Azakana 2029

Trent, our recent conversation changed the way I think we should approach this plan. Your financial situation is important, but it is not the most important thing about you.

• Protecting your assets,
• repaying debt,
• organizing your businesses,
• and reducing your expenses all matter.
• But they matter most because they provide a concrete place to begin bringing your life under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

This is not an attempt to purchase God’s favor through better financial behavior. It is not a claim that financial order will save you. Salvation is by the grace of God through faith in Christ. But when Christ takes hold of a man, He begins laying claim to every part of that man’s life, including his money, appetites, ambitions, relationships, work, and use of authority.

The encouraging thing is that we do not have to solve every spiritual question before taking the first obedient step. We can begin with what is directly in front of us.

The controlling biblical principle behind this plan is stewardship. It is the principle I used in serving Bill Rolle, and it is how I ran Home Care Solution. Everything ultimately belongs to God: “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1). Your abilities, relationships, reputation, opportunities, and wealth are not meaningless accidents. They have been entrusted to you by God. The question is therefore no longer merely, “What can I afford?” or “What do I want?” The better question is, “What would faithfulness require of me?”

Jesus said that the person who is faithful with little will also be faithful with much, and that the person who is dishonest with little will also be dishonest with much (Luke 16:10-12). Paul states the principle plainly: “It is required of stewards that they be found faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2). Faithfulness requires truth, order, self-government, and accountability.

The first financial objective should be to repay the LMA to zero.

Romans 13:8 directs the Christian away from continuing nonproductive indebtedness: “Owe no one anything, except to love each other.” Proverbs 22:7 warns that “the borrower is the slave of the lender.” Debt is not automatically sinful in every circumstance, but it always creates an authority relationship. The lender acquires rights over the borrower and, in the case of the LMA, rights over the assets pledged as collateral.

As you well know, that is not theoretical. Merrill has the contractual power to require additional collateral or liquidate assets when its requirements are no longer satisfied. As long as approximately $3.79 million remains outstanding, market conditions can give Merrill substantial control over which assets are sold and when they are sold.

The interest cost also raises a stewardship question. At approximately $16,000 per month, the LMA is consuming roughly $192,000 per year. Interest is not inherently wasteful if borrowed capital is producing a return that justifies both the cost and the risk. But on the facts presently available, this debt is supporting a financial structure that threatens core assets and reduces your freedom. This is not wise stewardship of the resources He has given you. Take a moment and repent before God for wasting $16,000 every month to make Merrill even richer. Then consider what that same $16,000 each month could cover:

1. Your gift to Aiden.
2. Your gift to Luis.
3. Helping Loseni and Milan materially while remembering that their spiritual need is greater. They will stand before a holy God one day. Have you told them that?
4. Covering Dad’s management costs.
5. Other acts of generosity that God would have you do and that I know you enjoy doing.

The immediate tactical goal should therefore be to determine the safest and most tax-conscious combination of cash, Treasuries, investment sales, crypto liquidation, and nonessential asset sales necessary to retire the LMA. Until it is retired, no additional borrowing should occur, and ordinary living expenses should not be financed through the credit line.

Biblical stewardship cannot operate upon guesses, missing information, or scattered accounts. Proverbs 27:23 commands the owner to “know well the condition of your flocks,” because wealth does not endure forever. In the ancient household economy, the flocks were productive capital. Knowing their condition was not merely bookkeeping. It was an essential duty of stewardship.

The modern application is straightforward. You should have one accurate statement showing

• every asset,
• every liability,
• every bank account,
• every brokerage account,
• every business entity,
• every crypto wallet,
• every tax obligation,
• every insurance policy,
• every source of income,
• every recurring expense,
• and every upcoming commitment.

Your QuickBooks records, wallets, businesses, and personal finances must be brought into one management system. Right now, they are scattered across various places. That is not necessarily wrong, but they are not organized in a way that allows you to retrieve information quickly and make God-honoring decisions.

This also requires another person to have genuine authority to gather information, coordinate advisers, maintain the records, and enforce the agreed plan. “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed” (Proverbs 15:22). A manager cannot fulfill that role if information is not at his fingertips, new wallets or debts appear without notice, or every uncomfortable decision can be ignored. That was one of my first steps at Seneca. Everything was scattered, and we could not tell how the business was making money, or even whether it was making money.

Repent before God for the disorder and for failing to manage carefully the immense wealth He has entrusted to you.

Paul urged the Thessalonians “to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands,” so that they would walk properly before outsiders and “be dependent on no one” (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12).

Paul was not commanding poverty or forbidding the enjoyment of God’s material gifts. Scripture sometimes presents material provision as a blessing from God. But Scripture never allows material wealth to become the definition of the blessed life. He has blessed you with unusual intellectual and investing ability, but He did not give those gifts for your glory. He gave them for His. Riches can be received with gratitude, but they are temporary, uncertain, and incapable of supplying what matters most. God “richly provides us with everything to enjoy,” but those who possess wealth are commanded not to become proud or to set their hopes upon “the uncertainty of riches” (1 Timothy 6:17-19).

About Wealth

Wealth is not evil, but it can become the instrument of tremendous evil. Look at Iran. Scripture does not condemn wealth as though money possesses a moral character of its own. Abraham, Job, David, Joseph of Arimathea, and others possessed substantial resources. Paul does not command the rich to cease being rich. He commands them not to become proud, not to trust uncertain riches, and to become “rich in good works,” generous, and ready to share (1 Timothy 6:17-19).

The danger lies in what fallen man does with wealth and what wealth does within fallen man. A man who will not bend his knee to the true God will eventually attempt to become his own god. Wealth gives that impulse extraordinary reach. It allows him to insulate himself from correction, satisfy nearly every appetite, purchase admiration, control other people, avoid consequences, and construct a world in which his own desires appear sovereign. You have experienced all of these things in one form or another since 2020. And I suspect you now understand that fallen man is an insatiable god. The more he possesses, the more he requires to maintain the illusion that he is in control.

This is why Jesus spoke of wealth as a rival master: “You cannot serve God and money” (Luke 16:13). He did not say that a man should not possess money. He said that a man cannot serve both. Money must occupy the position of servant. Once it becomes the source of identity, security, status, freedom, or hope, it has begun occupying the place that belongs to God. I watched you begin to identify yourself by your wealth, which is exactly why I believe God has intervened in your life with correction. He will not accept second place behind Ferraris, Lambos, private jets, luxurious vacations, or anything else.

Popular culture captures part of this truth in the line from Spider-Man: “With great power comes great responsibility.” That may be a comic-book aphorism, but the underlying principle is thoroughly biblical. Jesus said, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much” (Luke 16:10). Greater resources do not reduce accountability. They enlarge it.

But we must understand what Jesus means by “faithful.” He is not merely praising the person who preserves capital, earns the highest return, or avoids financial collapse. In Luke 16, money is the “very little,” while the things of God are the “true riches.” Money is also described as something belonging to another. That means faithfulness is the trustworthy management of another Person’s property according to that Person’s purposes.

If everything belongs to God, then the question is not simply whether your wealth has increased. The question is whether you have administered God’s property in a manner consistent with His character and commands. Have you used it to:

• provide for those entrusted to you,
• conduct yourself honestly,
• relieve genuine need,
• practice generosity,
• create productive work,
• advance the Gospel, especially among Loseni, Milan, Fope, and Slick. They will stand before God one day,
• prepare wisely for a future wife and children,
• and enjoy God’s gifts without becoming enslaved to them?

Or has it been used primarily to magnify yourself, feed appetites, display status, escape accountability, and finance a life increasingly independent of God?

That is the dividing line. Wealth under the lordship of Christ becomes an instrument of provision, generosity, productivity, hospitality, and service. Wealth under the lordship of fallen man becomes fuel for pride, covetousness, domination, indulgence, and self-worship.

Trent, you have been entrusted with much. That does not mean God loves you more than the man who possesses little. It means that your stewardship carries greater consequences. Your abilities, relationships, reputation, influence, and financial resources give you unusual power to do good. But with that power comes unusual responsibility. The question before you is not merely whether you can retain what you have. It is whether you will become faithful with what belongs to God.

The Well-Lived Wealthy Life

Genesis gives us a beautiful picture of what real riches look like at the end of a man’s life. When Jacob entered Egypt, God promised him, “Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes” (Genesis 46:4). Jacob then lived seventeen more years. In his final days, he blessed Joseph’s sons, gathered his own sons around him, spoke to them about their futures, and was eventually carried home by his family to be buried with his fathers. When Jacob died, Joseph fell upon his father, wept over him, and kissed him.

Jacob was not a materially poor man, and Joseph was not an insignificant man. But when Jacob’s life drew to its conclusion, his great treasure was not Egyptian wealth, political influence, livestock, or property. His treasure was God’s covenant faithfulness displayed through the generations gathered around him. He could see his son, his grandsons, and the family through whom God would continue His promises. Trent, THIS is where I now stand near the end of my life: surrounded by my wife of thirty-nine years; Jen and Jon; Kyle, Kayla, Lydia, Natalie, Isaac, Eva, and Emi; Kaith and Luis; Rosie and Gabrial; Aiden and Natalie; and Eli, Abi, Gideon, and Mikey.

Then there is my “Judea and Samaria”: Adrian, Daniel, Taylor, Barbara, Dani, Nikki, Dwight, and on and on.

And then the “uttermost parts of the world”: Fisher, politics, Facebook followers, and Substack subscribers.

Have I lived a life pleasing to the Lord, however imperfectly? Has God always known whom I understood to be Lord of my life? I believe He has, because He has seen me repent again and again whenever I strayed.

That is the kind of wealth I have sought since I married Mom in 1987. I was only a few years younger than you are now. I had struggled with envy and covetousness, and I have certainly not obeyed God perfectly since then. But I made a decisive choice about the life I wanted to pursue. I wanted to honor God, build a faithful marriage, raise children, repent when I sinned, and receive whatever life God gave us as His blessing.

Today I live on a simple farm surrounded by my children and grandchildren. By the measurements of Western success, that may not appear extraordinary. But when I look around the farm and see my family, I know that I am a rich man. These are riches no market decline can erase, no lender can liquidate, and no thief can steal.

Materialism teaches us to measure life by what we possess, display, or control. Christ teaches us to measure life according to faithfulness, love, obedience, service, and the people entrusted to our care. Material possessions can serve those purposes, but they cannot become the purposes themselves.

Family does not exhaust the Christian’s responsibility. Our love must move outward toward neighbors, the household of faith, strangers, and ultimately the nations. Acts 1:8 is about the outward movement of the apostolic witness from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. It is not a direct command establishing a family-first hierarchy. Nevertheless, it provides a useful analogy: faithfulness begins with those God has placed nearest to us and then extends outward.

• Loseni
• Joel
• Fope
• Milan
• Slick

Except for Joel, all of them are presently outside Christ. The undeniable fact is that those who do not belong to Christ face a terrible judgment, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:41-42).

A man who imagines that he loves humanity while neglecting the people God placed directly before him has misunderstood love.

Trent, you are my only son. I do not ultimately want you to become another version of me, nor do I need you to reproduce every decision I made. But I want something far greater for you than financial survival. I want you to become the kind of man who understands what is genuinely valuable. I want you beside me when my time comes, as Joseph was with Jacob. I want to see you walking with Christ, loving your family, your future wife, your children, governing yourself, faithfully using the abilities He gave you, and no longer being governed by possessions, debt, appetite, envy, or fear.

That begins with repentance. Repentance does not mean merely feeling bad about greed, covetousness, envy, excess, or financial disorder. It means turning from the values that produced them and beginning to live according to the values of God’s kingdom.

In the end, for you, a quiet and faithful life may not look exactly like mine. Scripture does not require you to live on a farm, reject every luxury, or imitate my personal preferences. But it does require you to ask what your possessions are doing to your soul, your freedom, your relationships, and your usefulness to God. Loving God with your mind means reasoning honestly from what He has revealed into the circumstances He has given you.

The goal is not a smaller life. It is a richer one. It is a life in which money becomes a servant rather than a master, possessions become tools rather than an identity, and success is measured not by what can be displayed today, but by what remains valuable when a man reaches the end of his life.

When I married Mom, I committed myself to pursuing this kind of life before God, including keeping Mom at home with our children. Now, near the end of my life, I am richer than anyone I know. Even this plan reveals how richly God has blessed me. I see it when Abi and Isaac appear at my door. The wealthy are commanded not to become proud or place their hope in uncertain riches, but to receive God’s provision gratefully and use it faithfully (1 Timothy 6:17-19).

A quiet life for you may not look exactly like it does for someone else. Scripture does not tell you which condominium to own, which car to drive, or how much jewelry is too much. This is where loving God with your mind becomes necessary. Each possession and recurring expense must be evaluated according to whether it contributes to a faithful, sustainable, productive life or creates dependence upon debt, speculation, and another extraordinary financial victory.

Your lifestyle should be supported by recurring income and a deliberate withdrawal policy, not by borrowed money or the assumption that another crypto home run will arrive.

Your experience and skill in crypto, promotional ability, relationships, reputation, and risk tolerance are real strengths. Faithfulness does not require pretending those gifts do not exist. It requires governing them.

Core wealth needed for long-term security should be separated from speculative capital, diversified, and protected from leverage. Crypto speculation should occur only within a written allocation, with clear limits, tax records, liquidity standards, and exit rules. No single token, project, market cycle, or emotional decision should be allowed to place the entire household at risk.

This is not timidity. Proverbs repeatedly commends diligence, planning, counsel, and the preservation of resources. “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty” (Proverbs 21:5).

The immediate question is not whether you will make every decision perfectly. None of us does. The question is whether you are willing to place your financial life under Christ’s authority and begin walking in obedience.

That would mean

• retiring the LMA,
• bringing the entire financial picture into the light,
• accepting accountable management,
• establishing limits upon spending and speculation,
• and learning to distinguish enjoyment from excess and risk-taking from presumption.

This plan will not save you. But it can become one of the first places where repentance produces visible fruit. Christ is not merely calling you away from financial disorder. He is calling you toward freedom, faithfulness, usefulness, generosity, and a life no longer governed by debt, possessions, markets, or fear.

And when you marry and have children, I pray that you will do what I am trying to do in this plan: teach your children about the wonders of God and marvel with them at what He has done. Then, when you lie upon your final earthly bed surrounded by your sons and daughters, you can do as Jacob did: “When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.” Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, wept over him, and kissed him (Genesis 49:33; 50:1).

That will be a well-lived life, son. It is the end that awaits me.