Well. Huh.

So it's been awhile...

In the last two months, Jer and I found out we're having a kid. AND the church reached its funding goal (yay). So last week Jeremy got paid for the first time. And now I find myself drifting off into daydreams of how much we will tithe to the new church and how much we can hide away to send this kid to college someday. Or retire. Or whatever. Because for the last 6 months we have been living on one salary and a couple of generous gifts from friends. Having 2 paychecks again makes me feel like we are really, really rich.

There are two things you should know about my money habits: 1) I love saving money and hiding it away. Love having a safety net for those just-in-case moments. 2) One of my spiritual gifts is giving. I haven't met too many other 20-somethings who like writing out checks to charitable organizations. And these two things don't always line up together so well.

So here's where my mind has been going: in 3 years, we will need to become a self-sustaining church, bringing in money to do ministry and hopefully pay Jeremy the same salary that's set right now. Quite frankly, the Berg's don't really need everything he's being paid because we've learned how to live on less. Not that it's been fun, but we can do it. Our church planting director told us to just tithe back whatever is in excess, which I'm totally cool with.

Right now are launch team hovers around 30 people, but about 80% of those are college kids or young adults. Meaning: not a lot of extra funds. And a lot of young people haven't established budgets or spending habits that include regular tithing. We think throwing $20 into the basket every couple of weeks is good enough. So how can Jer and I model healthy giving habits? When I think about the amount that we are planning to tithe each month, it sounds GIANT to me. But that's mostly because we will be giving from a 2 income family, and I'm used to that anymore. I am also excited to trust God with that, though. It's totally something we can work into our life.

And then there's this kid thing. How do you even know what that will cost? Will I want to go back to work once it's here? If we return to a one income family, can we still tithe the same amount (that would be sacrificial for sure!) MainStreet will need money, and if it's not there, Jeremy won't get paid. And do we keep moving towards the cafe? And will that even help at all or will it become a financial burden? Oh the questions! And wrapped up in this is our desire to share our new excess with our friends in need... bump up our monthly giving to a few of our missionary friends and add a couple others to the list (not kidding - this stuff brings me joy!) But will we set expectations for them with what we give, and what happens if I quite my job and we drop it back down?

I think I'm more aware of this stuff than ever because the last 6 months have made us rely on God for our financial needs each month... 3 times completely and totally needed the gifts our friends gave. And I want to be that kind of friend for others. That, and we've had to raise the church funding ourselves. (I should really say Jeremy did this... I wasn't much of a help). We know what it's like to be on the other side of the fence now.

Anyways... this was a really unconnected post, but that's what's been running through my head this week. How do we live generously but still within our means?