last year, this year, it's all the same?

Last year, about this time, I made a goal. I suppose you could call it a resolution. I decided that I was going to get out of the state of Tennessee at least once a month. This was what the year looked like:

January: Kansas City, Missouri for Mom's birthday
February: Snowshoe Mountain, West Virginia on a ski trip with my roommate
March: Kansas City, Missouri for my birthday/spring break
April: Anaheim, California for the Specialty Coffee Association of America Expo
May: Kansas City, Missouri for I don't know what.
June: Kansas City, Missouri for Jason Stary's wedding
July and August: Estes Park, Colorado for family vacation
September: Chicago, Illinois for the Christian Community Development Association conference
October: Boston, Massachusetts for some R&R with friends from Brookwoods
November: Kansas City, Missouri for Thanksgiving
December: Kansas City , Missouri for Christmas and Dad's Birthday

At the beginning of this month I thought that I would try and accomplish the same thing. And while most of these trips were paid for on someone elses dime, I didn't have to worry about the money. I just went on the trips, and didn't even think about it. Call it being young and naive, or call it just ignoring the facts. But this year I think I have a new goal

Save some money.

I know that this seems to be along the same lines as your typical resolutions. And that thought makes me want to re-think it. But I'm almost 24 now, and I feel like it might be high time to live responsibly. I don't have any specific goal other than to tithe ten percent, save (short-term) ten percent, put two hundred away for the long-term, and live on the rest. I honestly don't even know if I can do it. But that not knowing is what gets me excited. You see - I've squandered a lot of my money. I have a Playstation 3. I have a Kindle. I have lots of digital music that I didn't steal. I have an iPhone. I have gone out to eat often. And, most importantly, I have good excuses for why I have all of those things (ranging from a present to myself for getting broken up with to "I want it!"). But now I have a goal:

Save money.

And you know what? I'm pretty sure that what I am doing is Biblical. I, obviously, don't know what the future has in store for me. But I do know that I need to live responsibly with what I have been blessed with. I need to not misuse the wealth that has been entrusted to me. Does this mean that by the end of 2011 I will have my finances all figured out? Probably not. But does it mean that the person that I will have become at the end of 2011 is slightly more organized and can take you out for a meal because he has the extra cash? I sure hope so.



Thanks to Mom and Dad first for flying me home so often, and thanks to Harvest Hands for allowing me to get out and experience new things as part of my job.

Luke
luketlancaster@gmail.com