Big Business For You!

Whenever I search for something on Amazon, I'm always frustrated to learn that the most popular items are being sold by some huge multinational corporation with a website that looks like a literal garbage factory. I want to buy stuff from small businesses with fun names and great designs. To do so, starts is going straight to Etsy or Ebay where they can find unique products, run across the owner's Instagram account, and make friends around the country.

Happy shopping!

I was looking at my old laptop when out of nowhere this browser window popped up, delivering me right into a Christian bookstore's website. I immediately thought about how much I love the web and those who help people find and buy things online, so I clicked away to share this article with everyone.

But before I leave, let me tell you why I was being sent right here instead of Rebel (escpecially since it's now owned by Amazon). In the last year, Christianity Today magazine has been purchased by Baker Publishing Group. They were previously known as a small publishing house that had no more than 10 employees and served just a few markets at a time. Now they have a staff of over 700 employees, are being acquired by an Amazon competitor called Zondervan for $170 million dollars, and are moving into new offices in downtown Seattle. What is even more concerning to me is that the values of Christian media and reporting are becoming more and more like everyone else, which means that the content of these articles are becoming less and less about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So I'll go here now…

... But in a couple days, I'll be buying a lawn mower from Home Depot (because I can find it cheaper on Amazon and because their return policy might be more flexible than B&H Photo's). And since I don't want to support big businesses, instead of listening to NPR while working in my yard, I'll turn on something like The WayFM. Then I'll post pictures of my new landscaping on Instagram, link to an Etsy product in the post, and tag the creator. This will help her get more exposure and a new customer - me! Then, when I want to go out to eat, I'll search Yelp for "best burger near me"  and find a place that is independently owned, has great reviews, and a reputation for being friendly towards my homosexual friends.

So there you have it! Instead of buying locally-sourced products from large corporations that are often not friendly to LGBT people, you can support small businesses with unique products while supporting Christian media that also supports your values.

Going to a Christian bookstore that is owned by a multimillion dollar corporation that normally sells cheap paperbacks, non-Christian books, and DVDs is like going to a Ben and Jerry's shop that's owned by Unilever. What used to be a place where people could meet God has now become more interested in making money from everyone. This means the store will be filled with content on things like politics and entertainment instead of focused on spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Blog reader Joe asked a question about books for his life group. Here are two suggestions: 

Moody's Unlikeable : How to Stop Being Moody and Start Being Hilarious  by Jamie Ivey

This is a great little book that will encourage you to have more fun with the things that you do, accept your own flaws, and make friends. 

The Ones Who Get Left Behind: How Parents Behave When Their Children Are at War by Dr. Joseph H. Hart Jr. and Dr. Robin Vanneman

This is a really honest look at how we parents behave when our children go off to war for the first time (i.e., like crazy people). It's not a book you can read in one sitting, but it's full of good stories and case studies that will illustrate what I'm talking about.

Enjoy!

I need to explain myself...

Some people have an unshakeable belief that life would be better if we were back in the 1950's living within our means, voting Republican, and saying dumb things like "Bless his heart." But I'm here to tell you that my idea of living within our means is different. For example, when I was nine years old we moved into a very nice house with a beautiful backyard. The whole thing was flat out awesome.

I remember the day we moved in. It was a long day and I got home late in the afternoon. As I was walking through the front door one of my father's neighbors said, "Hey! Look at that yard!"

Since I never paid much attention to my surroundings, this comment caught me off guard (as you can imagine). All of a sudden my dad walked out of the garage and said, "Hey! Look at that job."

His neighbor went back to working on his car and my dad went into his house to get us something to eat. After we ate he came out with two movies. We sat on our new patio chairs and watched them until bedtime. That was the day I realized that there was a huge difference between the life we live now and the life we lived when I was nine years old.

We lived in a nice two-story house with a large yard. We had cable, a Playstation 3, and two movie screens so we could invite our friends over for night-time movies. Our friends would play basketball on our court or go for bike rides on our trails.  

On top of that my dad was an engineer . He was always working on projects around the house, and he built this amazing ladder device that allowed us to climb out of windows at any height. I never had to go buy a ladder because he was always tinkering with something so we had a better one around the house.

We also moved from Canada a few years before and I went from 1,000 students in my middle school to 27,000 in my high school . I ended up losing most of my Christian friends because we no longer attended the same schools, but my dad was able to find new friends for us. This was huge.

Instead of driving 40 minutes to church every Sunday morning we were able to walk down the street and meet friends at The Sand Bar (one of our neighborhood's favorite hangouts). The owners were cool and often invited us out to sporting events or local concerts.

Conclusion:

My point is that there's a world of difference between the life we live now and the life we lived when I was nine years old. When we choose to live within our means and make wise decisions about how our hard earned money can serve us instead of ourselves, my hope is that we can one day be in a house with a yard like my parents had. In other words, I hope that we will have more than just parkour gear , an HTC One phone, and Netflix streaming accounts.

I know this is going to sound old school but it will bring me joy to give you some resources on how you can build wealth.