Financial Freedom of Religion

 

We just got back from The Feast of Tabernacles. And if you aren’t familiar with what that is, it’s a biblical holiday where Yahweh commands the children of Israel to dwell in tents for 7 days to remind them of the time they spent in the wilderness. (If you want to check it out in the scriptures, you can find this in Leviticus 23:33-44.)

In other words, each year we are commanded to go on a seven-day camping trip. How awesome is that? And we don’t rough it either. We eat well, sleep well, live well and have a ton of fun doing all kinds of activities with our family and the congregation we are celebrating with.

 

This is one of my family’s favorite occasions and we look forward to it every year.

 

This week, I thought I would do something a little different. I’m going to ask Ashley and my oldest two kids to help me write this column. It will be me typing, but their words. And I asked them a simple question: What was your favorite part of the feast this year?

 

Seph:

My favorite part was the bounce houses. I loved going down the obstacle course and playing in the water slide afterwards. Even the little bounce house was a ton of fun. I got to hang out with my friends up there for hours each day and it was awesome. I sure am glad we got to have it for six days.

Ari’el:

I had a couple of favorite parts. I liked hanging out with all my friends. But I also liked all the crafts we got to do. Making the edible sukkah (Hebrew for tabernacle) was great. I loved the campfires and going fishing.

Seph:

Oh yeah. Fishing was awesome. I can’t believe we caught 18 fish in one day. And then on the next day, I had a fish jump out of the lake and take my hook before it even hit the water. That was really cool.

Ashley:

I really enjoyed being in a place with so many people who were upbeat and happy. I loved watching the kids play with so many friends. I loved the game nights for the adults. That one game where we had to guess what people were saying while wearing that thing in your mouth was hilarious. But I also loved getting to spend some one-on-one time with Ari’el fishing at the lake.

Ari’el:

That was great. Do you remember when we saw the five deer that came down to the water then took off running when they saw us?

Ashley:

That was very special. You know, I also enjoyed the Bible studies, singing praise music by the fire and the kid lessons that were taught. I feel like this is one of the best feasts we have ever had.

 

As you can see, they had a blast, and so did I. I enjoyed fishing with Seph and Ari’el. We caught a ton of fish, and it was great. Afterwards, Ari’el and I jumped in the lake together to cool off. Later, I got to take Eliyab, Ashley and Samuel on a canoe ride. I loved watching the kids having so much fun on the bounce house. And the game nights were epic.

 

Part of the commandment for the Feast of Tabernacles is that you are to be only rejoicing. And part of that for me is to be able to show up for my family and not have to worry about anything else going on in the outside world like work.

In years past I have had to leave the feast site to go work. And I hated it. But I needed to make sure things were taken care of so that money would keep coming in. This year, however, I did not have to do that. As a matter of fact, Tabernacles started on the 28th of the month. And I couldn’t help but smile when I started getting notifications of all the rent payments coming in on the first.

That was such a freeing moment for me. Because of our rental properties I was free to be present with my family, unhindered and “rejoicing only” during this feast. I didn’t have to worry about a missing a paycheck from being out of work for a week because the rents came in whether I was at the office or off at our feast site.

 

That is what freedom through the passive income associated with real estate feels like. And I couldn’t help but feel a huge sense of gratitude for Yahweh giving us the financial freedom to serve Him in this way.

 

This really was the best feast we have had in a long time!

 

Joe and Ashley English buy houses and mobile homes in Northwest Georgia. For more information or to ask a question, go to www.cashflowwithjoe.com or call Joe at 678-986-6813.