I only have one option!
Occasionally on my drive home from church, I listen to Dave Ramsey on “The Patriot AM 1150: True American Values.” It’s also the station of Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
But while Glen, Rush, and Sean are conservative political commentators, Dave Ramsey is a conservative financial sage, imploring people to stay out of credit card debt, answering phone-in calls, and handing out financial information that is so valuable that it’s hard to put a dollar value on it. (And no, I have not been a financial investor who has wisely built up a million dollar retirement fund. I’m more like Sonny and Cher who famously sang in1965, “I guess that's so, we don't have a pot, but at least I'm sure of all the things we got.”
Dave has been on radio for twenty-eight years, his Dave Ramsey Show has a combined listenership of over 14 million weekly, and is available on more than 575 radio stations and other channels. Ramsey was named the 2009 Marconi Award winner for
Network/Syndicated Personality of the Year, and was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2015. In 2010, Ramsey did receive criticism on social media sites for building a large and lavish home. He responded that the cost of the home was paid in cash, represented a very low percentage of his net worth, and had already been used to host many fundraisers for ministries, charities and community causes.
Listening to the program and understanding the magnitude of Dave’s success, it would be easy to assume that this guy must be a hard-driving, no-holds-barred businessman. I had heard him speak of Christian matters, but yesterday my attention was absolutely captured and riveted when a man called in to the show, speaking about his relationship with his girlfriend, and asking advice. Both he and his girlfriend had considerable money saved up, they were 60ish age-wise, and were considering marriage and its financial pros and cons. That’s what he was asking Dave about, when Dave said, “I’m a Christian, I only have one option.” In other words, if you are going to have an intimate relationship, get married! I was so impressed with the simplicity of Dave’s answer, and I thought, “How often ought we to employ that Scriptural and spiritual simplicity when encountering life’s inevitable decisions, decisions that we sometimes find to be challenging.”
“I’m a Christian, I only have one option.”
Love to all,
Pastor