Are you all still there?! It’s been a while since my last post.

       After not writing for almost six months, I’m ready to get back to it. I stopped writing for a while as I was taking on new responsibilities at church. Now that I’ve had time to settle in a bit, I’ll be writing here on Provident Planning again.

       I also needed a break because I was struggling with what I wanted to do with the content on here. I was getting distracted with things that don’t really matter and began to emulate many of the other personal finance blogs out there. I don’t want to do that. I want to keep the focus here on following Jesus in our finances – whatever that may cost. But I also want to help people with the practical side of things.

       So I won’t be writing as much as I used to. I want to create higher quality articles – not more articles. Right now the plan is to have two posts a week published on Mondays and Wednesdays. I may occasionally post a short article or some links on Fridays, but I’m not making any guarantees there.

       I’ll be balancing the articles between the strictly spiritual side of things and the practical (how to, information, general PF type of articles). However, I will try to incorporate a Christian perspective in everything when it fits. It’s sort of difficult to do that in a post that’s simply explaining what a Roth IRA is, but it’s certainly possible when talking about retirement planning. My hope is that this will meet both sides of my goal – looking at how to follow Jesus in our finances but also providing helpful resources to apply it to our financial decisions.

       Thanks for hanging in there during this break and for all your support. Many of you have encouraged me to get back into writing and that has helped motivate me to start again. I’m looking forward to learning and growing with you. God’s blessings to all of you as you seek Him!

       For the last few years, Free Money Finance has held a contest called March Money Madness (works like the college basketball competition). It gives bloggers a chance to highlight their best posts and see how they stack up to others. Additionally, FMF donates money to a charity of the blogger’s choice for the top 4 winners – $500 for 1st place, $300 for 2nd, and $100 each for 3rd and 4th.

       I’m playing for 50% to HOPE International and 50% to Mennonite Central Committee (or 100% to MCC if FMF doesn’t want to split the donations).

       Thanks to your help in Round 1, I’ve made it to Round 2! This week I’m in Game 2 with “The Save 10% for Retirement Rule Is Stupid“, and I’m up against Craig at Money Help for Christians. He’s a good friend of mine and a great writer, so I’ll be happy either way. But if you’d like to support me, leave a comment on today’s March Money Madness post saying “Game 2: Stupid”. Thanks for your support!

       Last week I was in Free Money Finance’s March Money Madness for Game 4. Thanks to you all, I won and will be going on to the second round for that post.

       But I was lucky enough to get two posts in this year’s competition, so I’ve got a second article in today’s Game 10. The article is called “Wake Up from the American Dream“. It’s not looking too well for me right now, so I could really use your help. All you have to do is leave a comment on today’s post saying “Game 10: Dream”. (You can vote for Game 9 while you’re at it if you want to.)

       FMF donates money to a charity of the blogger’s choice for the top 4 winners – $500 for 1st place, $300 for 2nd, and $100 each for 3rd and 4th. I’m playing for 50% to HOPE International and 50% to Mennonite Central Committee (or 100% to MCC if FMF doesn’t want to split the donations). Having two posts go on to the next round will really help the chances of seeing these charities get a donation.

       So if you can take just a minute to go vote by leaving a comment that says “Game 10: Dream”, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks for your support!

       For the last few years, Free Money Finance has held a contest called March Money Madness (works like the college basketball competition). It gives bloggers a chance to highlight their best posts and see how they stack up to others. Additionally, FMF donates money to a charity of the blogger’s choice for the top 4 winners – $500 for 1st place, $300 for 2nd, and $100 each for 3rd and 4th.

       This year I’ll have two posts in the competition – one from a regular submission and another for having a top article in the Best of Money Carnival. I’m playing for 50% to HOPE International and 50% to Mennonite Central Committee (or 100% to MCC if FMF doesn’t want to split the donations).

       This week I’m in Game 4 with “The Save 10% for Retirement Rule Is Stupid“, and I’m up against Craig at Money Help for Christians. He’s a good friend of mine and a great writer, but thankfully he’s got two posts in today’s competition. So if you’d like to support us both, leave a comment on today’s March Money Madness post saying “Game 3: Writer & Game 4: Stupid”. Thanks for your support!