There have been times in my marriage when I just
could not understand my husband when it came to money. The good and the bad
parts, that is.
Here’s what I do know. Charles Clinton Miller,
“Charlie” as I call him, is a Tither.
Before he retired and was receiving a weekly
paycheck, I noticed that the first check he would write was to
the church. I would find it in his closet next to his piggy bank, which is full
of dimes.
When he retired and began receiving his social
security check, and his annuity check, the first check he would write was his
‘tithe’ check.
Ok…..so you might be thinking, big deal, or
what’s your point? Well, I think I have witnessed that his giving to the church
first created a greater residual income from a divine place that never stops
giving! Actually I have witnessed increase not only my faith but also my respect for how
he has always dedicated his life towards making money work for him. And that is only because he
was raised with nothing. Basically he was considered a very poor little boy growing up near the railroad tracks in Kansas City. He was good in sports, so football
gained him a scholarship and with every achievement he got more and more
competitive and with every competitive ‘win’ he began to think that he could
take this same ability into business. Prospectively, he did take those abilities to gain wealth. But unfortunately, after his divorce, he not only had to share
half his wealth he remained in the attitude of competing with himself and he determined that he would make more.
With a competitive athlete and a successful businessman, it never seemed to be enough to satisfy the hunger to make more!
After another divorce and now living single
(waiting for me to come along, haha) he tried a partial retirement and thought he would kick back and enjoy life. However, he and his son started a debt collection
company, CCM Enterprises. (stood for Charles Clinton Miller, but he told
me it stood for “Christ Centered Men”)
Somewhere in Charlie’s walk with Jesus, after he
received him as Savior in 2002, he not only believed by faith that Jesus saved
him from his sins, but Charlie also gained a revelation that HE truly saved him
from himself!
Once Charlie began truly walking with Jesus, he
realized how serious God was about taking care of him in every area of his
life. Because Charlie once relied on money as his god, he realized more and
more that money is truly life: 1) Tithing from it. 2) Saving it. 3) Investing
it. 4) Giving 5) Avoiding Debt because of it. What he has taught me, when it
comes to money, is that every dime you make belongs to God, really and what we
do with our money is actually a reflection of who and how we worship our God.
Watching Charlie live the way he does with his money has instructed me in my
life because I’ve seen in him and my sister Mary Ellen that putting a pen to
paper in a ledger or a check register means you are taking into account all that
you have and the most important piece of who that is, is simply God saying; “I
only ask you to be a part of my Kingdom, with 10%.” When Charlie began to truly
‘save’, invest, give, it not only caused him to avoid debt, but God proved to
him that his 10% meant he would never want for anything else as long as he
believed this was bigger than who he was as a business man and a disciplined
man when it came to money. This meant he was never going to out give God, (not saying he has tried that either, but he's learning too.) because God was going to continually give back to him as long as he simply gave
him, his ‘dime’.
Footnote: Since I have been married to Charlie, he has always saved dimes. He told me he has done this throughout the course of
his life. HERE’S the point of this entire story,
Dime literally means in French “TITHE”! A "Tenth"
