Ramsey - The Legacy Journey: A Radical View of Biblical Wealth and Generosity

The light was so blinding, I had to squint to see anything at all. It was a bright, sunny day, and the detailers had washed, waxed, and polished until the whole car was gleaming. The day before, an ugly, mostly unreliable junker sat in that same parking spot, but now it was gone. For the first time in ten years, I had a nice car again.

The past decade had been hard. By age twenty-six, I had become a millionaire. By age twenty-eight, I was bankrupt. I spent several years after that learning everything I could about how to handle money Gods ways. I didnt just want to rebuild my former wealth; I wanted to honor God with that wealth. I had finally figured out that I was just a manager and God was the Owner, and I wanted a second chance at success. He had trusted me with a lot early on, and I had failed. I had shown Himand myselfthat I wasnt a good manager. But now things were different. I was passionate about doing things the right way the second time around. My wife, Sharon, and I vowed after bankruptcy to never borrow another dime. We worked like crazy to get out of debt and clear of the bankruptcy. We pinched pennies, cut coupons, and skipped vacations. I worked eighty hours a week while she was home taking care of three little kids. We clawed our way out of the mess using biblical principles for handling money, and God blessed us. Our new business began to grow. Life got a little better. We were able to breathe a little easier. And bit by bit we were building wealth againbut you wouldnt have known it by my old car.

During those years, I drove the cheapest cars I could. We had more important things to do than buy nice cars, and honestly, I had gotten used to driving junkers. Then one day, I was driving myself and one of my companys vice presidents to an event where I was supposed to speak, and the latest in my proud line of cheap cars broke down. There we were, standing in the parking lot of a gas station with steam pouring out from under the hood of the car. We looked through the trash, found an empty jug, and used it to pour water into the radiator to cool down the car so we could get to the event. By that time, my net worth was well over $1 million again, so this whole scene was ridiculous. My VP chided me, saying, You seriously have to get a better car. This is crazy! You have the money! And he was right. The moment had arrived. I was way overdue for a nicer car.

I shopped all over for a great buy, and I finally found a great deal on a two-year-old Jaguar. That was kind of cool because I drove a Jag right before I went broke. It felt like God was saying He was restoring what the locusts had eaten. So there I stood in the parking lot of my office just looking at it. Youd think everything about that moment would have been perfect, right? I mean, I had done everything right this time. We had zero debt. I owned that car free and clear, and it was a perfectly reasonable purchase for my family. In a way, it represented a new way of life because it was a physical symbol that Gods ways workthat I could build wealth again the