i am an advocate of the simple life

The Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power. (Ephesians 4:20)

I i. The simple life is a life lived free of stuff. It does not always work out for us, but we try to keep our stuff at a minimum.

When I was younger, I went through a time when I was really concerned with what I wore and what I drove. There was a period that I felt compelled to drive only “cool” cars.

The same with what I wore. I went through a period where my ties had to be just so or my clothes had to be just so. But, as I got older, it just didn’t matter as much.

Even so, I have never been one who put undue emphasis on the brands of things. I never felt compelled to wear name brand clothes. I liked Levis because they fit well, but in general, it didn’t matter.

The same with cars. I drive a 1995 Ford Aerostar van that has over 200K on the speedometer. It runs fine and I bought it for $100 five years ago.

It is a minivan, which isn’t cool, and is older, which isn’t either. But it fits us and I can put Ella’s scooter in the back easily and still carry people with me if I want to.

As I drive it, I wear mostly sale or thrift store clothes. I pay more for my shoes but that is because I have such bad feet.

But in general, it doesn’t matter what I drive or what I wear, as long as it fits.

My furniture is the same. It is all serviceable and in good shape, but is nothing fancy. I have an old TV that has a 27 inch screen, one of the old style tube kind and watch a lot of  my movies on VCR, as long as they are widescreen.

My family eats well, but I am an inveterate budget shopper and can buy more food for less money that anyone I have ever known. I buy marked down meat and whatever is on sale. I am the kind of shopper that grocery stores hate, since I buy almost all sale items and buy from several stores.

Since I love cheese, I wait until it goes on a great sale and then buy several packages of shredded and freeze it. Shredded cheese will freeze well whereas block will not.

There are times when it seems that I have a knack for buying things at a great price. None of my clothes cost that much because I buy them off season. Both Dillard’s and JCPenney’s have big and tall departments that put their stuff on great sale at the end of the season. Since I am 6’3” and 280 lbs, that matters to me. I only buy classic things, things that look good on me (inasmuch as I can look good) and that will last.

My jeans I buy at WalMart, as I do the rest of my stuff. But nothing in my closet except for the suit cost more than $15. And most of it was far less.

The point is that it takes a lot less to live on that people think. I always dressed my family from thrift stores. I have a couple of basic principles when I buy stuff there.

1. I buy only things that look good or new. I will not buy silly things that are worn out.
2. I only buy things that fit. There is no greater waste of money than things that do not fit.

Because of these two principles, my kids and my wife always look well-dressed. All of my suits except for one and all of my blazers came from thrift stores. You can find great things there that if you did not tell people, they would never know they came from a thrift store.

We do not eat out much, mainly due to finances. But quite frankly, we probably wouldn’t anyway. Except for Chinese food, I can cook anything we get at a restaurant about as well.

Again, the point is I absolutely refuse to spend a lot of money on things I can buy cheaper. Some would call that cheap, others thrifty. I prefer the word judicious. I am judicious as to how I spend my money. I do not have much and will not waste it.

On the other hand, we have a house full of good furniture, a closet full of good clothes and a refrigerator full of good food.

That is part of living by God’s power. As another translation says, the kingdom of God is not by food or drink, but power. There are better things in life than stuff.

I would rather get to heaven and find my treasure there than in stuff that burns up here.

The power comes in the divorcing of oneself from the world and in living full lives in him.

If I had all the money I wanted, what would I do? I honestly do not know. Probably buy a motorcycle, a Harley, and a new mini-van.

But I do not. There are some things I would like to have, but I live quite well without them.