Cody Thomas

Thanks to everyone for joining in the “thrifty life” conversation and providing tips to living on less and spending less. You can still add comments to keep that conversation going.

My wife and I have been doing some of the tips that were mentioned and some other things to save money. Some of the ideas in the comments we haven’t tried. Here’s a list of stuff that we are currently doing to save money:

• Don’t eat out much at all. If we go out to eat now, it’s usually cheap. Subway $5 footlongs, Chinese lunch specials, cheap pizza, etc.
• Split a plate when eating at a restaurant. We try to share meals as much as possible when we do eat out. Cuts down the bill and we definitely don’t need as much food as you get at a restaurant.
• Drink water at restaurants. That’s $4-5 saved every time we do eat out just by drinking free water.
• Stopped buying tons of soda. This is probably one of our hardest disciplines. We are both addicted to soda. We love it and can’t get enough. We used to stock up when we’d find 12 packs of Pepsi products on sale (4 for $10 / 5 for $12). However, even when buying soda on sale, it was still a major expense because of the amount we drank. So we’ve decided to stop soda buying for now to save money. If we occasionally buy soda, we are trying to buy the cheapest 2-liters offered at the store (not 12-packs of cans).
• Cutting my own hair. I have my wife cut my hair with electric clippers that I bought a couple years ago. Spend some money up front to get some nice ones that will last ($30-50). However, save money for years of no paid haircuts ($15-25 each!).
• Use Mint.com to track expenses. I signed up with Mint.com back in January and have found it to be a great tool for tracking expenses and sticking to a budget. The first couple months, I didn’t stick to the budget, but Mint.com showed me a visual of how much over budget I was spending. This made me become more aware of my spending and more conscience of my set budget. It’s a great tool.
• Making an itemized list before grocery shopping. I’m the worst when it comes to impulse buying at the grocery store. So, my wife has set up a habit for us to make an exact list of what we need and write down a rounded-up price for each product. That way we won’t be over our budget when we get to the cash register. She also keeps a running tally as we shop so we always have in mind how much money is already in our shopping cart.
• A minimalist wardrobe. Some people might say I’m stupid for having this conviction, but I just can’t in good conscience spend tons of money on nice, name brand clothes (even if I had the money to spend). This conviction is for many reasons. 1) I’ve been in the “I need to look good” mindset in the past and I cared way too much what people thought of how I looked. It’s such a self-centered mindset that is looking for attention from other people through superficial means. I just don’t care if I “look cool” anymore. 2) I can’t feel good about owning a bunch of nice clothes when over half the world barely has a shirt to put on their back. So give me a couple t-shirts, a pair of shorts, a pair of jeans, and a polo. That’s all I need. (I’m currently in process of emptying out a lot of clothes out of my closet to take to Goodwill.)
• No cable TV. Most TV shows can be watched online now anyways. Plus it’s just wasted money. No, I don’t need fifteen ESPN channels.
• Do it yourself/Make your own. My wife has been the queen of make your own. For example, she hasn’t bought a single curtain for our apartment. Instead, she scouts out cheap fabric and creative ideas to make her own. And she gets to have fun doing it.
• Find used before buying. If you can get stuff used instead of buying, do it. We, Americans, are known for wanting the best of everything for ourselves. However, we can’t keep consuming the world’s resources and filling landfills like we currently do. Let’s start using stuff, and when we don’t want it anymore, hand it down. Don’t throw it out. Take our living room for instance. In our living room, we have a couch, a recliner, 2 end tables, a coffee table, a lamp, a TV stand, a TV, a small dining table and 2 chairs. How much did all that cost? Well, I paid $50 for the lamp at Lowe’s. The rest…free.

That’s the thrifty tips for today. We’re still trying to learn this stuff. We just don’t want to be trapped by our debt for the rest of our lives while paying minimum payments. That’s ridiculous. Debt has held so many people back from taking big risks for the Kingdom and we don’t want that to ever be an excuse for us when we know God is calling us to step out in faith.

Alright, it’s your turn to speak your mind. I want to hear from you.

As a newly married couple, we are trying to find all the ways we can to save money. Mostly because we barely have any. Also because we want to save money to get out of our debt as soon as possible!

So, that’s where you come in. I want to know your tips and tricks.

What do you do to save money and live on less?

One of the songs on the new Derek Webb album (“Stockholm Syndrome”) is titled, Freddie, Please. The song sounds exactly like a 50’s doo wop ballad. However, the song is far more depressing than your normal 50’s love song.

The song was written towards Fred Phelps, who is the pastor and leader of the extremely controversial hate group at Westboro Baptist Church. He, along with the WBC, are the group that started the “God Hates Fags” campaign. They picket the funerals of thousands of homosexuals and American soldiers because they believe American soldiers are protecting a sodomite nation.

Here are the lyrics to Freddie, Please:

Freddie, please
how could you do this to me?
How could you tell me you love me
when you hate me,
Freddie, please?

You know I’ll love you honey,
and I’ll bleed you dry with money.
I’ll talk where I know you can hear.
‘Cause Freddie can’t you see,
brother, you’re the one who’s queer?

Freddie, please
how could you do this to me?
How could you tell me you love me
when you hate me,
Freddie, please?

And the stone’s been rolled away
but you’re picketing my grave
for loving the things you hate.
Then why do you seek the living among the dead?

Freddie, please
how could you do this to me?
How could you tell them you love me
when you hate me,
Freddie, please?

I have heard that the first-person perspective of the song could be from a dead soldier or dead homosexual whose funeral Fred is picketing. I also have heard that it is from the perspective of Jesus. I tend to agree with this view. Fred has never stated to love homosexuals (quite the opposite actually), but the chorus says, “How could you tell me you love me when you hate me?” Interpreting the first person as Jesus makes more sense because Fred claims to love Jesus, but, by hating his fellow man (homosexuals, soldiers, Jews, etc.), he actually hates Jesus. If you hate your brother, then you don’t love Jesus. That’s Scriptural: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:20-21)

Derek could also be saying that by picketing these graves, they are actually picketing the grave of Jesus because Jesus loves those people (“…but you’re picketing my grave for loving the things you hate.”).

I’m still not quite sure what these lines mean: “You know I’ll love you honey, and I’ll bleed you dry with money. I’ll talk where I know you can hear.” Any ideas?

I really like this song. It’s a unique sound and quite an ironic song with the 50’s ballad sound. It has a powerful message against the gay hate speech that some Christians are consumed with. Great song, Derek!

Derek Webb can’t seem to stay away from controversy. Yet again he has “crossed the lines” that the Christian market can’t handle. American Christianity wants to hear songs that make them feel good, songs about Jesus getting them “through the storms” of life and such, but they can’t handle it when a little guy from Nashville says a four-letter word to shake us out of our apathy and mediocrity.

The controversy of this album centers around one song, titled, “What Matters Most.” Here’s a link to the song on YouTube with the lyrics written out beside the video.

To give a quick rundown on the point of the song, the main point of the song is that we (Christians) have our priorities out of order when it comes to social issues. Here in America, Christians are known first and foremost as anti-homosexuality. That is the big fight that Christians are fighting. In fact, to most America, it looks like that’s all Christians care about. Derek Webb exaggerates this point in the song when he sarcastically states,

“If I can tell what’s in your heart by what comes out of your mouth, Then it sure looks to me like being straight is all it’s about.”

We can’t deny the fact that many Christians are committing ungodly hate toward the gay community. Christians are focusing way too much on homosexuality more than any other social issue. That is the Christianity that Webb is calling out. Not once in the song does Webb condone homosexuality or say it’s not an important issue. I don’t know what his personal stance is, but he certainly does not make the claim that it is okay or not important, so don’t write him off that quickly. Stick around and try to grasp what he’s getting at. He’s not condoning homosexuality. He’s not saying it’s not important. However, he is condemning the hate that is expressed towards the gay community by many Christians and condemning the intense focus on that one issue when there are bigger priorities in the world.

The whole song leads up to when Webb gets to his point in saying,

” ‘Cause we can talk and debate until we’re blue in the face
About the language and tradition that he’s comin’ to save
Meanwhile we sit just like we don’t give a shit
About 50,000 people who are dyin’ today”

And that is his point. Generally speaking, American Christianity really isn’t doing anything to help social matters except talk, debate, vote against and whine about the gay community without doing anything constructive in the world. Then, Webb alludes to a statistic put out by the Make Poverty History campaign, which states that “50,000 people die every day from poverty-related causes.” Christianity in America is so focused on gay marriage, Prop 8, and gay rights that we have totally forgotten about a world that is in dire need of someone to give them food and clean water just to live. It has seemed that Christians are spending an inordinate amount of time on fighting the gay community and condemning homosexuals when that time and those energies could be spent making a big difference providing food and water and life for the poor around the world.

The amount of time and energy spent confronting the issue of homosexuality is certainly greater than the time and energy that could be spent on matters that are equally important or more so. Is it controversial for Webb to assert that Christians ought to focus on the hungry, poor and sick as much or more than we do the issues related to the growing acceptance of homosexuality?

You can’t read the Scriptures and bypass these daily 50,000 deaths like it’s not a top priority. From cover to cover, the command to the people of God is continually to take care of the poor and the alien (foreigner). Anyone who has read the end of Matthew 25 knows that the criteria for separating the sheep from the goats is taking care of the poorest of people.

Webb’s use of drastic language isn’t the first time a Christian leader has done this. Tony Campolo did the same thing years ago to make the point that Christians cared more about him using a curse word than learning that thousands are dying daily from poverty. Personally, although he uses drastic language to make a drastic point, I think that Derek Webb’s point is valid and his method is probably necessary to shake us out of apathy. People and organizations have been calling out to the Christian community for years to do something about world poverty, but we, as we selfishly do, remain in apathy. Maybe it takes someone like Webb doing something drastic to call us out. Maybe there isn’t a “clean” word that can contain that sort of passion and emotion to show us our apathy. This is certainly not the same as a stand-up comedian who uses foul language just for its own sake.

Even some of the authors of the Scriptures understand that drastic points take drastic language. Many of the Old Testament prophets’ words, actions, and images are so drastic or even raunchy that I’m surprised it’s not banned from libraries. Plus, even the Apostle Paul decided that sometimes it’s necessary to use strong language to make the strongest point possible.

Beyond that argument (his point is not about cursing), the whole point is “what matters more.” I am inclined to say that Webb’s point is absolutely valid. We, the body of Christ, need to be the ones who stand up for the millions who are going to bed hungry tonight and the 50,000 that will die today just from lack of food and clean water. We need to be the ones to eradicate this problem. Not just because it’s a good thing to do, but because it is the work of Christ. We need to be shaken out of our apathy.

More to come on what Derek Webb is up to. He isn’t calling us out without personal action. He is out to live the Gospel and be the body of Jesus to a dying, impoverished world. Not just write songs about it.

So what’s your thoughts?

Ground rules: If all you want to do is bash Derek Webb, the song, or my views, don’t comment. You are welcome to disagree, but come with reasons, not hate speech.

Last night, I downloaded Derek Webb’s new album, “Stockholm Syndrome.” This album has been surrounded by intense controversy, even to the point of Derek Webb doing a cryptic nationwide scavenger hunt in select cities and giving the clues on a secret website which you have to find by deciphering the URL from a cryptic email from Webb. (You confused yet?) It’s all quite the publicity stunt, but it was interesting to see an artist do that.

All of the cryptic stuff focused around the problem that Derek’s label said the album was too controversial for the Christian market. The controversy was centered around one particular song on the album, a song that Derek Webb said was one of his most important songs and wouldn’t budge on taking it off the album.

So, after all the secret stuff has ended, the album has pre-released (at least for digital download) on Derek Webb’s site. The album is being sold as two versions, the original “explicit” version and a “clean” version. The CD doesn’t land in stores until September 1, but the digital version of the album (which is the original, “explicit” version) is being sold now at DerekWebb.com. The “clean” version can also be bought, but won’t be available until September. Never thought I’d hear of a Christian album being released as “explicit” or “clean” versions.

To quote Derek Webb from Twitter, when asked if the digital download was the “explicit” version, he said, “of course. there is no other version of ’stockholm syndrome’ in my mind ;)”

So I’m listening to “Stockholm Syndrome” over and over now. I’ll get back to you all soon with info and opinions about the one song that is supposedly too controversal for the Christian market. It’s too bad because the Christian market needs to hear it.

Well, it’s never completely done for me. I always find something to tweek. But, for the most part, it is done.

So welcome to the new site. I hope you can find everything still. Make sure to check out the “Elsewhere you can find me” links on the bottom left. Also, you can find more goodies by clicking the “Open Navigation” button on the top right.

The biggest change to the site is the new “Design Services” section. Make sure to check out the new “Design Services” section of the site and see if I can help you, your church, or your business with your design needs.

Special attention to all pastors: Don’t let the design price list scare you. Although those prices are extremely cheap already within the design world, I want to serve the Church and help advance the Kingdom without making your church broke. So, please email me with your design needs and projects even if you can’t meet those prices. I will be able to provide big discounts for most churches, especially church plants and small churches.

Come back shortly…redesign coming soon.

For those who have been asking (and anyone else that wants to buy us something), here’s our wedding registries. We are registered at:

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