It's happening all over the United States. Bankruptcies abound. Foreclosures are on the rise. Health care costs soar. Debt keeps piling up at alarming rates. What is going on? The average family can't seem to make it on one income anymore. This forces both parents to work, and the kids end up in daycare. Soon the focus of the family is to make enough money to make it to the next month. On and on we go until our lives are spent trying to get ahead, but never really even keeping up. We try to race up the down escalator, hoping that someone will shut it off. But it keeps going. In fact, it increases speed. We eventually lose sight of why God placed us on this planet in the first place. Sure, we give to a charity every now and then, but do we really stop to invest ourselves in the lives of others? We are corporate separatists who share the same clod of earth, but seldom notice one another. This is not the way God intended us to live. We are so strapped for time and resources that we can't possibly think of reaching beyond ourselves. We tell ourselves that if we work just a little longer and a little harder, then we can get ahead. Tomorrow things will be different, but tomorrow never comes.

Isn't there a small part in each of us that longs for the Little House on the Prairie days? Sure Ma & Pa worked hard and used an outhouse. But they had something most of us only dream of. They had time, community, peace and quiet. They weren't bombarded with spam, phone solicitations, reality TV shows and junk mail. They didn't have to spend hours each month paying bills and tending to all their broken stuff. I figure that I spend most of my day dealing with things that didn't even exist 100 years ago. So how do we even begin to change this whole scenario?

This insane craziness and utter brokenness in my own life has led me to start a new website. The concept of FreedUp2Serve.com comes out of years of personal struggle. My desire is to be freed up for the most important things in life. For me, that means investing my time and my resources in the lives of others. This investment is not out of a sense of duty or to perpetuate a noble cause, but rather a response to God's amazing love. I have certainly not arrived, but I have learned a thing or two the hard way. The purpose of FreedUp2Serve.com is to provide encouragement, inspiration, information, and practical tools for your journey toward better stewardship. You will find resources to help you make the most out of your God-given time, talents, and treasures.

Every journey from valley to mountaintop originates with a single step. Each marathon consists of a series of strides. Regardless of where you are on your journey, my hope is that this new website will put a spring in your step. Godspeed as you seek to be freed up to serve.

About the Author

Nate Ohman is the publisher of http://www.freedup2serve.com and http://www.topchristianhits.org He currently resides in West Michigan with his wife and two children.