Finding A Different Way To Handle Money

In 2012, our daughters were heading into their final high school years, and we had no idea how to pay for their college tuition. And even though we were never late on any of our payments, we felt the weight of slowly sinking further into debt. Like so many others around us, we had a mortgage, HELOC (home equity line of credit), car payment, and several credit cards. Even though everything seemed fine from the outside, this debt was starting to stress us out; we felt overwhelmed and helpless.

Change is Hard

We needed something to change, so my wife Diane and I jumped into a new 9-week class at Sunridge called FPU (Financial Peace University). We didn’t know what to expect. Even though we were unfamiliar with Dave Ramsey and his seven baby steps, we entered the class with a large amount of skepticism. I really thought I knew what I was doing with our money. And each week, we heard a lesson that didn’t align with what all the financial “experts” were telling us. Through the class, we learned that pretty much everything we were doing in our personal finances was wrong. This was quite humbling for the guy who oversees the church’s finances. With each lesson, I grew less skeptical and began to open my mind to the possibility that there might be a different, even better way to handle money. Diane and I committed to trying to do things through this new lens – knowing we could always go back to our way of doing it – since that was working so well. After all, it’s easy to get further into debt. We built our first cash flow plan (also known as a budget), which showed us we were spending beyond our income. As John Maxwell says, the budget tells our money where to go instead of wondering where it went. Armed with this knowledge, we slowly learned to live beneath our means and started something called a debt snowball to eventually get out of debt. What an amazing feeling.

Times are Tough

A lot has changed in the last 13 years, and for families without a plan, it’s getting harder and harder to make ends meet. Just look at these statistics showing the average American’s monthly expenses from a recent post from Ramsey Solutions:

• Housing is $2,120 (33% of their income)
• Transportation is $1,098 (17% of their income)
• Food is $832 (13% of their income)
• Health Care is $513 (8% of their income)

Those items alone total more than two-thirds of the average family’s budget. And that’s the tip of the average family’s financial iceberg – that doesn’t even cover payments to non-mortgage debt. And here in Southern California, costs are higher than average. No wonder so many people feel stressed! That’s why, for the last 12 years, Diane and I have committed ourselves to leading FPU classes at Sunridge. We know it can change lives. You can learn to steward (manage) the money God entrusts to you in a way that honors the One who owns it all. There is hope.

There is a Way Out

Are you finally sick and tired of being broke and stressed out over money? Are you finally ready to abandon your way of handling money for something that actually works? What would your life look like if you had no payments other than recurring expenses like food, utilities, insurance, etc? Do you know what you could do with your money if you had no debt? Anything you want! Are you ready to change? Let’s go!

The next FPU session at Sunridge starts on Thursday, January 22, 2026. Sign up today and change your future.

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