Thunder rumbled in the distance. Dark clouds floated along the horizon, inching toward me. Someone was getting rain. An hour later, the sky cleared. The rain had bypassed us once again.

After a prolonged dry season, sunny south Florida needs rain. Not the tease of a drizzle, but the deluge of a downpour. Precipitation that soaks deep into the soil instead of rivulets running off parched surfaces to collect in curbside puddles.

The weather report warns of a 10 – 20% chance of rain on a regular basis, but the dry season isn’t ready to release its grip. Irrigation systems sprinkle much-needed water across dry lawns, offering the proverbial drop-in-the-bucket until the empty clouds are no longer void.

There’s another kind of empty cloud. The Bible likens ungodly people to “clouds without rain” and trees that are fruitless and uprooted (Jude 1:12). People who only care for themselves, who pretend to be something they’re not.

I know people like that. People who have let me down when I needed them. Co-workers who pretended to work with me while furthering their own ambitions. Friends who betrayed the foundation of friendship for the sake of convenience.

I’m ashamed to say there have been times in my own life when others used these same phrases to describe me. When my behavior was more like an ungodly person than the Christian I claimed to be. When nurturing my own hurts was more important than forgiving the offender.

But each day brings the opportunity to start anew. To surrender to the lordship of Christ and deny my baser instincts. To follow His Word rather than my natural inclinations. To grow more like Christ and become all that He created me to be by the power of His Holy Spirit. To be less like the empty cloud and fruitless tree in Jude and more like the fruitful tree in Psalm 1:

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

Is that the patter of raindrops I hear on the roof? I hope so.

Benjamin Franklin once noted, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” While I don’t necessarily agree, his quote seems appropriate this week.

April 17^th was a red-letter day…and not in a good way, unless perhaps you are receiving a tax refund. But even that isn’t really good news, since it means the government had use of your money all year, interest free.

This is the time of year when many of us reexamine our financial plans, that is, if we even had a financial plan. But financial issues have plagued us for centuries. In an essay first published in 1758, good ol’ Ben Franklin had a few bits of wisdom that still apply today…

Spending:

“What use is this pride of appearance, for which so much is suffered. It cannot promote health, nor ease pain: it hastens misfortune.”

Saving:

“If you would be wealthy, think of saving, as well as of getting. Away then, with your expensive follies, and you will not have then so much reason to complain of hard times.”

Debt:

“When you run into debt, you give to another power over your liberty.”

Managing our money includes learning how to receive it (working with integrity), how to give it (understanding God owns it all, anyway), and how to spend it (realizing we are merely stewards of our resources). Much like a three-legged stool, if any of the three are improper or missing, the result is instability or failure.

Tax-time is unpleasant, but if it motivates us to manage our finances in line with our spiritual identity in Christ, then it’s worth it!

For help managing finances, explore:

Crown Financial Ministries

Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University 

Ron Blue’s Master Your Money

What tips can you suggest for biblical financial management?

I’m feeling my mortality this week. Yes, it’s that time of year. Facebook will soon be filled with birthday greetings. As I look forward to another year, I find myself looking back as well. What have I done with the years I have been given? What will I do with the years yet before me by God’s grace?

My thoughts have been influenced by the recent deaths of several celebrities:

Thomas Kinkade died last week at age 54. An artist known as “The Painter of Light,” he spent his life creating art that pointed people to the Light of the World. Yet his final years were darkened by allegations of driving under the influence of alcohol, and financial troubles that drove him to file for bankruptcy.

Reporter Mike Wallace died this week. He was 93. Known as an intrepid reporter who not only informed us of current events, he spoke openly about clinical depression – a condition he struggled with for many years.

Singer Whitney Houston died two months ago, her life cut short at 48. Houston was a gifted singer who entertained and enthralled. But a troubled marriage and addictions silenced her voice.

Baseball player Gary Carter died shortly after Houston. He had known the joy of being an all-star catcher, a Hall of Famer, and winning a World Series. But he lost his fight with brain cancer, succumbing at age 57.

What especially surprised me is the attention these deaths received in the media. Even as Kinkade was mourned as a Christian artist, critics continued to belittle his art. Houston’s death has rarely left the news two months later, despite a life marked by deterioration and addiction. Carter was a family-man who took his position as a role model seriously, raising millions for community charities and even traveling on mission trips. Yet how many of us heard anything about him beyond the initial death notice?

I am also amazed by our culture’s standards for accolades among the living. Actress Kate Winslet recently received an honorary award for lifetime achievement during an awards ceremony in Paris, France. Lifetime achievement? She was 36 years old! Yet Christopher Plummer (best-known for his role as Captain von Trapp) was 82 when he was awarded his first Academy Award earlier this year.

As I’m reminded of the quickly passing years and the fickleness of our culture, I’m glad I don’t work for the world’s accolades. The apostle Paul wrote, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23-24).

I may celebrate many more birthdays or this might be my last birthday. Either way, the greatest lifetime achievement award I could receive is to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).

What accolades are you working to win?