Sunday, April 27, 2008

41st Anniversary of His 29th Birthday

Today our family is celebrating my grandpa Barney's 41st Anniversary of His 29th Birthday. (His 70th birthday but don't tell him.) Jeanine and I got to spend the day with him yesterday riding the waves of the New River...he's the only one in the family that didn't flip the whole day. Check out this short video of some whitewater fun with Barney.



To the man who always picked me up for church, taught me to fly airplanes, always tied my ties, and taught me to do the same, taught me how to paddle a kayak and the man who's socks I'm wearing even this morning as I get ready for church (I forgot to pack mine) - Happy Birthday, I mean anniversary! Thank you! Love you, Grandpa Barney!!

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Loan Forgiveness...

We are all in need of forgiveness... Some of us on multiple fronts. In light of our last post here on the blog, we're about to be staring many thousands of dollars in student loans in the face. Depending on your view of debt, my looking for forgiveness may be a little deeper. Really though, the federal student aid department has recently released information on a new student loan forgiveness program for those who work full time in the public service realm. I was talking with two my buddies tonight Keesling and Cocoa Crisp about this new, fairly unknown, thing.

Anyway, the basic idea is that if you work full time for 10 years in a public service job and pay on your student loans through that 10 year period (at least the minimum payment) then the remainder of your debt will be forgiven. Obviously this is really only good if it's going to take you more than 10 years to pay it off anyway. Some of us will have at least that. So the questions that jumps up is "what is a public service job?". Well you can find a list of public service jobs here. It of course includes public safety, emergency services, and public education, but it also includes tax exempt 501(c)(3) organizations. Here's the thing...most churches are setup as 501(c)(3)s. Anybody out there thinking what I'm thinking?? I have some serious doubts that the federal government is going to be forgiving the debt of pastors, but a guy can dream, right? Is there hope? Anyone out there have more information on this? I would love to hear from you if you do.

Check out more information on the Loan Forgiveness for Public Service Employees.