We got $5,000

One of my favorite movies is a classic film from the 1900’s called “Wayne’s World.” This iconic piece of cinema is truly one for the ages. There is a scene in this movie where the two main characters have recently signed a lucrative contract to put their local cable access show on network television. While in the contract negations they are calm, cool, and collected, but after leaving that meeting with a bonus of $5,000 each, they are ecstatic. They dance in the street singing “We got five thousand dollars!” Too see this oscar-worthy snippit for yourself, click http://youtu.be/nurUcdpO-Ls

The other day, I considered doing the exact same dance. You see, my wife is a teacher in a district that often struggles to get teachers. Because of this, the state offers a chance to teachers in districts like ours to have some of their student loans repaid. She has applied for this every year we have lived here, but nothing has come of it.

Until now.

This week we got a check for $5,000 toward her student loans. That cuts the time left to pay them off virtually in half. We don’t get to see any of that money now, but we will be able to be done with those payments much more quickly because of this extra money.

Sometimes in life we find ourselves with a lot on our plate. There is a lot to do, bills to pay, or just lots of things that weigh us down. Often we know that there is an end, but it’s so far out of sight we don’t know what to do right now. This extra money showed me something about how God often deals with our problems. You see, this money doesn’t help us at all at the moment. We still have to work really hard to make sure there is enough money in the bank to pay the bills. I would love to say this money solved all our financial problems right now, but they didn’t. However, what this amazing gift does is it shows us that there is an end to this struggle with student loans, and God has made it so that the end will now come even more quickly. If I focus on what is happening right now, nothing has changed, but if I focus on the future I can see the things that God is doing to make our situation better. What we need to do is apply this principle to everything in life, realizing that there is more that what we see in the here and now, there is a purpose and a plan that God has for all of us in the future.