Our Economic Stimulus Check

On Monday it arrived directly from the US Department of the Treasury. The Prince’s economic stimulus check-- one thousand eight hundred smackeroos-- arrived in my mailbox. Yippee! Thank you, Mr. Mailman, Mr. President and all the members of Congress.

Now I understand that $1800 is not like winning the lottery or playing professional baseball. Karla and I can’t take the money and catch the first flight to Tahiti or some exotic place. You won’t see me rolling into the church parking lot with a new Ferrari on Sunday. Still 1800 beans is nothing to sneeze at.

Ben thought that he should receive his $300 portion. He thought that since each kid ups the amount received by $300 that he should have it. (Of course, this is after we have spent far more than his “share” of the $300 for his summer camp, baseball team, clothes, shoes, food etc…). I said I would be happy to give him his 300 greenbacks the next time (which will be the first time) he helps pay his share of the mortgage, the grocery bill, the light bill, the tax bill, the… well, you get the idea.

Since Ben’s not getting it… the question becomes what should we do with our Economic Stimulus check?

Hmmm…. according to Walmart.com, $1800 will purchase…
· 936 pair of Spiderman underwear (that’s a six pack for $11.48)
· 1260 baseballs (you can get 5 dozen balls for $82.98)
· Three Briel Multi-Pro Prestige Espresso Machines (at $512.95 each)
· Nearly one Sony Bravia 46” HDTV and Home Audio System (it’s $1898)
· A one carat diamond solitaire 14kt white gold split bale pendant-- IGI certified for $1,699.00 (Did you know that Wal-Mart sells diamond necklaces for 1700 bucks? I didn’t know that either. You can also buy a signed baseball from the 1986 New York Mets for $1050. Who would buy a baseball with the 1986 New York Mets signatures from Wal-Mart? Now if it were a signed baseball from the 1984 Tigers, I could understand. I knew Wal-Mart sold drain cleaner and socks and motor oil and toothpaste, but diamond necklaces and sports memorabilia? I had no idea.).

While I am sure my baby would look nice wearing a Wal-Mart diamond necklace, and I sure could use a double espresso about now, and my family room would sure look nice with a big ol’ flat screen TV hanging on the wall, I’m not convinced that any of those options are good choices for us (besides I really don’t think I could ever wear 936 pair of Spiderman underwear.).

With just a little “googling,” I discovered that most of the world lives on less than $2000 a year. So for a little more than what the government sent our family to stimulate the economy there are plenty of families in the world trying to make ends meet for the whole year. Wow! With the money that we will spend to kick start our economy—there are families that will budget their entire year. Double wow!

I write this not to make you feel guilty or to tell you to need to send all the money into the church or Nazarene Compassion ministries or some other worthy cause—but rather to simply remind you once again how blessed we are in America. As we celebrate our Independence tomorrow, take time to be thankful. I know it stinks that gas costs four bucks a gallon and a gallon of milk costs three. I know it’s bad that babies are still being aborted, and crime still happens and the coming presidential election will have more mud flying than a Monster Truck Competition. Still we live in a blessed place. We don’t need to pray for “God to Bless America,” He already has.

And because we are so blessed, doesn’t it make sense that we should complain less and be thankful more. Maybe we should waste less and give more. Maybe instead of praying for God to bless us, since He already has blessed us-- we should pray how we can be a blessing to others. Somewhere I read “that to whom much has been given, much will be required.”

What will you do with your economic stimulus check? That’s up to you and your family and God. I just pray that we are faithful—in how we spend our money, in how we spend our time, and in how we spend our lives!