05/23/07

Money Matters

It was just a typical day for me in Houston, TX.  I had just gotten out of college and was going home to get something to eat.  Those long lectures sure make me hungry, I thought to myself.  I walked into our apartment and sat down at the kitchen table.  “There is no food left”, my wife said.  “No food left, what do you mean?” I asked.  “I paid all of our past-due bills, and the few groceries we had, we already finished,” she replied.  We were out of money and food.

            We had moved to Houston just three months earlier.  I was twenty years old and my wife, Irma, was only eighteen.  We didn’t have any children yet.  We sold our possessions to have enough money to move to Houston, so I could attend Bible College.  Attending Bible College was one of my heart’s greatest goals.  Hearing God’s word taught on a daily basis was extremely rewarding to me.  We both found a job at a nearby pizza restaurant.  We each made approximately $100 per week.  By the time we paid my tuition, our apartment, and our car payment we were consistently broke. 

            So we needed food.  I scrambled together all the spare change I could find.  I searched all our drawers, cabinets, cookie canisters, and everything else I could think of.  I had to provide for my family.  I ended up coming up with almost eight dollars in change.  I placed the money in a small plastic bag, handed it to Irma, and we headed to the grocery store.  It wasn’t the closest grocery store.  It was the one I liked to shop at.  The vegetables from the nearby grocery store just didn’t seem sanitary.  We lived in the ghetto area of Houston.  Everybody knows you have to go to the grocery store in the suburbs to get quality veggies.        

Although I was consistently broke, I didn’t dress broke.  It was Bible College protocol to wear a tie to school.  Bible College students seemed to compete to see who would wear the nicest power tie to school each day.  We were all broke financially, but by our dress you would have thought we were wealthy New York stockbrokers.  My appearance allowed me to fit in perfectly with the upscale society who shopped at this grocery store. 

            We had enough money to purchase some beans, rice, ramen noodle soups, and a gallon of milk.  This would help us get by for awhile.  We headed for the register.  I was embarrassed to be paying with a plastic bag full of coins.  I managed to slip away from Irma and be about ten feet away from her by the time she got to the register.  Saying I was embarrassed, would be an understatement.  Let me state it this way, shame took a firm grip of my soul.  The shame was rooted in the fact that I wasn’t able to provide better for my wife.  This is not what she must have had in mind when she married me, I thought to myself.  I was embarrassed that I did not know how to make ends meet until our next check.  And worse than that, if we were evicted from our apartment, where would we go?

            The cashier was a young girl.  She probably worked part time at the grocery store after she got out of school.  She told Irma the total.  My wife then shamefully pulled out the small plastic bag, filled primarily with pennies.  I will never forget the expression on the young girl’s face who was cashing her out.  The girl felt compassion for my wife.  She realized that my wife was embarrassed to pay with coins and that Irma only had enough money to purchase a little bit of food.  The cashier didn’t want my wife to be embarrassed, so she hurriedly helped her to count the coins.  What a miserable man I am, I thought to myself.  It is OK if I make a decision that allows me to suffer, but I brought my wife along for the ride.

            As we left the grocery store, Irma looked at me and asked me, “What’s wrong?”  “Nothing” I said, in a shaky voice.  She knew not to press for an explanation.  Something was wrong, dreadfully wrong.  I couldn’t look into my wife’s eyes.  Without making eye contact, we drove back to our apartment.  If I looked into her eyes and her shame matched mine I might break into tears.  What kind of a man am I?  How come I am not able to provide for my family the way I should? 

Little did I know, I had a gift inside of me.  A gift of untapped potential that was able to usher me into a level of prosperity I never thought possible.  It was a gift God had placed in my heart.  This gift would be unveiled shortly.

My fist venture

“I believe the power of making money is a gift of God…I believe it is my duty to go on making money and still more money, and to dispose of the money I make for the good of my fellow man according to the dictates of my conscience.”[1]

-John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

Three years later I was back in my hometown, in Andrews, TX.  Living in Houston had been difficult.  I had come back to West TX to complete my degree in business.  My father, a seasoned entrepreneur, called me early one morning.  “Good morning Son”. 

“Good morning Dad”. 

“I woke up with an idea and wanted to get your input on it.  I feel like now is the ideal time to start a cellular phone company in this town.  There is strong demand for cellular phones and there is no company here to take advantage of this opportunity.  I’ll make the initial investment if you are willing to start the business.” 

I had a hunch within me that told me it was a great idea.  One of the reasons I was afraid to start the business was fear of failure.  Sure I had studied business in academic textbooks.  I knew the real world was a whole different ballgame.  Do I truly have the ability to start a successful venture?  I decided to give it a shot.  I would rather try and fail trying, then never try at all.

I began to make advertising preparations before starting the business.  I advertised through television, radio, newspapers, direct mail, and manual flier distribution.  I prayed to God that He would give me favor in all of my advertising efforts.  When we opened the business, people flocked to our store.  It was a sensational feeling to see that our advertising had been successful.  

The success of the business gave me a sense of triumph.  It wasn’t the fact that I was now making good money.  Making good money wasn’t bad by the way; but that’s not what really caused me to feel triumphant.  The feeling of triumph came from the fact that this entire venture was once just an idea.  This idea had even seemed a bit unrealistic at first.  I was a 23 years old young man who was starting a business with no business experience.  It was an idea that I was almost too afraid to believe in.

The success of this business venture allowed me to do things I would have never thought possible.  I had made a commitment to God.  I told God, if this business is a success, I am going to give a $1,000 contribution to our church.  The business did succeed and I came through with my commitment.  The business began to perform even better than before.  During this time God opened the door for me to purchase an old apartment quadroplex building, which had been repossessed.  The apartments were not as profitable as I had hoped.  I decided to sell the apartments.  Since God had been faithful the first time I gave I decided to test God by giving a larger donation.  This time we gave $10,000 to the church.  Miraculously, we ended up selling the apartment building for 5 times the amount we had purchased the apartment building for.  God is faithful, it is impossible to out-give God.  We continued giving and eventually became debt free.  The feeling of triumph in business came from having the ability to be a blessing to the kingdom of God.

I believe that churchgoers can be anointed for business.  Some people have a gift to pray for the sick that they would be healed.  God gives other people an ability to succeed in business so they would be a blessing to His kingdom.  How else can God’s kingdom receive income?  God has anointed business people to go into the marketplace and get money for His kingdom.  This revelation is what placed the desire within my heart to write a book about how mightily God has empowered many American entrepreneurs to gain money for God’s kingdom.