100%. However, the third servant did nothing and only returned the exact amount. The master was very upset! He had seen the return of 100% on all his other investments but yet this one had a return of zero.

If the master would have given the bag of gold to another servant he would have an additional bag of gold from interest. So based on the time value of money the third servant essentially lost his master a bag of gold.

The master understood this and the time value of money. That is why he said "you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest."

A little poetry, a little story, and faith

God, just thank you for how you have provided for me and how you have blessed me.
     How could I ever be worried?
You hold me in your hand and think I'm more beautiful than a mountain landscape.
     How great you are!

When life is constantly changing and chaos abounding,
     you and you alone remain constant.
You are the same God
     that is always loving, guiding, forgiving and providing.

Your name is great in all the earth!
     No other name or entity can even match a glimpse of you.
Not the Huskers, not the Packers, not the Yankees,
     Not the USA, not the UN.
To you alone is all the power and glory!

You are wise,
     so wise our thoughts can't comprehend.
We are stuck in our simple thinking, our ignorance.
No more than a 1st grader trying to understand advanced trigonometry.
How can we expect to understand your plan?

Looking ahead we want to know what is coming, but the events and purposes are beyond our comprehension in our current state. Only after we have gotten there a step at a time by the path you have set can we look back and understand.

Just like in math, we look back and see how all the past steps added up and how we never were ready to learn about what was on the horizon until we took each seemingly insignificant step to get there.

I remember learning proofs and it used the math rules I learned in 1st grade. Then I wouldn't have been able to comprehend proofs if I were told about them and that they were in my future. But blessed ignorance for 9 years perfectly prepared me for it and I could see how all the steps from 1st grade to geometry were necessary and the future necessarily secret.

Similarly, I've seen you work like this, God. Looking back I see what your plan was and your purposes. I see it in so many places that you couldn't have told me what your plan was prior to it. I wouldn't have been able to handle it. So why do I think now is different?


You are asking me to have faith and I respond by asking you for turn-by-turn directions.

Didn't you tell Abraham to go to the land which you will show him? You didn't even tell him which way to start or a general idea of what it would look like or how far away it was. Yet, he went. Going until you said he arrived! And he was blessed for it!

Please give me faith like Abraham, that I will go each day with full reliance on your plan and not asking for details that I can't handle anyway. Guide my path, provide for me, and give me all good things to do your will and bring glory to your name. Amen.

God's Statistics

I'm always amazed when I watch football games and they have a statistic for EVERYTHING! "Well this team has won 33% of their games when they are down by 14 or more in the 3rd quarter." I really wonder who keeps track of all these, and more importantly how will they know which ones will be important?

That only leads me to my next point (that I'm sure you've heard):

79% of all statistics are made up.

But how would you prove that wrong? Statistics. And I don't know about you, but I know I haven't taken all those tests to determine statistics. They are just guesses. In fact, the whole thing is rather obscure.

BUT not when we are dealing with God!

I'm sure He thinks we're all simple-minded and really narrow in our thinking because we put so much emphasis on statistics and probability. Partly because he knows how statistics don't really do us much good in the greater scheme of things, AND because he knows that our statistics are wrong.

God is the statistician of our lives. He could give you a list of statistics so long that no computer could hold all of the data. Just for you. Seriously, all the computers in the world together couldn't hold all the data that God has on you alone!

Often times I want to know some of these statistics. How long have I spent sleeping? How many people have drank the same water molecules that I'm drinking? How many people have I seen? How many hours have I spent in a Ford Escort?

None of that really matters though.

What does matter is that God cares for me! That is why he knows all of these things. Want proof?

And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered

~Matthew 10:30~

I don't know if God could have chosen a more impossible statistic for us to imagine! I know that I'm constantly shedding and leaving a trail of hair all over my dorm room. Yet, I always have new hair growing and amazing me that I'm not bald! Not to mention we have so many hairs that every time I think I have them all pulled back there are always some that elude me.

God knows all statistics because He loves us and because He is so great and all-knowing.

***Coming Soon! A series of blog posts that go over business lessons in the Bible. 

I know I fail....

I know I fail....
Places that upheld my confidence have been stormed.
      You alone are my fortress...
I need you to sustain me
     to give me life, to provide
I can't do it! 
     I am nothing!
To live for your glory is my desire
     But every day I am stained.
You clean me repeatedly. 
     Your Grace is amazing.
I find joy in knowing you more,
    in seeing you and your works.
How marvelous you are!
When thinking about what you've done in my life,
     I can't help but be amazed!
Every day I wish to bring you glory,
     to see more of you.
Your love is fulfilling,
    like nothing else.
No food, no drink,
     no warmth, no comfort,
     no excitement, no accomplishment.

I Cried Today....

Yup, and I'll admit it. It wasn't because I was laughing too hard either. So it's the first time I've actually cried in a long time. I'm not a crying person. I was always the strong one. Everyone told me they were impressed by how strong I was when I had a foster sister, when my dad was in the hospital, and when my family fell apart. I hardly ever cried, and when I did it was usually out of sheer anger (and lots of it!).

Tonight was different. I was riding home from college and was pretty torn-up about things that have been on my mind for awhile. (If you wanna know contact me somehow, but I don't wanna burden the unsuspecting reader.) On my ride I had a long talk with God. Literally. Outloud. It was great. I had never talked to God like this; it was so open and raw!

And then I cried; I wasn't mad, I wasn't sad. There was no regular reason for me to cry. Why I cried was because I was deeply moved in spirit. I had let go completely to my God and was completely vulnerable for once in my life. Through my tears I continued my talk with God, realizing how earnest this prayer experience was. I realized how blessed I am, how great God is, and the peace He brings!

Afterward I sang "Jesus Paid It All" and it took on a completely new degree of reality. Then I just quietly enjoyed the peace of God and His tranquility. His love is so great for us!!