The Dark Time

There we were living the highlife. We had just bought our first home, the wife had a new convertible, and we were making good money.



Then one night while making the 2 hour commute, that I made three nights a week, I heard the strangest thing on talk radio.



I heard a guy say, "Remember, the only way to financial peace is to walk daily with the Prince of Peace Christ Jesus." I thought, "wow, who is this guy and why does he intrigue me so much?" I went to work that day and looked him up on the internet and was even more intrigued.



Over the next 4 months, I began to look forward to my commute, because it was the only time I got to listen to Dave Ramsey. As the months flew by, I realized that we were in a horrible position. Although we made good money, I was working a position that was going to end in September 2003, and we didn't have a clue what I was going to do after that.



Well, as always, God provided. I was able to continue that position for another year. In September 2003, I was able to get my wife to go to a Simulcast of one of Dave Ramsey's live events. She walked less than gung-ho, but we walked out of that seminar fired up.



We did our first budget in October 2003, and realized that we really were careless with money. We also realized that working 12 hours a night, 3 days a week, was killing me. I immediately began looking for a new job. I eventually got that new job one year later, but there were a lot of changes coming before then.



In May 2004, we decided that best thing would be to sell our house. Luckily, our house had almost doubled in the two years we owned it. This was a blessing, but also a curse.



We sold the house, but instead of paying off all of our debt, we paid off $25,000 and then put the rest down on a new, bigger, more expensive house. This has turned out to be one of the dumbest moves we have ever made.



That's it for now, but...



The next trip down the Freedom Road will be full of hills and valleys, the likes of which you have never experienced.



'Til we meet again, I am...



Tim, Your Tour Guide.