Don't Let Yesterday Bite You Tomorrow

Bobby Bonilla laughing all the way to the bank!

Growing up, I was a big baseball fan.  Living in the South, and having TBS, I watched my fair share of Atlanta Braves' games.  Today I'm not a huge follower, but I still keep track of the Braves.    

I recently read an article describing the financial woes of the New York Mets.  You can read the article by clicking here.  In summary, they are over $600 million in debt.  That's bad news for sure.  Something that struck me as wildly odd, though, is this:  The New York Mets owe Bobby Bonilla 1.2 million dollars each year, for the next 25 years.  It seems that in 2000, the team realized he wasn't part of their future, and they released him.  At that point he was due $5.9 million for that final year.  Instead of paying him in full in 2000 and being finished with him, the team and Bobby's people reached an agreement and decided to defer the payments until 2011, totaling $30 million over the next two and a half decades.  That's an extra $24,100,000!

Living off of credit will always come back to bite you.  I can speak from experience.  My wife and I spent the better part of the first decade of wedded bliss living off of our paychecks, along with a helping hand from Citibank credit cards.  We then spent several years digging out of the hole we were buried in.  Our debt is now gone, and we will not allow it to creep back into our lives.

Debt is our inability to be wise stewards of what God has given to us.  It's also a consuming burden that overtakes us if it's allowed to grow out of control.  Would you rather repay only the original amount borrowed, or add onto the original amount an extra 400% interest?  That $20 dinner becomes $100 over time, using the Mets payback schedule.  Getting into debt is easy.  Getting out of debt - not nearly as much fun.

Luke 12:42-44 - And the Lord replied, “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them.  If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward.  I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns".